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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs Wireshark

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Wireshark logo

Wireshark

Cybersecurity

The world's foremost network protocol analyzer

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.; Wireshark free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier
  • They diverge on capability: Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and Wireshark actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and Wireshark differ
AttributeHookdeckWireshark
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countfree
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsDesktop, Cli
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown1998

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in Wireshark

  • Deep packet inspection
  • Live capture
  • Offline analysis
  • 3000+ protocol support
  • Rich display filters
  • VoIP analysis
  • Decryption support
  • Scripting with Lua

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot Wireshark
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot Wireshark
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot Wireshark
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot Wireshark

Wireshark

  • Network Securitynot Hookdeck
  • Packet Analysisnot Hookdeck
  • Open Sourcenot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

Wireshark

  • Free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

Wireshark

Free
  • Free & Open SourceFree
    • Full functionality
    • Deep inspection
    • Live capture

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose Wireshark if

  • You need deep packet inspection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Desktop, Cli.
  • You also want live capture.
Wireshark review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or Wireshark better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and Wireshark at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or Wireshark?
Hookdeck starts at Free and Wireshark at Free.
Does Hookdeck or Wireshark run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. Wireshark runs on Desktop, Cli.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what Wireshark is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that Wireshark cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection, Live capture, Offline analysis, 3000+ protocol support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

Wireshark: Is there a cost to download and use Wireshark?

No, Wireshark is completely free. It's distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2, making it "free software" with no demo limitations. The full version is available at no cost.

Source
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

Wireshark: What support options are available for Wireshark users?

Wireshark offers multiple support channels including mailing lists, an active Discord community, the Ask Wireshark Q&A platform, comprehensive documentation, a user guide, and developer resources for those needing technical assistance.

Source
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

Wireshark: Are there different pricing tiers or subscription levels?

Wireshark does not offer pricing tiers or subscriptions. There is one free version available to all users regardless of use case, personal, professional, or organizational.

Source
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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