ngrok
Secure tunnels and an ingress platform that give local services a public URL instantly.
why this verdict
Keep paying — Anthropic has not replaced it
Anthropic's version overlaps, but does not finish the dev tools job, so this one still earns its $8/mo.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Cloud agent sandboxes with their own public URLs removing some local tunnelling needs. Anthropic, May 22, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers not the job editorial call
- Parts of it. The job still needs the tool to get finished.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 3 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Cloudflare Tunnel, localtunnel and Tailscale Funnel.
- What the call is worth $96/yr
- $8/mo at the entry paid tier — $96 a year per seat.
- Threatened by
- Anthropic
- Since
- May 22, 2025
- List price
- $8/mo
- Per year
- $96
The backstory
ngrok exposes a service running on your laptop at a public HTTPS address, which is how most developers test webhooks and demo work in progress. Cloud sandboxes for agents come with their own URLs, so some of that traffic never touches a laptop. At the same time, webhook testing, OAuth callbacks and local MCP servers still need ingress, and ngrok grew into edge policy and API gateway features. The core need has not gone away.
Escape hatches
Free tunnels to local services through Cloudflare's edge
cloudflare.com open_in_newMinimal open-source tunnel with no account required
github.com open_in_newPublishes a node's service publicly from your tailnet
tailscale.com open_in_new3 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.
