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OkHttp vs Postman: What are the differences?
Introduction
OkHttp and Postman are two popular tools used for interacting with APIs. While both tools serve a similar purpose, there are key differences that set them apart.
Key Differences between OkHttp and Postman
Integration with code: OkHttp is a Java-based library that allows developers to directly integrate it into their codebase. It provides a programmatic way to interact with APIs, which offers more flexibility and control. On the other hand, Postman is a standalone application that primarily focuses on providing a user-friendly interface for testing and exploring APIs.
Platform support: OkHttp is primarily designed for Java and Android platforms. It is optimized for these environments and offers additional features such as connection pooling and transparent gzip compression. Postman, on the other hand, is a cross-platform tool available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It caters to a wider range of developers working on different platforms.
Request customization: OkHttp provides extensive options for customizing the HTTP requests. Developers can manipulate headers, set timeouts, handle redirects, and more. It also supports low-level concepts such as streams and sockets, enabling fine-grained control over the request. Postman, on the other hand, simplifies the request customization process through a visual interface. Users can easily add headers, set parameters, and configure authentication without writing code.
Automation and testing: OkHttp's integration with code allows developers to automate API testing and integrate it into their testing frameworks. It enables writing tests as part of the codebase and offers better control and flexibility. Postman, on the other hand, provides a dedicated testing feature within the application itself. Users can create test scripts using JavaScript and run them directly in Postman for validating the API responses.
Collaboration and sharing: Postman offers advanced collaboration features, making it easier for teams to work together on API development. Users can share requests, collections, and environments, allowing seamless collaboration and knowledge sharing. OkHttp, being a code-based integration, relies on traditional code collaboration tools such as version control systems.
Extensibility and ecosystem: OkHttp is part of the broader OkHttp ecosystem, including libraries such as Okio and Retrofit. This ecosystem provides additional features and integrations, making it a powerful choice for developers. Postman, on the other hand, has its own ecosystem of integrations, allowing users to extend its functionalities through plugins and integrations with other tools.
In summary, OkHttp is a Java-based library that offers deep integration with code and provides extensive customization options, while Postman is a standalone application that focuses on a user-friendly interface, collaboration features, and easy automation of API testing.
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 OkHttp
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 OkHttp
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