lokal vs LocalCan

lokal and LocalCan both give your dev servers HTTPS domain names instead of localhost ports. lokal is a free, open-source command-line tool: .lokal names that stay on your computer, a service added in milliseconds, and a lokal.toml that starts a repo’s whole stack. LocalCan is a closed-source desktop app and CLI built around paid public URLs, with .local names that every device on your network can reach.

Pick lokal if you want local HTTPS that’s free, open source, measured to be fast, and private to your computer. Pick LocalCan if you need public URLs, Windows, or your dev URLs on a phone.

At a glance#

	lokal	LocalCan
Price	Free	Local `.local` domains work without a license key. Public URLs need a plan: Free (one URL at a time, 60-minute sessions), or paid plans from $10 a month
Source code	Open source, Apache-2.0	Closed source
Platforms	macOS 14 or later, and Linux as a preview	macOS 12 or later and Windows, plus a CLI-only build for Linux
Interface	Command line	Desktop app and command line
Domain names	`.lokal`, such as `https://api.shop.lokal`	`.local`, such as `https://my-app.local`, plus public `*.localcan.dev` URLs
Visible on your network	No: names resolve only on your computer, and every listener is on loopback	Yes: names are advertised over mDNS (Bonjour), and every device on the network can reach them
HTTPS	Its own CA, created on your computer and limited to `.lokal` and `.local` names	Its own root CA, created on your computer. Its docs don’t say whether it’s limited to certain names
Password	Once, during `lokal setup`. Never to add a service	Not stated in its docs
Adding a service	`lokal service add api 4000`: 13.78 ms, and the URL works when the command returns	In the app, or in a YAML project file followed by `localcan reload`
Published speed numbers	Yes, from its live test: adding a service, proxy overhead, memory, restart	For public tunnels only. None for local domains
Public URLs	Not yet. `lokal share` is on the roadmap	Yes, its main feature
Scripting	`--json` on every list command, exit codes, and `lokal.toml` with `lokal up` in your repo	`--json` on most commands, YAML project files, and an MCP server for coding agents

Free and open source#

lokal is free. Every feature is in the download: no account, no license key, no trial, and no limit on projects, services or computers. The code is on GitHub under Apache-2.0, so you can read what runs with your password, build it yourself and change it.

terminal

$ brew install mehmetkose/tap/lokal
$ lokal setup

LocalCan is closed source. Its terms say you may not reverse engineer or modify it, and its GitHub repository holds a README and images, not the app’s code. Its local .local domains work without a license key. Public URLs need an account, and beyond the Free plan they’re a subscription:

LocalCan plan	Price	Public URLs	Custom domains
Free	$0, sign-up with an email address	1, in 60-minute sessions, 1 GB of traffic a month	None
Solo	$10 a month, or $96 a year. 1 user, 1 device	5	2
Pro	$16 a month, or $144 a year. 1 user, 2 devices	10	4
Teams	$15 per seat a month, with 3 seats included	Unlimited	Unlimited

Paid plans start with a 14-day trial and need no credit card for it. These are LocalCan’s prices on 2026-11-02; its pricing has today’s.

Fast#

lokal is built to be fast, and it measures it. Its release checklist runs the live test on a real Mac, against the installed lokal, and the test fails if any target is missed. The run for 0.6.0 measured:

	lokal 0.6.0	Target
`lokal service add`, from start to exit (p95)	13.78 ms	under 300 ms
First request to the new URL	worked on the first try	no retry allowed
First lookup of a new name	1.29 ms	under 20 ms
What the proxy adds to a request (p95)	0.19 ms	under 2 ms
Resumed TLS connection (p95)	2.00 ms	under 10 ms
Memory, with 30 services	18.05 MB	under 30 MB
CPU when idle	0.00%	under 0.5%
`lokal restart`, until every name serves again	95.01 ms	under 500 ms

Three things make it fast:

One small native program. lokal is written in Rust, and the background service is the same binary as the command line, with no app window.
No reload step. lokal service add returns once the certificate is issued, the route is in place and the name resolves. The URL works the moment the command returns, and there’s no file to edit or reload command to run.
New names work at once. lokal’s DNS server answers every .lokal name, with a zero TTL. macOS caches a failed lookup for about 75 seconds, so a name you looked up a moment before adding it would otherwise stay broken. .lokal names explains how.

