BloomRPC Extended vs gRPC CLI

BloomRPC Extended is a free desktop GUI client for exploring and querying gRPC services on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It is a maintained fork of the original BloomRPC, which the project says was archived in January 2023. Native calls include unary, server streaming, client streaming, and bidirectional modes; gRPC-Web and server reflection are also supported. Users can import and manage .proto files, manage environments, and edit metadata. TLS and SSL connection security are available. The interface provides draggable service tabs, search and filtering, grouping by service, an overflow menu, and a close-all control. Packaged builds use CodeMirror 6 for syntax highlighting, according to the project. Downloads include macOS DMG, Windows EXE, and Linux AppImage or DEB. Homebrew and Scoop installation instructions are listed for macOS and Windows. GitHub Issues is the reported support route. The repository lists LGPL-3.0-or-later licensing; source builds require Bun v1.0 or later.

gRPC CLI is a free, open-source command-line tool in the gRPC repository for inspecting services and calling remote methods. It can send unary RPCs, attach metadata to requests, display metadata received from a server, and handle common server authentication. With server reflection, it can list services and methods; when reflection is unavailable, local proto files can supply service definitions and request or response types. Requests can be read in proto text or wire form. Responses can be displayed as text or written to a file in wire form. Streaming RPC support is described as a desired capability, not part of the documented core functionality. The tool runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, but must be built from repository source. The documented process uses CMake and the `make grpc_cli` build target. Its documentation describes the tool as not yet up to par in user-friendliness and says grpcurl is better maintained in its current state. The gRPC repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0.