Why I stopped using ngrok and built my own tunneling tool

I’ve been using ngrok for years.

It’s great… until it isn’t.

The moment I wanted to use my own domain, I hit the paywall. And not a small one.

For something that feels like it should be basic.

The problem

My typical workflow:

• run a local server


• expose it for webhooks or client demos


• sometimes share it with teammates

ngrok works well for that.

But:

• custom domains require a paid plan (that's the main one)


• tunnels expire (on free tier)


• pricing adds up for something I use frequently

The breaking point

At some point, I realized:

I’m basically paying just to map a domain to localhost.

That didn’t sit well with me.

So I went down the rabbit hole.

What I built

I ended up building a small tunnelling tool for myself:

👉 https://tunnelto.me

It lets me:

• expose localhost over HTTPS


• use my own domain


• run behind NAT without extra setup

I’ve been using it daily for a few months now, and it’s been stable enough to rely on.

Things that were harder than expected

A few things surprised me while building this:

• Handling connections reliably under unstable networks


• Managing TLS cleanly for custom domains


• Keeping latency low enough for real-time use

This turned out to be more of an infrastructure issue than I initially expected.

Why I’m sharing this

I originally built this just for myself, but I figured others might be hitting the same friction.

If you’re using ngrok (or Cloudflare tunnels), I’d be curious:

• What do you like/dislike?


• What would you want improved?

Happy to get feedback — good or bad.