A simple ngrok alternative for exposing localhost

ngrok is a mature platform that has grown beyond localhost tunneling into ingress and API delivery, with traffic policies, authentication, load balancing, WAF capabilities, Kubernetes integration, and production infrastructure features. Those are valuable when you need them.

tunnel.to is focused on a smaller job: make this local service reachable from the internet.

Choose tunnel.to when you want a tunnel. Choose ngrok when you need an ingress platform.

Verified October 20, 2026 against ngrok agent setup and ngrok's free-tier browser warning and ngrok gateway capabilities .

Suppose your application is running at http://localhost:3000. Run tunnelto 3000 and tunnel.to creates a public HTTPS endpoint that forwards traffic to your local service.

There is no router configuration, port forwarding, public IP address, or inbound firewall rule required.

Install the client and immediately create a temporary tunnel. There is no account or auth token to configure before the first request reaches your app.

• Quick development tests
• Share a local application
• Test webhook callbacks
• Expose a temporary API
• Develop AI agents and MCP servers
• Run demos and prototypes

If the experiment becomes something you want to keep, create a free account for a reserved hostname. Upgrade when you need a custom domain, tunnel protection, or more capacity.

Start disposable. Make it permanent when it matters.

A public tunnel often is not meant for a person. Webhook providers, OAuth callbacks, API clients, agents, and automation platforms need to reach the endpoint directly.

tunnel.to does not insert a browser warning or interstitial in front of Anonymous or Registered Free tunnels. Your public URL points to your application.

Keep your webhook handler, debugger, and logs on your machine. Give the generated HTTPS URL to the provider and receive callbacks directly in your local application instead of redeploying after every change.

An MCP server, agent endpoint, callback handler, or local AI application can stay on your machine while a remote service connects through tunnel.to.

You do not need to deploy the project to a VPS just to make it reachable during development.

tunnel.to carries long-lived Server-Sent Events connections for AI streaming, MCP transports, live status, notifications, progress events, and other event streams. There is no special SSE mode to enable.

Both tunnel.to and ngrok can carry SSE traffic. When the requirement is simply expose my local SSE endpoint, tunnel.to keeps the setup focused.

Temporary URLs are ideal for experiments. A paid plan lets you attach a domain such as hooks.example.com or mcp.example.com to a reserved tunnel when the endpoint becomes permanent.

Not every public URL should be open to everyone. Paid plans add built-in tunnel authentication for development tools, dashboards, prototypes, and internal applications that still need a convenient public HTTPS endpoint.

Start anonymously with 512 MiB per tunnel, or create a Registered Free account for a reserved hostname and 5 GB of bandwidth per month. Upgrade when you need custom domains, protected tunnels, more names, or more capacity.

ngrok may be the better choice when your requirements extend beyond a straightforward public tunnel into sophisticated production ingress infrastructure.

• Advanced traffic policies
• Edge OAuth, OIDC, or SAML
• Web application firewall controls
• Request and response transformation
• Traffic inspection and replay
• Load balancing and enterprise ingress
• Advanced Kubernetes integration

If the requirement is simply I have something running on localhost and I need a public HTTPS URL for it, that is exactly what tunnel.to is built to do.