LocalCan publishes speed numbers for its public tunnels (throughput and time to first byte), but none for its local proxy or .local names, and we haven’t measured LocalCan ourselves. So this page doesn’t compare local speed head to head. To measure lokal on your own Mac, see Performance.

Names that stay on your computer#

lokal’s names end in .lokal and resolve only on your computer, to 127.0.0.1 and ::1. Every listener is on loopback, and no name is announced on your network, so nobody else on the network can see or open your dev servers. On Linux, .lokal names resolve the same way, through systemd-resolved.

LocalCan’s names end in .local. It advertises them on your network over mDNS (Bonjour), and its FAQ says that all devices connected to the local network can access them. That’s what lets you open a LocalCan URL on a phone, once you’ve installed its certificate there. On a shared network, such as an office Wi-Fi, those devices include other people’s. On Linux, LocalCan is CLI-only, and its .local names don’t resolve automatically.

HTTPS you can check#

lokal creates its certificate authority on your computer, as you, and the key never leaves your user folder. The CA is name-constrained: it can only sign .lokal names (and .local, lokal’s TLD before 0.6.0), never public domains or IP addresses, so even a leaked key can’t impersonate a real website. On macOS it’s trusted for HTTPS only. Setup lists the only commands lokal runs with sudo, and the security model covers the rest.

LocalCan also creates a root CA unique to your computer, writes its key with owner-only permissions, and has you trust it through your operating system’s dialog. Its documentation doesn’t say whether the CA is limited to certain names.

Made for scripts and coding agents#

lokal is a command-line tool first:

Every command is safe to re-run, every list command has --json output with a stable schema, and exit codes say what went wrong.
A lokal.toml in your repo lists its services. lokal up routes them and starts every dev server, and lokal down removes the routes. See A whole repo with lokal up.
lokal run web -- npm run dev picks a free port, routes it and starts the server.
Coding agents has a snippet that tells an agent how to use lokal in your repo.

LocalCan has a CLI too, with --json on most commands, and an MCP server with 26 tools for coding agents. Its projects are YAML files in ~/.localcan/projects/. The daemon doesn’t watch them, so you run localcan reload after a change. Keeping project files in your app’s own repo is, in its docs’ words, “in development for a future release”.

When LocalCan is the better choice#

You need public URLs, to show a client your work or to receive webhooks. That’s LocalCan’s main feature, and lokal doesn’t have it yet.
You want your dev URLs on a phone or another computer on the same network. lokal can’t do this yet: LAN mode is on the roadmap.
You work on Windows, or on macOS 12 or 13. lokal needs macOS 14 or later, or Linux.
You prefer a desktop app to a command line.
You want to inspect and replay requests. LocalCan has a traffic inspector, and lokal doesn’t.
Your team wants a shared plan with single sign-on and an audit log.

Moving from LocalCan to lokal#

Quit LocalCan first: its proxy uses port 443, as lokal does. If another program holds port 443 or 80, lokal setup and lokal doctor name it.

terminal

$ brew install mehmetkose/tap/lokal
$ lokal setup

Then create a project for each LocalCan project, and add its services. A LocalCan service on my-app.local that points at localhost:3000, and an API on localhost:4000, become:

terminal

$ lokal project create my-app
$ lokal service add @ 3000      # https://my-app.lokal
$ lokal service add api 4000    # https://api.my-app.lokal

Your URLs change from .local to .lokal, so update OAuth callback URLs, allowed origins and anything else that names the old domain. To set up a repo in one step, commit a lokal.toml and run lokal up (A whole repo with lokal up).

Sources#

The facts about LocalCan come from its own website and documentation, checked on 2026-11-02:

Plans and prices: pricing, and the prices in LocalCan’s ngrok comparison (updated 2026-10-11).
Local domains without a license key: CLI overview.
Closed source: terms and the LocalCanApp repository.
Platforms: download, installation and the changelog (macOS 12 minimum).
Names and mDNS: local domains and the local domains FAQ.
Certificates: certificates and security.
Project files and reload: configuration.
MCP server: AI agents.
Public URLs: public URLs.
Tunnel speed numbers: LocalCan’s Tailscale Funnel comparison.

lokal’s numbers come from its 0.6.0 live test report.

LocalCan is a product of its own developers. This page isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by them. If something here is wrong or out of date, open an issue.