alt Hacker NewsMilkman – The Better Alternative to Postman
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- I got sick of all those electron-based applications - I created a JavaFx-based workbench
Oh boi
The UI looks a bit outdated, it gives me vibes of some old software from 2000s somehow (probably because of the Java). And it would be really helpful to clearly state benefits of using Milkman instead of Postman right on the home page (e.g. performance benchmarks, UX, extendability, etc.). I see that it has some users and 1.3k stars so there're definitely some cool things in Milkman, probably you could just present them better
We are in an age where it’s easier to vibe code your own alternative than to do a quick internet search to check if an alternative already exists.
Are API testing UIs really relevant anymore? I haven't manually tested an API for almost two years, and my APIs are SO much better. This kind of GUI is going to die over the next 5 years.
Postman should be seriously worried.
These kinds of things are prime candidate for vibe coding; I don't understand why I would use someone else's. I have a native swift postman ripoff which hardcodes exactly the APIs I'm interested in, and is full of convenience features that make sense to nobody but me.
Sad for all the better postman alternatives, but very happy that postman is in trouble.
Looking at such ugly UI breaks my heart :(
Oof, outdated UI (website and platform).
No excuse for this in 2026 tbh - get Claude to implement a dark and light mode in tailwind and pick a colour theme. It doesn't mean the product is trash but it's a poor first impression.
How about writing it in C++ or Rust and doing away completely with huge memory footprint and long startup times. Java also needs a runtime, which is bothersome.
I suggest using wxWidgets or Qt so you get multi-platform support for free.
What is better than the existing, established alternatives https://www.usebruno.com/ and https://insomnia.rest/ ?
When I saw the UI, my first thought was "is that written in Java"? And indeed, it is. Kinda funny that it's so easy to spot that language based on its horrible default UI skins alone.
Isn’t testing an API just more test cases that Claude toils through? Why do I care about milkman Bruno or postman.
By the time I decided I should maybe try postman, I was absolutely turned off that it wants you to setup an account (for what?).
Went with Insomnia instead (which IIRC also wants an account now?) and now just some text-mode VSCode http client.
> New features regularly. There are more and more plugins/features coming.
Why all software needs to constantly evolve and grow with features? This is how you end up with what Postman has become.
I wish the milkman would deliver my milk... In the morning...
The author appears to be suggesting that a key difference between Bruno and Insomnia is that Milkman not written in JavaScript/Electron, but rather JavaFx (i.e., Java) and thus is faster.
Your GUI screenshots are squished on mobile. Stretched vertically.
when will it run on AmigaOS?
i hate this more than electron
Yet another Postman alternative...
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For a Postman-like experience, I prefer Bruno: https://github.com/usebruno/bruno (not affiliated)