TL;DR: To put a local server on a public URL for free, Pinggy gives HTTP(S), TCP, UDP and TLS tunnels with unlimited data transfer, but each tunnel times out after 60 minutes. LocalXpose gives 2 active HTTP/HTTPS tunnels with no time limit and no credit card. ngrok is different: new accounts get a one-time $5 usage credit, and there is no usage beyond it. To join your own devices into one private network, Tailscale allows unlimited devices for up to 6 users. ZeroTier allows 10 devices on one network, for personal, non-commercial use only.
Two jobs that both get called “tunneling”
Most people who search for a free tunnel want one of two things. The first is a public URL that points at a server on their laptop, for a client demo, a phone test, or a webhook from a payment provider. The second is a private network that joins their own machines together, so a laptop in a café can reach a home server as if both sat on the same LAN.
The first job is a localhost tunnel. The second is a mesh VPN. The two groups of tools overlap very little. A mesh VPN is too much setup for a one-off demo link, because every visitor would need the VPN client too. A localhost tunnel is the wrong base for a network you want up all year, because most free tunnels change their URL or drop the connection on a schedule.
All twelve tools here sit in the Tunnels & VPNs category. The first table covers the localhost tunnels and the second covers the mesh VPNs. The last column in each table is the first paid step, because the free limit that bites is usually the one the paid plan removes.
Table 1: localhost tunnels
| Tool | Free plan | Main free limit | First paid step adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinggy | HTTP(S), TCP, UDP and TLS tunnels; unlimited data transfer | 60-minute tunnel timeout; random subdomains | Persistent URLs (Pro) |
| LocalXpose | 2 active HTTP/HTTPS tunnels, no time limit, no credit card | HTTP and HTTPS only | 10 tunnels plus TCP, TLS and UDP ($8/month billed annually) |
| Serveo | 3 active tunnels with custom subdomains | Interstitial warning page | Unlimited tunnels, no interstitial ($6/month) |
| localhost.run | Free domains, no signup or download | No custom domain | Your own domain ($9/month billed annually) |
| Localtunnel | HTTPS on every tunnel | URL lasts only while the lt client runs | No paid plan |
| Expose | TLS/SSL, random URLs, no card required | Time-limited sessions on a single EU server | No time limit and custom domains ($79/user/year) |
| Conveyor | Random subdomains | 4 hours/day of continuous connection, 500 MB/day of traffic | No time limit, 1 GB/day ($5/month) |
| ngrok | $5 one-time credit: 3 online endpoints, 1 GB transfer, 20k HTTP/S requests | No usage beyond the credit | Monthly usage credit, no interstitial page ($10/month Hobbyist) |
How you connect changes the day-to-day feel
Serveo, localhost.run and Pinggy all ride on the SSH client that is already on your
machine. You run one ssh -R command, and the service prints a public URL back to you.
There is nothing to install and nothing to keep updated. localhost.run needs no account
at all for its free domains. Serveo can also connect over WireGuard or through a browser
extension, which helps on a locked-down machine where you can’t open a terminal.
LocalXpose, Localtunnel and Expose use their own clients. Localtunnel installs with
npm install -g localtunnel, so it needs Node.js. Expose ships as a binary but is written
in PHP, and PHP must be installed locally for it to run. For a Laravel developer that
costs nothing extra. For anyone else it is one more runtime to install before the first
tunnel comes up.
Conveyor is the narrowest tool in the table. It targets Visual Studio users who want to open an IIS Express site from a phone or another computer. Its free limits are daily, not monthly: 4 hours of continuous connection and 500 MB of traffic per day. That is enough for a morning of testing. It is not enough for a webhook endpoint that must stay open.
The URL is the real limit
Session length gets the attention, but URL stability matters more for most real work.
Pinggy’s free tunnels close after 60 minutes, and a new tunnel gets a new URL. Localtunnel
keeps a URL only while your local lt process stays alive. That is fine for a link you
paste into a chat for the next ten minutes. It hurts when you register the URL somewhere
else, such as a webhook setting in a payment dashboard or an OAuth redirect list. Every
reconnect then means editing that setting again.
The paid step on most of these tools fixes exactly this. Pinggy Pro adds persistent URLs. localhost.run sells a custom domain for $9 a month billed annually, and Expose’s $79 per-user yearly plan adds persistent URLs and custom domains. If you only need a stable webhook target, check the price of that one feature before you compare anything else.
LocalXpose sits at a useful point for this. Its free Starter plan has no time limit, so a tunnel you leave running keeps working, and it shows no interstitial page to visitors. The limit is 2 active tunnels, and “active” means connected right now. Two services exposed at once is enough for a frontend and an API.
