cURL VS Requestly

Compare cURL VS Requestly and see what are their differences

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cURL

cURL is a computer software project providing a library and command-line tool for transferring data...

Requestly

A Powerful API Mocking and Testing Tool

Landing page //
2021-12-13

Requestly //
2025-02-12
Rest Client //
2025-02-12
HTTP Interceptor //
2025-02-12
API Mocking //
2025-02-12
Requestly //
2025-02-12

Requestly is a modern and powerful companion for API Development and Testing. It is an open-source tool purpose-built to speed up and simplify API development workflow for developers and QAs. It is a combination of API Client and HTTP Interceptor that helps create and share API Contracts, testing APIs, and easily mock and integrate them into web and mobile apps.

cURL

Website: curl.se
Pricing URL: -
$ Details
Platforms: -
Release Date: -

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Requestly

Website: requestly.com
Pricing URL: Official Requestly Pricing
$ Details: freemium
Platforms: Google Chrome Firefox Edge Safari Brave Opera Vivaldi Android Windows Linux Mac OSX MacOS
Release Date: 2021 January
Startup details
Country: United States
State: California
City: San Francisco
Founder(s): Sachin Jain, Sagar Soni, Sahil Gupta
Employees: 20 - 49

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cURL features and specs

Versatility
cURL supports a wide range of protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and many more, making it a highly versatile tool for developers.
Cross-Platform
cURL can be used on various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing consistency across different environments.
Command-Line Usage
It can be easily used from the command line, enabling quick and powerful interactions with web services without the need for a graphical interface.
Automation
cURL can be incorporated into scripts for automation, making it essential for repetitive tasks such as automated testing or continuous integration.
Support for Multiple Data Formats
It can work with multiple data formats such as JSON, XML, and form-urlencoded, making it flexible for interacting with various APIs.
Open Source
Being an open-source tool, cURL is free to use and has a large community that contributes to its continuous improvement and support.

Possible disadvantages of cURL

Steep Learning Curve
For beginners, the variety of options and parameters available can be overwhelming, requiring time and effort to become proficient.
Limited Error Messages
cURL sometimes provides minimal error messages, which can make debugging issues more complicated, especially for new users.
Security Concerns
Improper handling of SSL certificates or sensitive data could lead to security vulnerabilities, requiring users to be cautious and knowledgeable.
Not User-Friendly
As a command-line tool, it lacks a graphical user interface, which can make it less accessible for users who are not comfortable with terminal commands.
Manual Configuration
Requires manual configuration for advanced options, which can be time-consuming and cumbersome for complex tasks.

Requestly features and specs

Redirect URL
Block Network Requests
Modify Request & Response Header
Modify Response
Supercharge Selenium
Session Replay
Modify Query Params
Team Workspace
API Client
API Mocks
GraphQL Support
Zero Setup
Auto Capture Sessions
Network Logs
Console Logs

Analysis of cURL

Overall verdict

Yes, cURL (curl.se) is considered good. It is a reliable and powerful tool widely used in the industry for handling various network-related tasks.

Why this product is good

cURL is highly regarded for its ease of use, cross-platform compatibility, and ability to support a wide range of protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. It is often used for transferring data with URLs, making it versatile for developers and system administrators.

Recommended for

Developers needing to test and debug APIs
System administrators managing data transfers
Users automating web interactions
Anyone needing a flexible tool for command-line data transfers

Analysis of Requestly

Overall verdict

Requestly is generally regarded as a good tool due to its comprehensive functionalities and ease of use. Its ability to seamlessly manage network requests makes it suitable for both beginners and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

Requestly is widely considered a valuable tool because it offers robust and flexible features for intercepting and modifying network requests. Developers and QA testers appreciate it for its ability to simulate and debug API calls efficiently. It is particularly useful for testing changes without altering the codebase and for working with web applications in development and production environments.

Recommended for

Developers looking to debug and test API endpoints.
Quality Assurance (QA) teams that require reliable testing tools for web applications.
Technical professionals who manage network traffic and need to modify or redirect requests effortlessly.
Anyone involved in web development who needs to simulate network conditions or test application behavior under different scenarios.

cURL videos

+ Add

BOUNCE CURL REVIEW | Curl Review Series #2

Requestly videos

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Get Started with Requestly

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to cURL and Requestly)

cURL

Requestly

API Tools

100 100%

API Tools

0% 0

Developer Tools

46 46%

Developer Tools

54% 54

Testing

0 0%

Testing

100% 100

APIs

59 59%

APIs

41% 41

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing cURL and Requestly.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Requestly's answer:

Verizon
AT&T
Adobe
Salesforce
Telegraph
Intuit
Verizon

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Requestly's answer:

Front-end developers, QAs, PMs, Digital Marketers

What makes your product unique?

