A practical comparison of tunr and Cloudflare Tunnel for local development, staging environments, and developer-first workflows in 2025.
| Feature | tunr Recommended | Cloudflare Tunnel |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Complexity | 1 command (tunr share -p 3000) | Requires Cloudflare account + DNS |
| Persistent Subdomains | ✓ Yes (tunr.sh managed) | ✕ Must own a domain |
| Custom Domains | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Wildcard Domains | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| HTTPS / WebSocket | ✓ Full | ✓ Full |
| Bandwidth / Upload Limits | ✓ Unlimited | ⚠️ 100 MB max upload |
| Freeze Mode (crash protection) | ✓ Exclusive | ✕ |
| Demo Mode (read-only) | ✓ Exclusive | ✕ |
| Feedback Widget Injection | ✓ Exclusive | ✕ |
| IP Whitelisting | ✓ Yes (CLI-level) | ✕ No |
| Bearer Token Auth | ✓ Yes | ✕ |
| Header Modification | ✓ Yes | ✕ |
| QR Code Sharing | ✓ Yes | ✕ |
| Request Inspector / Replay | ✓ Built-in | ✕ |
| Local Dashboard | ✓ Built-in web UI | ✕ |
| Open Source CLI | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| MCP / AI Integration | ✓ Yes | ✕ |
Cloudflare Tunnel is a strong choice if you already use Cloudflare for DNS and want to route through their edge network. But for local development, tunr is significantly simpler: one command to start, no account needed, no DNS records.
More importantly, tunr brings vibecoder superpowers that Cloudflare Tunnel simply doesn't have: freeze mode, demo mode, feedback widgets, QR codes, IP whitelisting, request inspection, and full MCP integration. If you're demoing to clients, debugging webhooks, or working with AI coding agents — tunr is the clear winner.