Serveo takes the other trade. You get 3 active tunnels and custom subdomains for free, but visitors see an interstitial warning page before they reach your app. A person clicking a demo link can click through it. An automated caller that expects your app’s response gets the warning page first, so test your webhook flow before you rely on it.
ngrok’s free plan is a credit
ngrok is the name most people search first, and its free numbers look like the others: 3 online endpoints, 1 GB of data transfer and 20,000 HTTP/S requests. The difference is how the plan is funded. New accounts get a one-time $5 usage credit, and ngrok states plainly that there is no additional usage beyond it. When the credit is gone, the free plan does not refill next month.
That makes ngrok a trial in practice, so it doesn’t belong in a list of tools you can run for free indefinitely. It is still a good way to test ngrok’s traffic inspection and policy features before you pay. The Hobbyist plan at $10 a month ($96 billed annually) replaces the one-time credit with a monthly one and removes the interstitial page.
Table 2: mesh VPNs and private networks
| Tool | Free plan | Main free limit | First paid step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tailscale | Unlimited user devices, up to 6 users | 3 ACL groups, 50 tagged resources, 1,000 minutes/month for ephemeral resources | Standard, $8/user/month |
| ZeroTier | 10 devices, one network, one network admin | Personal, non-commercial use only | Essential, $18/month with a commercial license |
| VPN.net - Hamachi by LogMeIn | Up to 5 computers per network | Unattended access needs a paid plan | Standard, $49/year for 6-32 computers |
| Radmin VPN | Free, with no ads or paid features; no limit on the number of gamers | Windows only (7 to 11) | No paid plan |
Tailscale counts people, ZeroTier counts machines
Tailscale’s free Personal plan caps users, not devices. Up to 6 people can join, and each person can add as many devices as they own. A household with laptops, phones, a NAS and a Raspberry Pi fits easily. The plan also includes access control: up to 3 ACL groups, so you can keep a guest’s phone away from the home server. You also get 50 tagged resources for servers that don’t belong to one person. A tagged resource beyond the 50 costs $1 a month.
The 1,000 monthly minutes for ephemeral resources matter only if you connect short-lived machines, such as CI runners or Kubernetes pods that join the network for one job and then leave. A homelab never touches that limit. A build pipeline that joins the network on every commit can reach it.
ZeroTier caps machines instead: 10 devices on one network, with one network admin. The bigger catch is the licence. ZeroTier’s free plan is for personal, non-commercial use. If the network connects anything for a business, the entry plan is Essential at $18 a month. That plan adds a commercial licence, 10 networks and five admins, then $2 for each device past 10.
So the choice often comes down to who is on the network. For one person with fewer than ten machines and no business use, both tools work. For a small team, or for any work use, Tailscale’s free plan covers it and ZeroTier’s does not. The Tailscale vs ZeroTier comparison goes through the paid tiers side by side. The Tailscale alternatives page covers other options if neither fits.
Hamachi and Radmin VPN: the LAN-party pair
Hamachi and Radmin VPN both pitch themselves at gamers who want to play a LAN-only game over the internet. Both pages also mention remote teams, but the game-night use is where their free plans fit best.
Hamachi’s free plan allows up to 5 computers per network, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The limit to know is unattended access. Running Hamachi in the background on a machine nobody is logged into needs the Standard, Premium or Multi-network subscription. The free plan can’t run as that background service. For a game night that’s fine. For reaching a home server while you travel, it isn’t.
Radmin VPN has no paid tier at all. Its developer, Famatech, makes money on a separate commercial product and gives the VPN away with no ads. It says it doesn’t limit the number of gamers on a network, encrypts traffic with 256-bit AES and keeps no logs. The catch is the platform: it runs on Windows 7 through 11 only, so a Mac or Linux player can’t join.
What this list leaves out
RustDesk and Parsec share the same category but control a remote screen rather than route network traffic, so they belong in a remote-desktop comparison. LoginTC is a multi-factor authentication product. Webhook Relay forwards webhooks rather than general traffic, and it deserves its own comparison against other webhook tools. Cloudflare Tunnel is also missing from both tables.
Which one to start with
For a demo link or a quick webhook test, start with Pinggy or localhost.run. Both run from the SSH client you already have, and neither asks for an account. If you need a tunnel to stay up past an hour, LocalXpose’s free plan keeps 2 tunnels open with no time limit.
For a private network across your own devices, start with Tailscale if more than one person will use it, or if any of it is for work. Pick ZeroTier if it is only you, only personal use, and ten devices is enough. Use Hamachi or Radmin VPN when the real goal is a LAN game with friends. Pick Radmin if everyone is on Windows. Pick Hamachi if someone is on a Mac.
Treat ngrok as a paid product with a trial attached. If you already know you’ll pay for a tunnel, the $5 credit is a fair way to try it. If you want a tool that stays free, look at the always-free options first: Radmin VPN, localhost.run and Localtunnel have no credit to run out and no trial clock.