# What is ngrok?

> ngrok is a tunneling service that gives an app on your machine a public URL through ngrok’s cloud.

Source: https://layerv.ai/glossary/ngrok/

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[← All Terms](https://layerv.ai/glossary/) 

# What is ngrok?

The ngrok agent connects out from your machine and forwards traffic from an endpoint ngrok assigns. It needs an account and an authtoken before the first URL.

On the free plan, an account gets one dev domain on ngrok-free.app or ngrok-free.dev, browser visitors see a warning page first, and Traffic Policy can add OAuth, OIDC, or basic auth in front of the endpoint.

## How qURL Compares

qURL needs no account and gives the app no public URL: each recipient gets an access link that is single-use by default and expires within 24 hours. ngrok remains the better tool for webhooks, public APIs, and raw TCP.

## Related

[Localhost Tunnel](https://layerv.ai/glossary/localhost-tunnel/) [Tunnel Interstitial](https://layerv.ai/glossary/tunnel-interstitial/) [Quick Tunnel](https://layerv.ai/glossary/quick-tunnel/)

[qURL vs ngrok →](https://layerv.ai/compare/qurl-vs-ngrok/) [ngrok alternatives →](https://layerv.ai/compare/ngrok-alternatives/) [Guide: Get past the ngrok browser warning →](https://layerv.ai/guides/skip-ngrok-browser-warning/)



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*This markdown version is auto-generated from [https://layerv.ai/glossary/ngrok/](https://layerv.ai/glossary/ngrok/) for AI agents. Curated agent resources: [llms.txt](https://layerv.ai/llms.txt). For the full interactive experience, visit the HTML version.*