Charles vs Proxyfor

Charles is a web proxy and HTTP monitor for developers who need to inspect traffic from browsers and other internet applications configured to use it. While recording is enabled, it captures and displays HTTP and SSL/HTTPS requests and responses, including headers, cookies, and caching information. SSL Proxying lets users examine HTTPS session contents. They can repeat or edit requests, intercept requests or responses with breakpoints, replay traffic, mock responses, inspect WebSockets, and chain proxies. Bandwidth throttling and added latency simulate slower connections. Charles presents JSON, JSON-RPC, and SOAP in a simplified tree format and supports Flash Remoting AMF0 and AMF3. Its iOS app captures HTTP and HTTPS traffic and can share requests or sessions with desktop Charles. Captured data is stored on the user's computer; Charles says its developers cannot access it. The software runs on iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. There is no free plan; a 30-day trial is available. Individual licenses start at $30, paid once for 10+ users, while 1–4 licenses cost $50 as a one-time purchase.

Proxyfor is a proxy command-line tool for capturing and inspecting HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and secure WebSocket traffic. It works in forward or reverse proxy modes and offers both terminal and web interfaces. Captures stream as requests and responses arrive, allowing filtering, searching, and export to Markdown, cURL, or HAR files. The CLI can filter HTTP(S) traffic with a regular expression matching method and URI, or by MIME type. HTTPS inspection requires installing Proxyfor’s CA certificate on the target device; the project describes a built-in certificate installation app. Proxyfor runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and self-hosted deployments. Installation is documented through Cargo, Docker, or downloadable binaries, including a single-file portable executable for desktop systems. Docker instructions mount a configuration directory and expose port 8080. The project is open source under either the MIT License or Apache License 2.0. GitHub lists version 0.5.0 as the latest release.