The latest articles on DEV Community by Alon Sabi (@asabi). https://dev.to/asabi https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3841856%2F7b54c914-dd66-47a1-bf94-84e4a99da1de.jpg https://dev.to/asabi en Alon Sabi Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:01:32 +0000 https://dev.to/asabi/why-i-stopped-using-ngrok-and-built-my-own-tunneling-tool-4lp https://dev.to/asabi/why-i-stopped-using-ngrok-and-built-my-own-tunneling-tool-4lp <p>I’ve been using ngrok for years.</p> <p>It’s great… until it isn’t.</p> <p>The moment I wanted to use my own domain, I hit the paywall. And not a small one.</p> <p>For something that feels like it <em>should</em> be basic.</p> <h2> The problem </h2> <p>My typical workflow:</p> <ul> <li>run a local server</li> <li>expose it for webhooks or client demos</li> <li>sometimes share it with teammates</li> </ul> <p>ngrok works well for that.</p> <p>But:</p> <ul> <li>custom domains require a paid plan (that's the main one)</li> <li>tunnels expire (on free tier)</li> <li>pricing adds up for something I use frequently</li> </ul> <h2> The breaking point </h2> <p>At some point, I realized:<br> I’m basically paying just to map a domain to localhost.</p> <p>That didn’t sit well with me.</p> <p>So I went down the rabbit hole.</p> <h2> What I built </h2> <p>I ended up building a small tunnelling tool for myself:</p> <p>👉 <a href="https://tunnelto.me" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://tunnelto.me</a></p> <p>It lets me:</p> <ul> <li>expose localhost over HTTPS</li> <li>use my own domain</li> <li>run behind NAT without extra setup</li> </ul> <p>I’ve been using it daily for a few months now, and it’s been stable enough to rely on.</p> <h2> Things that were harder than expected </h2> <p>A few things surprised me while building this:</p> <ul> <li>Handling connections reliably under unstable networks</li> <li>Managing TLS cleanly for custom domains</li> <li>Keeping latency low enough for real-time use</li> </ul> <p>This turned out to be more of an infrastructure issue than I initially expected.</p> <h2> Why I’m sharing this </h2> <p>I originally built this just for myself, but I figured others might be hitting the same friction.</p> <p>If you’re using ngrok (or Cloudflare tunnels), I’d be curious:</p> <ul> <li>What do you like/dislike?</li> <li>What would you want improved?</li> </ul> <p>Happy to get feedback — good or bad.</p> networking showdev sideprojects tooling