Comparison · Self-hosted vs Managed

Relay vs ngrok

ngrok is $8/mo (Personal). Relay is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.

At a glance

	Relay	ngrok
Hosting	Self-hosted, your infra	Managed SaaS (cloud only)
Data location	Your server, your disk	ngrok's cloud
Free tier	1 tunnel	Paid only
Pro pricing	$0.99/mo	$8/mo (Personal)
Dependencies	None (single binary + SQLite)	N/A (managed)
Setup time	~30 seconds	Account signup
Dashboard	Built-in at /ui	Cloud dashboard
License	BSL 1.1	Proprietary SaaS

When to use Relay

Pick Relay when you want simplicity and ownership.

Self-hosted — traffic does not route through a third party
$0.99/mo vs $8/mo
No bandwidth limits
Your own domain, your own server

Relay is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.

curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/relay/install.sh | sh

Install Relay Relay docs

When ngrok fits better

ngrok makes sense when you need more.

Zero-config tunnel setup (one command)
Global edge network for low latency
Traffic inspection and replay
OAuth and webhook verification built in

ngrok is the easiest way to expose a local service to the internet. If you need a quick tunnel for development or demos, ngrok is unbeatable. If you want a permanent, self-hosted tunnel without routing traffic through a third party, Relay runs on your infrastructure.

The trade-off

Teams evaluating ngrok alongside Relay tend to split on two axes: feature depth and data residency. ngrok wins on feature depth — it is a mature product with integrations, mobile apps, and a dedicated support team. Relay wins on residency — your tunnel and port forwarder data lives on your server in a SQLite file you can inspect, back up, and migrate without asking anyone for permission.

Architecture comparison

Relay runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.

Migration path

Moving from ngrok does not have to be all-or-nothing. Some teams run Relay for new data while keeping ngrok as a read-only archive of historical records. The API makes it straightforward to build a sync script if you need both systems to reflect the same data during a transition period.

FAQ

Is Relay an ngrok alternative?

ngrok is the fastest way to get a tunnel running. Relay is self-hosted for teams that need permanent tunnels without third-party traffic routing.

Does Relay have a global edge?

No. Relay runs on your server. For global edge performance, ngrok's infrastructure is hard to beat.

Relay overview

Get started

Self-hosted tunnel and port forwarder in 30 seconds.

Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.

Install Relay All 150 tools for $29/mo →