🧩 Alternative to Postman – Bruno: A Git-Based API Client

🚀 Introduction

If you're working on APIs and care about collaboration, version control, and ease of sharing, it's time to look beyond Postman. Bruno is a modern, Git-based API client built with developers in mind, and it's becoming a strong alternative to Postman for teams who want their API workflow to live alongside their code.

In this blog, we’ll explore the limitations of Postman, how Bruno solves them, and why it's the right choice for developers and teams looking for a more streamlined API testing and collaboration experience.

🔧 Common Problems with Postman

🔐 1. Requires Cloud Account

Postman pushes users toward its cloud-based workspace system. This means:

• Every team member needs a Postman account

• APIs must be shared via cloud workspace or exported manually

• Sensitive data could be exposed in shared folders unintentionally

🗂️ 2. Export = One Giant File

• When exporting collections, everything is bundled into a single large JSON file

• It's hard to version control, track changes, or see differences

• Merging changes across multiple contributors becomes painful

🤝 3. Difficult Git Collaboration

• Postman isn't Git-friendly

• Teams often rely on exports and re-imports to share API updates

• You can’t easily comment, review, or track API changes in Git like you would with code

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✨ Why Choose Bruno?

📂 1. Git-Native API Storage

• Each request is stored as a plain text file (.bru)

• Everything lives in your Git repo – just like your source code

• You can track changes, create branches, and make pull requests

🔁 2. Designed for Teams

• Share API test collections via Git

• No need for centralized cloud sharing

• Great for teams working across microservices or using mono-repos

💨 3. Fast, Local-First, Lightweight

• Bruno is fast and doesn’t require sign-in

• It’s local-first by design, meaning full control without cloud sync

🧪 4. Easy Sharing of API Tests

• One API = one file = simplicity

• Perfect for sharing reusable, testable endpoints across teams

• Everything is readable, diffable, and mergeable

🔒 5. No Vendor Lock-In

• Open source

• Doesn’t lock you into any specific ecosystem or format

• Bruno collections can live with your project repo

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📊 Bruno vs Postman

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🛠 Example Use Case: Sharing Authenticated API Flow

Say you want to share how to login and fetch user profile using APIs:

1. Write those two API requests in Bruno

2. Commit the .bruno folder in your Git repo

3. Teammates can clone the repo and test directly

No Postman exports. No cloud sync. Just simple, effective API sharing.

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🧠 Final Thoughts

If you're a backend developer, QA engineer, or anyone working with APIs — Bruno is a must-try tool. Its Git-first, file-based structure makes it easier to share, test, and manage APIs across teams without the friction of account setup or cloud sync.

🧪 Give Bruno a try and experience a better way to collaborate on APIs.

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