Hookdeck is a well-built managed webhook platform. Corral is a self-hosted binary you run on your own infrastructure. Here's when each makes sense.
| Corral | Hookdeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | Hookdeck's cloud |
| Free tier | 3 endpoints, 1K events/mo | Limited — rate and event caps |
| Pro pricing | $0.99/mo | From $25/mo (paid plans) |
| Binary size | ~9MB, no install step | SaaS — no binary |
| Capture & inspect | Yes | Yes |
| Replay | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-forwarding | Yes, with retry | Yes, with retry |
| SSE live stream | Yes | No |
| Transformations | No | Yes (Pro) |
| Alerting | No | Yes |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | API key + webhook config |
| Offline / LAN use | Yes | No |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Proprietary SaaS |
If your webhooks contain sensitive data that shouldn't leave your network — payment events, medical records, internal audit events — running Corral on your own server means those payloads never touch a third-party service.
Corral is also the right pick for local development. Point Stripe or GitHub at your laptop's Corral instance, inspect every payload in a browser, and replay failures without re-triggering the source. No tunnel, no account, no monthly bill for development traffic.
For teams, Corral Pro ($0.99/mo) adds unlimited endpoints, 90-day retention, retry on failed forwards, event search, and JSON export. It covers the vast majority of webhook workflows for a fraction of what hosted tools cost.
If you're on a fully managed stack and don't want to run any infrastructure at all, Hookdeck is well-designed and solves the same core problem without the ops work. It also has features Corral deliberately leaves out — webhook transformations, richer alerting, and team collaboration features built for multi-person SaaS teams.
If your workflow depends heavily on payload transformations before forwarding, or you need fine-grained alerting on delivery failures, Hookdeck's feature set is deeper in those areas.
Corral vs webhook.site · How to debug webhooks locally · Corral overview
Corral runs as a single binary on your server. Webhooks arrive at your endpoint, get logged to embedded SQLite, and optionally get forwarded to your application. Hookdeck is a cloud service — webhooks route through their infrastructure before reaching yours. For payment webhooks containing transaction amounts and customer data, the distinction between self-hosted and cloud-routed is a compliance question, not just a preference.
Every webhook Corral captures is stored in a SQLite database on your server. Export captured webhooks by querying the database directly or through the API. Replay any historical webhook to test updated handler code. With Hookdeck, your captured webhooks live on their servers — if you stop paying or they change their retention policy, that history disappears.
If you are building webhook integrations and need a capture tool during development, try Corral alongside Hookdeck. Point your webhook source at both endpoints for a week. If Corral handles your workflow — capture, inspect, replay, forward — switch over fully. The migration is instant because webhook endpoints are just URLs you configure in the sending service.
Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.