Hurl review 2026: open-source command-line HTTP testing tool features, plain-text syntax, CI/CD use cases, pros and cons, and Postman alternatives.
Hurl is an open-source command-line tool that runs and tests HTTP requests defined in a simple plain-text file format. Developed by Orange under its Orange-OpenSource GitHub organization since 2020, Hurl is written in Rust and powered by libcurl, giving it protocol behavior close to curl itself while adding a structured, testable request format on top.
Rather than writing imperative scripts or clicking through a GUI, Hurl users define requests, headers, bodies, and expected assertions in a .hurl file that can be committed to version control, reviewed in pull requests, and diffed like any other source code, which appeals strongly to developers who want their API tests to live alongside their application code.
Because it ships as a single lightweight binary with no GUI dependency, Hurl is particularly well suited to CI/CD pipelines, where test suites can run automatically on every build with clear structured output.
Hurl supports chaining multiple requests together within a single file, capturing values like authentication tokens, cookies, or IDs from one response and injecting them into subsequent requests, which makes it possible to model realistic multi-step API flows such as login-then-fetch-then-update sequences entirely in plain text.
Its assertion system covers HTTP status codes, response headers, and response bodies, with support for JSONPath queries against JSON APIs and XPath queries against XML or HTML responses, allowing Hurl to function as a genuine regression and contract-testing tool rather than just a request runner.
Hurl works across REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs, runs identically on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and produces both terminal output and optional HTML test reports, making it straightforward to wire into CI/CD systems for automated API testing on every commit.
Hurl is entirely free and open source under the Apache License 2.0, with no company, subscription, or paid tier attached to it. There is no freemium gate, no usage limit, and no enterprise edition; the full feature set, including request chaining, assertions, JSONPath and XPath querying, and CI/CD-friendly reporting, is available to every user at no cost.
Because Hurl is maintained by Orange as a sponsored open-source project rather than a commercial product, there is no vendor to negotiate pricing with; organizations simply download the binary or install it via common package managers and use it under the terms of its open-source license.
Hurl is an open-source command-line tool that runs and tests HTTP requests defined in a simple plain-text format, built by Orange and powered by libcurl.
Yes, Hurl is completely free and open source under the Apache License 2.0, with no paid tiers, subscriptions, or usage limits.
Hurl is developed and maintained by Orange, the French telecommunications company, under its Orange-OpenSource organization on GitHub, with original contributions from Jean-Christophe Amiel, Fabrice Reix, and Filipe Pinto.
Hurl can replace many curl scripting use cases and offers more structured, testable workflows than raw curl, though it lacks Postman's graphical interface and collaboration features.
Yes, Hurl is designed to integrate cleanly into CI/CD pipelines, producing structured pass/fail results and optional HTML test reports for automated testing on every build.
Hurl runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and supports REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs, with assertion support for JSON via JSONPath and XML or HTML via XPath.