Postman Tool for API Testing Vs HyperTest: Comparison

Every company developing a product should have tests in place. Just like it’s important to have tests in place, it also matters how we run these tests. An increasing number of such companies are resorting to testing automation to ship out a bug-free product faster.

While Postman has long been a staple in the API testing community, HyperTest offers advanced features that make it a compelling alternative.

In this blog, we will attempt to draw a comparison between Postman online and HyperTest to try and understand which is more powerful when it comes to catching API failures.

Imagine a sequence of 10 API requests, one after the other that make up your test case.

Postman	HyperTest
On Postman online, you would have to build something called a collection where you put these API requests in the right sequence and with the right data.	Whereas on HyperTest, you can have this collection or sequence auto-generated (with the data) just from the network traffic.

Why should you consider moving out from Postman?

➡️ Writing your own tests on Postman Online comes with the added responsibility of maintenance. What this means is that every small to large change will need all hand-written tests to be updated on Postman Online for each time and every sprint.

➡️ In a fast-paced environment, code changes happen every day because the codebase is very agile. This means a disproportionate increase in maintenance effort because even a single line of code change could require multiple lines of an update on your postman Online tests.

Feature/Aspect	Postman	HyperTest
What does it do?	API testing & documentation	Complete backend testing: Test APIs, database calls, message queues & inter-service contracts
What will it not do?	Will not test database calls, async flows or message queues	Front-end testing: It will not test UI or cross browser testing
Who are its users?	Developers, SDETs, test engineers and QAs	Only Developers

➡️ If writing tests was not hard enough, how about assertions. The biggest problem with hand-written tests on Postman Online is to think about which business rules to assert and if you have covered them all. Phew, this needs a genius!

💡 We would not miss any API being tested as HyperTest ensures all the requests are replayed from network traffic while running a test. -Sunil Kumar, Yellow.ai

➡️ Teams that are working with Postman Online, split their time thinking about all the flows that can be automated, the assertions within them and still worry if they have covered every business rule inside and every possible workflow with these tests.

➡️ Tests automation built with Postman Online neither gives you the complete confidence of never missing bugs to production nor reduces your effort on test maintenance.

➡️ Moreover, Postman Online tool users are unable to reuse their pre-written scripts or add more requests because of low script reusability. This means testers have to create new test scripts over and over for each project.

➡️ The nature of Postman becomes an impediment to cross-functional collaboration in Agile teams where every member must keep close communication with each other.

Feature/Aspect	With Postman	With HyperTest
How does it work?	Write API tests manually on Postman to test HTTP requests and responses	Record and Replay: Generates APIs tests automatically from real user traffic. 100% autonomous.
Where are the tests run?	Using Postman runners and Newman (CLI) on Postman cloud	No dedicated or isolated environments needed. These tests can be run locally 100% on-prem
How does one start?	Create API request in Postman and write validations on responses. Build collections by stacking API tests manually	10-line SDK in the source code of repo. Records traffic and builds tests which can be replayed later using CLI

Why HyperTest is a Better Alternative?

HyperTest will auto-generate an end-to-end test case that you have to otherwise put together one by one in Postman online. The maintenance on HyperTest generated tests is ZERO. Not only does it generate a request-by-request collection like Postman online in seconds, but these tests are also updated by themselves without any manual input.

We can automate our complete service regression testing with it. It saves a lot of developer time from testing and increases our confidence in making the change live. -Shashank Sah, Urban Company

Feature/Aspect	With Postman	With HyperTest
Scope	Limited. Just testing APIs	Comprehensive. APIs, database calls, queue producers & consumers
Maintenance	Manual. Tests scripts need to be written and updated manually. Requires regular maintenance of test cases as APIs change	100% autonomous or no-code. Automatically generates API tests by recording actual user flows. Auto updates all test cases and assertions as APIs change
Quality of Tests	Poor. Depends on quality of assertions which are manually written	High. Quality programmatically generated assertions that cover schema & data to never miss errors
Test Data Management	Yes. set pre-request scripts to seed and update test data before Postman tests are run	No. HyperTest uses data from traffic for tests and keeps it reusable. Handles both read & write requests
Test databases?	No	Yes
Test message queues?	No	Yes
Test Coverage	Unknown. No way to measure test coverage	Measurable. Reports code coverage i.e. actual lines of code that are tested
Test Execution Speed	High. Depends on response time of API and environment (db etc)	Very Less. Runs as fast as unit tests. Does not need dedicated environments

