No desktop app to install. No cloud account. No data leaving your network. One URL on your own server, accessible to your whole team.
Free forever. No account. No credit card.
Postman is great until you realise your API keys and auth headers are syncing to someone else's cloud. Freeman keeps everything on your server.
No desktop app to install or update. Open Freeman from any machine, any OS it's just a URL on your server. One install serves the whole team.
Collections, requests, auth headers, and API keys are stored in your own SQLite database on your server. Nothing is sent to a third party. Ever.
Built with PHP, Laravel, and Alpine.js. If you can host a Laravel app, you can run Freeman the free edition has no build step, no npm, no node_modules.
Postman is the industry standard powerful, but cloud-backed and subscription-gated. Bruno is an excellent open-source desktop alternative local files, git-native, fully offline. Freeman is different: it's a web app you host once. Your team opens a URL. Nothing to install.
| Postman | Bruno | Freeman | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you access it | Desktop app or web | Desktop app (Electron) | Any browser just a URL |
| Setup per team member | Download & install | Download & install | Nothing visit the URL |
| Where data lives | Postman's cloud | Local files on disk | Your own server |
| Self-hosted | No | No server needed | Yes your domain |
| Multi-user access | Paid plan required | Share via git repo | Built-in, free |
| Collections & variables | Yes | Yes (file-based) | Yes |
| Auth (Bearer, Basic, Key) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import Postman collections | Native | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes (MIT) | Yes (MIT) |
| Price | Free tier + ~$14/mo | Free OSS + $6/user/mo Pro | Free + one-time Pro |
Freeman does not support GraphQL, WebSockets, git-native collections, or offline use it is focused on browser-based REST API testing on a server you control. Bruno Pro pricing sourced from usebruno.com.
The free edition covers the full request-testing workflow. Collections, variables, auth all of it.
Organise requests into collections with an unlimited folder tree. Keep your API surface navigable no matter how large it grows.
Define variables scoped to each collection and reference them with @{{variable}} syntax anywhere in the collection URL, headers, or body.
Open multiple requests in tabs just like Postman. Switch between them without losing any state.
Set query params, headers, raw body, form data, and auth (Bearer, Basic, API key) in a clean, tab-organised panel.
Attach local files to multipart form requests. Test file upload endpoints without leaving your browser.
Already on Postman? Import your existing collection JSON directly. Your work is not locked in.
Admins create and manage user accounts. Everyone on the team logs in and works from the same hosted instance.
No separate database server required. Freeman runs on a single SQLite file, making backup and migration trivial.
Powered by Alpine.js, so there is no webpack, Vite, or npm run build in your deploy process. Just PHP.
Freeman ships as a standard Laravel application. If you can host Laravel, you can host Freeman. The installer handles migrations, seeding, and the initial admin account automatically.
Freeman Pro adds collaboration, real-time sync, and team access controls everything a growing API team needs.
Define multiple environments (local, staging, production) and switch between them with one click. No more manually swapping base URLs.
Share specific collections with a group of users not the whole team. Guests and collaborators get exactly the access they need.
Configure your own file storage for request attachments. Keep uploaded files on your infrastructure, not ours.
See changes from teammates as they happen via live sync. Choose between short polling, relay, or turn it off entirely your server, your call.
Invite external collaborators or guests with read-only access. Control who can edit, view, or run requests per collection.
Browse a full audit trail of every request sent and response received. Debug regressions by comparing past responses side by side.
Freeman Pro is in active development. Drop your email and you'll be the first to know when it ships including any early-access pricing.
No spam. One email when Pro launches.
Freeman is free forever. Pro is a one-time purchase with lifetime updates.
Yes. The free edition is MIT licensed and open source. There are no request limits, no user caps, and no expiry. You can self-host it indefinitely at no cost.
Postman is a cloud-backed desktop app. Freeman is a self-hosted web app your data lives on your own server, not in Postman's cloud. There is no desktop client to install, and it works from any browser on your network. The trade-off is that some Postman features (like API monitoring and mock servers) are not in scope for Freeman.
Bruno is a desktop app that stores your collections as local files on disk great for git-native workflows and fully offline use. Freeman is a web app you host on a server: your team visits a URL, nothing to install on each machine. Different tools for different workflows if you want git-native collections, Bruno is excellent. If you want a centralized, browser-accessible client on your own server, that's Freeman.
Not in the current version. Freeman is focused on REST APIs exclusively. GraphQL and WebSocket support may be considered for future releases.
You pay once and receive all future updates to Freeman Pro. There is no annual renewal, no subscription, and no feature gating behind recurring payments. The price is not yet set join the waitlist to hear the early-access offer first.
Yes. Freeman can import Postman collection JSON files directly. Export your collections from Postman and import them into Freeman in one step.
PHP 8.2 or higher, Composer, and any web server (Nginx, Apache, or Laravel's built-in server). No Node.js, no Redis, no separate database server required.
Freeman is free, open source, and ready to install. Two commands and you're testing APIs on your own infrastructure.
Freeman is built and maintained by a solo developer. If you run into any issues or have feedback, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing from you get in touch.
Enter your email and you'll be the first to hear when Freeman Pro ships including any early-access pricing.
We'll email you as soon as Freeman Pro is ready to ship.