I Got Tired of Paywalled Mock API Tools, So I Built a Free One

If you've ever needed to fake a backend while waiting on the real one, you've probably run into the same wall I did: every "free" mock API tool caps your requests, locks GraphQL/OpenAPI support behind a paid tier, or nags you to upgrade after five minutes of use. So I built Mock API Studio as part of ForgePlug — completely free, no sign-up, no limits. It generates realistic fake REST APIs, mock JSON data, authentication flows, and supports GraphQL/OpenAPI. Good for frontend work when the backend isn't ready, testing edge cases, or quick demos. Try it: https://www.forgeplug.com/tools/mock-api-studio — it's one of 60+ free tools on ForgePlug. Would love feedback on what would make it more useful.

Comments

[Presendapp]

The "free tier that nags you after five minutes" pattern is everywhere in dev tools, so good to see one that just doesn't do that. I went the same route with a set of free API utilities — no key, no signup — mostly because I got tired of the friction myself before building anything. Does GraphQL support cover subscriptions too, or just queries/mutations for now?

[Vipul Singh]

Thanks! Right now GraphQL support is queries only under the hood — mutation { } parses fine syntactically but resolves the same as a query (no real writes yet), and subscriptions aren't implemented at all. I do have a separate Realtime tab (SSE/WebSocket mock streams for create/update/delete events) but it's not wired into the GraphQL side as subscriptions yet — that's a natural next step if there's interest.

[Presendapp]

That's a clean way to handle it — parsing mutations without silently pretending they write something real avoids a nasty surprise for anyone testing against it. Wiring the Realtime tab into GraphQL subscriptions makes sense as the natural next step, especially since most frontend devs reaching for a mock API are probably testing exactly that pattern (optimistic UI + live updates). Following along either way — nice tool.