Laravel tests and Postman have different purposes when it comes to API testing.

Laravel tests (written using PHPUnit or Pest) allow developers to automate backend testing. These tests ensure that controllers, routes, and business logic function as expected. Laravel provides built-in support for unit tests (testing individual methods) and feature tests (testing the entire request-response flow). Running these tests helps catch bugs early in development and ensures stability when making changes.

Postman, on the other hand, is a manual API testing tool with a user-friendly interface. It is useful for quickly sending requests to endpoints, inspecting responses, and debugging APIs. While Postman allows basic automation with collections and scripts, it is more suited for exploratory testing and API documentation rather than fully automated test suites.

If the goal is to ensure long-term reliability with continuous integration, Laravel tests are the better option. If the focus is on quick testing and debugging, Postman is the more convenient tool. In practice, both are often used together—Postman for initial API exploration and Laravel tests for long-term maintainability.