Pinggy doesn't require an install. Why would I install the Nodetonet agent?

The agent unlocks features that SSH-style tunneling cannot offer: rotating IPs across paired Android phones, genuine mobile carrier exit nodes, per-client quota and expiry controls, sticky sessions, and SOCKS5 support. If you only need a quick "demo localhost" link, Pinggy is genuinely faster. If you need proxy infrastructure or mobile carrier IPs, the agent earns its keep quickly. See your first token and Android pairing for the setup flow.

Is Nodetonet really cheaper than Pinggy for a single tunnel running 24/7?

For a single always-on tunnel the price difference is modest — Nodetonet's prepaid metering works out to roughly half of Pinggy's flat monthly rate per tunnel. The real saving opens when you run three or more tunnels in parallel, or when tunnels sit idle for days at a time, because stopped resources cost nothing on Nodetonet. Pinggy's flat rate runs whether the tunnel is active or not.

Can I use Nodetonet via SSH like Pinggy does?

Not today. The Nodetonet agent uses its own protocol over WebSockets rather than raw SSH. An SSH-style tunnel handoff is on the roadmap because it is useful for one-shot demos, but if SSH is non-negotiable for your workflow right now, Pinggy or a similar tool remains the right choice.

Does Pinggy's UDP support matter for typical developer use cases?

For most web development — HTTP endpoints, webhooks, databases over TCP — UDP is not needed. UDP becomes important if you tunnel game servers, custom VoIP, WireGuard exit points, or any UDP-native protocol. If that describes your use case and you need it today, Pinggy or LocalToNet are the right tools until Nodetonet ships UDP support.

I need mobile proxies AND HTTP tunnels. Can Nodetonet handle both from one panel?

Yes. This is exactly Nodetonet's core proposition. You pair Android phones as mobile proxies, run rotating or sticky pools via token groups, and run HTTP tunnels through a Windows .exe agent — all managed from the same panel, billed from the same prepaid credit, and controlled through the same REST API. Pinggy handles only the tunnel side and has no proxy capability.

How do I keep a stable public subdomain on Nodetonet like Pinggy's persistent URL?

Nodetonet assigns a stable subdomain to each tunnel by default — it does not change on reconnect. You can also CNAME your own domain to the tunnel endpoint by following the bringing your own domain guide, or configure automatic HTTPS with Let's Encrypt auto-renewal. The subdomain persists as long as the tunnel exists in your panel.

What happens to my Nodetonet tunnels if my agent goes offline?

Incoming requests to your tunnel endpoint will fail until the agent reconnects. Nodetonet bills only while the tunnel is actively running, so you are not charged for the offline period. If you need high availability, you can pair multiple devices to the same token group so traffic fails over to an online device automatically. See automatic failover for mobile proxies for the setup.

Nodetonet vs Pinggy — SSH one-liner vs full panel for tunneling in 2026

TL;DR: Pinggy is the fastest way to expose a local port — one SSH command, no install, done. Nodetonet is the right choice when you need proxy pools, mobile carrier IPs, per-client controls, or usage-based billing across multiple tunnels.

Pinggy is the smallest, sharpest tool in the tunneling category. There is no agent to install — you tunnel through an SSH command, full stop:

ssh -p 443 -R 0:localhost:3000 a.pinggy.io

That is it. You get a public HTTPS URL, it is served back over SSH, and you are billed a flat monthly fee for the convenience. Nodetonet covers the same tunneling problem with a different shape: a permanent panel, a paired-device model, prepaid billing, and the full mobile-proxy story that Pinggy does not have. This page explains exactly where each tool fits, what you give up with each choice, and how to migrate if you decide to switch.

1 · What each tool is actually for

Pinggy was built for the "I need a public URL in 10 seconds" use case. A developer demoing a webhook endpoint, a designer showing a staging site to a client, or a CI job that needs an ephemeral callback URL — these are Pinggy's home turf. The tool is elegant because it does one thing and does it instantly.

Nodetonet was built for a different problem: running proxy infrastructure at the device level. The core idea is that every Android phone paired with the agent becomes an exit node on a real carrier network. You manage those devices from a web panel, group them into pools, issue per-customer credentials with quotas and expiry dates, and route traffic through them over SOCKS5 or HTTP. The HTTP tunnel feature is an add-on to that core, not the heart of the product.

Both tools expose a local service to the internet. They serve that overlap differently, and they do not compete at all on the mobile-proxy side. Read how Nodetonet routes traffic for a deeper look at the architecture.

2 · Pricing — flat monthly vs prepaid metering

Pinggy's paid plans land at roughly $2.5–3/month for one persistent tunnel with a custom subdomain. Extra plans cover HTTP, TCP and TLS bundles. The model is flat-rate and billed monthly — you pay the same whether the tunnel runs for 1 day or 30.

Nodetonet charges against prepaid credit and stopped tunnels cost nothing. For sporadic use — a tunnel that is alive only 10–15 days per month — Nodetonet costs a fraction of Pinggy's flat fee. For three or more tunnels running in parallel, Nodetonet wins because Pinggy bills per tunnel slot at its flat rate with no bulk discount.

If you run a single tunnel 24/7 every day of the month the two services are roughly comparable on price per tunnel. The difference is that Nodetonet refunds the idle time automatically because you are never billed for a stopped resource. See our pay-as-you-go pricing post for the full model.

