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Appwrite vs Postman: What are the differences?
Introduction
Appwrite and Postman are both popular tools used in software development and testing. While they have similarities in some aspects, there are key differences that set them apart. In this article, we will explore and compare these differences in order to provide a better understanding of each tool's unique capabilities.
Architecture: One of the key differences between Appwrite and Postman is their architecture. Appwrite is a cloud backend server that provides various APIs and features, while Postman is a desktop application that allows users to interact with APIs. Appwrite focuses on providing backend functionality, while Postman focuses on API testing and documentation.
Features: Appwrite offers a wide range of features, including authentication, user management, database management, file storage, and more. It provides a comprehensive backend solution for building web and mobile applications. On the other hand, Postman primarily focuses on API testing and provides features such as API endpoint testing, request building, and response validation.
Collaboration: Appwrite offers out-of-the-box collaboration features, allowing multiple developers to work together on the same project. It provides functionalities like team management, role-based access control, and real-time collaboration. In contrast, Postman does not have built-in collaboration features, although it does support sharing collections and environments with other team members.
Integration: Appwrite offers integration with various third-party services and platforms, allowing developers to enhance their applications with additional functionalities. It supports integration with databases like MySQL, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL, as well as services like Firebase, AWS, and Azure. Postman, on the other hand, primarily focuses on API testing and does not offer extensive integration capabilities.
Documentation: Appwrite provides comprehensive documentation and guides, helping developers understand and utilize its features effectively. It offers detailed explanations, examples, and code snippets to assist developers in integrating Appwrite into their applications. While Postman also provides documentation, it mainly focuses on API documentation and does not cover other aspects of software development.
Pricing Model: Appwrite offers a flexible pricing model, allowing users to choose the resources and features they need based on their requirements. It provides both a free tier and paid plans with different pricing tiers. Postman, on the other hand, offers a freemium model where they provide a limited set of features for free, and advanced features are available as part of their paid plans.
In summary, Appwrite is a cloud backend server that provides comprehensive backend functionalities, including authentication, user management, and database management, with built-in collaboration and extensive integration capabilities. Postman, on the other hand, is primarily an API testing tool that allows users to interact and test APIs, with limited collaboration and integration capabilities.
From a StackShare Community member: "I just started working for a start-up and we are in desperate need of better documentation for our API. Currently our API docs is in a README.md file. We are evaluating Postman and Swagger UI. Since there are many options and I was wondering what other StackSharers would recommend?"
I use Postman because of the ease of team-management, using workspaces and teams, runner, collections, environment variables, test-scripts (post execution), variable management (pre and post execution), folders (inside collections, for better management of APIs), newman, easy-ci-integration (and probably a few more things that I am not able to recall right now).
I use Swagger UI because it's an easy tool for end-consumers to visualize and test our APIs. It focuses on that ! And it's directly embedded and delivered with the APIs. Postman's built-in tools aren't bad, but their main focus isn't the documentation and also, they are hosted outside the project.
I recommend Postman because it's easy to use with history option. Also, it has very great features like runner, collections, test scripts runners, defining environment variables and simple exporting and importing data.
Postman supports automation and organization in a way that Insomnia just doesn't. Admittedly, Insomnia makes it slightly easy to query the data that you get back (in a very MongoDB-esque query language) but Postman sets you up to develop the code that you would use in development/testing right in the editor.
Pros of Appwrite
- Great UI9
- 100% open source7
- Easy to setup6
- End to end solution5
- Consistency across platforms4
- Easy to use3
- Small learning curve3
- Predictable REST API3
- Accelerate app development3
- Simplicity first attitude3
- Serverless2
- Credit Card Avatar2
- Built-in file encryption1
- Auto SSL certificate generator1
- Lot of security features1
- Built-in file scanner1
Pros of Postman
- Easy to use490
- Great tool369
- Makes developing rest api's easy peasy276
- Easy setup, looks good156
- The best api workflow out there144
- It's the best53
- History feature53
- Adds real value to my workflow44
- Great interface that magically predicts your needs43
- The best in class app35
- Can save and share script12
- Fully featured without looking cluttered10
- Collections8
- Option to run scrips8
- Global/Environment Variables8
- Shareable Collections7
- Dead simple and useful. Excellent7
- Dark theme easy on the eyes7
- Awesome customer support6
- Great integration with newman6
- Documentation5
- Simple5
- The test script is useful5
- Saves responses4
- This has simplified my testing significantly4
- Makes testing API's as easy as 1,2,34
- Easy as pie4
- API-network3
- I'd recommend it to everyone who works with apis3
- Mocking API calls with predefined response3
- Now supports GraphQL2
- Postman Runner CI Integration2
- Easy to setup, test and provides test storage2
- Continuous integration using newman2
- Pre-request Script and Test attributes are invaluable2
- Runner2
- Graph2
- <a href="http://fixbit.com/">useful tool</a>1
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Cons of Appwrite
Cons of Postman
- Stores credentials in HTTP10
- Bloated features and UI9
- Cumbersome to switch authentication tokens8
- Poor GraphQL support7
- Expensive5
- Not free after 5 users3
- Can't prompt for per-request variables3
- Import swagger1
- Support websocket1
- Import curl1