How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
ngrok alternatives at a glance
Pinggy is the best ngrok alternative for most developers, because it needs no install for HTTP tunnels, costs $2.50 per month billed yearly, and supports UDP and custom domains. Cloudflare Tunnel is the best free option, LocalXpose is the best flat-price hosted pick, and frp is the best self-hosted option for teams that want full control.
Key takeaways
- ngrok is still the default tunnel, but its free plan caps transfer at 1 GB and 20,000 requests, shows an interstitial page, and needs the $20 per month plan for custom domains.
- Pinggy is the cheapest persistent option: Pro costs $2.50 per month billed yearly, with a persistent tunnel, a custom domain and UDP support.
- Cloudflare Tunnel is free, including named tunnels on a free Zero Trust account, but your domain must sit on Cloudflare DNS.
- Self-hosted tools such as frp cost nothing in licence fees but need a server you run and secure yourself.
- Localtunnel is completely free with no signup, but visitors hit a warning page and the service has frequent outages.
ngrok alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
| Pinggy | Most developers | From $2.50 per month billed yearly | Yes, 60-minute tunnels |
| Cloudflare Tunnel | Free permanent tunnels | Free | Yes |
| LocalXpose | Flat-price hosted tunnels | From $8 per month billed yearly | Yes, 2 tunnels |
| Tailscale Funnel | Teams already on Tailscale | Free Personal; Standard $8 per user per month | Yes |
| zrok | Open-source zero trust | Free hosted tier | Yes |
| Localtunnel | Quick free demos | Free | Yes, fully free |
| frp | Self-hosted control | Free open source | Yes |
| Inlets | Self-hosted plus cloud | From $25 per month | No |
Why do developers look for an ngrok alternative?
ngrok is the default way to expose a localhost app through a public URL, and it is reliable, well documented and packed with features. The limits push developers elsewhere. The free plan stops at 1 GB of transfer and 20,000 HTTP requests a month, caps at 3 endpoints, and shows visitors an interstitial warning page. The Hobbyist plan costs $10 per month, or $8 billed yearly, and raises transfer to 5 GB, but when its $10 of monthly usage credit runs out, endpoints stop until the next cycle. Your own domain needs the $20 per month pay-as-you-go plan, and ngrok does not support UDP at all or apex domains. For a client demo with a warning page on it, or a home server that must stay reachable all month, those limits matter, and cheaper or simpler tools do the same job.
Check the free tier limits first, because session length, bandwidth and request caps decide whether a demo survives. Check whether visitors see a warning or interstitial page, since that breaks client demos. Check custom domain support and which plan unlocks it: ngrok needs $20 per month, while Pinggy includes it at $2.50 per month billed yearly. Check protocol support: HTTP is universal, but TCP, TLS and UDP need specific tools, and ngrok has no UDP. Check whether the tunnel URL persists across restarts, because free tools often hand out a new random URL every run. Check the setup: Pinggy and localhost.run work over SSH with no install, while Cloudflare Tunnel needs the cloudflared binary. Check security features such as basic auth, IP whitelisting and request inspection if the tunnel faces the public internet.
How much do ngrok alternatives cost?
Most alternatives are cheaper than ngrok, and several are free. Cloudflare Tunnel is free, including named tunnels on a free Zero Trust account for teams under 50 users. Localtunnel and frp are completely free, with no paid plan at all for Localtunnel. Pinggy Pro costs $2.50 per month billed yearly or $3 monthly, for one persistent tunnel, one custom domain and one persistent TCP or UDP port. LocalXpose Pro is $8 per month billed yearly for 10 tunnels with custom domains and unlimited bandwidth. Tailscale Funnel is free on the Personal plan for up to 6 users, with Standard at $8 per user per month. zrok has a free hosted tier with 5 GB a day. Inlets starts at $25 per month for 5 tunnels. The cheapest persistent URL here is Pinggy, and the cheapest free option is Cloudflare Tunnel.
