Why Getman

Getman is for people who want their API requests to live where their code lives, work without an account, and run the same way on a laptop, over SSH and in CI. This page compares it with Postman, the tool most people come from, and says plainly where Postman is still the better choice.

Facts about Postman below were checked against Postman's own pages on 14 October 2026; plans and features change, so follow the links before deciding.

The short version

What you get with Getman

No account, ever. Collections, environments, variables, scripts, the runner, history and cookies all work offline. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no telemetry.

Requests are files you own. Each request is a short YAML file next to your code. Review them in pull requests, grep them, generate them, move them with git mv. Values that must not be shared, such as tokens, live in git-ignored *.local.yaml files beside the shared ones, so the shared files stay safe to commit.

One binary, three ways in. getman opens the browser UI, getman tui the same workspace in the terminal, and getman run the same requests in CI with JUnit or JSON reports. The whole program, browser UI included, is a single file of about 13 MB with no runtime to install.

Bring your Postman work along. getman import collection.json turns a Postman collection (format v2.0 or v2.1) into folders and request files, in the same order, with their auth, scripts and variables. Environments keep their secret values out of the shared file. Because pm is the same object as gm, imported scripts run unchanged in most cases; the import lists anything it could not carry over.

Checks without code. status == 200, time < 500 and header.content-type contains json are lines in the request file, not scripts. Captures such as token: json.access_token copy values into variables the same way.

Safe by default. The local server answers only on 127.0.0.1, refuses requests from other web pages and requires a token only your terminal sees. Requests can upload files only from inside the workspace, and {{$env.NAME}} reads only environment variables that start with GETMAN_, so a collection from someone else cannot quietly send your private files or secrets anywhere. See Security.

Free for any team. Share a workspace the way you share code: commit it. There are no seats to buy.

When to stay with Postman

Getman is deliberately small. Choose Postman, or use both, if you need:

• Other protocols. Getman sends HTTP requests. Postman also handles WebSocket, gRPC, MQTT and Socket.IO.
• Hosted features. Mock servers, monitors that run on a schedule from the cloud, and API publishing need a server that someone runs for you.
• Real-time collaboration. Getman shares work through Git, not through live shared workspaces and comments.
• A long track record. Postman has years of integrations, a public API network and a large community. Getman is new.
• OAuth 2.0 flows that need a browser. Getman fetches tokens with the client credentials and password grants; authorization code and implicit flows are not supported yet.

Moving over

1. Install Getman.

2. Export your collection from Postman as Collection v2.1, and your environments as JSON.

3. In the folder that should hold the requests:

   getman init
   getman import "My API.postman_collection.json" --root
   getman import "Staging.postman_environment.json"

4. Run getman to open it, or getman run to run it all.