The Swagger UI Alternative
Swagger UI is the default choice for a reason: it’s free, it’s everywhere, and if you’ve generated an
OpenAPI spec from your framework, there’s a good chance a /docs route is already serving it. That
ubiquity is also its ceiling — the UI hasn’t fundamentally changed shape in years, and integrating it
well still means wiring up SwaggerUIBundle, its CSS file, and a dom_id by hand.
Where Swagger UI still wins
It’s the most battle-tested OpenAPI viewer that exists. Every framework’s auto-doc plugin targets it first, the plugin ecosystem (auth flows, custom themes, request interceptors) is enormous, and if something breaks, the answer is already on Stack Overflow. If your team already has custom Swagger UI plugins built, that’s real switching cost — don’t discount it.
Where it falls short
The parts people actually complain about are the parts that haven’t moved: no built-in dark mode (you’re writing your own CSS overrides), no keyboard-driven navigation for specs with hundreds of endpoints, and a layout that was never redesigned for phones — just made to not break on them. Deep linking exists for operations, but there’s no equivalent for jumping straight to a schema.
GetMan targets the same “paste a spec URL, get a working explorer” simplicity, but starts from a
mobile-first three-pane layout that collapses into tabs, ships dark mode without any CSS overrides, and
adds a command palette (⌘K) for jumping straight to any endpoint or schema by name.
Where your Swagger UI page came from
If this Swagger UI instance is auto-generated by a backend framework rather than hand-built, replacing it is a config change, not a rewrite — see the framework-specific guides for FastAPI, NestJS, Express, Spring Boot, and Laravel. And if page weight is the deciding factor rather than any single feature, see the lightweight viewer comparison.
Feature comparison
| Feature | GetMan | Swagger UI |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | One script tag | One script tag |
| Try it out (live requests) | ||
| Dark mode | Built-in, follows system preference | Requires custom CSS |
| Mobile layout | Dedicated collapsing tab layout | Usable, not mobile-optimized |
| Command palette (⌘K) | ||
| Deep links to endpoints & schemas | #endpoints/<id> and #schemas/<Name> | Operation anchors only |
| License | MIT | Apache 2.0 |
Migrate in 3 steps
Swap the embed code and point GetMan at the same OpenAPI spec you're already serving.
Swagger UI
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/swagger-ui-dist/swagger-ui.css" />
<div id="swagger-ui"></div>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/swagger-ui-dist/swagger-ui-bundle.js"></script>
<script>
window.ui = SwaggerUIBundle({
url: "https://your-api.com/openapi.json",
dom_id: "#swagger-ui",
});
</script>
GetMan
<div id="api-docs" style="height: 100vh"></div>
<script src="https://cdn.getman.dev/latest/getman-ui.js"></script>
<script>
GetMan.launch(
document.getElementById('api-docs'),
{ url: 'https://your-api.com/openapi.json' }
);
</script>
FAQ
Is GetMan a drop-in replacement for Swagger UI?
For the common case — pointing a viewer at an existing openapi.json — yes. Both work off the same OpenAPI/Swagger spec, so there's nothing to convert. You're swapping the embed code, not the spec.
Does GetMan support Swagger 2.0 specs, or only OpenAPI 3.x?
GetMan is built OpenAPI-native, same as recent Swagger UI versions. If your spec is still Swagger 2.0, run it through a converter first — the same step you'd need for any modern viewer.
Why doesn't Swagger UI's mobile layout hold up?
Swagger UI's operation list, parameters, and response panes were designed for a wide desktop viewport. On a phone they stack into a very long scroll rather than adapting into a navigable layout, which is what GetMan's collapsing tab view is built to fix.
See GetMan next to your own spec
Paste any OpenAPI or Swagger URL and see it rendered live — no signup, no install.
Open the explorer