frp vs localtunnel
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | frp | localtunnel |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 52 · Fair |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 109,598 | ★ 22,486 |
| First released | 2016 | 2015 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok |
What are frp and localtunnel?
frp
frp is a fast reverse proxy that exposes a local server located behind a NAT or firewall to the internet. It supports TCP, UDP, HTTP, and HTTPS tunneling.
- Expose services behind NAT
- TCP, UDP, and HTTP tunnels
- Single binary
- Encryption and compression
localtunnel
localtunnel exposes a local web server through a public URL without configuring DNS or firewalls. The server component is open source and can be self-hosted.
- Public URL for localhost
- Self-hostable server
- No DNS configuration
- Useful for webhooks
frp vs localtunnel: key differences
Frp is written in Go, while localtunnel is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for frp versus MIT for localtunnel. Frp is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for localtunnel. Frp has the considerably larger community, at 109,598 GitHub stars versus 22,486.
Why pick each one
Choose frp if…
- Single lightweight binary
- TCP UDP HTTP tunneling
- Battle-tested and popular
Watch out for
- Needs a public server
- Manual config file editing
Choose localtunnel if…
- Zero configuration
- Free public URLs
- Self-hostable server
Watch out for
- Public server unreliable
- Limited security controls
Frequently asked questions
Is frp or localtunnel better?
Neither is universally better. frp has the larger community, while localtunnel is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are frp and localtunnel free and open-source?
Yes. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and localtunnel under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run frp and localtunnel with Docker?
frp: yes. localtunnel: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, frp or localtunnel?
frp has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for localtunnel. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.