Cloudflare Tunnel vs ouicu for sharing localhost

Cloudflare Tunnel is free and strong once your domain is on Cloudflare, and its Quick Tunnels need no account at all, but give a new address each run and are meant for testing. ouicu sits between the two: one sign-up, then a link with a name you keep, a password and no DNS to move.

At a glance

As of 7 October 2026, from each product's own pages (listed under Sources). Prices in US dollars.

Quick Tunnels: no account, a new name each run

One command gives a local port a trycloudflare.com address:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8080

Cloudflare lists what you give up for that:

• Quick Tunnels are for testing and development. Quick Tunnels have no uptime guarantee.
• Quick Tunnels: a new name each run, so yesterday's link is dead today.
• Quick Tunnels: 200 requests in flight, then 429.
• Quick Tunnels don't carry Server-Sent Events, which matters for apps that stream, like chat interfaces.

ouicu Free also draws a random name each time, and a share runs 2 hours. With Hobby and Pro, a reserved name stays yours and shares have no time limit.

Email sign-in on a Quick Tunnel

A Quick Tunnel can now let in only the people you name: --allowed-mail puts an emailed one-time PIN in front of a Quick Tunnel, since 2 October 2026.

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8080 --allowed-mail [email protected]

The email sign-in needs an interactive browser, and the emailed PIN expires 10 minutes after it is sent. It is close to ouicu's invite list, with Pro: visitors type their email address, get a link that works for 24 hours, and stay in for 7 days. The difference is the name: a ouicu list sits on a reserved name and outlives the command.

Named tunnels: stable, on your own domain

For an address that stays, you create a named tunnel in the dashboard, and that needs a domain whose DNS Cloudflare runs:

Then it scales a long way, 1,000 tunnels per account, and Cloudflare Access puts a sign-in in front: Cloudflare Access sign-in, free up to 50 users. Past 50 users, $7 per user a month, paid annually.

ouicu needs no domain of yours. Previews live on ouicu.app; on Pro, you can also point up to 5 subdomains of your own at them, like preview.yourstudio.com, with a CNAME and a TXT record (see Custom domains).

Vite, Next.js and the Host header

Through a tunnel, a dev server sees the tunnel's address as Host and may refuse it. Vite answers with Blocked request. This host ("abc.trycloudflare.com") is not allowed. cloudflared can send a Host the dev server knows instead, with a flag its own source describes:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:5173 --http-host-header localhost:5173

For a named tunnel, httpHostHeader does the same in a tunnel's settings. ouicu does it on every share without a flag: Host is localhost:5173, the public address is in X-Forwarded-Host, and hot reload WebSockets get a local Origin, so Vite and Next.js need no change.

Video, downloads and large files

Neither is a way to hand out files. Cloudflare's terms for its CDN say:

ouicu passes only what web pages are made of: no video, audio, PDFs or downloads, and no response over 50 MB.

Where Cloudflare Tunnel is better

• Free: Tunnel is on every plan.
• Cloudflare Access sign-in, free up to 50 users.
• Quick Tunnels need no Cloudflare account or domain.
• HTTP for visitors; TCP, SSH and RDP need cloudflared on their side too.
• 1,000 tunnels per account.
• cloudflared is open source (Apache-2.0).

If your domain is already on Cloudflare and your viewers fit in the free Access seats, a named tunnel costs nothing and does more than ouicu.

Where ouicu fits better

• No domain or DNS to move: the link works as soon as you share.
• A password on the link, with Hobby and Pro, for clients who won't sign in anywhere.
• An email when someone opens it, with Hobby and Pro, and the last version kept up while your laptop sleeps, with Hobby and Pro.
• Builds too: ouicu deploy ./dist puts a site up under the same name.

Questions people ask

Which is better, ngrok or Cloudflare?

Cloudflare Tunnel is free with sign-in for a small team, if your domain is on Cloudflare. ngrok gives a stable free address without a domain and replays requests; see ngrok vs ouicu for its limits.

How do I use Cloudflare Tunnel for localhost?

Install cloudflared and run cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8080 with your port. For an address that lasts, add your domain to Cloudflare and make a named tunnel.

Is Cloudflare Tunnel free?

Free: Tunnel is on every plan. Access sign-in is free up to its user limit.

Try ouicu

Install it (Getting started), then share your dev server:

ouicu share 5173

Let in only the people you name (Pro):

ouicu share 5173 --name acme --allow [email protected]

Or keep the name with a password from Hobby, $4 a month. The pricing has every plan.