Tool Installation Protocols Supported Security Persistence Ease of Use Pricing Best Use Case Free Usage Limits
LocalXpose Binary (`loclx`) for Win/Linux/macOS HTTP/HTTPS, TCP, UDP, File, Proxy TLS/SSL, auth, custom subdomains Always-on tunnels, reserved domains CLI with multiple options Free + paid tiers Professional demos, webhooks, multi-protocol Free tier: limited bandwidth, random subdomain, session timeouts
LocalTunnel npm (`npm install -g localtunnel`) HTTP/HTTPS only Basic HTTPS via `loca.lt` Temporary, random URLs Very simple (`lt --port 8080`) Free, open source Quick localhost demos No explicit limits, but tunnels unstable; subdomains not guaranteed
Serveo SSH only (`ssh -R ... serveo.net`) HTTP/HTTPS, TCP (via SSH) SSH encryption Active while SSH session runs Requires SSH knowledge Free SSH-savvy developers, lightweight demos Session ends when SSH disconnects; limited concurrency
Pinggy SSH only (`ssh -R ... pinggy.io`) HTTP/HTTPS, TCP (via SSH) SSH encryption Active while SSH session runs Requires SSH knowledge Free SSH-savvy developers, lightweight demos Session ends when SSH disconnects; free tier may throttle bandwidth
Ngrok Binary (`ngrok`) for all platforms HTTP/HTTPS, TCP, TLS TLS/SSL, OAuth, reserved domains Persistent tunnels with paid plan Simple CLI (`ngrok http 8080`) Free tier + paid plans Webhooks, API testing, production apps Free tier: 1 tunnel, 40 connections/min, random subdomain, 8-hour session limit
Cloudflare Tunnel Cloudflare CLI (`cloudflared`) HTTP/HTTPS, TCP (via Cloudflare network) Enterprise-grade TLS, Zero Trust Persistent, production-ready Requires Cloudflare account setup Free (with Cloudflare account) Enterprise apps, secure production tunnels Free usage tied to Cloudflare account; unlimited tunnels but requires DNS setup
Telebit npm (`npm install -g telebit`) or binary HTTP/HTTPS, TCP TLS/SSL, basic auth Persistent tunnels supported Simple CLI, Node.js based Free + donations Developers needing simple HTTPS tunnels Free tier: limited bandwidth, random subdomains
Pagekite Python package (`pip install pagekite`) or binary HTTP/HTTPS, SMTP, custom protocols TLS/SSL, supports multiple frontends Persistent tunnels supported Python-based, config files Free + donations Legacy apps, SMTP/web tunneling Free tier: limited bandwidth, requires registration for custom domains
FRP (Fast Reverse Proxy) Binary (`frpc`/`frps`) for Linux/Win/macOS HTTP/HTTPS, TCP, UDP TLS/SSL, configurable auth Persistent tunnels supported Requires config files (`frpc.ini`) Free, open source High-performance, self-hosted tunneling No service limits (self-hosted), but requires your own server resources