ReqPour vs ngrok

Overview

ngrok is the most well-known localhost tunneling tool, used by millions of developers to expose local servers to the internet. It creates a secure tunnel from a public URL to your local machine, enabling webhook development, demo sharing, and remote testing. ngrok has been around since 2014 and has grown into a full ingress platform with traffic inspection, authentication, and load balancing features.

ReqPour takes a different approach. Instead of creating a general-purpose tunnel, ReqPour focuses specifically on webhook development. It provides a public endpoint that catches and stores incoming requests, a real-time dashboard for inspecting payloads, and a CLI relay that forwards requests to your local server. This specialization means ReqPour is simpler to set up and use for webhook work, while ngrok is more versatile for general tunneling needs.

Both tools solve the core problem of receiving webhooks during local development, but they differ significantly in their approach, feature set, and pricing.

Feature Comparison

ReqPour provides persistent webhook capture — requests are stored even when your local server is not running, and you can replay them later. ngrok only forwards requests in real time; if your tunnel is not active, requests are lost. This makes ReqPour better for asynchronous development workflows.

ngrok offers general-purpose tunneling beyond webhooks: you can expose any TCP service, add OAuth authentication to your tunnel, set up custom domains, and configure IP restrictions. ReqPour focuses on HTTP webhook traffic with a purpose-built inspection interface.

Both tools offer request inspection. ngrok has a local web interface at localhost:4040 that shows recent requests. ReqPour has a cloud-hosted dashboard with search, filtering, and persistent history across sessions. ReqPour also supports server-side relay (forwarding without the CLI running) and team sharing of endpoints.

For webhook signature verification, both tools preserve the original headers. ReqPour additionally stores the complete request history, making it easier to debug signature verification failures by comparing multiple requests.

Pricing

ngrok offers a free tier with some limitations: one agent, one static domain, and limited bandwidth. The Personal plan is $8/month for one user with persistent domains and more bandwidth. The Pro plan is $20/month per user, adding IP restrictions and custom domains. Enterprise plans start at $65/month per user with SSO, RBAC, and mutual TLS.

ReqPour is significantly more affordable. The free tier includes 1 endpoint, 100 requests per day, and 24-hour history. The Pro plan is $3/month (or $30/year) and includes 10 endpoints, unlimited requests, 30-day history, server-side relay, and team sharing.

For most webhook development use cases, ReqPour's Pro plan at $3/month provides everything you need at a fraction of ngrok's cost. ngrok's higher pricing reflects its broader feature set — if you need general-purpose tunneling, OAuth gating, or TCP tunnels, ngrok is worth the premium.

Developer Experience

ngrok requires downloading and installing a binary. Setup involves creating an account, getting an auth token, and configuring it locally. The CLI is powerful but has many options that can be overwhelming for simple webhook testing.

ReqPour uses npx, so there is nothing to install. Run npx reqpour login to authenticate, then npx reqpour relay --to http://localhost:3000/webhook to start forwarding. The setup is faster and the focused command set (login, relay, list) is easier to remember.

ngrok's request inspector runs locally at localhost:4040 and is only available while the tunnel is active. ReqPour's dashboard is cloud-hosted, always accessible, and stores request history across sessions. You can share a dashboard link with teammates for collaborative debugging.

When to Use Which

Choose ReqPour if your primary need is webhook development: receiving, inspecting, and relaying webhook requests from services like Stripe, GitHub, Shopify, or any webhook provider. ReqPour's purpose-built dashboard, persistent history, replay feature, and affordable pricing make it the better tool for this specific use case.

Choose ngrok if you need general-purpose tunneling: exposing web servers for demos, sharing local development with clients, testing mobile apps against a local backend, or setting up TCP tunnels for database access. ngrok's broader feature set justifies its higher price for these use cases.

Many developers use both: ReqPour for day-to-day webhook development (it is faster to set up and cheaper to maintain) and ngrok for occasional general tunneling needs. The tools are complementary rather than directly competing.