Why choose Pigeon over Insomnia?

Insomnia started lean — design-first, local, fast. Over time many API clients pick up accounts, sync, and platform baggage. If you liked the early version more than the later one, Pigeon is worth a look.

Pigeon keeps the local-first idea and strips the rest: native macOS, no sign-in, data on disk, organization that happens while you work.

What Pigeon does differently

• No account wall — launch and send. No login step before your first request.
• Native macOS app — not another Electron shell. Feels at home next to your editor and terminal.
• Auto-named tabs — paths become tab names when you send, so you stop hunting “Untitled”.
• History by domain — stripe, github, and localhost each get their own folder in history.
• Import paths — Postman collections and pasted curl commands land as real requests.
• Keyboard-first — ⌘↵ to send, ⌘K to find anything.

Who it’s for

Developers who want a quiet local client for daily API work — not another app managing workspaces in the cloud.

Who should keep Insomnia

If you rely on Insomnia’s cloud sync, team features, or a specific plugin ecosystem, stay where those integrations live. Pigeon is intentionally smaller and Mac-only today.

More comparisons

• Postman alternative

Try it in a minute

Install on macOS, paste a curl, send a few requests to different hosts, and watch tabs and history organize themselves.