And the best part about HyperTest is zero effort on assertions. HyperTest can generate assertions dynamically at the run-time i.e. time of execution by comparing your test version with the stable version.

It asserts everything on the response, without any moderation, and intelligently figures out which of the breaking assertions can become errors and which are benign. No headache or worry thinking about assertions ever. How cool!

Why Should You Consider Moving from Postman?

1. High Quality Automation

Postman: While Postman supports automated testing through collections and integrations with CI/CD pipelines, the automation capabilities can be somewhat limited, particularly for complex testing scenarios.
HyperTest: HyperTest excels in automation, providing more granular control over test execution and integration with various CI/CD tools. It is 100% autonomous in nature, automatically generates API tests by recording actual user flows and auto updates all test cases and assertions as APIs change with zero manual interference.

2. High >90% of Code Coverage at scale

Postman: Postman does not provide built-in mechanisms to calculate code coverage percentages or identify untested code paths. Managing and correlating test results with code changes across large teams can be cumbersome without any clear insights on code coverage.
HyperTest: HyperTest generates a code coverage report after every run. This highlights clearly how it tests code paths for both the data and integration layer along with the core logic.

3. Distributed Tracing

Postman: It lacks built-in support for distributed tracing, which is crucial for understanding and diagnosing issues in complex, microservices-based architectures.
HyperTest: It offers distributed tracing capabilities, which allow developers to trace requests across multiple services and understand the full journey of a request through their system. This helps in identifying performance bottlenecks, diagnosing issues, and gaining better insights into the interactions between different services.

💡 HyperTest provides distributed tracing, offering end-to-end visibility across microservices, helping developers debug root causes of failures in a single view.

4. Smart Mocking

Postman: Provides manual mocking through examples and mock servers, requiring significant setup and maintenance. It lacks automatic updates based on dependency changes.
HyperTest uses smart mocking for external systems like databases, queues, and third-party APIs, automatically refreshing mocks as dependencies change, keeping tests non-flaky and consistent.

5. Reduce Time Spent Writing Test Code by 95%

Postman: Requires significant manual effort to create and maintain test scripts, often leading to prolonged test development cycles and reduced efficiency.
HyperTest: Automates test creation from recorded user interactions, drastically reducing time spent on scripting. This accelerated development process allows teams to focus on core product features rather than test maintenance.

💡It is helping us in ensuring that the new commit is not affecting any of the existing APIs in terms of performance or business logic. Due to this, the amount of time needed to write test cases or have them manually tested every time is avoided.
                                                                                    -Arun Aranganathan, Fleek Technologies

Summary

To wrap up, HyperTest needs little to no maintenance vs Postman Online tests. HyperTest can cover the application more extensively through network traffic as compared to Postman Online and ends up detecting more bugs through dynamic assertions that are deep and wide.

So, in a nutshell, migrating from Postman online to HyperTest for all your API automation needs can mean:

Spending way less time building or maintaining test automation
Catching way more bugs or issues without ever writing a single line of code
Sleeping like a baby before every release, knowing no major error can ever leak into production

If you’re interested in learning more, schedule a call with an implementation specialist to see how HyperTest can help you ship a bug-free product.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is postman online?

Postman online is a web-based platform for building and using APIs. It lets you send requests, test functionality, and collaborate with others

2. Can I use Postman online?

Yes, you can use Postman Online by signing up on the website and accessing your workspace through a web browser.

3. How to test Postman online?

No need for setup! Just sign up for Postman online and start sending requests. Test APIs with ease, build collections, and collaborate with your team.