Orb vs cURL

Orb is designed as a modern alternative to cURL with a familiar command-line interface. This page compares the two tools.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Orb	cURL
HTTP/1.1	✓	✓
HTTP/2	✓	✓
HTTP/3 (QUIC)	✓	✓ (experimental)
WebSocket	✓	✗
JSON shorthand	--json	Requires -H + -d
Compression	zstd, br, gzip, deflate	gzip, deflate, br
Progress bar	✓	✓
Cookie jar	✓	✓
Multipart forms	✓	✓
Proxy support	HTTP, SOCKS5	HTTP, SOCKS4/5
mTLS	✓	✓
Single binary	✓	Depends on build

Side-by-Side Examples

Simple GET Request

# cURL
curl https://api.example.com/users

# Orb
orb https://api.example.com/users

POST with JSON

# cURL
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Alice"}' \
  https://api.example.com/users

# Orb (simpler with --json)
orb -X POST --json '{"name": "Alice"}' https://api.example.com/users

Custom Headers

# cURL
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token" \
     -H "Accept: application/json" \
     https://api.example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -H "Authorization: Bearer token" \
    -H "Accept: application/json" \
    https://api.example.com

Basic Authentication

# cURL
curl -u username:password https://api.example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -u username:password https://api.example.com

Bearer Token

# cURL
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token123" https://api.example.com

# Orb (shorthand available)
orb --bearer token123 https://api.example.com

File Upload

# cURL
curl -F "file=@photo.jpg" https://api.example.com/upload

# Orb (identical)
orb -F "file=@photo.jpg" https://api.example.com/upload

Download to File

# cURL
curl -o file.zip https://example.com/file.zip

# Orb (identical)
orb -o file.zip https://example.com/file.zip

Follow Redirects

# cURL
curl -L https://short.url/abc

# Orb (identical)
orb -L https://short.url/abc

Verbose Output

# cURL
curl -v https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -v https://example.com

Headers Only

# cURL
curl -I https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -I https://example.com

Insecure (Skip TLS Verification)

# cURL
curl -k https://self-signed.example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -k https://self-signed.example.com

HTTP/2 Specific

# cURL
curl --http2 https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb --http2 https://example.com

HTTP/3 Specific

# cURL
curl --http3 https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb --http3 https://example.com

Compressed Response

# cURL
curl --compressed https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb --compressed https://example.com

Timeout

# cURL
curl --connect-timeout 5 -m 30 https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb --connect-timeout 5 -m 30 https://example.com

Cookie Jar

# cURL
curl -b cookies.txt -c cookies.txt https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -b @cookies.txt -c cookies.txt https://example.com

Note

Orb uses @ prefix for reading cookie files (-b @cookies.txt), while cURL doesn’t require it (-b cookies.txt).

Proxy

# cURL
curl -x http://proxy:8080 https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb -x http://proxy:8080 https://example.com

DNS Override

# cURL
curl --connect-to example.com:443:localhost:8443 https://example.com

# Orb (identical)
orb --connect-to example.com:443:localhost:8443 https://example.com

Orb-Only Features

WebSocket Support

# Connect and send message
orb wss://echo.websocket.org --ws-message "Hello!"

# Interactive mode
orb wss://echo.websocket.org

cURL does not support WebSocket connections.

Bearer Token Shorthand

# Orb
orb --bearer "your-token" https://api.example.com

# cURL equivalent
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer your-token" https://api.example.com

JSON Shorthand

# Orb
orb --json '{"key": "value"}' https://api.example.com

# cURL equivalent
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"key": "value"}' https://api.example.com

cURL-Only Features

Some cURL features not yet in orb:

• FTP, SFTP, SCP protocols (Will not be supported)
• TFTP, LDAP, DICT protocols (Will not be supported)
• Globbing/URL patterns ([1-10], {a,b,c})
• Config files (.curlrc)
• --retry with automatic backoff
• --limit-rate bandwidth throttling
• HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY environment variables

Migration Tips

1. Most options are identical - Start by trying your cURL command with orb instead
2. Use --json for JSON APIs - Simpler than -H "Content-Type: ..." -d ...
3. Use --bearer for tokens - Cleaner than -H "Authorization: ..."
4. WebSocket support - Use ws:// or wss:// URLs directly

When to Use Each

Use Orb When

• You need WebSocket support
• You’re working with modern HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 APIs
• You’re workin with modern compression formats like zstd
• You prefer the --json and --bearer shortcuts

Use cURL When

• You need FTP or other non-HTTP protocols
• You rely on URL globbing patterns
• You need specific cURL-only features
• Compatibility with existing scripts is critical