GripMock vs grpcmd

GripMock is a mock server for gRPC services that returns responses defined in YAML or JSON without requiring a backend. It supports unary, server-streaming, client-streaming, and bidirectional calls. Stubs can match request inputs and headers using rules such as equals, contains, matches, anyOf, and glob; dynamic templates can form responses from request payloads, headers, and stream position. Stubs can also return gRPC status errors or delayed responses for timeout testing. The web dashboard lists used and unused stubs and allows them to be created, edited, or deleted while the server runs. GripMock loads .proto files or compiled .pb descriptors, including descriptors supplied to a running server, and can start from a Buf Schema Registry module reference. Deployment options include Docker, release binaries, Homebrew, shell scripts, and Go; a Go SDK embeds it in a test process. It also supports native TLS, optional mutual TLS, OTLP traces, a /metrics endpoint, and MCP endpoints for AI agents. It is free and MIT-licensed.

grpcmd is a free command-line tool for working with gRPC services on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It can use reflection to find available services and methods, describe a method’s request and response messages, and make calls. Requests and responses can stream, with headers, data, and trailers included in output. Users who do not want to rely on reflection can instead provide.proto files and import search paths. The tool can also start a gRPC server implementing grpcmd.GrpcmdService with reflection, and its documentation covers shell completion for Bash, Zsh, fish, and PowerShell. A related tool, grpcmd-script, lets users define endpoint tests in JavaScript and assert response headers, data messages, and trailers; it is distributed as a binary and does not require Node.js. The separate grpcmd-gui desktop app supports reflection-based method lookup, request headers, response headers and trailers, JSON request templates, streaming, and themes. GUI downloads are available for macOS, Windows, and Linux, including amd64 and arm64 builds. grpcmd is listed at free; grpcmd-script is listed at $9 a year with early-bird pricing.