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Postman vs Retrofit: What are the differences?
Introduction
In this comparison, we will discuss the key differences between Postman and Retrofit.
Code Generation: Postman allows users to generate code snippets in various programming languages for making API requests, while Retrofit is a type-safe HTTP client library for Android and Java that generates the necessary boilerplate code for making API calls using annotations.
Platform & Language Support: Postman is a web-based tool that can be used on any platform (Windows, macOS, Linux) with support for multiple programming languages. On the other hand, Retrofit is primarily focused on providing support for Android and Java applications.
User Interface: Postman provides a graphical user interface (GUI) with an intuitive design that allows users to easily create, save, and organize API requests. Retrofit, being a library, does not have a GUI and is integrated into the codebase of an application.
Testing and Automation: Postman provides extensive testing capabilities, allowing users to create and run automated tests for APIs. It offers features such as assertions, scripts, and test runner. Retrofit, being a library, does not provide built-in testing capabilities, but it can be integrated with testing frameworks and tools.
Authentication and Authorization: Postman offers various authentication methods and allows users to easily configure and manage authentication headers and tokens for API requests. Retrofit, being a library, requires developers to manually handle authentication and authorization logic within the codebase.
Flexibility and Customization: Postman provides a wide range of features and customization options, such as request chaining, environment variables, pre-request scripts, and response manipulation. Retrofit, being a library, offers less flexibility and customization options as it primarily focuses on making API calls efficiently.
In Summary, Postman is a web-based tool that offers code generation, extensive testing capabilities, and a user-friendly GUI, while Retrofit is a library primarily focused on providing a type-safe HTTP client for Android and Java applications with less flexibility and customization options.
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 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
Pros of Retrofit
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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
