Milkman – The Better Alternative to Postman

52 points60 comments4 hours ago
urig

For a Postman-like experience, I prefer Bruno: https://github.com/usebruno/bruno (not affiliated)

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zabij

- I got sick of all those electron-based applications - I created a JavaFx-based workbench

Oh boi

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biinjo

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.

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WallWextra

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.

gosen

The UI looks a bit outdated, it gives me vibes of some old software from 2000s somehow (probably because of the Java).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

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bluerooibos

Oof, outdated UI (website and platform).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.

upmostly

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.

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hn_submit

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.

sumedh

Looking at such ugly UI breaks my heart :(

mrdootdoot

Isn’t testing an API just more test cases that Claude toils through? Why do I care about milkman Bruno or postman.

Jackson98Tom

Have you ever heard about Bruno?

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splittydev

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.

Offirmo

What is better than the existing, established alternatives https://www.usebruno.com/ and https://insomnia.rest/ ?

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ivanjermakov

> 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.

hobo123

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.

shaaaade

I wish the milkman would deliver my milk... In the morning...

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herpderperator

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.

manveerc

What’s next garbageman?

Jokes aside, why is it better?

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ehosca

when will it run on AmigaOS?

7734128

Your GUI screenshots are squished on mobile. Stretched vertically.

dankobgd

i hate this more than electron

elAhmo

Yet another Postman alternative...