Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

tunnelto.dev VS Smallstep SSH

Compare tunnelto.dev VS Smallstep SSH and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

tunnelto.dev logo tunnelto.dev

Expose localhost to the internet with a public URL

Smallstep SSH logo Smallstep SSH

Single Sign-on SSH
  • tunnelto.dev Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-24
  • Smallstep SSH Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-04

tunnelto.dev features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Tunnelto.dev is designed for simplicity, allowing users to easily expose their local services to the internet without complex setup procedures.
  • No Signup Required
    Users can start using tunnelto.dev without the need to register for an account, which reduces friction and speeds up the testing process.
  • Developer Focused
    The service is built with developers in mind, offering features that cater to development and testing workflows.
  • Custom Subdomains
    Tunnelto.dev allows users to choose custom subdomains, making it easier to manage and remember addresses for different services.
  • Security
    Provides secure tunnels to local services using TLS encryption, which helps protect data transmitted over the internet.

Possible disadvantages of tunnelto.dev

  • Limited Free Tier
    The free version of tunnelto.dev has restrictions, which might not be sufficient for extended usage or more complex applications.
  • Bandwidth and Performance Constraints
    Like many tunneling services, there might be bandwidth and performance limitations, particularly for high-traffic applications.
  • Dependency on External Service
    By relying on tunnelto.dev, users become dependent on an external service for accessing local applications remotely, which can be a point of failure.
  • Potential Latency
    Tunnels might introduce additional latency, which can affect the responsiveness of applications, especially in regions far from the service's servers.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Even though data is encrypted, using third-party tunneling involves sending data through external servers, which may raise privacy concerns for some users.

Smallstep SSH features and specs

  • Enhanced Security
    Smallstep SSH enables strong authentication practices by integrating with identity providers, reducing the chances of compromised passwords and ensuring secure connections.
  • Centralized Access Management
    The platform centralizes user access management, allowing admins to easily manage and revoke user access across multiple servers and services from a single point of control.
  • Ease of Integration
    Smallstep SSH integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure and identity providers like Okta and Google Workspace, simplifying the onboarding process for enterprises.
  • Improved Compliance
    With detailed logging and custom policies, Smallstep SSH helps organizations meet various compliance requirements by offering traceability and accountability for user actions.
  • Scalability
    Designed with scalability in mind, Smallstep SSH can efficiently handle growing organizational needs without sacrificing performance or security.

Possible disadvantages of Smallstep SSH

  • Complexity of Setup
    For organizations unfamiliar with identity provider integrations or certificate-based authentication, the initial setup can be complex and may require specialized knowledge.
  • Dependence on External Identity Providers
    Reliance on external identity providers for authentication means that downtime or disruptions with these services can impact Smallstep SSH functionality.
  • Limited Offline Access
    Because the solution is designed to work with identity providers, offline mode functionality is limited, which might be a concern for systems that require constant availability.
  • Cost Considerations
    For small organizations or startups, the cost of implementing and maintaining an enterprise-level authentication system like Smallstep SSH might be prohibitive.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with transitioning from traditional SSH management to Smallstep SSH's certificate-based approach, which might necessitate training for IT staff.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to tunnelto.dev and Smallstep SSH)
Localhost Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Identity And Access Management
Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using tunnelto.dev and Smallstep SSH. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, tunnelto.dev should be more popular than Smallstep SSH. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

tunnelto.dev mentions (4)

  • Best 5 ngrok alternatives in 2023
    Https://tunnelto.dev is my preference as it’s very reasonably priced. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to forward ports via VPS & VPN
    So in the end, for those interested with the same issue (How to forward ports behind the Starlink CGNAT), all the VPN providers I tried were bad (the IP they allow to open weren't working well, or they only provide dynamic IPs), so in the end I : 1/ bought a small router on Amazon, the GL-MT1300 (by GL-iNet) but their smaller routers should work too:... Source: over 2 years ago
  • SSH into your private machines from anywhere, for free, using Cloudflare Tunnel
    This sounds a lot like https://tunnelto.dev/, which I've used and generally like. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what, if any, the differences are, though. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • I've rewritten (and redesign?) frp in Rust, and seen a large improvement in performance and memory
    FWIW there is already a similar program (reverse proxy / nat traverser) in Rust: tunnelto. They don't provide bench infos though. Source: over 3 years ago

Smallstep SSH mentions (1)

  • SSH With SSO
    Through a combination of the properties that are in an SSH certificate and configuration on the hosts, you'll be able to realize RBAC. If you're using the open source step-ca, this will require you to configure things yourself on the hosts. We also have an offering where this capability and management/auditing of the rules is hosted for you, which makes that specific part easier: https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/. Source: almost 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing tunnelto.dev and Smallstep SSH, you can also consider the following products

cotunnel - Remote access and tunnels to your local device.

Keystash.io - Centralized Linux user and SSH key management software

Expose - A beautiful, open-source, tunneling service - written in PHP

strongDM - Trust strongDM to manage an engineers access to everything

ngrok - ngrok enables secure introspectable tunnels to localhost webhook development tool and debugging tool.

OneLogin - On-demand SSO, directory integration, user provisioning and more