Hoppscotch

Hoppscotch is what Postman would be if it was designed for speed from day one. It opens instantly in your browser — no installation, no signup, no account creation — and you're testing API endpoints within seconds. It supports REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, and Server-Sent Events, covering virtually every API type you'll encounter. The team collaboration features let you share collections and environments, making it genuinely useful for team development. What makes Hoppscotch stand out is how frictionless it is: you don't need to open a heavy desktop application or wait for it to load. The self-hosted version adds data control and custom configurations. The trade-off is that for very complex API testing workflows, Postman's mature ecosystem still has an edge. But for the 90% of API testing that involves hitting endpoints and checking responses, Hoppscotch is faster and more pleasant to use.

Good first choice if you want a practical tool without spending the afternoon reading developer docs.