Alternatives to Chisel

Fast TCP and UDP tunnel carried over HTTP and secured with SSH. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Chisel.

  • wstunnel

    Carry network traffic through a WebSocket tunnel.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    wstunnel carries traffic through a WebSocket tunnel under BSD-3-Clause, likewise crossing restrictive networks, but it has no SSH layer and needs both ends configured.

  • Ligolo-ng

    Tunnelling and pivoting tool that presents a real TUN interface.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Ligolo-ng presents a real TUN interface so every tool works without a SOCKS wrapper, but it needs elevated privileges on the operator machine.

  • frp

    Reach private network services through a reverse proxy.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    frp is an Apache-2.0 reverse proxy for reaching services behind NAT through a reachable server, aimed at exposing services rather than crossing egress filters.

  • bore

    Forward a local TCP port through a remote server.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    bore is a smaller MIT-licensed self-hostable tunnel for forwarding a local TCP port, without HTTP transport, UDP support or SSH security.

  • Cloudflare Tunnel

    Exposes a service on your machine to the internet through Cloudflare without opening a single port in your firewall.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Cloudflare Tunnel connects outbound without opening ports, but it requires a Cloudflare account and domain and routes your traffic through Cloudflare.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.