Open Source Alternatives
  • Alternatives
  • Categories
    Categories by size874 projects
    • Developer Tools456
    • AI & Machine Learning402
    • Web Development196
    • Business & Productivity188
    • Communication & Collaboration126
    • Security & Monitoring124
    • IT Management122
    • Product & Project Management106
    • Cloud & Hosting103
    • Data & Analytics102
    Browse all 21 categoriesLLMOps & AI Tooling, Design & Creative and 9 more
  • Blog
  • Advertise
SearchNotion, Slack, password manager.../
Submit
Open Source Alternatives
  • Alternatives
    • Developer Tools456
    • AI & Machine Learning402
    • Web Development196
    • Business & Productivity188
    • Communication & Collaboration126
    • Security & Monitoring124
    • Browse all 21 categories
  • Blog
  • Advertise
Submit your project

New open source projects by email

The projects we add and every new guide. Free, unsubscribe any time.

Open Source Alternatives LogoOpen Source Alternatives

Handpicked Open Source Alternatives to Paid Softwares

Product

  • Categories
  • Tag
  • Advertise

Resources

  • Blog
  • Collection
  • Submit

Company

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Refund Policy
  • Sitemap

Alternatives

  • Claude Code
  • Jira
  • Notion
  • Slack
  • Linear
  • Wispr Flow
  • All alternatives
© 2026 Open Source Alternatives. All rights reserved.
Open SourceAlternatives
Home/Categories/Developer Tools/Tunnelmole
icon of Tunnelmole

Tunnelmole

Open source alternative to ngrok, LocalXpose and Cloudflare Tunnel

  • 1.9K stars
  • MIT
  • Updated this year
  • Last commit 191 days ago

Last verified Oct 6, 2026

Connect local HTTP or HTTPS servers to a public URL for webhook testing, client demos, and cross-device debugging.

Visit websiteGitHub1.9K starsDeploy on Hostinger
image of Tunnelmole
TL;DR

Tunnelmole is an open source tunneling client that gives locally running HTTP or HTTPS servers a public URL. It replaces hosted tunnel tools like ngrok for developers who need to share local apps, test webhooks, or demo work without deploying. MIT licensed.

Read the full breakdownHide the full breakdownWho it is for, how it works, trade-offs and the FAQ
who it's for

Who Tunnelmole is for#

Developers testing webhooks locally

Use Tunnelmole when Stripe, GitHub, Slack, or another external service needs to call your local endpoint.

Skip if:

The endpoint is production-facing or needs long-term uptime guarantees.

Teams sharing local demos

Use Tunnelmole to give a teammate or client a temporary URL for a local app without deploying a preview environment.

Skip if:

Your team already has secure preview deployments attached to every branch.

the problem

The problem it solves#

Local development breaks down when an external service needs to reach your machine. Webhook providers, mobile devices, teammates, and clients cannot access localhost, so developers either deploy unfinished work or fight with network configuration.

Hosted tunnel tools solve the access problem, but they add account, pricing, and vendor dependency concerns. Some teams want a simpler open source path for temporary public URLs.

how Tunnelmole solves it

How it solves it#

Public URLs for localhost

Creates a public URL for locally running HTTP or HTTPS servers, including web servers, APIs, Docker containers, and React or Node apps.

Webhook testing workflow

Lets services such as payment providers or automation tools call a local endpoint during development without deploying the app.

Open source tunneling client

Provides a client-side tunnel workflow with source access, giving developers more inspection and self-hosting options than a closed tunnel service.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

  • Fast path from localhost to public URLTunnelmole focuses on the core developer job: expose a local server so another system can reach it. That keeps demos and webhook tests simple.
  • Useful before deploymentDevelopers can share work or test callbacks before CI/CD, staging infrastructure, or DNS setup is ready.

Trade-offs

  • -Temporary tunnel, not production ingressTunnelmole is for development access and demos. Production workloads need stable ingress, authentication, rate limits, observability, and operational ownership.
tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages
JavaScriptTypeScript
Frameworks
Express
frequently asked

FAQ#

What is Tunnelmole used for?

Tunnelmole is used to expose local HTTP or HTTPS servers through a public URL for development, demos, and webhook testing.

