Hoppscotch Earns a 133 Proof of Usefulness Score by Building an Open-Source, Lightweight API Development Ecosystem

In this interview, we catch up with Liyas Thomas, the creator behind Hoppscotch. Hoppscotch is an open-source API development platform designed to help developers and teams test, document, and share APIs without the bloat of legacy tools.

What does Hoppscotch do? And why is now the time for it to exist?

Hoppscotch is an open-source, lightweight API development platform that helps developers test, document, and share APIs quickly and efficiently. It provides a clean, modern interface for working with various API types (REST, GraphQL, etc.), making it a powerful tool for developers and engineering teams looking to streamline their API workflows and collaboration.

Now’s a good time for Hoppscotch to exist because developers are increasingly seeking privacy-focused, lightweight alternatives to bloated legacy tools, and the demand for open-source, self-hosted solutions for the entire API lifecycle is at an all-time high in 2026.

What is your traction to date? How many people does Hoppscotch reach?

Over 2M+ all-time users.

More than 100,000 monthly active users.

Over 77,500 GitHub stars, indicating a strong and active open-source community following.

Who does your Hoppscotch serve? What’s exciting about your users and customers?

Individual Developers, Testers and QA Professionals and Engineering Teams.

The platform is built for collaboration, with features like workspaces, access level rules, and shared collections, making it easy for teams to build and manage APIs together. It provides a single shared API space, which can be a cost-effective alternative to other tools for scaling teams.

Few notable customers are employees from GitHub, Microsoft, Decathlon, intel, ByteDance, NASA, etc.

What technologies were used in the making of Hoppscotch? And why did you choose ones most essential to your techstack?

The platform focuses heavily on API-centric technologies to ensure it remains lightweight and versatile. By prioritizing a tech stack that supports various protocols like REST, GraphQL, and WebSockets directly in the browser or via native apps, Hoppscotch ensures speed and accessibility without the resource heaviness found in competitors.

What is traction to date for Hoppscotch? Around the web, who’s been noticing?

Hoppscotch has secured its place as a top-tier open-source project, recognized for revolutionizing API testing and development by industry observers like DailyBot and MiracleSoft. With coverage highlighting its ecosystem and integration capabilities, the project has proven itself as a serious contender in the developer tools space.

What excites you about this Hoppscotch's potential usefulness?

Hoppscotch is a lightweight, open-source powerhouse that lets you test almost any protocol like REST, GraphQL, or WebSockets right from your browser or a fast native app. It eliminates the bloat of traditional tools while keeping your data private and self-hosted, making it perfect for teams who want speed without sacrificing security. Its growth into a full-scale collaborative ecosystem makes it a genuine, developer-first alternative for the entire API lifecycle in 2026.