Localport vs ngrok
ngrok is a gateway platform that bills seats and usage. Localport is tunnels and remote access at one flat price for the whole team.
A team of 25 pays $130 a month on ngrok before usage, and $24 on Localport.
Last checked 2 October 2026
ngrok is a gateway platform
- An API gateway with traffic policies
- Billed as a monthly credit, then usage
- Seats, endpoint hours, data and domains are each metered
- A plan that costs nothing to start
Localport is tunnels and remote access
- A persistent public URL for anything you run
- Private access to every device you deploy
- One flat price per team, with no meter
- Custom domains and TLS tunnels on every plan
What it costs
ngrok Pay-as-you-go against Localport Pro, month to month.
| ngrok | Localport | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| A team of 10 developers $20 with 3 users, then 7 users at $5 | $55 a month | $24 a month | 2.3x less |
| A team of 25 developers $20 with 3 users, then 22 users at $5 | $130 a month | $24 a month | 5.4x less |
| A team of 50 developers $20 with 3 users, then 47 users at $5 | $255 a month | $24 a month | 10.6x less |
| 3 services online all month on your own domains, 50 GB 2,190 endpoint hours at $0.02, 2,190 domain hours at $0.01, 45 GB at $0.10 | $70 a month | $24 a month | 2.9x less |
| One developer Hobbyist: 1 user, 5 GB. Localport Hobby: 5 members, 20 GB, a custom domain | $10 a month | $6 a month | 1.7x less |
ngrok seat figures exclude usage, which is billed on top. The services row assumes traffic in every hour. Localport Pro is $20 a month billed yearly and covers up to 50 members and 150 GB.
Side by side
| ngrok | Localport | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Monthly credit, then seats and usage | One flat price per team |
| Team members | 3 on Pay-as-you-go, then $5 per user | 5 on Hobby, 50 on Pro, included |
| Data transfer | 5 GB, then $0.10 per GB | 20 GB on Hobby, 150 GB on Pro |
| Endpoint fees | $0.02 per active endpoint hour | None |
| Custom domains | Pay-as-you-go, $0.01 per active hour | Every plan |
| TLS tunnels | Pay-as-you-go | Every plan |
| Team webhooks | Endpoint pooling balances requests across agents | Fanout: every teammate receives each request |
| Devices in the field | Device Gateway, $0.02 per active endpoint hour or a sales contract | Remote Access, included in Pro |
ngrok fits when
- You want an API gateway with traffic policies in front of your app
- You want to start on a plan that costs nothing
- You run one service with little traffic and pay only for the hours it is used
Localport fits when
- Your team shares tunnels and webhooks and you want one predictable bill
- You want your own domain and a URL that never changes
- You reach devices on customer networks
- Your security team wants to read the agent's source
What Localport covers
- Public URLs over HTTP, TCP and TLS
- IP allowlist, basic auth, header authentication, webhook signature verification
- Fanout to every teammate
- Private access to devices, with an access log
What stays in your hands
- Request rewriting and API gateway logic stay in your app
Common questions.
ngrok details are from ngrok pricing, ngrok Device Gateway as published on 2 October 2026.
How much cheaper is Localport than ngrok for a team?
For 10 developers, ngrok Pay-as-you-go is $55 a month in seats before usage, and Localport Pro is $24 a month. For 50 developers it is $255 against $24.
Does Localport have static domains?
Yes. Every tunnel keeps its URL across restarts on every plan. You can choose the subdomain or use your own domain.
Is Localport a free ngrok alternative?
No. Localport has no free plan. Every plan starts with a trial, and Hobby is $6 a month.
Is Localport open source?
The Localport agent, the program that runs on your machine, is open source under Apache 2.0.