Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Requestly VS Headscale

Compare Requestly VS Headscale and see what are their differences

Requestly logo Requestly

A Powerfulย API Mockingย andย Testingย Tool

Headscale logo Headscale

An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server
  • Requestly Requestly
    Requestly //
    2025-02-12
  • Requestly Rest Client
    Rest Client //
    2025-02-12
  • Requestly HTTP Interceptor
    HTTP Interceptor //
    2025-02-12
  • Requestly API Mocking
    API Mocking //
    2025-02-12
  • Requestly Requestly
    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.

  • Headscale Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20

Requestly

$ 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
Founder(s)
Sachin Jain, Sagar Soni, Sahil Gupta
Employees
20 - 49

Headscale

Website
github.com
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

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

Headscale features and specs

  • Open Source
    Headscale is open-source, meaning it is free to use, modify, and distribute. This promotes transparency and encourages community collaboration.
  • Tailscale Compatibility
    Headscale is designed to be compatible with the Tailscale client, allowing users to leverage their existing Tailscale configurations in an alternative backend.
  • Self-Hosted
    Headscale allows users to self-host their own coordination server, providing greater control over their network and data privacy.
  • Community Support
    Being an open-source project, Headscale benefits from community-driven support and contributions, which may lead to rapid feature development and issue resolution.
  • Scalability
    Users can scale their deployments according to their needs without being restricted by commercial licensing models.

Possible disadvantages of Headscale

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Implementing and maintaining a self-hosted solution like Headscale requires a certain level of technical knowledge and expertise, potentially limiting its accessibility to less technical users.
  • Limited Official Support
    Being a community-driven project, Headscale may not have the same level of official support or comprehensive documentation as some commercial alternatives.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Configuring and managing a self-hosted Headscale server can be more complex compared to using managed solutions like Tailscale, potentially posing a challenge for some users.
  • Feature Parity
    While Headscale aims to be compatible with Tailscale, there may be some features or updates that are not immediately available or fully supported.
  • Development Reliance
    As an independent project, Headscale's development relies heavily on community contributions, which can affect the speed of updates or new feature integrations.

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.

Requestly videos

Get Started with Requestly

More videos:

  • Demo - Session Replays by Requestly
  • Tutorial - Modify API Response using Requestly Chrome Extension
  • Tutorial - How to load local JS file in production sites for faster debugging (Map Local Tool)
  • Tutorial - Report Quality Bugs with Video, Network logs, Console logs & Environment details

Headscale videos

Testing out headscale locally for homelab setup

More videos:

  • Review - Tutorial: Using Tailscale Overlay Network VPN with the Self Hosted Headscale Controller

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Requestly and Headscale)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
VPN
0 0%
100% 100
Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud VPN
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Requestly and Headscale.

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 Requestly and Headscale. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

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

Headscale Reviews

We have no reviews of Headscale yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Headscale should be more popular than Requestly. It has been mentiond 60 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.

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 / 9 months ago
  • How to use Cursor to Generate API Testcases in Requestly
    Thatโ€™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, weโ€™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 / 9 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-timeโ€”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
View more

Headscale mentions (60)

  • TS-2026-009: Insecure argument handling in Tailscale SSH permitted root access
    > Did you try Headscale? https://github.com/juanfont/headscale or netbird? Am aware of them but IIRC they are both unaudited which kind of brings us back to square one ? We would still end up running them at arms-length as we do with Tailscale at the moment. Also isn't Headscale server-side only ? - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • TS-2026-009: Insecure argument handling in Tailscale SSH permitted root access
    Did you try Headscale? https://github.com/juanfont/headscale or netbird? The latter has been great for me. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • WireGuard vs OpenVPN vs Tailscale: Self-Host in 2026
    You'll need a config.yaml (server URL, IP ranges, DERP settings) โ€” grab the template from the Headscale repo. Point your Tailscale clients at your server with tailscale up --login-server=https://your-domain, and you have a private mesh with nobody else in the loop. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Self-Hosted Tailscale Control Plane: Headscale on k3s with Authelia OIDC
    Headscale is a self-hosted, open-source implementation of the Tailscale control plane. Same WireGuard mesh, same clients โ€” but your data stays on your infrastructure. If you're already running k3s with ArgoCD, adding Headscale is straightforward. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How Myanmar Blocks Tailscale โ€” and How to Beat It
    Headscale is the open-source implementation of the Tailscale coordination server. Self-hosting it gives you one thing Tailscale's SaaS doesn't: control over the DERP map. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

TailScale - Private networks made easy Connect all your devices using WireGuard, without the hassle. Tailscale makes it as easy as installing an app and signing in.

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

NetBird - Connect your devices into a single secure private WireGuardยฎ-based mesh network with SSO/MFA and manage access with just a few clicks.

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

Netmaker - Netmaker automates mesh VPN's and software-defined networks using WireGuard.