In short
Bruno and HITOP share the main idea: collections are files in a folder, so Git is the sync and the review tool. Bruno is a desktop client with its own .bru format (and, since Bruno 3.0, YAML files following its OpenCollection specification), a Node.js CLI and paid editions that add Git actions in the app. HITOP is a smaller tool: a YAML folder format, a single Rust binary for the terminal and CI, a web app and a desktop app.
Checked on 2026-11-01 against the pages listed under Sources.
Side by side
| HITOP | Bruno | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free: CLI, web app, desktop builds on GitHub. Mac App Store app $4.99 and iOS $2.99, paid once | Open Source edition $0; Pro $6 and Ultimate $11 per user per month, billed annually |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Account and cloud | No account, no cloud | No cloud sync: the project says Bruno is offline only, with no plans to add it |
| File format | YAML: hitop.yaml, one file per request under requests/, environments/*.yaml (spec, CC BY 4.0) |
Bru (.bru files, bruno.json) or, from Bruno 3.0, YAML with opencollection.yml |
| Git in the app | Not in the released apps: use Git as you do for code. The desktop's new UI (in testing) has a free Git panel: status, diff, commit, pull, push, branches and conflict resolution | The pricing page lists Git add and commit, push, branching and checkout under the paid editions |
| CLI | hitop: one Rust binary (crates.io, static Linux builds, Docker image) |
bru (npm install -g @usebruno/cli), Docker image usebruno/cli |
| CI reports | JUnit XML, a versioned JSON report and a self-contained HTML page | JSON, JUnit and HTML |
| CI integrations | GitHub Action bohdaq/hitop-action, GitLab CI template |
The bru CLI and its Docker image in any pipeline |
| Postman import | Collections, environments and globals; pm.* scripts run through a compatibility layer, unsupported calls listed by line |
Collections and environments; common pm.* calls translated to Bruno's API, or kept as is; bulk import from a Postman data dump in Ultimate |
| Secrets | OS keychain or environment variables, never in files; free references to Vault or OpenBao, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault and 1Password | Secret manager integration in paid editions (pricing page) |
| Protocols | HTTP everywhere. GraphQL (with schema completion) in the CLI and web app; WebSocket in the CLI and web app (a browser can't send handshake headers); gRPC, unary and server streaming, in the CLI. The desktop app gets all of them with its new UI (the web app in Tauri, in testing) | HTTP, REST, GraphQL, gRPC and more (pricing page feature table) |
| Runs in a browser | Yes, the web app at hitop.rws8.tech/app/ (no install) | Desktop app |
The difference in practice
Both tools let a pull request change a request file and show the diff. The choice is mostly about the rest of the workflow:
- HITOP's runner is a single static binary, so a pipeline needs no Node.js. Bruno's CLI is an npm package or a Docker image.
- HITOP keeps Postman scripts running as they are where it can (
pm.test,pm.expect,pm.environment.set); Bruno translates them to its own API on import. - Bruno's released desktop app has gRPC, WebSocket and an in-app Git client today; HITOP has WebSocket and gRPC in its CLI (WebSocket also in the web app), and its desktop gets them, with the Git panel, in the new UI.
Sources
- Bruno pricing: https://www.usebruno.com/pricing (editions, prices, feature table)
- Bruno repository: https://github.com/usebruno/bruno (MIT, Bru format,
bruCLI, "offline-only") - Bruno CLI: https://docs.usebruno.com/bru-cli/overview (JSON, JUnit and HTML reports)
- Bruno YAML (OpenCollection): https://docs.usebruno.com/opencollection-yaml/overview (Bruno 3.0.0)
- Bruno Postman migration: https://docs.usebruno.com/get-started/import-export-data/postman-migration
- HITOP: https://github.com/bohdaq/hitop (MIT)