The best HTTP clients, according to hackers
5 HTTP clients were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The two most recommended HTTP clients with the badge. Each figure is 10 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Well-engineered, rigorously tested and reliable
A mature, well-tested command-line tool for HTTP and many other protocols that composes well in scripts and with agents; critics find it has too many options.
Mirrors websites for offline access
Free command-line tool for downloading files and mirroring websites for offline use; people trust it for reliable, resumable downloads. One commenter finds its hidden .wget-hsts file confusing.
All 5 HTTP clients, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | curl | 100 | 26 | 79% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 2 | wget | 19 | 1 | 95% | 10 | — | Approved |
| 3 | HTTPie | 7 | 1 | 88% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | curl-impersonate | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | lgogdownloader | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same HTTP client in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to HTTP clients that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.