3 · Feature comparison

Feature	Nodetonet	Pinggy
Zero-install (just SSH)	— (agent required)	Yes
Web panel UI	Full panel	Minimal dashboard
Stable HTTPS subdomain	All plans	Paid plans
Custom domains	All plans	Paid plans
Automatic HTTPS (Let's Encrypt)	Yes	Yes
TCP tunnels	Yes	Yes
UDP tunnels	Roadmap	Yes
TLS pass-through	No (HTTPS terminated at edge)	Yes
WebSocket tunnels	Yes	Yes
Pair Android phones as exit IPs	Yes (unique)	No
Mobile carrier IP rotation	Yes (unique)	No
Multi-device proxy pools (token groups)	Yes	No
SOCKS5 proxy protocol	Yes	No
Upstream residential forwarding	Yes	No
Geo / carrier / city targeting	Yes (username modifier)	No
Sticky sessions	Yes (`-session-XXXX` suffix)	No
Per-client quota and expiry	Yes	No
IP allow / deny lists	Yes	Paid plans
Domain allow / deny lists	Yes	No
REST API	Yes	Limited
Webhooks	Yes	No
Audit log	Yes (30 days)	No
Idle tunnels billed	No — free when stopped	Yes — flat monthly
Subscription required	No (prepaid credit)	Yes
Reseller / white-label	Yes (WISECP)	No
Setup time	~2 min (download agent, pair)	~5 sec (one SSH command)

4 · The unique angle — multi-device pools, not single-shot tunnels

Pinggy is built around one tunnel = one upstream. Run an SSH command, point it at a local port, done. It is surgical and fast. There is no concept of "this token group has 5 devices and traffic rotates across them with sticky sessions."

Nodetonet is built around token groups. A token is your credential. A token group binds multiple agents to a single endpoint. Requests landing on that endpoint get distributed across the agents — with sticky sessions when you need consistency, with rotation when you need fresh IPs. That is how you build a rotating proxy pool out of several phones and VPS exits without writing your own load balancer. Read the full architecture in token groups: creating pools.

Add upstream residential forwarding on top — chain Smartproxy, Bright Data or IPRoyal into Nodetonet's outbound path — and you have built a hybrid proxy provider from a single panel. Pinggy does not compete in that lane at all. For a deeper look at the upstream option, see upstream residential forwarding explained.

The mobile-proxy angle is the clearest differentiator. When you pair an Android phone with the Nodetonet agent, that phone becomes a mobile proxy with a genuine carrier IP. Anti-bot systems treat carrier IPs with far more trust than datacenter or even residential ranges, because mobile carrier IPs sit behind carrier-grade NAT shared across thousands of paying subscribers. Pinggy has no equivalent capability.

5 · Where Pinggy still wins

Zero install. If you only have SSH on your machine, you are ready in seconds. Nothing to download, no panel to log into. Nodetonet requires the agent app.
UDP today. Pinggy ships UDP tunnels. Nodetonet's UDP support is on the roadmap but not yet available.
TLS pass-through. Pinggy can forward raw TLS to your origin without terminating. Nodetonet always terminates HTTPS at the edge.
Speed of one-shot tunnels. A single SSH line is the fastest dev experience for "demo localhost in 10 seconds." Hard to beat for that use case.
No account for free tier. Pinggy lets you open a temporary tunnel without signing up. Nodetonet requires an account and a token pair before a tunnel is active.

6 · When to pick Nodetonet

You run more than one tunnel and Pinggy's flat-rate-per-tunnel cost adds up.
You need multi-device proxy pools — rotating IPs across several agents.
You want real mobile carrier IPs as exit nodes for scraping, ad verification, or app testing.
You want geo, carrier and city targeting with username modifiers on the same endpoint.
You are running sporadically and the idle-free billing model saves real money.
You need per-client controls: user/pass credentials, IP allow/deny, domain restrictions, quota, expiry, and thread limits per customer.
You want a full panel with audit log, REST API, and webhooks — not just a CLI.
You are building a reseller proxy business and need white-label billing via WISECP.

7 · When to stick with Pinggy

You only need one persistent tunnel, always-on, no rotation or proxy features.
You cannot install software on the box — a locked-down corporate laptop or a container without persistent storage.
You need UDP or TLS pass-through today.
SSH-as-deployment-channel fits the rest of your tooling cleanly.
"No panel to log into" is an explicit feature for you, not a missing one.
You want a temporary public URL without creating an account.

8 · How Nodetonet compares with other tunneling tools

Pinggy is not the only alternative worth comparing. If you are evaluating the category broadly, see Nodetonet vs ngrok (the most widely-known tunneling tool), Nodetonet vs Cloudflare Tunnel (free but Cloudflare-locked), and Nodetonet vs LocalToNet (closest feature overlap in the mid-market). Each comparison covers pricing, protocol support, and the proxy vs tunnel distinction.

If the deciding factor for you is the mobile proxy capability, see Nodetonet vs Bright Data and Nodetonet vs IPRoyal — both of which sell mobile proxy bandwidth but charge per gigabyte rather than per device.

9 · Migration path from Pinggy to Nodetonet

Sign up at /auth/register and add a small amount of prepaid credit to your account.
Download the Nodetonet agent for your operating system from the downloads page — it is a single binary with no daemon to configure separately.
Pair the device with a panel-generated token, or use upstream-only mode if you do not need a paired agent and just want to forward traffic.
For each Pinggy SSH tunnel, create a Nodetonet HTTP tunnel pointing at the same local port (use the panel or POST /api/v1/proxies).
If you used Pinggy's custom subdomain, CNAME it to cname.nodetonet.com — see bringing your own domain for the full walkthrough.
Cancel your Pinggy subscription before the next billing cycle.

If SSH-only is critical and you cannot install an agent, Pinggy remains the right tool. We will not pretend otherwise — fit matters more than brand loyalty.

Get started

Ready to try the panel-driven alternative? See how HTTP tunnels work on Nodetonet, explore mobile proxies if carrier IPs are relevant to your work, or create a free account and ship your first tunnel in about two minutes.