awesome-tunneling

For most people, I currently recommend . Although it's closed source, this is the production-quality service that gets the closest to achieving the dream. It's also a loss-leader for Cloudflare's other products which means they can offer it for free

frp

If you want to self-host, there are many options. For something production ready is probably what you want. If you're a developer, I'd recommend starting with my own project and modifying it for your needs. For non-developers and those wanting more of a GUI experience, I created . It's my take on a comprehensive tunnel proxy solution. It's in beta but currently solves almost everything I want. Once the server is running this is a very easy tool to use and has some nice features

Written in JS.

No custom client; uses WireGuard directly instead. Written in Python

Public SSH Jump & Port Forwarding server. No software, no registration, just an anonymous SSH server for forwarding. Users are encouraged to use it for SSH exposure only, to preserve end-to-end encryption. No public ports, only in-SSH connectivity. Run and it will display usage information

frp

Comprehensive open alternative to ngrok. Supports UDP, and has a P2P mode. Supports multiplexing over TCP (single connection or pool), QUIC, and KCP

ngrok 1.0

Original version of ngrok. No longer developed in favor of the commercial 2.0 version

Written in node. Popular suggestion

chisel

SSH under the hood, but still uses a custom client binary. Supports auto certs from LetsEncrypt. Written in Go

sshuttle

Open source project originally from one of the founders of Tailscale. Server doesn't require root; client does. Explicitly designed to avoid TCP-over-TCP issues

rathole

Similar to frp, including the config format, but with improved performance. Low resource consumption. Hot reload. Written in Rust

bore

Minimal tunneling solution. MIT Licensed. Written in Rust

expose

ngrok alternative written in PHP

sish

Open source ngrok/serveo alternative. SSH-based but uses a custom server written in Go. Supports WebSocket tunneling

wstunnel

Proxies over WebSockets. Focus on proxying from behind networks that block certain protocols. Written in Rust with executables provided

Looks like a comprehensive option. TCP and UDP tunneling. TAP/TUN devices. Load balancing. Web API. Written in Go

progrium/localtunnel

As far as I know this is the first ever tool of this kind, predating ngrok and the other localtunnel. No longer maintained, but here for posterity. MIT License. Written in Go

go-http-tunnel

Uses a single HTTP/2 connection for muxing. Need to manually generate certs for server and clients

pgrok/pgrok

A multi-tenant HTTP reverse tunnel solution through SSH remote port forwarding

Aims for effortless sharing both publicly and privately. Supports multiple types of resources, including HTTP endpoints and files. Built on OpenZiti (see overlay section below). Apache 2 License. Written in Go

Has a JavaScript/Python admin page and request inspection/replay features. AGPL-3.0 License. Tunneling implemented in Go

Open source (MIT). Written in Rust

piko

Piko is an open-source alternative to Ngrok, designed to serve production traffic and be simple to host (particularly on Kubernetes). MIT License. Written in Go

The Global Socket Toolkit allows two users behind NAT/Firewall to establish a TCP connection with each other. Securely. Written in C

SirTunnel

Minimal, self-hosted, 0-config alternative to ngrok. Similar to sish but leverages Caddy+OpenSSH rather than custom server code

Designed to be very easy to use. No config files. Clients can be remote-controlled through a simple WebUI and/or REST API on the server

Tunnelmole

Open source and optionally self hostable. The client and server are both written in TypeScript

jprq

Proxies over WebSockets. Written in Go

Wiretap

Transparent tunneling over WireGuard (UDP) using userspace network stack. Root not required on server. Supports multiple clients and servers. Written in Go

Comprehensive open source solution with hosted options

onionpipe

Onion addresses for anything. forwards ports on the local host to remote Onion addresses as Tor hidden services and vice-versa. Written in Go

Crowbar

Tunnels TCP connections over HTTP GET and POST requests

tunneller

Open source. Written in Go

tunnel

This one is a Golang library, not a program you can just run. However, it looks easy to use for creating custom solutions. Uses a single TCP socket, and for multiplexing

