What HTTP traffic monitor would you recommend for Windows?

Question

I need the sniffer to test network traffic of applications developed by me for Windows and Facebook.

Basic requirements:

display request and response
display HTTP headers
display the time it took to complete HTTP request

Now I'm using HTTP Analyzer. A very good tool, but it terminates with some error after 10-15 min running on Vista.

Related on Super User: [How can I monitor all the outgoing HTTP requests from my PC?](https://superuser.com/q/357123/358766) — Stevoisiak, Jun 19 '18 at 14:35

score 126 · Accepted Answer · edited May 07 '13 at 21:45

126

Wireshark if you want to see everything going on in the network.

Fiddler if you want to just monitor HTTP/s traffic.

Live HTTP Headers if you're in Firefox and want a quick plugin just to see the headers.

Also FireBug can get you that information too and provides a nice interface when your working on a single page during development. I've used it to monitor AJAX transactions.

edited May 07 '13 at 21:45

James Skemp

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answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:52

ICodeForCoffee

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Correction: Fiddler if you want to monitor *or modify* HTTP *or HTTPS* traffic. – EricLaw Aug 17 '09 at 14:42
This answer would be helpful for [this duplicate question on Super User](https://superuser.com/q/357123/358766). Would you mind crossposting this answer? – Stevoisiak Jun 19 '18 at 14:33
Fiddler isn't free. – Donald Duck Apr 23 '22 at 10:00
Fiddler used to be free, but that's changed since I wrote the answer. – ICodeForCoffee Oct 20 '22 at 20:59

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:53

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I now use CharlesProxy for development, but previously I have used Fiddler

answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:53

Richy B.

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+1 for Charles. Fiddler is very good, but some of Charles's other features such as Map Local and Rewrite give it the edge (plus, it's cross-platform). – NickFitz Aug 13 '09 at 13:13
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FWIW, Fiddler can both map local (see AutoResponder) and trivially rewrite (see the script engine). It only runs on Windows, but you can point any other computer at a Windows machine running Fiddler. – EricLaw Aug 17 '09 at 14:43
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Extra +1 to Fiddler for being free – George Oct 12 '13 at 02:48

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:50

Try Wireshark:

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions.

There is a bit of a learning curve but it is far and away the best tool available.

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:54

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Microsoft Network Monitor (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f)

answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:54

Julian Reschke

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To monitor only http traffic you should add a filter like `ProtocolName == "HTTP"` or `tcp.dstport == 80 && http` etc. – BornToCode Jun 30 '14 at 10:34
How to get request and response body in the Microsoft Network Monitor – ramanmittal Feb 08 '23 at 07:51

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 13:10

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Fiddler is great when you are only interested in the http(s) side of the communications. It is also very useful when you are trying to inspect inside a https stream.

answered Aug 13 '09 at 13:10

Sam

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user391552 · Answer 6 · 2018-08-09T09:07:05.250

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I like TcpCatcher because it is very simple to use and has a modern interface. It is provided as a jar file, you just download it and run it (no installation process). Also, it comes with a very useful "on the fly" packets modification features (debug mode).

edited Aug 09 '18 at 09:07

answered Jul 14 '10 at 12:44

user391552

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The link redirects to a malicious site – Plendor Aug 08 '18 at 08:41
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The link was wrong ,it is tcpacher.fr and not tcpcatcher.org. I corrected it. – user391552 Aug 09 '18 at 09:07

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:56

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I use Wireshark in most cases, but I have found Fiddler to be less of a hassle when dealing with encrypted data.

answered Aug 13 '09 at 12:56

Nelson

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What HTTP traffic monitor would you recommend for Windows?

7 Answers7

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