NPS vs tunnelmole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
NPS
Lightweight proxy server for intranet penetration
VS
tunnelmole
Open-source tunnel to expose local servers to the internet
| Feature | NPS | tunnelmole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 34,157 | ★ 1,885 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok, localtunnel |
Why pick each one
Choose NPS if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 34.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose tunnelmole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is NPS or tunnelmole better?
Neither is universally better. NPS has the larger community, while tunnelmole is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NPS and tunnelmole free and open-source?
Yes. NPS is licensed under GPL-3.0 and tunnelmole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NPS and tunnelmole with Docker?
NPS: yes. tunnelmole: yes.