Request Eaglevs Bruno

Request Eagle and Bruno agree on the big idea: collections are files on your disk, there is no cloud and no account. They differ in what they are built from and what is free. Request Eagle is a native Rust app with one free edition. Bruno is an Electron app whose in-app Git commits, data-driven runs and private Git hosts need a paid plan. Here is how they compare.

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At a glance

Topic	Request Eagle	Bruno
Built with	Rust and GPUI, drawn on the GPU. No web view.	Electron: a bundled Chromium and Node.js.
Runs on	Apple Silicon Macs, Windows and Linux on x64.	Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, Windows and Linux, through Homebrew, winget, Snap, Flatpak and more.
Open source	Yes, MIT or Apache 2.0. One edition.	Yes, MIT, with paid Pro and Ultimate editions.
Price	Free, for one person or a team.	Free. Pro $6 and Ultimate $11 per user per month, billed yearly.
Account	None.	None. Paid editions use a license key.
Requests stored as	TOML files in a folder you choose, such as your project's repository.	YAML files in the OpenCollection layout, or the older `.bru` format, in a folder.
Git in the app	Built in and free. Commit, pull, push and sync from the Git panel.	Clone, init, diff and pull are free. Commit, push, branches and private Git hosts need Pro. Your own `git` works regardless.
Workspaces	None needed. Open any number of collections, from anywhere on disk.	Two workspaces of collections free; unlimited in Pro.
Protocols	HTTP, gRPC, WebSocket and server-sent events.	HTTP, GraphQL, SOAP, gRPC and WebSocket.
Scripts and tests	JavaScript with Postman's `pm` API and bundled libraries, without Node.js.	JavaScript with its own `bru` API and Chai tests; npm packages in Developer Mode.
Collection Runner	No run quota. HTTP requests, with CSV and JSON data files.	Unlimited. CSV and JSON data files and parallel runs in the app need Pro; the free CLI takes a CSV.
Flows	Blocks on a canvas with branches and loops.	No.
CLI	A JSON command line for agents and scripts, without the app.	`bru` runs collections in CI with data files and JSON, JUnit and HTML reports.
AI	Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode in a panel, with your own sign-in and models.	Bruno AI in beta with your own OpenAI, Anthropic or local model; an MCP server around the CLI.
Imports	Postman collections and environments, OpenAPI 3 and Swagger 2, cURL.	Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI, WSDL, cURL and Bruno. Full Postman data dumps need Ultimate.
Exports	Copy a request as cURL or grpcurl.	Bruno, Postman and OpenAPI.
Secret managers	No.	Vault, AWS, Azure and GCP, in Ultimate.
Vim mode	Yes, in the body and script editors.	No. Requested since 2024.
Interface	Eleven theme families in light and dark, sizes from 12 to 24 px.	Light, dark, Dracula, Gruvbox and Cyberdream.

Checked in October 2026 against Bruno 4.3, its pricing page and documentation, with Request Eagle 0.1.41. Prices are in US dollars, per user, billed yearly where both options exist. Found something out of date? Tell us.

Request Eagle, the native API client compared with Bruno on this page: collections, flows and history in the sidebar, a GET request and a formatted JSON response. — Request Eagle on Linux, in the Ayu Dark theme.

Where Request Eagle is ahead

Native, not Electron: Request Eagle draws its window on the GPU and, in our benchmark against Postman, answered the first keystroke a third of a second after launch. Bruno runs inside Electron, and its tracker has open reports of lag with large collections.
Everything is free, including Git in the app: Bruno's app charges for commit and push from its Git panel, for data files in its runner, for private Git hosts and for a third workspace; its CLI and your own git stay free. Request Eagle has one edition: the Git panel, the runner with data files, flows and every protocol cost nothing for anyone.
Postman scripts need no rewrite: Request Eagle runs the pm API and Postman's bundled libraries, so a collection exported from Postman keeps its scripts and tests. Bruno has its own bru API, so scripts are rewritten on the way in.
One file format: Requests have been TOML files from the start. Bruno is moving from its .bru format to YAML, with both supported during the transition and a migration step in between.
Your coding agent inside the client: Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode open in a panel next to your requests, read what you cite and fix or create saved requests. Bruno's AI is a chat with a model you bring, and its MCP server wraps the CLI.
Vim mode and flows: Vim motions in the body and script editors, which Bruno has had on its wish list since 2024, and flows that chain saved requests on a canvas with branches and loops.

