# Serveo Alternative With Private Links: qURL vs Serveo > qURL vs Serveo: Serveo gives your app a public serveo.net URL over SSH; qURL keeps it off the internet and gives each recipient a single-use link. Source: https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-serveo/ --- [← All Comparisons](https://layerv.ai/compare/) # qURL™ vs Serveo An SSH command and a public URL, or a link for one person. Serveo needs no account and nothing beyond an SSH client: ssh -R 80:localhost:3000 serveo.net gives your app a public serveo.net URL, and free-tier visitors see a warning page first. qURL also needs no account, but the app gets no public URL: qurl share prints a link that works once and expires within 24 hours. Facts checked October 1, 2026 against each vendor’s documentation. [Download the data](https://layerv.ai/data/localhost-tunnels/tunnels.json) Serveo forwards a local port over SSH to a public serveo.net subdomain, with raw TCP and SSH aliases as well as HTTP. qURL is a CLI that publishes a local app without a public route and hands out one link per recipient. ## How qURL and Serveo differ Serveo takes an SSH remote forward and answers on a \*.serveo.net subdomain; a registered key reserves a custom one. The free tier allows 3 active tunnels and shows visitors a warning page, which Pro removes. Anonymous public TCP ports last 10 minutes, or 30 with a registered key. The URL is public, with no visitor access control in Serveo itself. qURL connects out from your machine too, but it gives the app no public address. qurl publish registers the app and prints its CRID, the app’s stable ID; qurl share turns the CRID into an access link for one recipient. Opening the link admits that recipient’s network address for the session; by protocol design, other addresses get no response. ## From a running app to a link you can send qURL CLI ``` qurl publish http://127.0.0.1:3000 qurl share ``` Serveo (free) ``` ssh -R 80:localhost:3000 serveo.net ``` ## qURL and Serveo, side by side __qURL CLI compared with Serveo (free), with the source for each value__ | Question | qURL CLI | Serveo (free) | | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Account needed before the first URL | No. The first publish creates the device identity [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | No [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | What the URL looks like | A qurl.link access link per recipient; the app answers at r\_.qurl.site, a name absent from Certificate Transparency logs [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | \*.serveo.net subdomain; custom subdomain available [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | Who can reach it | No one until a link is opened; then the opener’s public IP for that session, including other devices behind that IP [layerv.ai](https://layerv.ai/docs/qurls.md) | Public: anyone with the URL [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | Warning page shown to visitors | None [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | Yes on the free tier; removed on Pro [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | Visitor access control | Single-use access link by default; link and session lifetimes. IP allow and deny lists and other rules can gate links through the API, not the CLI [layerv.ai](https://layerv.ai/docs/qurls.md) | Not documented for visitors [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | Link expiry | Yes. qurl share returned a 24-hour link in our no-account test; no-account links are capped at 24 hours [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | None documented for HTTP; anonymous public TCP ports last 10 minutes (30 with a registered key) [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/docs) | | Single-use links | Yes, the default for qurl share [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | Not documented [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/) | | Protocols | HTTP(S), WebSocket, SSE; no raw TCP [our test](https://layerv.ai/research/qurl-behaviour) | HTTP(S); raw TCP (random port) and private TCP/SSH aliases over SSH; UDP only via paid WireGuard [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/docs) | | Free-tier limits | Without an account: up to 3 active resources, with links that last up to 24 hours [github.com](https://github.com/layervai/qurl-integrations/blob/main/apps/cli/README.md) | 3 active tunnels; anonymous TCP: 1 port, 10 minutes, 2 connections, 256 KiB/s [serveo.net](https://serveo.net/docs) | ## Which one to use ### Choose qURL to Give one person or an agent access to an app with no public URL and no warning page in front of it, using a link that works once and expires on its own. ### When Serveo is the better choice Choose Serveo for a public URL from a machine with only ssh, for raw TCP, or for private SSH aliases between machines you control. ## Frequently Asked Questions Does Serveo show a warning page? Yes, on the free tier. Visitors see an interstitial page before the app; the Pro plan removes it. Who can open a qURL link? Whoever holds it, once: with no flags, qurl share prints a single-use link. Opening it admits the network address it was opened from for the session, which lasts 1 hour by default for an app published from the CLI. Other devices on the same public IP address, such as an office or café network, can reach the app until the session ends, so keep your app’s own sign-in for anything sensitive. By default a link admits whoever opens it; access rules set through the API, such as IP allow and deny lists, can restrict that. Can my coding agent share my app with qURL? Yes. Give Claude Code, Cursor, or Windsurf the qURL skill (https://layerv.ai/skills/qurl/SKILL.md) and ask it to share the app: it installs the qurl CLI, publishes the app privately, and gives you an address to send. The agent applies the private access rules you choose. For named recipients, give it their email addresses so it can send invitations. Recipients verify their email in the browser and save a passkey; they never send you their email verification code. The agent checks policy support before sharing and keeps the app private if the deployment cannot support it. For one person right away, ask it for a one-time link instead. Codex starts with network access off, so save the skill file for it first. ## Related Resources [Every localhost tunnel, compared →](https://layerv.ai/compare/localhost-tunnels/) [qURL vs localhost.run →](https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-localhost-run/) [qURL vs Pinggy →](https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-pinggy/) [qURL vs localtunnel →](https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-localtunnel/) [ngrok alternatives →](https://layerv.ai/compare/ngrok-alternatives/) [An ngrok alternative with no public URL ↗](https://qurl.link/private-ngrok-alternative) [Serveo ↗](https://serveo.net) ## Share your app without an account Paste one prompt into your coding agent, or install the qURL CLI and publish the app yourself. No sign-up, no API key. [Get the agent prompt ↗](https://layerv.ai/vibe-coding/) [Install the CLI ↗](https://layerv.ai/cli/) New to qURL? Start at [qurl.link ](https://qurl.link/) --- *This markdown version is auto-generated from [https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-serveo/](https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-serveo/) for AI agents. Curated agent resources: [llms.txt](https://layerv.ai/llms.txt). For the full interactive experience, visit the HTML version.*