mitmproxy vs Squid

mitmproxy is a free set of tools for inspecting and changing traffic sent through a proxy. It handles HTTP/1, HTTP/2, WebSocket, and SSL/TLS traffic, and can intercept HTTP and HTTPS requests and responses for editing. Conversations can be saved for later analysis, and users can replay client requests or recorded server responses. The project provides an interactive console, a browser-based GUI, and non-interactive terminal output through mitmproxy, mitmweb, and mitmdump. Proxy modes include regular, local capture, WireGuard, reverse, transparent, TUN, upstream, SOCKS5, and DNS. Python addons can alter behavior in response to events and expose commands. WireGuard mode can capture traffic from external devices or individual Android apps. A built-in certificate authority generates interception certificates as needed. Installation options cover Windows, macOS, Linux, PyPI, and official Docker images. The project says it does not phone home or check for updates. Documentation notes that HTTP/3 client replay is currently broken; dependencies in precompiled binaries and Docker images are fixed at release and cannot be updated in place.

Squid is a self-hosted caching proxy for web traffic. It keeps commonly requested pages and other supported data available for reuse, helping reduce bandwidth and improve response times. Squid handles HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and gopher data; supported cache engines also include ICP and HTCP. Administrators can apply access controls and use full request logging. Squid can accelerate servers, direct content among web servers, and organize content clusters for load balancing. Multiple caches can be connected as a mesh or hierarchy through parent and sibling links. Proxy authentication options include Basic, NTLM, Digest, and Negotiate, with bundled helpers for LDAP, SQL databases, PAM, RADIUS, and Windows domains. Basic authentication encodes credentials with Base64 rather than encrypting them, so credentials are effectively cleartext between browser and proxy. Squid is free to download, use, and modify, and is distributed under GPL version 2, with some components under compatible open-source licenses. It is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with installation through operating-system packages, source releases, and binaries. Documentation, a wiki, bug tracking, and mailing lists are available.