ContractFilter mismatch at the EndpointDispatcher exception

A "ContractFilter mismatch at the EndpointDispatcher" means the receiver could not process the message because it did not match any of the contracts the receiver has configured for the endpoint which received the message.

This can be because:

  • You have different contracts between client and sender.
  • You're using a different binding between client and sender.
  • The message security settings are not consistent between client and sender.

Have at look at the EndpointDispatcher class for more information on the subject.

So:

Make certain that your client and server contracts match.

  • If you've generated your client from a WSDL, is the WSDL up-to-date?
  • If you've made a recent change to the contract, have you deployed the right version of both client and server?
  • If you've hand-crafted your client contract classes, make sure the namespaces, elements names and action names match the ones expected by the server.

Check the bindings are the same between client and server.

  • If you're using a .config file to manage your endpoints, make sure the binding elements match.

Check the security settings are the same between client and server.

  • If you're using a .config file to manage your endpoints, make sure the security elements match.

I had this error and it was caused by the recevier contract not implementing the method being called. Basically, someone hadn't deployed the lastest version of the WCF service to the host server.


You will also get this if you try to connect to the wrong URL ;)

I have two endpoints and services defined in my system, with similar names.

Got this exact error when the URLs got swapped on my client at some point. Really scratched the head until finally figuring out this dumb mistake.


I had this problem and found that in my proxy generator, which I copied from another service, I forgot to change the name of the service.

I changed this...

Return New Service1DataClient(binding, New EndpointAddress(My.Settings.WCFServiceURL & "/Service1Data.svc"))

to...

Return New Service2DataClient(binding, New EndpointAddress(My.Settings.WCFServiceURL & "/Service2Data.svc"))

It was a simple code error, but nearly impossible to debug. I hope this saves someone time.