Postman

Postman is an API testing tool, an amazing platform that allows developers to easily explore, debug, and test APIs. It also provides the feature to define complex API requests for HTTP, REST, WebSockets, etc.

Features

1. Convenient: It can be easily managed, and accessed and can be installed on various OS (Windows, Linux, etc.).
2. Automated testing: Postman supports automated and repeated testing i.e. testing without manual intervention.
3. Open Source: It is free of cost but a paid version with premium features is also available.
4. Community support: It has wide user support and community.
5. Advanced features: It has unique features like ‘request’, ‘collection’ (to organize and group API requests), and ‘environment’ (to define variables and configurations for different testing environments).

Advantages

1. Supports different status codes: It supports several status codes for users to verify the response. For eg: Successful requests, Empty responses, Bad requests, and Unauthorized access.
2. Easily accessible: It is easily accessible by installing its application or Postman browser extension.
3. Can develop API tests: You can develop and run API tests using Postman’s powerful testing features. Workflows for both manual and automated testing are supported.
4. Can generate API documentation: You can generate and publish API documentation, and add detailed descriptions, examples, and annotations to API endpoints.
5. Possible to run iterative tests: It is possible to run iterative tests with Postman by using the Newman tool or Collection Runner.

Disadvantages

1. Consumes memory: In complex test scenarios, it may consume significant memory and processing power, impacting system performance.
2. Lacks advanced features: Postman lacks advanced features for data management and manipulation.
3. Limited support: It provides limited support for non-Rest APIs as it is primarily designed for RESTful APIs.
4. Paid features: Some advanced features required for collaboration and monitoring are paid.
5. Cannot generate random data: It can’t generate random data so you need to work around scripts.

This article focuses on discussing the difference between Postman and Smartbear.