Charles vs Reqable

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.

Reqable is a cross-platform HTTP development and debugging tool for API debugging, testing, and traffic analysis. It is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its debugging proxy supports HTTP/1.x and HTTP/2, WebSocket, HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4, SOCKS4a, and SOCKS5 proxies, plus TLS versions 1.1 through 1.3. API testing also supports HTTP/3 (QUIC) and Server-Sent Events. Developers can rewrite requests, set breakpoints, modify responses, and process request or response data with Python scripts. Collections can be imported from Postman, Swagger, Insomnia, Hoppscotch, ApiFox, ApiPost, RapidAPI (Paw), cURL, and HAR. Collections remain local when signed out; signing in enables cloud storage and device syncing. The mobile app can forward traffic to the desktop app through a VPN service, but omits rewrite, breakpoint, and script features. API debugging requires a CA certificate. The Community edition permits commercial use and costs nothing, with one device and 100MB of storage. Premium costs $49.90 a year for up to six devices and 1GB of storage.