Fork of ngrok 1.0, with more recent commits. Archived

remotemoe

SSH-based, with custom golang server. Does some cool unique things. Instead of just plain tunnels, it drops you into a basic CLI UI that offers several useful commands interactively, such as adding a custom hostname. Also allows end-to-end encryption for both HTTPS and upstream SSH. Doesn't appear to offer non-e2e HTTPS, ie no auto Let's Encrypt support

docker-tunnel

Simple Docker-based nginx+SSH solution

hypertunnel

Public server appears to be down. MIT Licensed. Written in JavaScript

tunwg

Wireguard in userspace based. Offers end to end encrypted TLS with LetsEncrypt certificates generated automatically by clients, with support for custom domains. Server can be self-hosted and doesn't require storing any data

reverse-tunnel

Support TCP and UDP tunnels. Has docker images. Supports Let's Encrypt. MIT License. Written in Go

gt

Supports peer-to-peer direct connection (P2P) and Internet relay. Focus on performance. Written in Go

jkuri/bore

Reverse HTTP/TCP proxy via SSH. Written in Go

SSH-based open source tool, with no configuration or installation, distributed worldwide, to expose your local services. Uses your GitHub username and public SSH keys to authenticate you and provide you with a short personalised URL. AGP-3.0 License. Written in Python

SSH-based. Terminates TLS. Hostnames based on your key, optionally GitHub and/or GitLab username. 0BSD License. Written in Go

holepunch

Uses SSH for muxing. Domain has expired. AGP-3.0 Licensed. Written in Python

docker-wireguard-tunnel

Connect two or more Docker servers together sharing container ports between them via a WireGuard tunnel

cactus-tunnel

🌵 A charming TCP tunnel over WebSocket and Browser. Written in TypeScript

chiSSL

Lightweight version of Chisel that allows you to expose local servers running on your development machine to the internet with valid SSL certificates. MIT License. Written in Go

specter

Interesting approach utilizing a DHT. QUIC transport. MIT License. Written in Go

tnnlink

SSH-based. Golang. Not maintained

ngtor

Easily expose local services via Tor. Written in Java

Punchmole

Can be integrated directly into an existing Node.js project. Written in JavaScript

ephemeral-hidden-service

Create ephemeral Tor hidden services from the command line. Written in Python

netmask

A TCP/UDP self-hostable network tunneling solution that supports IPv4 and IPv6. Client has a GUI. MIT License. Written in Python

tunnelite

A self-hostable tunneling solution for TCP, HTTP and WS connections over websockets. CLI client. MIT License. Written in .NET

Probably the gold standard and most popular. Closed source. Lots of features, including TLS and TCP tunnels. Doesn't require root to run client

Excellent free option. Nicely integrates tunneling with the rest of Cloudflare's products, which include DNS and auto HTTPS. Client is Apache 2.0 licensed and written in Golang

Not as useful for self-hosting (no custom domains and it shows warnings when people visit the URLs), but a solid option for dev work

Offer much more than just tunneling. Have a collaboration layer (Dashboard) that allows you to bring collaborations, debug, and gather feedback from the people you are working with. Share HTTPS URLs

Goes beyond tunneling. Rest API mocking and intercepting tool. You can view the live requests and send mocked responses. Written in JavaScript

SSH based single command HTTPS / TCP / TLS tunnels, no downloads required. Rich terminal interface and a web debugger. Free tier - 60 min timeout. The paid tier allows custom domains with built-in Let's Encrypt certificates

Offers end-to-end TLS encryption with the client automatically getting certs from Let's Encrypt. QR codes for URL sharing. The client is open source. Can serve a local directory over WebDAV. MIT License. Written in Go

Simple hosted SSH option. Supports custom domains for a cost

Comprehensive alternative to ngrok. HTTP Inspector, Let's Encrypt integration, doesn't require root and Linux repos for apt, yum and dnf. Enterprise licenses and self-hosted option

Easy to use HTTP(S) and websocket tunneling aimed at development. Free tier available. Fixed URL is part of paid plans

WireGuard-based. Provides static IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for your machines, which is a simple and useful level of abstraction. Targeted towards self-hosters and people behind NATs

Specifically focusing on securely exposing internal web apps to a group of people; not for publicly facing apps. Share access via email address then allow users to log in with common login providers like Google

Paid SSH-based option. Uses a simple Python script

Company offering tunneling, dynamic DNS, and other services for self-hosting with Kubernetes

Used to be ; now focused on a polished commercial offering. Designed to work well with Kubernetes

