notanothertool

ngrok

Developer Tools · Free · since 2013

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ngrok is a secure tunnels to localhost for testing webhooks, sharing demos, and debugging. It handles tunnels, https, webhooks, and traffic inspection, and it's best suited for developers wanting to expose localhost to the internet. It has been around since 2013, giving it a 13-year head start in building out integrations and refining the product.

The free plan is free for 1 tunnel — enough for most people to evaluate whether it fits. It's aimed at individual users, so it's fast to set up but may lack team-management features if you scale.

pros

  • Includes Tunnels as a core feature, purpose-built for developer tools workflows
  • Includes HTTPS as a core feature, purpose-built for developer tools workflows
  • Free for 1 tunnel — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done
  • Established product with 13+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem

cons

  • Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
  • Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
  • Ecosystem of third-party integrations is smaller than the market leaders in developer tools
  • Limited team/admin features if your organization eventually scales up

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ngrok compared

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