Where Bruno is ahead

GraphQL and SOAP: Bruno has a GraphQL editor and SOAP support. Request Eagle sends a GraphQL query as a JSON body and has no SOAP helpers.
Imports and exports in every direction: Bruno reads Insomnia and WSDL and writes Postman and OpenAPI. Request Eagle imports Postman, OpenAPI and cURL and exports a request as cURL only.
Enterprise plumbing and a mock server: Secret managers, SSO, SCIM and audit logs are on Bruno's paid tiers, and Bruno 4.1 added a mock server. Request Eagle has none of them.
Package managers, a VS Code extension and a CI runner: Bruno installs from Homebrew, winget, Snap, Flatpak and the AUR, runs on Intel Macs, has a VS Code extension, and its free CLI runs data files and writes JUnit and HTML reports. Request Eagle offers a disk image, an installer, an AppImage, Debian and RPM packages and the AUR.
A large community: Bruno has tens of thousands of GitHub stars, a company behind it and years of releases. Request Eagle is in early development.

Switching from Bruno

Bruno exports a collection in Postman's format, which Request Eagle reads, so the requests move with one export and one import. Scripts are rewritten by hand.

In Bruno, open the collection's menu and export it as a Postman collection. Export any environment the same way, or note its values.
In Request Eagle, run Import collection from the command palette or the sidebar and choose the file. The collection becomes a folder of TOML files that you can keep anywhere, including the folder where the Bruno collection lives.
Rewrite scripts from the bru API to the pm API by hand: bru.setVar becomes pm.variables.set, res.getBody() becomes pm.response.json(), and test and expect become pm.test and pm.expect.
Put shared values in the collection's environment.toml, and secrets in a global environment, which lives in your home folder and stays out of the repository.
Track the folder with Git from the status bar, or open a folder inside an existing repository as a collection. Commit and push from the Git panel, no license needed.

Which one should you use?

Pick Request Eagle if

you like Bruno's idea of collections as files but want it without Electron, with Git commit and push, data-driven runs and Postman-compatible scripts all free in the app, plus a coding agent panel and Vim mode.

Pick Bruno if

you need GraphQL or SOAP, a secret manager, SSO, a VS Code extension, exports to Postman and OpenAPI, or the package manager of your choice.

Questions

How is Request Eagle different from Bruno?

Both keep collections as plain files, work offline and are open source. Request Eagle is a native Rust app with no web view, stores requests as TOML, runs Postman's pm scripts, and has one free edition with Git, data-driven runs and flows. Bruno is an Electron app that stores YAML or .bru files, uses its own script API, and sells Pro and Ultimate editions.

Can I import Bruno collections into Request Eagle?

Yes, through Bruno's Postman export. Export the collection from Bruno as a Postman collection and import it in Request Eagle. You rewrite scripts written against Bruno's bru API in the pm API; nothing converts them for you.

Is Bruno free?

Bruno's open-source edition and its CLI are free. In the app, committing and pushing from the Git panel, data files in the runner, private Git hosts and more than two workspaces need Pro at $6 per user per month; secret managers and SSO need Ultimate at $11. Request Eagle is free in full.

Does Request Eagle have a CLI like Bruno's bru?

Yes, with a different aim. Request Eagle's CLI speaks JSON and is made for coding agents and scripts: it lists, edits and runs saved requests and flows without the app. Bruno's bru is made for CI, with data files and JUnit and HTML reports.

Does Request Eagle have Vim mode?

Yes, in the body and script editors, with motions, operators, counts and Visual mode. Bruno has an open request for Vim mode since 2024.

Other comparisons

Try it
for yourself.

Request Eagle is free and open source. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs, Windows and Linux. The steps above bring your Bruno requests across.

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