Charles Proxy
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 HTTP debugging proxies
Used for inspecting raw HTTP and HTTPS traffic from apps and mobile; one-time purchase. Critics say UI changes confuse and Proxyman is better on macOS.
Used for inspecting raw HTTP and HTTPS traffic from apps and mobile; one-time purchase. Critics say UI changes confuse and Proxyman is better on macOS.
45 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 15
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Inspects raw HTTP and HTTPS traffic
“super useful when you have an application, i.e. not a browser, that is making api calls that you want to inspect.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Charles is very much about observing and understanding raw HTTP(S) traffic with minimal friction”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “I've found tools like Charles really useful for understanding what's happening on the wire.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” - Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Reticle – Debug MCP Tool Calls from Claude/Cursor (Rust)”
Used for many years
“I don't have elaborate needs and have used Charles for many years.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Fantastic software that I've used for over a decade.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Charles is user friendly and robust”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” Useful for mobile and API work
“The combination of Charles + Postman is great for reverse engineering mobile API's.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Charles was indispensable tool for working with HTTP apis”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “It's invaluable for mobile developers.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” One-time purchase, no subscription
“you buy it and get to keep the version forever”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Worth the money. And no subscription”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
UI changes confusing or hard to learn
“an update changed the UI in ways that were confusing”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “If the devs behind Charles would just tweak their UI a bit, it would be the absolute perfect tool. Functionally it pretty much already is.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “I could never recognize all its unlabeled icons without hovering for tooltip”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” - Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy”
Rivals like Proxyman and Fiddler better
“It’s great, but if you are a macOS user, Proxyman is better”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Fiddler is superior to Charles and always has been.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “It's a far better macOS app than Charles”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” - Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy”
Certificate and TLS setup problems
“I used to face issues from time to time doing this with Charles having to restart my machine at times and not getting the certificates to work.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “Something all of these miss imo is a way to modify TLS handshakes.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy” “The certificate configuration tripped my head during my work.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Charles Proxy”
Other HTTP debugging proxies people recommend
The two most recommended other HTTP debugging proxies, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 3 HTTP debugging proxies, rankedWhat people said
40 of the 46 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“All are great, but I've never been completely satisfied with the UX/features for building automations.”
“debugging HTTP traffic with local proxies (like Charles or Proxyman) has become a bottleneck for me”
“mitmproxy/Charles are great when the traffic is HTTP and on the network path”
“Everything felt broken after the switch, for the trade off to get more features?”
“super useful when you have an application, i.e. not a browser, that is making api calls that you want to inspect.”
“a real proxy tool is like a Swiss Army knife”
“Fiddler is superior to Charles and always has been.”
“I used Charles for many years but proxyman's performance is a real step up”
“I find a Charles to be very useful for what it does”
“you buy it and get to keep the version forever”
“Charles is user friendly and robust”
“It's invaluable for mobile developers.”
“Something all of these miss imo is a way to modify TLS handshakes.”
“far superior to charles for my purposes”
“I could not figure out how to use it the way I had used the old version”
“The combination of Charles + Postman is great for reverse engineering mobile API's.”
“I tried Charles at a later place that offered a license, and I went back to Requestly”
“I've found tools like Charles really useful for understanding what's happening on the wire.”
“The main reason why I can't leave Charles is the lack of session grouping in Proxyman.”
“If the devs behind Charles would just tweak their UI a bit, it would be the absolute perfect tool. Functionally it pretty much already is.”
“Tool that can't be beaten”
“not as capable as Fiddler”
“We ran into some issues with Charles”
“script editor to programmatically edit requests is so much better and powerful than Charles' request editor.”
“Charles is very much about observing and understanding raw HTTP(S) traffic with minimal friction”
“It’s great, but if you are a macOS user, Proxyman is better”
“I used to face issues from time to time doing this with Charles having to restart my machine at times and not getting the certificates to work.”
“I find the UI better and setting it up easier too”
“an update changed the UI in ways that were confusing”
“It's a far better macOS app than Charles”
“The certificate configuration tripped my head during my work.”
“You can do more, e.g., changing the status code”
“Charles was soo good for ol AMF!!”
“I found Charles Proxy last year and it's fantastic.”
“The ssl proxying is especially handy.”
“I don't have elaborate needs and have used Charles for many years.”
“I could never recognize all its unlabeled icons without hovering for tooltip”
“Worth the money. And no subscription”
“Charles was indispensable tool for working with HTTP apis”
“Fantastic software that I've used for over a decade.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.