Supports UDP. Free for a single tunnel. Paid supports custom domains

Looks like a solid paid option, with a limited free tier

Specifically marketed as tunneling for game servers. Client is open source. Server is not. Has a free tier. TCP and UDP supported. Custom domains and dedicated IPs available. Client written in Rust

Web UI that runs entirely in the browser and uses a Cloudflare Worker for https

SSH-based, signup optional, offering HTTP(S) and TCP tunneling and SSH jump host forwarding capabilities

Secure and private remote access for Home Assistant. The free tier has a monthly data limit cap, but unlimited data is only $2.49/month

Expose localhost and local tcp server to the internet. The free plan includes file server, custom http request and response headers, basic auth protection and 1 hour tunnel timeout

Tunnels SSH, HTTP/S, TCP, Docker, popular database etc. allows mapping a local port to a remote port

SSH-based. The client is open source. The server doesn't appear to be

MacOS app for exposing local apps, has custom domains with built-in Let's Encrypt certificates. It also can publish .local domains on the local network

Open-source client, written in Go. Supports HTTP(S) and TCP. REST Api. No account needed. Web dashboard. Also works on ESP32

HTTP/TCP/UDP Tunneling & Debugging, zero-config .local address with https, built-in S3 Server, AI Assistant, available as Desktop GUI, Web, REST API, and *CLI, available on Mac, Windows and Linux

headscale

Open source implementation of Tailscale control server. Can be used with Tailscale's official open source client. Written in Go

Built on WireGuard. Easy to use. Control server is closed source. Client available with a BSD3 license + separate patents file

Comprehensive control plane tool, but also supports behind NATs. Written in Go

Nebula

Peer-to-peer overlay network. Developed and used internally by Slack. Similar to Tailscale but completely open source. Doesn't use WireGuard. Written in Go

Layer 2 overlay network. They take decentralization seriously, and like to say "decentralize until it hurts, then centralize until it works." Written in C++

Netmaker

Layer 3 peer-to-peer overlay network and private DNS. Similar to Tailscale, but with a self-hosted server/admin UI. Runs kernel WireGuard so very fast. Apache 2.0 License. Written in Go

NetBird

NetBird is an open-source VPN management platform built on top of WireGuard® making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home

Layer 3/4 overlay network. Runs on kernel WireGuard® and supports SSO using generic OIDC/SAML connectors. Distributed under Apache 2.0 license and written in Elixir/Rust

- Built on nodes and supernodes. GPL-3.0 license. Written in C

innernet

Similar to Netmaker, Nebula, and Tailscale. Takes advantage of existing networking concepts like CIDRs and the security properties of WireGuard to turn your computer's basic IP networking into more powerful ACL primitives. Written in Rust

Portals for Mac

A Mac app that uses the library to privately share a service on your Mac to anyone, anywhere. The service is shared securely over an end-to-end encrypted Ockam Portal. Apache 2.0 License. Written in Rust

Seems quite comprehensive and complicated. OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IPSec support

Tinc

Tinc is a peer-to-peer VPN daemon that supports VPNs with an arbitrary number of nodes. Instead of configuring tunnels, you give Tinc the location and public key of a few nodes in the VPN. After making the initial connections to those nodes, tinc will learn about all other nodes on the VPN, and will make connections automatically. When direct connections are not possible, data will be forwarded by intermediate nodes. Written in C

- Overlay network. The goal of OpenZiti is to extend zero trust all the way into your application, not just to your network. Apache 2.0 license. Written in Go

weron

- Built on WebRTC. Can create Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks. NAT traversal via STUN and TURN. AGPL-3.0 license. Written in Go

bifrost

Bifrost is a peer-to-peer communications engine with pluggable transports. It supports dynamic configuration of transports, listeners, forwarding rules, and can tunnel other protocols over WebRTC and Quic. Apache 2.0 License. Written in Go

Ngrok-operator

Ngrok but integrated with Kubernetes, allows developers on private Kubernetes to easily access their services via Ngrok

chisel-operator

Kubernetes integration for Chisel. Similar functionality to inlets. MIT License. Written in Rust

frp-operator

Kubernetes integration for . MIT License. Written in Go

Overlay network where the IPv6 address is the key: Easily share address + public key via a DNS AAAA record or map names locally. Secure by default (firewall included). BSD-3 license. Written in Go