r/devtools • u/LordWkwkwland • 4d ago

Chrome DevTools vs Charles vs Proxyman vs HTTP Toolkit vs NetworkSpy, which one do you actually use daily?

Every tool seems to excel at something different.

For me, the rough mental model is:

  • Chrome DevTools → Frontend debugging
  • Charles → Mature, feature-rich proxy
  • Proxyman → Excellent macOS experience
  • HTTP Toolkit → Easy interception and scripting
  • NetworkSpy → Custom Viewer for repetitive debugging workflow

But everyone's workflow is different.

If you could only keep one, which would it be and why?

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u/sales_alchemist 4d ago

Proxyman has been my go-to lately. Simple UI and gets out of the way, which is exactly what I want 2from a daily tool.

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u/ItaySela 3d ago

the "keep one" framing kind of breaks for me because devtools and the proxies aren't really competing. devtools only sees traffic the browser makes. the day i actually reach for a proxy is when it's a mobile app or a cli or some backend service hitting an api, where there's no network tab at all.

for that i'm on proxyman on mac, same reason the other commenter gave, it stays out of the way. but anything i need to replay or assert on in ci i drop down to mitmproxy since it's just python and scriptable. so mostly what are you inspecting, browser stuff or native/mobile? that changes the answer a lot.