Compare / ngrok
webhooks.xyz vs ngrok
Tunnels that expose localhost to the internet, with traffic inspection and replay.
What ngrok does well
The fastest way to a public URL for a dev server, edge verification for many providers, and a mature CLI.
Where webhooks.xyz differs
- ngrok forwards live. If your laptop is closed, the request is lost. webhooks.xyz keeps every request and delivers it when you are back, with retries.
- Here the bin is the product, not a side panel. Requests are kept, searchable and shareable, with signature checks and AI help.
- ngrok is the better pure tunnel. The CLI planned here covers the webhook case, not arbitrary TCP.
Pick ngrok when
You must expose any local port, not only receive webhooks, or you need HTTPS for a local site.
Pick webhooks.xyz when
You receive webhooks from Stripe, GitHub, Shopify or any of 50+ providers and want to see, verify and deliver them reliably, for free, without building a workflow.
Feature by feature
| webhooks.xyz | ngrok | |
|---|---|---|
| Instant URL that shows requests | ● | ● |
| Mock responses | ● | – |
| Signature verification | ● | ●Traffic Policy verifies webhooks from 50+ providers at the edge. |
| Destinations with retries and replay | ●Free and Dev have the same retries and replay. Only retention differs. | ◐Live forwarding only. No queue when the agent is offline. |
| Local tunnel (CLI) | ● | ● |
| Failure alerts | ● | – |
| Actions with your own keys | ● | – |
| Full API | ● | ● |
| Inbound email parse | ● | – |
| AI help on payloads | ●With your own key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter): explain a request, write a handler, suggest a filter, summarise a day. | – |
| AI parsing: turn a payload or a mail into fields | ◐The assistant reads a request or a mail and answers you. An AI step that writes fields into the pipeline for each request is not built yet. | – |
| Python or JavaScript post-processing | ◐JavaScript functions and JSONata expressions on routes, in a sandbox: 100 ms, 16 MB, no network. No Python and no containers yet. | –Traffic Policy rules use expressions at the edge, not general code. |
| Multi-step workflows (like Zapier) | ◐In progress, off until you turn it on: a request starts steps (send, set, if, switch, foreach, wait, http, forward). No catalogue of app actions; connections and HTTP cover them. | – |
| Import from other tools | ● | – |
| Private relay for closed networks | ●whx relay inside your network takes deliveries over one outbound connection. | ◐The ngrok agent runs inside your network and opens one outbound connection, like the relay here. |
| Self-hostable | ○Coming soon: one container in your own cloud account, maintained by us (Business plan). | – |
| Free tier you can use for real | ●10 days of history and every feature with small limits. Dev has 30 days. | ● |
● yes ◐ partly or with caveats ○ coming soon here – no
Pricing
Free for one tunnel with a random domain. Paid plans start at about $8–10 a month for static domains and more.
| ngrok plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | One agent, random domain, limited bandwidth |
| Personal / Pro | about $8–20 / month | Static domains, more endpoints |
| Enterprise | custom | SSO, dedicated IPs |
| webhooks.xyz plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, invite-only while in build | All free features, 24 hours of retention |
| Dev | 7-day trial, no card, then about $9 / month | The same features, 30 days of retention |
| Team, Business | coming soon | Transformations, SQL access, published views, SSO, self-hosted |
Use both
Put a bin in front of ngrok. The bin shows and verifies each request, keeps it, and forwards it. ngrok keeps doing what it does well.
Facts about ngrok come from its public docs and pricing pages as of 8 October 2026 (the rows on AI parsing, code and workflows: 15 October 2026). Found an error? Tell us, and we fix it. The webhooks.xyz column includes features that are in progress. The feature list shows what is live.