Compare Hurl and Gravitee on pricing, features, platforms, and ratings — both API Tools tools, Open Source vs Freemium (open-source Community Edition plus…
At a Glance
Hurl
Gravitee
Primary category
API Tools
API Tools
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Open Source
Freemium (open-source Community Edition plus tiered commercial plans)
Starting price
Free
Free (Community Edition); paid plans from $1,250/month
Free plan
Not documented
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Mac, Windows
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Yes
Public API
Yes
Yes
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Hurl
Open Source — Free N/A
Gravitee
Community Edition — Free N/A (self-hosted, open source)
Planet — $2,500/month Monthly
Galaxy — Custom Custom
Universe — Custom Custom
Pros & Cons
Hurl
Pros
Completely free and open source with no paid tiers or limits
Lightweight single binary with no scripting language or GUI required
Powerful built-in assertions make it a genuine API testing tool, not just a request runner
Plain-text format is easy to version control, review, and diff
Backed and actively maintained by Orange with a stable release history since 2020
Cons
Smaller plugin and template ecosystem compared to Postman or Insomnia
No polished graphical interface, which can be a barrier for non-technical testers
Steeper learning curve for complex chained scenarios compared to point-and-click tools
Limited built-in mocking or virtualization capabilities
Less mainstream brand recognition than established API tools like Postman
Gravitee
Pros
Free, actively maintained open-source Community Edition with no artificial feature caps on core gateway functionality
Unlimited API calls and events per gateway rather than metered usage pricing, which makes costs predictable at scale
Native support for both REST/GraphQL APIs and Kafka-style event streaming in one platform
Early, dedicated tooling for governing AI agents and MCP servers rather than bolting AI support onto a legacy product
Cons
Commercial tiers above the entry Planet plan require a custom quote, making upfront cost comparison difficult
Gateway-based pricing can get expensive quickly for organizations that need many production gateways for isolation
Smaller ecosystem and third-party plugin marketplace compared to larger incumbents like Kong or Apigee
Self-hosting the Community Edition requires in-house DevOps expertise for scaling and upgrades
Use Cases
Hurl
API Testing in CI/CD Pipelines — Run automated HTTP assertion tests on every commit or deployment as part of a build pipeline.
Quick HTTP Request Scripting — Script and chain HTTP requests in plain text for debugging or exploring an API without writing code.
Contract and Regression Testing — Maintain version-controlled test suites that validate REST and GraphQL API responses over time.
Gravitee
Enterprise API governance — Centralizing design, security and monitoring for hundreds of internal and partner-facing APIs behind a consistent gateway and access policy.
Event-driven architecture mediation — Applying access control, schema governance and monitoring to Kafka topics and event streams alongside conventional REST APIs.
AI agent and MCP governance — Applying rate limits, authentication and observability to AI agents and Model Context Protocol servers as they connect to internal systems.