Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · API Testing Tools

Postman vs Karate

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 7 checks side by side
Higher score Postman #1 in API Testing Tools 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 6 of 6 features Visit Postman
Karate #4 in API Testing Tools 8.9/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 6 of 6 features Visit Karate

Postman leads on 0 checks, Karate on 0, and 7 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 7 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scorePostman · 9.3/10
  • Free planboth

Postman scores higher on our rubric for api testing tools: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #4.

Postman is the better fit for teams wanting the broadest mature API test platform. Karate is the better fit for engineering teams building automated API test suites.

  • Postman fits best

    Teams wanting the broadest mature API test platform

  • Karate fits best

    Engineering teams building automated API test suites

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Postman 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Karate 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.9
Ranking #1 in API Testing Tools #4 in API Testing Tools
Best for Teams wanting the broadest mature API test platform Engineering teams building automated API test suites
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $9/mo $100/user/yr
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Desktop, Browser extension Self-hosted, Desktop
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome extension Windows, macOS, Linux
Support Tickets, Community, Docs Email, Community, Docs
Compliance SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS SSO/SAML
Integrations 8 integrations 40+ integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Postman 6/6 · Karate 6/6
GraphQL support ✓ ✓
SOAP support ✓ ✓
Scheduled runs ✓ ✓
CI/CD integration ✓ ✓
Mock server ✓ ✓
Contract testing ✓ ✓
Specs
Included requests Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Supports HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and MQTT requests
  • Combines functional tests, mocks, specifications, monitoring, and CI/CD
  • Offers web, desktop, extension, and API access across major platforms
  • Tests REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs with Gherkin-based authoring
  • Combines mocks, contract testing, reports, and parallel execution
  • Supports CI/CD, self-hosting, and Gatling performance testing
Cons
  • Advanced governance and audit reporting require the Enterprise plan
  • Team and Enterprise pricing is charged per user
  • Postman is proprietary rather than open source
  • Advanced IDE and Xplorer capabilities are split across paid tiers
  • The Pro plan costs $640 per user per year
  • Enterprise licensing uses custom commercial pricing
Our verdict

Postman is an API platform for developers and teams building, testing, documenting, and collaborating on APIs. Its API Client sends and inspects requests across HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and MQTT. Collections bring requests,…

Read the review →

Karate is an open-source test automation framework for developers and QA teams building automated suites for REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs. Its Gherkin-based syntax supports JSON and XML assertions, schema validation, data-driven scenarios,…

Read the review →
  1. PostmanAPI Testing Tools 9.3Free plan
  2. KarateAPI Testing Tools 8.9Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Postman — where it wins

    • Supports HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and MQTT requests
    • Combines functional tests, mocks, specifications, monitoring, and CI/CD
    • Offers web, desktop, extension, and API access across major platforms

    Where it doesn't

    • Advanced governance and audit reporting require the Enterprise plan
    • Team and Enterprise pricing is charged per user
    • Postman is proprietary rather than open source

  • Karate — where it wins

    • Tests REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs with Gherkin-based authoring
    • Combines mocks, contract testing, reports, and parallel execution
    • Supports CI/CD, self-hosting, and Gatling performance testing

    Where it doesn't

    • Advanced IDE and Xplorer capabilities are split across paid tiers
    • The Pro plan costs $640 per user per year
    • Enterprise licensing uses custom commercial pricing

More comparisons

All API testing tools comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update