Local tunnel debug vs webhook event gateway
Hookdeck shines at ingest, filtering, and production-grade webhook infrastructure. Mercur is the localhost tunnel you open before staging — with inspect, retry, and MCP.
Choose Mercur when the job is expose localhost, inspect what arrived, and iterate on a handler tonight.
Choose Hookdeck when you need a durable event gateway: queues, filters, transformations, and ops-grade delivery into production services.
Who wins which job
| Job | Mercur | Hookdeck |
|---|---|---|
| Local webhook debugging | Strong — guest + tunnel log | Strong via CLI + console |
| Production ingest / routing | Not the product | Core strength |
| Request inspection | Tunnel request history | Full event history |
| Replay | Manual retry | First-class replay tooling |
| Multi-protocol localhost | HTTP / WS / TCP (paid for WS/TCP) | HTTP webhook focus |
| Remote MCP | Yes — Solo / Team | No |
Summaries as of August 2026. Verify current limits on each vendor’s pricing page.
Where Mercur is stronger
- Faster path to a guest inspect URL without adopting a gateway
- One agent for HTTP plus WebSocket and TCP on paid plans
- Remote MCP for IDE-native request history
- IP allowlists and in-flight request modifiers on Endpoints
When Hookdeck wins
- Production webhook reliability (queueing, retries, filtering)
- Team workflows built around event pipelines
- Path from local CLI into a lasting Event Gateway architecture
- Deeper ops tooling for high-volume ingest
Common questions
Is Mercur a Hookdeck alternative?
For local debugging and inspect-first tunnels, Mercur competes for the same developer moment. It is not a drop-in replacement for Hookdeck’s production event gateway.
Can Mercur queue webhooks when my laptop is offline?
No. If the agent disconnects, requests fail (HTTP 503 after a short grace). Mercur does not market a durable offline queue.
Does Mercur support replay?
Yes — manual retry from the console for stored requests, within plan retention limits.
Related pages
Mercur vs ngrok
The default localhost tunnel. Strong CLI; free URLs rotate; inspect is secondary.
Read comparison →Mercur vs webhook.site
Fastest way to catch a raw payload. Limited localhost forward on free/common workflows.
Read comparison →Mercur vs Hooklistener
Webhook URL + inspect product aimed at no-CLI, no-signup debugging.
Read comparison →Mercur vs Cloudflare Tunnel
Mature edge tunnel with your Cloudflare account/domain — weak webhook inspect UX.
Read comparison →Try Mercur on a real webhook
Get a public HTTPS URL, inspect the payload, then upgrade to a Endpoint when you are ready to hit localhost.