Why Hoppscotch Is the Lightweight Alternative to Postman for Backend Developers

Hoppscotch Overview

Hoppscotch is an open‑source API tool that is lightweight, fast, and has a clean UI. It has earned over 70k+star on GitHub.

Key features include:

Lightweight design with a minimal UI.

Fast response – real‑time request and response.

Support for common HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, custom).

Multiple themes and colors (light, dark, black).

Various authentication methods (Basic, Bearer Token, OAuth 2.0).

Additional protocols such as WebSocket, SSE, MQTT, GraphQL.

Installation & Settings

Download Hoppscotch from the official website ( https://hoppscotch.com/download) for any major OS or use the CLI.

Switch the interface language to Chinese via Settings → Language and choose a theme (e.g., dark) via Settings → Theme.

Usage

Start the target project (e.g., the mall service) and open its Swagger UI (e.g., http://localhost:8080/swagger-ui/). In Hoppscotch select the REST panel, click the import button, choose Import from OpenAPI → From URL, and paste the Swagger URL.

After import, the endpoints appear in the Collection view. Test the login endpoint, copy the returned token, add a token variable in the environment, and reference it in the request Authorization header to access protected APIs.

Conclusion

Hoppscotch provides a simple, login‑free experience compared with Postman, making it a solid choice for developers who need a quick and efficient API testing tool.

Project Repository

https://github.com/hoppscotch/hoppscotch