What is ngrok?

Developer infrastructure that routes and secures traffic to your apps, APIs, and AI models.

SubcategorySecure Tunneling / API Gateway
Version3.39.11
Price€8,00

What is ngrok?

Introduction to ngrok — what it does and who it is for.

Developer infrastructure that routes and secures traffic to your apps, APIs, and AI models.

What do you need to run ngrok?

System requirements, OS support, and hardware needs for ngrok.

ngrok does not publish specific memory, storage, or processor requirements; it runs as a lightweight CLI agent on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Operating system
LinuxmacOSWindows
Devices
DesktopDocker/ContainerKubernetesServer

Programming languages

  • Go

How much does ngrok cost?

Pricing plans, license type, and availability for ngrok.

ngrok offers a freemium model starting with a $0 Free tier, an $8/month Hobbyist plan, a $20/month Pay-as-you-go plan, and custom Enterprise pricing.

Price summary€8,00 (Freemium)
License detailsHosted SaaS with a proprietary agent/service; source code is not publicly available. The original ngrok 1.x agent (2013-2016) was open source but is now unmaintained and archived; some client SDKs are open source on GitHub.
AvailabilityAvailable
PlanDescriptionPrice
Free$5 one-time included usage, up to 3 online endpoints, 1GB data transfer, 20k HTTP/S requests/month, 1 team member, interstitial page on public endpointsFree
Hobbyist$10/month included usage, up to 3 online endpoints, 5GB data transfer, 100k HTTP/S requests, no interstitial page, 1 team member; billed annually at $96/yr€8,00
Pay-as-you-go$20/month included usage, unlimited online endpoints, custom domains, unlimited team members (3 included), wildcard endpoints and mutual TLS available, SSO/RBAC add-ons€20,00
EnterpriseCustom pricing; SSO/SAML, SCIM, dedicated support with SLAs, HIPAA/BAA, custom contracts and security reviews, AWS Marketplace purchasing

What is ngrok used for?

Key features, use cases, and capabilities of ngrok.

ngrok provides secure tunneling with traffic inspection, custom domains, webhook forwarding, load balancing, and an AI Gateway for routing to hosted or self-hosted models.

Key features

  • AI Gateway with model routing and failover
  • Real-time traffic inspection and request replay
  • Custom, reserved, and wildcard domains
  • Webhook forwarding and testing
  • Load balancing
  • Site-to-site and private cross-network connectivity
  • Kubernetes Operator for ingress
  • SSO, RBAC, SCIM and audit logging (paid/enterprise tiers)

Use cases

  • Exposing local development servers and APIs to the internet
  • Receiving and debugging webhooks on-premises or locally
  • Secure remote access to internal apps, devices, and SSH/RDP sessions
  • Kubernetes ingress and site-to-site connectivity

Who should use ngrok?

Target users, industries, and ideal use cases for ngrok.

ngrok is aimed at software developers, DevOps/platform engineers, and enterprise IT teams needing secure ingress for apps, APIs, and AI models.

Industries
Software development and IT infrastructure (cross-industry)
Target audienceSoftware Developers, DevOps/platform Engineers, And Enterprise IT Teams
Integration complexityLow

How is ngrok deployed?

Deployment options, API, and hosting for ngrok.

ngrok is a cloud-hosted SaaS platform with a local agent; it is not open source and does not offer self-hosting.

API integration
Open source
Self-hosting

How do you get started with ngrok?

Installation and onboarding steps for ngrok.

Users install the ngrok agent from ngrok.com/downloads and can begin exposing local services or APIs via the CLI on the Free plan.

What are the pros and cons of ngrok?

Balanced review of strengths and weaknesses of ngrok.

Reviewers on G2 praise ngrok's easy setup and instant secure endpoints, while citing pricing transparency and support responsiveness as recurring complaints.

ProCon
Easy, quick setupPricing described as convoluted/not fully transparent with unexpected costs
Instantly creates secure public endpoints for local developmentCustomer support reported as unhelpful for urgent issues
Effective request inspection for debugging without deploymentFree plan restricts custom domains and stable URLs, pushing upgrades

Where can you learn more about ngrok?

Documentation, support, and official links for ngrok.

Official documentation is available at ngrok.com/docs, with SDK and integration repositories hosted at github.com/ngrok.

Frequently asked questions

What is ngrok?

ngrok — Developer infrastructure that routes and secures traffic to your apps, APIs, and AI models.

How much does ngrok cost?

ngrok offers a freemium model starting with a $0 Free tier, an $8/month Hobbyist plan, a $20/month Pay-as-you-go plan, and custom Enterprise pricing.

What is ngrok used for?

ngrok provides secure tunneling with traffic inspection, custom domains, webhook forwarding, load balancing, and an AI Gateway for routing to hosted or self-hosted models.

Where can I get ngrok?

You can get ngrok via the official website, the install page and GitHub. See the resources section on this page for direct links.

Who should use ngrok?

ngrok is aimed at software developers, DevOps/platform engineers, and enterprise IT teams needing secure ingress for apps, APIs, and AI models.

What do you need to run ngrok?

ngrok does not publish specific memory, storage, or processor requirements; it runs as a lightweight CLI agent on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

How do you get started with ngrok?

Users install the ngrok agent from ngrok.com/downloads and can begin exposing local services or APIs via the CLI on the Free plan.

How is ngrok deployed?

ngrok is a cloud-hosted SaaS platform with a local agent; it is not open source and does not offer self-hosting.

Who developed ngrok?

ngrok is developed by ngrok, Inc..

What are the pros and cons of ngrok?

Reviewers on G2 praise ngrok's easy setup and instant secure endpoints, while citing pricing transparency and support responsiveness as recurring complaints.