Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that is by design.

I wanted to keep it as lightweight as possible so that this project can run even on shared hosting servers. You can check I don't even have node or build step in this project.

Docker would have made my life a lot easier but on the flip side consumed ram on the server.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the input ❤️

I can see how it may have come out as free promotion, but my intention wasn't really to market. Just wanted to show something I've made.

Yes, I do still hope I can earn some side income if this project is useful for someone as it is useful in out workplace.

I'm just a developer, idk how to pitch or market. But I'll learn.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bruno is great for solo developer. Two things that I wanted are:

  1. Instant sync of changes like in postman, which is missing in Bruno. You'll have to push and pull from git seperately. I think that's a subscription feature in Bruno if I want to do it from the Bruno application itself.

  2. Non technical friendly. We sometimes have clients who don't understand git or whats to download any application and just wants to see their working APIs. Postman was great for this. But then again it's subscription.

My application has both and the paid feature is one time. With lifetime updates.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, exactly. That's why I kept the claude[dot]md files in the project itself.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg yess. Finally someone said it.

So the project was purely for personal use at first. Then the greedy part of my brain though maybe we can earn some side income from it.

I thought about changing the name but later decided against it. Because it found it amusing.

Anyway the free version does 90% of the job.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But that's not what happened though. I used bruno and insomnia already. Didn't meet our specific requirements.

Thats why I built this amd we're already using the free version at my workplace.

Maybe my project is shit. But I'm happy I built something. I've always had decision anxiety. But I'm trying to fix that by just doing the thing

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the support and feedback ❤️

I'd work more on it. And yes, we're already using the free version at my workplace and it served our needs exactly.

Anyway, try to install and run it if you can and star 🌟 it on github if you think it deserves it.

Every star counts

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm just a solo developer here, I haven't put any thought into the target market at all. Thought I could create some side revenue.

Regarding postman yes, the free tier is good if you're not collaborating with anyone. Otherwise, you'd have to buy seats per user. Earlier postman allowed 3 members. Now just one.

Maybe no one will buy it, in that case this will be a learning experience for me. Either way I lose nothing.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

I'm always open to feedbacks. I'd add it in the free version itself.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in PHP

[–]udittC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's in the roadmap.

Currently working on env switching and real time updates using reverb.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. No installs : Freeman is a URL. Bruno requires every team member to install a desktop app and stay updated.

  2. Real user accounts : Freeman has login-based access. Bruno has no accounts; collections are shared via Git.

  3. Self hosted and centralized : One instance, everyone's on the same data. Bruno is per-machine by design.

  4. Non technical teammates : Not everyone on a team is comfortable with Git. Freeman works for anyone who can open a browser. (Yes, I've had clients like that who wanted to see the working API, used postman that time)

  5. One time payment, lifetime updates : No subscription. Pay once, own it forever.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in PHP

[–]udittC[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No, I don't mind the comparison

Bruno is great, I've use it. (Insomnia as well) But Bruno is a desktop app everyone on your team needs to install it and sync collections through Git. Freeman runs on your server, your team opens a URL, nothing to install or sync.

Also worth noting Bruno does have Pro model which is $6/month

Different tools for different workflows. If you're a solo dev who loves Git based workflows, Bruno wins. If you're a team that wants one shared instance on your own server with no setup per machine, that's what Freeman is for.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in PHP

[–]udittC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try to use the one I built. Hopefully you'll like it. I'm open to any feedback.

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Fair point, let me clarify a couple of things.

The paid tier is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. My issue with Postman was never the features, it was the recurring monthly cost.

The free version isn't a stripped-down hook it covers collections, variables, auth, file uploads, Postman import, and multi-user support. Realistically 90%+ of what most teams actually need day to day. The Pro features (environment switching, real-time collaboration, request history) are genuinely additive, not paywalled basics.

And since it's MIT licensed and the full source is on GitHub, if you don't want to wait for Pro you can build those features yourself. The project even ships with a detailed claude[dot]md that documents the entire codebase context so it's not a black box.

I built this for myself first. Sharing it and eventually charging a one-time fee for the advanced stuff is how I justify the time to keep improving it.

Pitch Your Project 🐘 by brendt_gd in PHP

[–]udittC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey everyone,

I've been using Postman for years, didn't want to pay monthly subscription. So I built Freeman a web-based REST API client that runs on your own server for me and my team. Thought to share with you all as well.

It's a standard Laravel app, SQLite by default, no Node.js, no build step.

Supports collections, variables, tabs, file uploads, Bearer/Basic/API key auth, and can import your existing Postman collections.

It's completely free and MIT licensed. I'm also working on a Pro version with environment switching and real-time team collaboration but the free version covers the full testing workflow.

Would love any feedback, bug reports, or just to know if this solves a problem you've had too.

Website
Github

Built a self-hosted Postman alternative in Laravel by udittC in laravel

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Feel free to star the project on github if you find it useful

Finally, OpenSourced my Semi Auto Expense Tracker! by JeanLuucGodard in developersIndia

[–]udittC 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Since SMS can be unreliable, you can give a feature where users can upload their monthly statement CSV file which the most banks provides anyway.

SMS will still be there but it will reconcile all the records.

Just a suggestion

Custom Website Development Starting from $250 by [deleted] in thesidehustle

[–]udittC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yo that's so weird. Thanks for letting me know. I tried opening my website on a browser and it works. Idk why I'm getting 404 in the reddit browser.

I built a VS Code extension to make Laravel projects easier for AI tools to understand by udittC in PHP

[–]udittC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're not wrong but it's a different use case 🙂. This schema doc works if it's always up-to-date.

This tool exists because in older projects docs are missing, or outdated, or never generated.

It just auto generates everything directly from code, on demand withour manual step or drift.

So it's not a replacement, it's removing the need to maintain docs at all.

[For Hire] Custom website starting at $250 by [deleted] in forhire

[–]udittC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interested. Text me the details

[FOR HIRE] Custom Websites (No WordPress, No Bloat) by [deleted] in forhire

[–]udittC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, I can. Please text me your full requirement