Meet Reqable: A Free, Cross‑Platform Postman Alternative with Superior Performance

1. Free Features

The latest Reqable community edition removes limits on API collections and tags, allowing unlimited request sending and collection saving at no cost. All data is stored locally without any cloud service, eliminating security concerns and removing the need for login, registration, or advertising.

2. Performance

Reqable is built with Flutter and C++, delivering near‑instant startup, low memory usage, small storage footprint, and fluid interaction. Compared with Postman, Apifox, Apipost, Bruno, and Insomnia—applications that wrap a browser—the performance gap is substantial.

Performance measurements were taken on a MacBook Pro 2017 using the latest January 2024 builds. Startup time was calculated by frame‑difference analysis of a screen‑recording; memory usage reflects the state immediately after installation when the app is placed in the background. Flutter’s support for 120 Hz or higher refresh rates further enhances smoothness.

3. UI

The interface is deliberately minimal. Users focusing solely on API testing can select API testing during initialization or switch to Zen mode for a cleaner view. A packet‑capture debugging mode is also available; users without capture needs are advised to stay in Zen mode.

Theme support is free and includes light and dark modes, 15 code color schemes, and 16 accent color schemes (customizable with a paid plan).

4. Data Migration

Reqable can import data from other REST tools, currently supporting Postman, Hoppscotch, ApiPost, ApiFox, cURL, and HAR files. Upcoming releases will add OpenAPI and Insomnia import capabilities.

5. HTTP/2 & HTTP/3 Support

Reqable uniquely supports testing of HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (QUIC) protocols, features absent in Postman and most other REST tools. This enables compatibility with servers that enforce HTTP/2 or HTTP/3.

6. Packet‑Capture Debugging

Beyond standard features such as environment variables, Python scripts, and code generation, Reqable can analyze traffic from browsers or applications, create APIs directly from captured packets, and map live server requests to a local server for testing. A built‑in comparison tool highlights differences when requests fail or responses are abnormal, accelerating root‑cause analysis.

7. Community Activity

On GitHub, contributors have filed over 1,000 issues in less than two years, with about 80 % resolved, compared with Postman’s 13,000+ issues.

8. Open‑Source Contributions

Reqable relies on the open‑source Flutter framework. Although the application itself remains closed source, the team has open‑sourced the re‑editor code editor and the re‑highlight syntax‑highlight library, which many projects now depend on.

9. Resources

Official site: https://reqable.com/zh-CN/

GitHub repository: https://github.com/reqable/reqable-app