Localport vs Teleport
Teleport is an identity platform for infrastructure that handles SSH, Kubernetes and database sign-in itself, deployed by you or run in its cloud. Localport is the network layer: mutual TLS access to ports on devices behind NAT, run by us, with your own tools on top.
Last checked 16 October 2026
What Teleport is
Teleport is an access platform for servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases and desktops, with single sign-on, access requests and session recording. It runs as a cluster you deploy, or in Teleport's cloud.
- Protocol-aware access
- Session recording
- Self-hosted or cloud
What Localport is
Localport gives each person, server or CI job a certificate and a grant naming the devices it reaches. Each TCP or HTTP port you allow is forwarded to the holder's machine, so existing clients work unchanged.
- Remote Access over mutual TLS
- Nothing to deploy
- Public tunnels in the same product
What Teleport does well.
Localport does not record sessions, read SSH or database protocols, or run on your own infrastructure.
- Session recording
- Teleport records SSH and Kubernetes sessions for playback.
- Protocol-aware access
- Sign-in to servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases and desktops goes through Teleport itself.
- Access requests
- A person asks for elevated access and another approves it for a limited time.
- Your own infrastructure
- Deploy on-premises, in the cloud or both.
What Localport does better.
- Nothing to deploy
- Localport runs the service. Install the agent on each device and grant access in the dashboard.
- Devices behind NAT
- The agent connects outbound, so a device behind NAT, CGNAT or a customer firewall needs no inbound port.
- Your own tools
- Each TCP or HTTP port you allow is forwarded by localport access, so SSH, Ansible and database clients work unchanged.
- No private keys held
- Every certificate is issued from a signing request made on the holder's machine. Localport never sees the private key.
- Bring your own CA
- Register your certificate authority. Localport verifies its certificates against its CRL and never holds its key.
- Revocation closes live connections
- Narrowing a grant, revoking a certificate or removing a certificate authority closes the connections it covered.
- Public tunnels in the same product
- Static HTTP URLs, reserved TCP ports, TLS passthrough and custom domains, with IP allowlist, basic auth, header authentication and webhook signature verification.
- A published price
- Pro is $24 a month for up to 50 members and 30 devices.
Side by side
| Teleport | Localport | |
|---|---|---|
| Layer | Identity and protocol: SSH, Kubernetes, databases | Network: mutual TLS to a port |
| Setup | Deploy a cluster, then enrol resources | Create a fleet, run one command per device |
| Who runs it | You, or Teleport's cloud | Localport runs the service |
| Web apps | Internal web apps, behind Teleport sign-in | Public HTTP, TCP and TLS tunnels, in the same plan |
| Pricing | Active users and protected resources, by quote | $6, $24 or $119 a month per team, published |
How Localport handles your data.
- Open-source agent
- The program on your machine is Apache 2.0. Read it before you run it.
- Traffic content is not logged
- Request and response bodies are not stored.
- A region for each tunnel
- EU, US or Asia Pacific. Account data is stored in the EU.
- Your keys stay with you
- Private keys for Remote Access are created on your machine and not sent to us.
Common questions.
Teleport details are from Teleport pricing guide, Teleport core concepts, Teleport features as published on 16 October 2026.
Is Localport a replacement for Teleport?
Only for reaching devices. Localport is the network layer: mutual TLS access to ports on devices. Sign-in to the service, session recording and privilege management stay with your own tools, where Teleport handles them itself.
Does Localport need a cluster or a proxy to run?
No. Localport runs the service. You install the agent on each device and manage access in the dashboard.
Does Localport record sessions?
No. The Remote Access log records who connected, to which device and port, from where, the outcome, the duration and the bytes. The content of a session is never recorded.
Does Localport work with Kubernetes or databases?
Yes, at the network layer. Localport forwards any TCP port, so a database or a Kubernetes API server is reachable with its own client.