Yes, and several tools here are built for exactly that. frp is the most widely used self-hosted option: you run the server on a VPS, point the client at it, and you own the whole tunnel. chisel, bore, rathole and sshuttle are lighter self-hosted picks, and zrok and Inlets offer both hosted and self-hosted modes. Self-hosting costs nothing in licence fees, but you run and secure your own server, handle TLS certificates, watch for abuse, and fix it when it breaks. Version 0.71.0 of frp from August 2026 fixed a bug that let a client crash the server, so use 0.71.0 or later. For a home server or a team that wants full control, self-hosting is the cheapest long-term option, but it trades money for maintenance.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Pinggy | Most developers who want a cheap persistent tunnel with no install | From $2.50 per month billed yearly or $3 monthly, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; 60-minute tunnels with a random subdomain |
 Cloudflare Tunnel | Free permanent tunnels on your own domain | Free on every Cloudflare plan, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; Quick Tunnels need no account and named tunnels run on the free plan |
 LocalXpose | Flat-price hosted tunnels with UDP and many tunnels | From $8 per month billed yearly, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; Starter tier with 2 HTTP tunnels |
 Tailscale Funnel | Teams already on Tailscale that want to expose one service | Free on the Personal plan; Standard from $8 per user per month, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; Funnel is included on the free Personal plan for up to 6 users |
 zrok | Open-source zero trust tunneling with a generous free tier | Free hosted tier; commercial plans priced on request, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; hosted free tier with 5 GB a day, 25 environments and 50 shares |
 Localtunnel | Quick free demos with no signup at all | Free; no paid plan, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; everything is free, there is no paid plan |
 frp | Self-hosted control with no licence cost | Free open source, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | Yes; the software is free and you pay only for your server |
 Inlets | Self-hosted tunnels with a managed cloud option | From $25 per month for 5 tunnels, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026 | No; paid plans only, with a self-hosted open-source core |
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The 8 best ngrok alternatives compared
#1
Pinggy
Best for: Most developers who want a cheap persistent tunnel with no install
Visit pinggy.io
Starting priceFrom $2.50 per month billed yearly or $3 monthly, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; 60-minute tunnels with a random subdomain
Pinggy is the zero-install option among ngrok alternatives, and it is the cheapest persistent URL here. It runs over SSH, so one command gives a public URL with no binary to download, and it supports HTTP, TCP, UDP and TLS tunnels with request inspection and unlimited data transfer. The free tier has 60-minute tunnels with a random subdomain, while Pro costs $2.50 per month billed yearly for one persistent tunnel, one custom domain and one persistent TCP or UDP port.
What we like- No install needed for HTTP, TCP and TLS tunnels, UDP support, custom and apex domains, unlimited bandwidth
Watch out for- Free tunnels last 60 minutes, and Pro covers only one persistent tunnel
Starting priceFree on every Cloudflare plan, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; Quick Tunnels need no account and named tunnels run on the free plan
Cloudflare Tunnel comes in two flavours, and both are free. Quick Tunnels run with one cloudflared command, need no account, and hand you a random trycloudflare.com URL. A named tunnel needs your domain on Cloudflare DNS and a Zero Trust account, which costs $0 forever for teams under 50 users, and it gives a permanent tunnel on your own hostname with no timeout. The limits are plain: Quick Tunnels are for testing and development only, with 200 in-flight requests before a 429 response and no server-sent events.
What we like- Free with no timeout on your own hostname, no account needed for Quick Tunnels, strong security through Cloudflare network
Watch out for- Domain must sit on Cloudflare DNS, Quick Tunnels have no uptime guarantee and no server-sent events
Starting priceFrom $8 per month billed yearly, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; Starter tier with 2 HTTP tunnels
LocalXpose is a feature-heavy tunneling tool that feels close to ngrok in capabilities, and it is the best flat-price hosted pick here. The free Starter tier gives 2 HTTP tunnels, while Pro costs $8 per month billed yearly for 10 tunnels covering HTTP, TCP, TLS and UDP, with custom domains, wildcard tunnels with automatic certificates, and unlimited bandwidth. It also includes basic auth, IP whitelisting, request inspection, webhook replay and a built-in file server.
What we like- UDP, custom and wildcard domains, unlimited bandwidth, request inspection, webhook replay, built-in file server
Watch out for- TCP, TLS and UDP need the Pro plan, and the free tier shows an interstitial page
#4
Tailscale Funnel
Best for: Teams already on Tailscale that want to expose one service
Visit tailscale.com
Starting priceFree on the Personal plan; Standard from $8 per user per month, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; Funnel is included on the free Personal plan for up to 6 users
Tailscale Funnel takes a service on a machine in your tailnet and puts it on the public internet at your-tailnet.ts.net, with HTTPS certificates created for you. It is included on every plan, including the free Personal plan for up to 6 users, and the next tier is $8 per user a month. The advantage is that there is no extra service to run: if your team already uses Tailscale, Funnel is already there.
What we like- No extra service to run, HTTPS certificates handled for you, sits inside your existing tailnet security
Watch out for- Only ports 443, 8443 and 10000, and no request inspection interface
#5
zrok
Best for: Open-source zero trust tunneling with a generous free tier
Visit zrok.io
Starting priceFree hosted tier; commercial plans priced on request, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; hosted free tier with 5 GB a day, 25 environments and 50 shares
zrok is an open-source tunneling solution built on OpenZiti, following zero trust networking ideas, and it is the best open-source pick here alongside frp. The hosted free tier gives 5 GB a day of bandwidth, 25 environments and 50 share backends, with custom domain frontends on paid plans. You can also self-host it with no limits under the Apache 2.0 licence. The main limits are that an account is required, and unverified free accounts show a warning page until you add a payment method.
What we like- Open source under Apache 2.0, zero trust networking built on OpenZiti, self-host with no limits, generous free tier
Watch out for- Account required, and unverified free accounts show a warning page until you add a card
Starting priceFree; no paid plan, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; everything is free, there is no paid plan
Localtunnel is the simplest free tunnel here: install the npm package, run one command, and your localhost app gets a public URL with no signup, no account and no card. Everything is free because there is no paid plan at all. The trade-offs are real: visitors hit a password page that asks for the host's IP, the service has frequent outages, there are no custom domains, and the last npm release was in 2021. For a five-minute demo or a quick webhook test, Localtunnel is the fastest option.