Is Tunnelmole an ngrok alternative?

Yes. Tunnelmole can replace ngrok for common local tunneling jobs, especially when developers want an open source client.

Should Tunnelmole be used in production?

No. Tunnelmole is best for temporary development tunnels. Production services need stable ingress and security controls.

also worth a look

Similar open-source tools#

iroh

Alternative toTailscale

Connect devices seamlessly without relying on the cloud.

  • 12,793 GitHub stars
  • Apache-2.0Licence Apache-2.0

Void Cloud

Alternative toVercel

Full-stack Vite toolkit with one-command Cloudflare deployment

  • 507 GitHub stars
  • MITLicence MIT

CodeBoarding

Alternative toCodeDashboard

Review code changes as architecture maps, not line diffs

  • 2,601 GitHub stars
  • MITLicence MIT

FckSignups

InCustomer Support

Open-source tools that work instantly, no signup required

  • 4,511 GitHub stars
  • GPL-3.0Licence GPL-3.0

Surfpool

Alternative toHelius

Drop-in local Solana test validator with forking support

  • 615 GitHub stars
  • Apache-2.0Licence Apache-2.0

Forgejo

Alternative toGitHub

Self-hosted Git forge for teams that want platform independence

  • 5,688 GitHub stars
  • GPL-3.0Licence GPL-3.0
by category

Open source tools in these categories#

456

Developer Tools

REA (Reverse Engineer Anything), superpowers, Skills for Real Engineers196

Web Development

freeCodeCamp, superpowers, Skills for Real Engineers85

DevOps & CI/CD

Nvm, Uptime Kuma, Netdata
Hostinger

Run Tunnelmole on your own server

Self-host Tunnelmole on a Hostinger VPS.

Deploy on Hostinger

Featured

rakazo

Alternative toGrok Bot

AI teammates you own: your keys, your model, your machine.

  • 4,904 GitHub stars
  • Apache-2.0Licence Apache-2.0
  • #AI Agents

Omnara

Alternative toCClaude Managed Agents

Open-source agent deployment API. Self-host or use Omnara Cloud.

  • 2,957 GitHub stars
  • Apache-2.0Licence Apache-2.0
  • #AI Agents

Inbox Zero

Alternative toSuperhuman

AI email assistant that drafts replies and clears your inbox

  • 12,712 GitHub stars
  • AGPL-3.0Licence AGPL-3.0
  • #Email
Feature your project

New open source projects by email

The projects we add and every new guide. Free, unsubscribe any time.

Find open source alternatives to paid software

/
  • Claude Code to OpenCode
  • Jira to Windshift
  • Notion to AppFlowy
  • Slack to Mattermost
  • Linear to GitLab
  • Wispr Flow to Handy
  • CapCut to Concat
  • Grok Bot to rakazo
  • Superhuman to Inbox Zero
  • Airtable to AITable
  • Muse to OpenClaw
  • GitHub Copilot to Cline
  • Datadog to Netdata
  • Microsoft Teams to Rocket.Chat
  • Pinecone to Qdrant
  • Zapier to n8n
  • Devin AI to OpenHands
  • Firebase to Supabase
  • 1Password to KeePassXC
  • Confluence to Docmost
  • Contentful to Strapi
  • Adobe Premiere Pro to Shotcut
  • ChatGPT to AnythingLLM
  • LangSmith to Langfuse
  • Claude Code to OpenCode
  • Jira to Windshift
  • Notion to AppFlowy
  • Slack to Mattermost
  • Linear to GitLab
  • Wispr Flow to Handy
  • CapCut to Concat
  • Grok Bot to rakazo
  • Superhuman to Inbox Zero
  • Airtable to AITable
  • Muse to OpenClaw
  • GitHub Copilot to Cline
  • Datadog to Netdata
  • Microsoft Teams to Rocket.Chat
  • Pinecone to Qdrant
  • Zapier to n8n
  • Devin AI to OpenHands
  • Firebase to Supabase
  • 1Password to KeePassXC
  • Confluence to Docmost
  • Contentful to Strapi
  • Adobe Premiere Pro to Shotcut
  • ChatGPT to AnythingLLM
  • LangSmith to Langfuse