For a team your size, the main decision is how much manual test writing you want to take on, because that is where most API testing setups fall apart over time.
Postman is fine for exploratory testing and quick debugging, but maintaining collections by hand becomes a chore exactly the way you are describing. REST Assured is solid if you are in the Java world, and k6 is great when performance matters, but both need real scripting effort.
Since you mentioned CI and regression specifically, look at tools that generate tests instead of making you write them. Keploy, for example, records your actual API traffic and turns it into test cases and mocks automatically, then replays them in CI to catch breaking changes. It is open source, so there is no cost barrier for a small team, and it works with Node.js and Go.
There is a detailed comparison of the current api testing tools that covers Postman, REST Assured, k6, SoapUI and others with pros and cons, which should help you shortlist two or three to trial.
Whatever you pick, run a two week trial against one real service before committing the whole team.
Answered 6 hrs ago
alex rai
For a team your size, the main decision is how much manual test writing you want to take on, because that is where most API testing setups fall apart over time.
Postman is fine for exploratory testing and quick debugging, but maintaining collections by hand becomes a chore exactly the way you are describing. REST Assured is solid if you are in the Java world, and k6 is great when performance matters, but both need real scripting effort.
Since you mentioned CI and regression specifically, look at tools that generate tests instead of making you write them. Keploy, for example, records your actual API traffic and turns it into test cases and mocks automatically, then replays them in CI to catch breaking changes. It is open source, so there is no cost barrier for a small team, and it works with Node.js and Go.
There is a detailed comparison of the current api testing tools that covers Postman, REST Assured, k6, SoapUI and others with pros and cons, which should help you shortlist two or three to trial.
Whatever you pick, run a two week trial against one real service before committing the whole team.