Kivel vs Hookdeck Inspect
Both give you a test webhook URL without an account. Kivel keeps the receiver and history private by default with a short lifetime. Hookdeck Inspect keeps requests for three days and adds retries, sample webhooks, and forwarding to localhost.
Why teams pick Kivel.
Choose Kivel when you want the receiver private, a custom response, replay to a public URL, forwarding to your server on Pro, and mocks, email inboxes, utilities and MCP in the same place.
- Senders and viewers should need a token, not just the URL
- The test is short and the data should disappear soon after
- An MCP agent or script should create and read the inbox
- You also need mock APIs or utilities in the same workflow
Choose Hookdeck Inspect when you want to forward webhooks to a handler on localhost or trigger sample events from common providers.
- Your handler runs on localhost
- You want sample events instead of triggering real ones
- Requests should stay readable for a few days
Every Kivel plan includes webhook and email inboxes, mock APIs and MCP servers, files, memory, monitors and approvals for AI agents over one MCP connection, plus 174 tools in all. Free to start; Pro is $2 a month.
The differences that matter.
| Area | Kivel | Hookdeck Inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Not required. A free account extends resources to seven days. | Not required. Saving data creates a free Hookdeck account. |
| Retention | One-hour anonymous lifetime; up to 100 requests or 1 MiB per inbox. | Source URLs last with the browser session (90 days); captured requests are kept for three days. |
| Access | Private sender and inspection credentials by default. | Share a Source URL so colleagues see the same requests. |
| Local development | No localhost forwarding yet. Replay any captured request to a public URL; Pro forwards every request to your server with retries. | Forwards requests to localhost through the Hookdeck CLI and retries captured requests. |
| Automation | HTTP API, CLI, SDK, SSH, and MCP create and read inboxes; wait_for_webhook blocks until a request arrives. | Inspect API creates Source URLs and waits for the next request, with no API key. |
Good to know.
Kivel cannot yet forward captured webhooks to localhost or send sample provider events, and binary bodies are not forwarded or replayed. Its one-hour anonymous lifetime is much shorter than Hookdeck Inspect’s three-day request retention; a free account keeps inboxes for seven days.
You can start without an account, and a free account keeps resources for up to seven days. See the published allowances for storage, rate limits and retention.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hookdeck Inspect free?
Hookdeck Inspect needs no account to create a test webhook URL. Choosing Save Data creates a free Hookdeck account.
Is Hookdeck Console the same as Hookdeck Inspect?
Hookdeck’s Console documentation URL now redirects to the Inspect page, which describes the no-account test webhook URL.
How long does Hookdeck Inspect keep requests?
Without an account, captured requests are kept for three days and Source URLs last with your browser session, which is 90 days.
Can Kivel forward webhooks to my local server?
Not to localhost yet. You can replay any captured request to a public URL, and on Pro an inbox forwards every request to your server with retries. For a handler on localhost, use a tunnel or the Hookdeck CLI for now.
Check the sources.
Reviewed on against official documentation. Features can change. This page is written by Kivel and is not an endorsement by Hookdeck Inspect.