ngrok Was Founded In 2013 By Arthur Goldberg And Zach Kauffman With The Goal Of Helping Developers Easily Expose Local Web Services To The Public Internet. The Ngrok Software Proxies Inbound Traffic To A Public Address And Routes It To A Local Server, Without Requiring Any Special Configuration Of Firewalls Or Port Forwarding. This Allows Developers To Share Services Running On Their Computer With Others Easily Without Configuring A Public DNS Name Or Opening Firewall Ports.
ngrok Operates A Global Network Of Points Of Presence (PoPs) That Provide Fast And Reliable Access To Hosted Services. It Offers Integration With Continuous Integration Services Like Travis CI And CircleCI To Allow Testing Internal Web Services During Builds. Ngrok Provides Easy Access To Local Machines Running Services Like Web Apps, Databases, APIs, Mobile Backends And IoT Projects During Development And Testing.
With Ngrok, Developers Can Securely Test Webhooks, Preview Updated Apps Before Deployment And Collaborate With Teammates Or Customers During Development. It Can Also Be Used To Securely Access Database Servers And Other Assets Hosted Privately During Setup And Maintenance Without An Open Firewall. Ngrok's Words Include Exposure,mapping, Webserver And Tunneling Of Privately Hosted Resources During Development.
Ngrok Offers Both Free And Paid Accounts. Their Website Https://ngrok.com Is Available 24/7 For Signups, Documentation And Support. Free Accounts Provide Basic HTTPS Tunnels, While Paid Tiers Offer Additional Features Like Custom Subdomains, Load Balancing, Analytics And Support. Ngrok Saves Developers Time By Automating Port Forwarding And Access Control So Internal Web Resources Can Be Securely Shared During Development, Testing And Deployment.
Ngrok Has Both Free And Paid Plans. The Basic Ngrok Tunnels Are Free To Use For Personal Projects And Development. Paid Commercial Plans Unlock Additional Features Like Custom Subdomains And Load Balancing.
Ngrok Supports TCP, HTTP And HTTPS Tunnels. It Can Proxy Traffic For Any TCP Based Protocol Like SQL, MongoDB, MQTT Etc Over HTTPS.
Yes, Ngrok Is Supported On Windows, Mac And Linux Operating Systems.
Free Ngrok Tunnels Are Ephemeral And Restart Every Time You Start The Ngrok Client. Paid Commercial Tunnels Persist Across Client Restarts And Server Reboots.
Yes, Paid Commercial Plans Allow Using Your Own Domain Name With An Ngrok Tunnel For A More Custom Branded Exposure.