What is our primary use case?
We usually do our API testing and the endpoint testing on Postman. That's our primary purpose for using Postman. Sometimes, we also use it for load testing, but most of the time, we use a different tool for that.
I don't know the exact version that we are using currently, but most of the time, it is the recent one because our enterprise keeps on updating the software. In terms of deployment, it is a client tool.
How has it helped my organization?
It definitely increases the quality of our deliveries because we are able to test our APIs before moving them to production.
What is most valuable?
We use it for REST API testing. Feature-wise, it is pretty lightweight. It is pretty fast, and we don't have to do a lot of things. We can just simply go and post our endpoint, and it gives different kinds of authorizations. We usually use authentication 2.0, which is the most common industry practice. So, it has the support for authorization through 2.0.
It gives the flexibility to add headers, and it also gives the flexibility to build your payload at run time. If you want to do automation testing, you can just build your payloads at run time by supplying some parameters as variables.
It gives us good flexibility, and it is pretty easy to use. Even entry-level developers can quickly test their APIs. They don't have to rely on the QA testers or the specific QA resources to look at various use cases.
What needs improvement?
The request encryption could be one thing on which they can work a little bit. If we don't want to expose our production data but we still want to test our APIs on the production data, there should be a way to do that. It is not only with Postman. I think no tool in the market is doing that right now.
It would be helpful if better tutorials or recommendations are available while we are using the product. Otherwise, we have to go out and search for specific things. It would be good if they build something in the tool itself that provides recommendations based on the task that we are doing. If we are testing APIs, the tool should come up with some kind of information.
Scalability-wise, it can be improved a little bit. They can include more options to do the performance testing or rate testing so that we can query or push a lot of requests to our APIs.
There could be some kind of graphical interface for performance testing. It would be really helpful if it can give some data to visualize how the performance testing is going in real-time, but there are specific tools for that. Postman might not be meant for that, but they can think on those lines.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Postman for almost four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never seen it crashing, which is a good thing for a tool like this. Sometimes, it hangs, but that's more of an operating system problem. It is not related to the application.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If we want to scale our operations, we definitely try to test our APIs with many requests at the same time from the real scenario perspective. For performance testing, we use a separate tool. NeoLoad is the tool that we use for our API performance testing. Scalability-wise, Postman can be improved a little bit. They can include more options to do performance testing or rate testing so that we can query or push a lot of requests to our APIs.
We are a very big organization. We probably have around 2,000 developers. It is being used extensively. It is good for API testing.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't talked to anyone from their support team.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I started with SoapUI. It is similar in terms of capabilities and functions. There was no specific reason for switching to Postman. I saw people using Postman more, so I started using it.
Postman is more popular than SoapUI. When we are doing testing of the APIs that we want to consume, people usually say that this is a Postman request, and you can try it out. More people use Postman than SoapUI, and that was the reason I started using Postman.
How was the initial setup?
It is pretty straightforward. They also have a WebUI. If you don't want to use it on your device, you can go and use WebUI.
What about the implementation team?
What other advice do I have?
It is doing what it is supposed to do. It is a pretty nice tool, and there should not be any problem in using it. It is definitely better than other alternatives.
Based on my experience so far, it is a flawless product. I don't see any bugs or any kind of technical issues in using it. It is pretty easy to use and easy to learn. If you want to start with API testing, you can go ahead and start with Postman. It is the easiest option available in the market.
I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.