hostcngrok vs Cloudflare Tunnel vs frp: which tunnel to use
There are many tunnel tools, and the basics are similar. These four questions cover most of the choice.
1. Who needs to open the link?
If it is anyone, with no login, you want a public tunnel: hostc, ngrok or a Cloudflare Quick Tunnel.
If it should only be you or your team, pick a tool with access control. Microsoft dev tunnels are private by default. Tailscale suits a team that already uses it.
2. Do you need the URL to stay the same?
Free tools usually give a new URL for each run. hostc keeps it across network drops, not across restarts. If you've registered a webhook once and want to leave it, take something with a fixed address: ngrok's free dev domain, Tailscale Funnel, or a named Cloudflare Tunnel.
3. Is it HTTP?
Most of these tools are built for websites and APIs. For SSH, databases, game servers or anything else on raw TCP or UDP, look at frp or ngrok's TCP tunnels.
4. Who runs the server?
A hosted tool works right away, and you trust its operator with the traffic passing through. If traffic has to stay on machines you control, run your own. frp needs a server with a public IP, and hostc can run on your own Cloudflare account.
Quick picks
| You want to | Try |
|---|---|
| Share a dev server right now, with no sign-up | hostc |
| Inspect requests in a dashboard | ngrok |
| Serve production traffic | A named Cloudflare Tunnel |
| Expose SSH or a game server | frp |
| Stay inside your existing tailnet | Tailscale Funnel |
| Keep links private to your organization | Microsoft dev tunnels |
We make hostc, so take this with that in mind. See the detailed comparisons for each tool.
Give localhost a public URL, free and with no account
npx hostc@latest 3000