istek vs Kreya
Kreya is a capable cross-platform API client for gRPC, REST, GraphQL and more, with a free plan and paid plans. istek does gRPC only, only on the Mac, and includes everything for one price. Choose Kreya for breadth; choose istek for a native Mac tool with nothing held back.
Updated
| istek | Kreya | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon | macOS, Windows and Linux |
| Protocols | gRPC | gRPC, REST, GraphQL, WebSocket and more |
| Server reflection | Included | Paid plans only |
| Environments | Included (saved connection settings) | Paid plans only |
| Request history | Included | Latest request only on the free plan |
| Scripting and tests | No | Paid plans |
| CLI | No | Paid plans |
| Price | $29 once per developer | Free plan; paid Pro and Enterprise plans |
Choose Kreya if
- You or your team work on Windows or Linux.
- You need REST, GraphQL or WebSocket in the same tool.
- You want scripted tests or a CLI for CI.
- Its free plan covers what you need.
Choose istek if
- You work on a Mac and want reflection, environments and history without a subscription.
- You want a native app: 5.4 MB to download, 22 MB of memory, open in 0.25 s.
- You want secrets in the Keychain and no host contacted but your own servers.
What istek does not do yet
- It does not show response headers or trailers; you see the body, the status and the latency.
- It does not negotiate compression.
- It does not speak gRPC-Web or Connect; it is a native gRPC (HTTP/2) client.
- Environments save connection settings, not variables, so there is no
{{placeholder}}substitution in request bodies. - It runs only on macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. There is no Windows, Linux or Intel build.