curl vs wget: Which HTTP Client Should You Use?

curl and wget are the two command-line HTTP clients you will find on almost every Unix-like system. Both fetch content over HTTP(S), but they were designed with different jobs in mind. curl is a general-purpose data transfer library and CLI aimed at scripting, API debugging, and protocol coverage. wget is a non-interactive downloader built for grabbing files and mirroring sites reliably over flaky links.

What each tool is

curl ships as part of macOS, most Linux distributions, and Windows 10+ (as curl.exe). It is powered by libcurl and speaks HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, SMTP, IMAP, POP3, LDAP, MQTT, and more. It writes to stdout by default so it composes naturally with pipes.

wget is standard on Linux and installable on macOS via Homebrew. It handles HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. It writes to a file by default (named after the URL) and is happiest running unattended in the background, retrying and resuming until the file is complete.

curl for API debugging

When you need to send a JSON body, set headers, or inspect a response, curl is the right tool. It exposes every HTTP method, header, and body option as a flag.

# GET with a bearer token and pretty headers
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -i https://api.example.com/v1/users/42

# POST JSON and follow redirects
curl -L -X POST https://api.example.com/v1/orders \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sku":"ABC-1","qty":2}'

# Show request/response wire traffic for debugging
curl -v https://api.example.com/health

wget for mirrors and resumes

wget shines when you want a whole file, a whole directory, or a whole site copied to disk. Its retry-and-resume behavior is built in, not bolted on.

# Resume a partially downloaded ISO
wget -c https://cdn.example.com/ubuntu-24.04.iso

# Recursively mirror a documentation site for offline reading
wget --mirror --convert-links --adjust-extension \
     --page-requisites --no-parent https://docs.example.com/

# Background download with a log file
wget -b -o download.log https://cdn.example.com/large.tar.gz

Defaults that trip people up

The biggest surface difference is what happens when you type the bare command:

curl https://example.com/file.zip streams the bytes to your terminal. Use -O to save with the remote name or -o name to choose a name.
wget https://example.com/file.zip writes file.zip to the current directory automatically.
curl does not follow redirects unless you pass -L. wget follows them by default.
curl exits non-zero on transport errors but returns 0 for HTTP 4xx/5xx unless you pass --fail. wget exits non-zero on HTTP errors by default.

Authentication and protocol support

curl has broader auth coverage: Basic, Digest, NTLM, Negotiate/SPNEGO (Kerberos), AWS SigV4, OAuth 2.0 bearer, and mTLS via --cert/--key. wget supports Basic and Digest over HTTP, plus FTP credentials, but stops short of NTLM or SigV4.

Side-by-side flag comparison

Task	curl	wget
Save to file (remote name)	`-O`	(default)
Save to file (custom name)	`-o name`	`-O name`
Follow redirects	`-L`	(default)
Resume partial download	`-C -`	`-c`
Set a header	`-H "K: V"`	`--header="K: V"`
HTTP method	`-X POST`	`--method=POST`
Send body	`-d '...'`	`--body-data='...'`
Basic auth	`-u user:pass`	`--user=... --password=...`
Silent mode	`-s`	`-q`
User-Agent	`-A "UA"`	`-U "UA"`
Recursive fetch	not supported	`-r` or `--mirror`
Fail on HTTP error	`--fail`	(default)

When to pick which

Pick curl when you are talking to an API, need to inspect headers, send JSON, negotiate mTLS, upload with PUT, or pipe the response into jq. Pick it in any script where you want strict error checking and a rich exit code surface.

Pick wget when you want to download a file and walk away, when the connection is unreliable and you need infinite retries, or when you need to mirror a whole site with link rewriting for offline use.

In practice most developers keep both installed and reach for curl for interactive debugging and wget for background bulk transfers.