mitmproxy vs River
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
mitmproxy
Interactive HTTPS proxy for inspection and debugging
VS
River
Configurable reverse proxy from the Pingora project
| Feature | mitmproxy | River |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 44,605 | ★ 2,351 |
| First released | 2010 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Charles Proxy, Fiddler | nginx, HAProxy |
Why pick each one
Choose River if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is mitmproxy or River better?
mitmproxy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider River if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are mitmproxy and River free and open-source?
Yes. mitmproxy is licensed under MIT and River under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mitmproxy and River with Docker?
mitmproxy: yes. River: check the project docs for container support.