Compare
Bifurc vs Fiddler
Fiddler is a long-standing web debugging proxy for Windows. It comes in two products: Fiddler Classic, which is free and Windows-only, and Fiddler Everywhere, a cross-platform paid subscription. Both sit between your apps and the network so you can inspect, decrypt and change HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
Bifurc does that too, and adds the rest of local API work around it: names for your local services, a multi-protocol API client, mocks matched on live traffic, and workspaces kept in git. If you want a free Fiddler alternative that also replaces your API client, this is how they compare.
At a glance
The table compares Bifurc with Fiddler Classic, the free edition most Windows developers know. Fiddler Everywhere adds macOS and Linux support and a newer interface on a paid subscription.
| Bifurc | Fiddler Classic | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Platforms | Windows and Linux | Windows |
| App | Native Rust desktop app and CLI | .NET desktop app |
| Capture and inspect HTTP and HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
| Decrypt HTTPS with a local root certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Answer requests with a mock | Mocks that can replace part or all of a response, including streams | AutoResponder |
| Change traffic in flight | Proxy rules with request and response scripts | FiddlerScript and rules |
Custom *.localhost domains | Yes, built-in reverse proxy | No |
| Saved requests | REST, GraphQL, gRPC and SOAP | Composer for HTTP |
| WebSocket, SSE, Socket.IO and MCP clients | Yes | No |
| Environments and encrypted vaults | Yes | No |
| Workspaces as files in git | Yes | No |
| Browser extension with a DevTools panel | Chrome and Firefox | No |
From debugging traffic to building with it
Fiddler is at its best when something already happened and you want to see it. Bifurc is built to keep going from there: select a captured exchange and save it as a request you can edit and replay, or as a mock that answers the same call next time. Captures can be filtered by method, URL, status and route, and saved in batches into folders. See Traffic Capture.
Rules without a scripting language to learn
Fiddler Classic's most powerful changes are written in FiddlerScript. In Bifurc, a proxy rule matches an exact URL or a regular expression, sends the traffic to a mapping or another host, and can run a script on the request before it is forwarded or on the response before it is returned. Rules apply as soon as they are saved.
Names for local services, over HTTPS
Fiddler does not route traffic to your local services by name. Bifurc's reverse proxy serves names such as api.localhost and admin.localhost, which resolve to your machine without a hosts file, and its HTTPS toggle serves them over TLS using the same local root certificate that decrypts intercepted traffic. See TLS Interception.
When Fiddler is the better choice
- You need a mature, deep inspection tool with years of add-ons and extensions behind it, and the work is mostly reading traffic rather than building with it.
- You need macOS, which Fiddler Everywhere supports and Bifurc does not yet.
- You debug traffic from other devices on your network, such as a phone, through the proxy.
When Bifurc is the better choice
- You want capture, mocking and an API client in one free app, instead of a debugging proxy plus a separate request tool.
- You build against local services and want them reachable by name, with mocks that stand in for an endpoint that is not ready yet.
- You send gRPC, GraphQL, SOAP, WebSocket, SSE, Socket.IO or MCP requests as well as plain HTTP.
- You want your setup versioned: every rule, mock and request is a file in a git-backed workspace you can share.
Moving from Fiddler
- Install Bifurc from the download page.
- In Settings, generate a root certificate (or import one) and trust it, then turn on HTTPS interception.
- Point your browser at the forward proxy, or install the Bifurc Companion extension and toggle proxying from its popup.
- Recreate AutoResponder entries as mocks and FiddlerScript changes as proxy rules with scripts.