# Inspect vs Charles Proxy

The clearest difference is price: Inspect at Free against Charles Proxy's $8.99. Inspect also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 52%) and rating (4.5 vs 4.0). Charles Proxy's advantage is chart position (#174 vs unranked). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Inspect is free to download; Charles Proxy costs $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Inspect holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 126 and 189 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Inspect's written reviews are positive against 52% of Charles Proxy's.

Inspect ships an update every 3 weeks, Charles Proxy every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Inspect | Charles Proxy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $8.99 |
| Rating | **[4.5 (126 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/inspect-view-tls-certificate/id1074957486/reviews)** | [4.0 (189 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 126 | **189** |
| Positive reviews | **86.8% of reviews** | 51.9% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | **Free** | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | **#174** |
| Size | 35 MB | 20 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **17.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Tao Xu](https://appshunter.io/developer/1495134122) | [XK72 Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/284393209) |

## What reviewers say

### Inspect

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/inspect-view-tls-certificate/id1074957486)

Examine the TLS certificate chain of any website directly on your iPhone or iPad. Understand trust status, protocols, and security signals. Export certificates for further analysis or sharing.

**Highlights:** Inspect live TLS certificate chains, Review trust status and security signals, Browse and export certificates, Safari extension for current page inspection, Action extension for shared URLs, Home Screen widget for Live Monitor

**In-app purchases:** none


### Charles Proxy

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562)

**Currently charting:** #174 Top Paid · Utilities (US App Store)

Capture and inspect network requests and responses directly on your iOS device. Debug networking issues without needing a computer. View detailed metadata, headers, and bodies, and even transfer sessions to a desktop for further analysis.

**Highlights:** Capture network requests and responses, Inspect metadata, headers, and bodies, SSL Proxying for plain text viewing, Measure network performance, Block requests to specific hosts, DNS spoofing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great tool for developers
- 👍 Useful for debugging
- 🔒 SSL proxying works
- 💡 Convenient to use on mobile

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Stability issues, crashes
- 🐛 SSL certificate not trusted
- 🐛 Doesn't handle gzip compression
- 🐛 Slow performance compared to desktop

**Reported bugs**

- Doesn't work with latest iOS versions
- Fails to export sessions frequently
- Incompatible with apps using VPN
- Large JSON bodies not displayed properly

**Requested features**

- Add ability to edit and replay requests
- Improve JSON viewer and formatting
- Add support for WebSockets
- Provide option to map to local
- Add scripting and breakpoint features


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Inspect free?

Inspect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Charles Proxy free?

Charles Proxy costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Inspect or Charles Proxy?

Inspect is rated higher. Inspect averages 4.5 out of 5 from 126 ratings, while Charles Proxy averages 4.0 from 189 ratings.

### Do Inspect or Charles Proxy have ads?

Neither Inspect nor Charles Proxy shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Inspect or Charles Proxy?

Inspect ships an update every 3 weeks, and Charles Proxy every 2 months. Most recently, Inspect was updated on October 16, 2026 and Charles Proxy on October 21, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*