In short
Postman is a full API platform: a desktop and web client, cloud workspaces, monitors, mock servers, documentation, AI features and team administration. HITOP is a smaller tool: an HTTP client and collection runner whose collections are plain YAML files in your repository, with a single binary that runs them in CI. It needs no account.
If your team uses Postman's cloud features (shared workspaces, monitors, published documentation, role based access), HITOP doesn't replace them. If you mostly write requests, script checks and run collections in a pipeline, HITOP covers that and reads your Postman exports.
Checked on 2026-11-01 against the pages listed under Sources. Prices and plans change; follow the links for the current ones.
Side by side
| HITOP | Postman | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free: CLI, web app, desktop builds on GitHub. Mac App Store app $4.99 and iOS $2.99, paid once | Free plan for 1 user; Solo $9 per month; Team $19 per user per month (both billed annually); Enterprise by quote |
| Account | None | The free plan starts at a sign up page; the Postman CLI can also set up a local project without an account |
| License | MIT (CLI, core library, desktop, web app) | Postman's own terms; Newman, the older runner, is Apache-2.0 |
| Where collections live | A folder of YAML files, one file per request, or local app storage | Postman Cloud workspaces; Native Git keeps collections, environments and specs as files under postman/ in a local Git repository and syncs to Postman Cloud |
| Command line runner | hitop: one Rust binary (crates.io, static Linux builds, Docker image) |
Postman CLI (npm install -g postman-cli or an install script); Newman (npm install -g newman) |
| CI reports | JUnit XML, a versioned JSON report and a self-contained HTML page; exit codes 0, 1 and 2; hitop schedule writes a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow or a crontab line |
Newman: cli, json and junit reporters built in, HTML as a separate package; on the Postman pricing page, test result exports are not in the free plan |
| CI integrations | GitHub Action bohdaq/hitop-action, GitLab CI template, Docker image ghcr.io/bohdaq/hitop |
Postman CLI and Newman in any pipeline |
| Scripts | JavaScript before and after each request, with a pm.* layer for Postman scripts (pm.test, pm.expect, pm.response, pm.environment, pm.collectionVariables, pm.globals, pm.variables) |
JavaScript pre-request and test scripts with the pm.* API; public and private npm packages (pricing page) |
| Secrets | Marked secret in the environment file, value in the OS keychain or an environment variable, never in the files; references to HashiCorp Vault or OpenBao, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault and 1Password resolved at run time; masked as •••• in output and reports |
Postman Local Vault and Shared Vault; Shared Vault is not in the free plan |
| 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) | A multi-protocol client and runner (pricing page) |
| OpenAPI | Import OpenAPI 3.0 and 3.1 specs into a collection folder, and sync it with a newer spec while keeping your edits | Imports OpenAPI and other API definitions (Postman docs) |
| Usage data | An anonymous weekly ping in the CLI and the free desktop builds, off unless you turn it on; none in the web app or the App Store apps | See Postman's privacy policy |
What moves over from Postman
hitop import reads Postman v2.1 collection exports (folders, collection and request auth, pre-request and test scripts), environment exports and globals exports, and writes a collection folder. Secret environment values go to the OS keychain, not into the files. The import ends with a report of what needs a look: script lines that call something HITOP doesn't run, such as pm.sendRequest, postman.setNextRequest, require() or CryptoJS, and auth types it doesn't support, such as OAuth 2.0.
See Migrate from Postman for the steps.
When Postman is the better fit
- You need monitors, hosted mock servers, published documentation or API governance in one product.
- You need protocols beyond HTTP, GraphQL, WebSocket and gRPC, or WebSocket and gRPC in a released desktop app today.
- Your scripts depend on
pm.sendRequest,postman.setNextRequestor npm packages.
When HITOP is the better fit
- You want collections reviewed in pull requests next to the code they test.
- You want one binary in CI with JUnit output and no login step.
- You don't want an account, or your requests and tokens must stay on your machine.
Sources
- Postman pricing: https://www.postman.com/pricing/ (plans, prices, free plan limits)
- Postman CLI: https://learning.postman.com/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-overview/ (install, "set up a project without an account")
- Postman Native Git: https://learning.postman.com/docs/agent-mode/native-git/ (local Git repository,
postman/folder, sync to Postman Cloud) - Newman: https://github.com/postmanlabs/newman (Apache-2.0, built in reporters)
- Postman import: https://learning.postman.com/docs/getting-started/importing-and-exporting/importing-data/ (OpenAPI and other formats)
- HITOP: https://github.com/bohdaq/hitop (MIT), collection format, run report