Is ngrok Free? Current Free Tier Limits Explained

Is ngrok free? Yes. ngrok offers a free plan for developers, but the plan has usage caps, domain limits, and a browser interstitial for free HTTP and HTTPS endpoints.

That answer matters because many developers discover ngrok during a deadline. They need to expose localhost:3000, test a webhook, or send a link to someone outside their machine. Free can work well for that, but only if the limits match the job.

Is ngrok free in 2026?

ngrok’s free plan includes no subscription charge. The official pricing page lists a free tier with a one-time included usage credit, up to 3 online endpoints, 1 GB data transfer, up to 20,000 HTTP/S requests, an assigned development domain, and 1 team member. ngrok’s free-plan documentation also says free endpoints do not have timeouts.

Those details are useful because older blog posts and forum answers may describe earlier limits. Check ngrok’s pricing page before you standardize on a workflow, since plan limits can change.

ngrok can be free for local testing and lightweight use. It becomes less simple when you need custom domains, no interstitial page, higher usage, more account controls, or a reviewer experience that does not mention ngrok before your app loads.

What the ngrok free tier includes

The free plan covers core tunneling use cases. You can run an HTTP tunnel, receive a public URL, inspect traffic, and test external callbacks against your local service.

Current free-plan highlights include:

Up to 3 online endpoints.
1 assigned development domain.
1 GB data transfer out per month.
Up to 20,000 HTTP requests per month.
Up to 5,000 TCP connections per month.
Up to 3 concurrent agents.
Traffic inspector retention on the free tier.
HTTPS tunnels and automatic certificates.

For webhook testing, that can be enough. A Stripe, GitHub, or Slack callback can reach your local app. You can inspect requests and replay traffic during development.

For human review, the details matter more. If a client opens your free ngrok HTTP endpoint in a browser, they may see an interstitial page before the app. ngrok says this page helps fight phishing abuse on the free tier. That is a reasonable platform control, but it can confuse a non-technical reviewer who expects your app.

What costs money with ngrok

Paid ngrok plans remove or raise important limits. Based on current public pricing, paid paths can add no interstitial page, ngrok-branded domain choices, custom domains, more usage, more team members, identity and access features, region controls, and other traffic policy features.

The free plan also does not let you choose a custom domain name or bring your own domain. ngrok’s free-plan docs describe the free domain as an automatically assigned development domain, such as a ngrok-free.app hostname. If you want a custom static domain, random domain generation, wildcard domains, or your own domain, you need a paid plan.

That does not make ngrok expensive by default. It means you should decide what you are buying:

More traffic capacity.
A cleaner browser experience.
Stable domain names.
Team governance.
Edge security controls.
Production traffic patterns.

If your use case is one short client review, those may be more than you need.

Free ngrok vs. a temporary review link

ngrok and wiremaven overlap around one act: a public URL routes traffic to your local app. They diverge around the review workflow.

ngrok is broad. It works for webhooks, APIs, devices, TCP services, and production-style gateway use cases. Its docs and ecosystem are deep.

wiremaven is narrow. It creates temporary encrypted public links for local dev servers and shows live review signals while the session runs. The reviewer opens a browser URL. The developer sees viewer joins, request outcomes, failures, and the expiry timer.

During beta, wiremaven requires no account and no credit card. Review windows can use 15, 30, or 60 minute TTLs. Traffic reaches your machine through an outbound-only WebSocket to the relay, and your IP is not exposed to reviewers.

Use ngrok when you need a general tunnel platform, request replay, or a persistent setup with plan-backed features. Use wiremaven when you need a short-lived review link for a local build and want visibility into what happened after you sent the URL.

See wiremaven docs for setup and how wiremaven works for the relay path.

Watch the browser interstitial

The free ngrok browser interstitial matters for client review. It appears in front of free HTML browser traffic and asks the visitor to continue. ngrok states that the page does not affect API or programmatic traffic and that developers can bypass it with headers or a custom user agent. Those bypasses help code, not a client opening a link in Safari or Chrome.

For a non-technical reviewer, the interstitial can look like a warning. They may stop before they reach your app, ask if the link is safe, or think they clicked the wrong URL.

If your review link must feel like your app from the first load, choose a workflow without that browser step, or use a paid ngrok plan that removes it.

FAQ

Is ngrok free forever?

ngrok has a free plan, but pricing and limits can change. Review the official pricing and free-plan limit pages before making it part of a team standard.

Does the ngrok free plan time out?

ngrok’s current free-plan docs say the free tier does not have endpoint timeouts. Free usage still has monthly transfer, request, endpoint, and domain limits.

Can I use a custom domain on ngrok free?

No. The free plan uses an assigned development domain. Custom domains, random domain generation, and wildcard domains require a paid plan.

What is a free ngrok alternative for reviews?

During beta, wiremaven creates no-account temporary review links for local dev servers. Start with:

npx wiremaven-cli 3000 --expires 30m

For a broader list, read ngrok alternatives and ngrok vs. localtunnel vs. wiremaven.