What we like- Completely free with no signup, simple npm install, no account or card needed
Watch out for- Visitors hit a password page, frequent outages, no custom domains, and the last npm release was in 2021
Starting priceFree open source, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planYes; the software is free and you pay only for your server
frp, short for Fast Reverse Proxy, is one of the most widely used self-hosted ngrok alternatives. You run the server on a VPS or any machine with a public IP, point the client at it, and you own the whole tunnel with no licence cost and no usage caps beyond your server. It supports TCP, UDP and HTTP, and the project is actively maintained: version 0.68.1 from April 2026 fixed an authentication bypass in some HTTP proxy setups, and 0.71.0 from August 2026 fixed a bug that let a client crash the server, so use 0.71.0 or later.
What we like- Most widely used self-hosted tunnel, TCP, UDP and HTTP support, you own the server and the data path
Watch out for- You run and secure your own server, and setup needs more work than a hosted tool
#8
Inlets
Best for: Self-hosted tunnels with a managed cloud option
Visit inlets.dev
Starting priceFrom $25 per month for 5 tunnels, third-party reported, checked 13 Nov 2026
Free planNo; paid plans only, with a self-hosted open-source core
Inlets is a tunneling tool that works as a client plus an exit server you run yourself, or as Inlets Cloud for teams that want hosting. The personal licence starts at around $25 per month for 5 tunnels, with business and SaaS pricing higher. It supports TCP and UDP with custom domains, and it suits teams that want to self-host in production but fall back to a managed cloud for demos.
What we like- Self-host or use Inlets Cloud, TCP and UDP support, custom domains, suits teams that want both modes
Watch out for- Personal licence starts at $25 per month, which is the highest starting price here
How we chose these alternatives
We compared 2026 tunneling roundups, vendor pricing pages and product documentation, and kept only tools with public evidence of real use as ngrok replacements. We favoured tools with clear free tiers, published prices and documented limits, because those decide whether a demo or a webhook survives. We checked each vendor's official website by search on 13 Nov 2026. Prices marked third-party reported come from 2026 roundups and vendor pricing pages read via search, not from a page we opened directly, so confirm them with the vendor before relying on them. We did not test tunnels ourselves.
How to pick the right ngrok alternative
Match the tool to the job. Most developers need Pinggy for a cheap persistent tunnel. Free permanent tunnels need Cloudflare Tunnel. Many tunnels at a flat price need LocalXpose. Teams already on Tailscale need Funnel. Open-source zero trust needs zrok. Quick free demos need Localtunnel. Full self-hosted control needs frp. A managed cloud with self-hosting needs Inlets. Then check the free tier limits, the warning page behaviour, custom domain support and protocol support against your real use, and test the tunnel with a real client before relying on it for a demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best ngrok alternative?
For most developers, Pinggy, because it needs no install for HTTP tunnels, costs $2.50 per month billed yearly, and supports UDP and custom domains. Cloudflare Tunnel is the best free option, with named tunnels on a free Zero Trust account. LocalXpose is the best flat-price hosted pick at $8 per month billed yearly.
Is there a free ngrok alternative?
Yes, several. Cloudflare Tunnel is free, including named tunnels on a free Zero Trust account. Localtunnel is completely free with no signup and no paid plan. frp is free open-source software that you run on your own server. zrok has a free hosted tier with 5 GB a day, and Tailscale Funnel is free on the Personal plan for up to 6 users.
How much does an ngrok alternative cost?
Most are cheaper than ngrok. Pinggy Pro costs $2.50 per month billed yearly, LocalXpose Pro is $8 per month billed yearly, and Inlets starts at $25 per month. Cloudflare Tunnel, Localtunnel and frp cost nothing. Tailscale Funnel is free on the Personal plan, with Standard at $8 per user per month.
Do ngrok alternatives support custom domains?
Yes, on paid plans. Pinggy includes a custom domain at $2.50 per month billed yearly, including apex domains. LocalXpose includes custom and wildcard domains on Pro at $8 per month billed yearly. Cloudflare Tunnel gives a permanent tunnel on your own domain for free, but the domain must sit on Cloudflare DNS. zrok offers custom domain frontends on paid plans, and Inlets supports custom domains too.
Can I self-host a tunneling tool instead of using ngrok?
Yes. frp is the most widely used self-hosted option: you run the server on a VPS, point the client at it, and you own the whole tunnel with no licence cost. zrok and Inlets offer both hosted and self-hosted modes, and lighter tools such as chisel, bore, rathole and sshuttle cover TCP-only needs.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://pinggy.io/blog/best_ngrok_alternatives/
- https://www.localcan.com/blog/best-ngrok-alternative
- http://localxpose.io/blog/best-ngrok-alternatives
- https://devtoolpicks.com/blog/best-ngrok-alternatives-indie-hackers-2026
- https://pinggy.io
- https://www.cloudflare.com
- https://localxpose.io
- https://tailscale.com
- https://zrok.io
- https://inlets.dev
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.