ngrok is a unified ingress platform that facilitates secure connections to local servers, streamlining development and collaboration.
ngrok Review
ngrok is a powerful tool that enables developers and businesses to expose their local servers to the internet securely and effortlessly. By providing secure tunnels, ngrok simplifies the process of sharing applications and testing webhooks without deploying them to a public server.
Who It's For
ngrok is ideal for software developers, product managers, and businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their development processes. It caters to startups, medium-sized companies, and large enterprises that require quick and secure access to their local environments for testing and collaboration.
Core Functionality
The platform offers features such as secure tunnels, custom subdomains, and the ability to inspect traffic in real-time. With ngrok, users can easily share their local applications with clients or team members, test webhook integrations, and manage multiple tunnels simultaneously.
Business Benefits
ngrok significantly reduces the time and effort required to deploy applications for testing, leading to increased efficiency and faster iteration cycles. By minimizing the need for complex setup processes, businesses can see a substantial return on investment through improved productivity and reduced development costs.
Overall, ngrok is a valuable tool for any development team looking to enhance their workflow. Its ease of use, robust features, and security make it a recommended choice for professionals seeking to improve their application testing and collaboration processes.
Key Features
- Secure tunnels to expose local servers to the internet
- Customizable subdomains for easy access
- Traffic inspection and replay functionality for debugging
- Webhooks support for event-driven architectures
- Access control features to manage who can connect to your tunnels
- Multi-region support for low latency connections
- Persistent tunnels for consistent URLs during development
- User-friendly dashboard for managing and monitoring connections
ngrok Use Cases
- Testing webhooks for third-party services
- Sharing local applications with stakeholders
- Demonstrating software in development to clients
- Collaborating on projects in real-time
- Debugging applications with live traffic data
ngrok Pros & Cons
- ✓ Simplifies the process of sharing local applications with clients or teammates
- ✓ Enhances security by providing encrypted connections
- ✓ Reduces time spent on configuration and setup for remote access
- ✓ Facilitates real-time collaboration and testing for development teams
- ✓ Offers robust logging and monitoring for better insights
- ✗ May require a learning curve for new users unfamiliar with tunneling concepts
- ✗ Free tier has limitations on usage and session duration
- ✗ Dependency on external service may raise concerns for sensitive applications
- ✗ Performance can vary based on network conditions and server location
Integrations
Pricing
Free trial available
User Reviews
Amazing company we have been using them to connect our pve back end to utilize convoypanel with a secure ssh allowing a bridge off to all clients to easily and securely access their SSH via our site. ( we had hiccups where we were originally charged for 4 endpoints but was sorted out do to a issue on backend and them being kind enough to resolve the issue ) highly suggest using them if you want a secure means of tunneling SSH or more. Oh did i mention they offer OIDC and more OwO
Unclear billing process, advertised as per month but then charged per year.Unclear feature distribution between account levels, seemingly basic features locked behind higher tiers. Poor quality installation documentation for linux, specifically ARM and ARM64.
Frequently Asked Questions
ngrok is a unified ingress platform that enables secure connections to local servers. It simplifies the process of exposing local applications to the internet, which is particularly useful for development and collaboration.
ngrok offers a free plan with basic features, while its paid plans start at $8 per month. The pricing scales based on the number of tunnels and additional features such as reserved domains and custom configurations.
ngrok is best suited for developers, teams, and businesses that need to expose local applications to the internet quickly and securely. It's particularly useful for those working in fields like software development, testing, and remote collaboration.
Key features of ngrok include secure tunnels to localhost, custom subdomains, reserved domains, HTTP authentication, and detailed analytics for monitoring traffic. These features facilitate seamless collaboration and testing for developers.
Yes, ngrok provides a free plan that allows users to create tunnels with limited functionality. This enables users to try out the basic features before deciding to upgrade to a paid plan.
ngrok integrates with a variety of tools and services, including popular development frameworks, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms. This allows users to streamline their workflows and enhance their development environments.