Openport

Easy and secure reverse SSH port forwarding

Developer Tools Remote Desktop & Access IoT Platforms openport.io

Visit Website

Founded

2014

Starting Price

About Openport

Openport is a cloud tunneling service that exposes any TCP port on a device to the internet without opening ports in a firewall or configuring a router. A single command on the client creates an encrypted reverse tunnel to Openport's global server network, giving you a public address for SSH, HTTP, databases, or any other TCP service. Paid plans add a web dashboard and REST API for managing fleets of registered devices, which makes it a common pick for Raspberry Pi and IoT deployments behind NAT or CGNAT.

Pros & Cons

Pros

One command exposes a port with no router, firewall or VPN configuration — genuinely works from behind NAT and CGNAT
Works for any TCP port, not just HTTP, so SSH, RDP and database access are first-class rather than workarounds
Official ARM64 and ARMHF packages cover Raspberry Pi Zero through Pi 5, which most tunnel services do not ship
Substantially cheaper than mainstream tunnel services: $5/month for a personal plan and $1 per device per month at fleet scale
Sessions are IP-locked by default and require the recipient to visit a link before connecting, rather than exposing a public URL immediately
The client is MIT-licensed and open source, and the Go v2 client is still receiving updates (last commit February 2026)
Both paid plans include a 30-day free trial, and students and schools can request a free 100-device Educational plan

Cons

The free plan is close to demo-only: 1 device, 10 MB of transfer per month and a 1-day connection timeout
API access is locked behind a paid subscription, so automation is not testable on the free tier
Small independent operation — a Belgian company with a handful of GitHub repos in the 1-11 star range, so community support and third-party guides are thin
No SSO/SAML, audit logging, or SOC 2 / ISO compliance documentation advertised, which rules it out for many enterprise procurement processes
The Enterprise plan bills a 30-device minimum, so fleets of 5-25 devices pay for capacity they don't use
Documentation is a basic Read the Docs site and the dashboard is functional rather than polished compared with ngrok or Cloudflare Tunnel

Key Features

Any-TCP port forwarding

Exposes any TCP port of a device to the internet without opening firewall ports or configuring NAT, so SSH, RDP, databases and web servers all work the same way.

One-command reverse tunnel

Running `openport 22` immediately returns a public address like openport.io:12345 mapped to the local port, with no account required to get started.

IP-restricted access links

Ports are secured by default: the person you share a session link with must visit it first to whitelist their IP before they can connect. Ports can also be made public deliberately.

Device fleet dashboard

Web admin pages show which registered devices are online and let you manage devices, sessions, keys and users from one place.

REST API (v2)

A token-authenticated API at api.openport.io exposes sessions, keys and server nodes for scripted automation. API access requires a paid subscription.

Global server network

Openport runs relay servers in multiple regions so devices connect through the lowest-latency node available.

Team access management

Multiple team members can be given access to devices, with permissions controlled through user groups.

Cross-platform open-source client

MIT-licensed clients for Windows 7-11, macOS 10.8+, Debian/Ubuntu, Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS, plus ARM64 and ARMHF builds for Raspberry Pi Zero through Pi 5.

Forward tunnels and server-to-server links

Beyond exposing a port publicly, the client can bind a remote port to a local one so you connect over the tunnel directly, and can chain server-to-server forwards.

Restart on reboot and daemon mode

Sessions can be configured to restore automatically after a reboot on Windows, Linux and macOS, keeping unattended devices reachable.

UDP forwarding and file sharing

Documented extras include UDP forwarding, simple file sharing over a session, ESP device support and batch command execution across registered devices.

Pricing

Free

$0/month

1 device
1 connection per device
10 MB transfer per month
1 day connection timeout
No API access

Best For

Remote SSH into a Raspberry Pi behind CGNAT

Install the ARM package, run `openport 22`, and reach the Pi over SSH from anywhere without a static IP, port forwarding, or a VPN — the common case for home labs and hobby projects.

Managing an IoT device fleet

Register each deployed device to an account, then use the dashboard to see which units are online and the REST API to script bulk access or commands across the fleet.

Sharing a local dev server or testing webhooks

Expose a local HTTP server on a temporary public address so a client can review work in progress or a third-party service can deliver webhook callbacks to your machine.

Remote support on customer networks

Ship a preconfigured device or install the client on a customer machine so support staff can reach it on demand without asking the customer's IT team to change firewall rules.

Reaching internal databases and remote desktops

Because it forwards arbitrary TCP, teams use it to connect to a Postgres instance or an RDP session on an internal machine through a forward tunnel rather than a public port.