curl_cffi
Shares rank 10 of 11 HTTP client libraries by recommenders
A Python HTTP library that imitates real browser TLS fingerprints, which people use to build scrapers and test clients. Critics raise no recurring complaints.
A Python HTTP library that imitates real browser TLS fingerprints, which people use to build scrapers and test clients. Critics raise no recurring complaints.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not 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: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Used for building web scrapers
“this approach really helped me to write a solid API-based scraper (also using curl_cffi)”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Scraping 241 UK council planning portals – 2.6M decisions so far” “you can do implement scraper using curl cffi, or playwright”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Waiting for dawn in search: Search index, Google rulings and impact on Kagi” Spoofs Chrome TLS fingerprints accurately
“accurately spoofs JA4 for chrome”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 on Hacker News “I've used for TLS fingerprinting”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Scraping 241 UK council planning portals – 2.6M decisions so far”
Other HTTP client libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other HTTP client libraries, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Requests (Python library) | 23 | 7 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Axios | 21 | 37 | 36% | 5 | — | — |
| Go net/http | 12 | 7 | 63% | 4 | — | — |
| libcurl | 10 | 2 | 83% | 7 | — | Approved |
| curl_cffiThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“accurately spoofs JA4 for chrome”
“the first library I reach for in that situation”
“I've used for TLS fingerprinting”
“this approach really helped me to write a solid API-based scraper (also using curl_cffi)”
“you can do implement scraper using curl cffi, or playwright”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.