Requestly's answer:

Requestly is an open-source API development and testing tool that combines the capabilities of an API Client and HTTP Interceptor, making it a better alternative to Postman + Charles Proxy. It simplifies API mocking, request modification, and debugging with an intuitive no-code interface, enabling developers and QAs to test APIs efficiently.

User comments

Share your experience with using cURL and Requestly. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare cURL and Requestly

cURL Reviews

Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)

cURL is a widely used command-line tool for transferring data with URLs. It supports a multitude of protocols, making it a versatile choice for API testing.

Source: medium.com

Top 10 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools (2023)

The uniqueness of cURL above others is that it supports different types of protocols, like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, POP3 SCP, and more. As a developer, you have to understand how cURL works.

Source: www.bestproxyreviews.com

Requestly Reviews

Comparing Charles Proxy, Fiddler, Wireshark, and Requestly

On the pricing front, Requestly strikes a balance between affordability and functionality. It is an open-source tool, offering freemium to individual developers and affordable pricing plans for team collaboration. We have also clearly differentiated how Requestly differs from Wireshark and other web debugging tools like Proxyman, Modheader, and HTTP ToolKit separately.

Source: dev.to

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, cURL should be more popular than Requestly. It has been mentiond 128 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

cURL mentions (128)

7 Free Tools for Testing and Analyzing HTTP Caching Behavior
Curl is the most reliable way to inspect HTTP headers from the command line. It makes actual HTTP requests to your server or CDN and displays the raw response headers. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
Testing Geo-Blocked Features with Docker on a Zero-Budget Setup
Use open-source tools like Curl with proxy options for straightforward testing. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
The Ultimate Guide to Offline API Testing: 10 Tools That Work Without Internet
cURL represents the foundational tool that inspired countless API clients. While not specifically designed for offline use, its versatility enables effective offline workflows through local servers and file-based operations. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
pyaction: Python and the GitHub CLI in a Docker Container
This Docker image is designed to support implementing Github Actions With Python. It starts with the official python docker image As the base, which is a Debian OS. It specifically uses python:3-slim to keep the image size Down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. On top of the Base, we've installed curl Gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI. We added curl and gpg because they Are needed to install the... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
Using LLM in Access Management with OpenAM and Spring AI as an example
The application calls several APIs to retrieve settings and their values from OpenAM. For simplicity, we'll use examples using the curl utility instead of programmatic API calls. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago

Requestly mentions (35)

Why You Need a Local-First API Client (With Hands-On Example)
If you want to try a local-first workflow, you can start using Requestly here: https://requestly.com. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
How to use Cursor to Generate API Testcases in Requestly
That’s where automation changes the game. By pairing Cursor, an AI-powered coding assistant, with Requestly's local-first API testing and mocking platform, you can offload the grunt work of writing tests to AI while keeping execution secure and reproducible on your own system. In this article, we’ll walk through how to set up Cursor with Requestly, generate test cases automatically, and run them end-to-end so that... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
These 20 Awesome API Clients Will Change How You Work with APIs
Requestly is a versatile browser extension and web client used to intercept, mock, and debug APIs in real-time—perfect for frontend developers. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
Best Tools for GraphQL Development in 2025
Requestly is a powerful tool for modifying GraphQL responses, intercepting requests, and debugging API interactions. It allows developers to tweak request bodies, capture GraphQL traffic, and share sessions for easier debugging and collaboration. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
How Not to Use AI in Software Development
Learn more at https://requestly.com/. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing cURL and Requestly, you can also consider the following products

Insomnia REST - Design, debug, test, and mock APIs locally, on Git, or cloud. Build better APIs collaboratively for the most popular protocols with a dev‑friendly UI, built-in automation, and an extensible plugin ecosystem.

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

HTTPie - CLI HTTP that will make you smile. JSON support, syntax highlighting, wget-like downloads, extensions, and more.

Proxyman.io - Proxyman is a high-performance macOS app, which enables developers to view HTTP/HTTPS requests from apps and domains.

ngrok - ngrok enables secure introspectable tunnels to localhost webhook development tool and debugging tool.

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

Insomnia REST vs cURL

Insomnia REST vs Requestly