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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs TunnelBear

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
T

TunnelBear

Cybersecurity

Consumer VPN with a limited free tier and a bear-themed, beginner-friendly app

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.; TunnelBear free plan's data cap is small compared to competitors offering more generous free allowances.
  • They diverge on capability: Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, TunnelBear covers Encrypted VPN tunnel.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and TunnelBear actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and TunnelBear differ
AttributeHookdeckTunnelBear
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countfreemium
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windowswindows, mac, linux, ios, android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in TunnelBear

  • Encrypted VPN tunnel
  • Server location switching
  • GhostBear obfuscation
  • Browser extensions
  • Teams account management

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot TunnelBear
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot TunnelBear
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot TunnelBear
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot TunnelBear

TunnelBear

  • Casual browsing protection on public Wi-Finot Hookdeck
  • Occasional geo-unblocking with a light free allowancenot Hookdeck
  • Bypassing network-level VPN blocking via obfuscationnot Hookdeck
  • Managing VPN access for a small team with centralized billingnot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

TunnelBear

  • Free plan's data cap is small compared to competitors offering more generous free allowances.
  • Lacks advanced features like dedicated IP addresses or split-tunneling controls found in some rival VPNs.
  • Server network is smaller than large competitors like NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
  • No standalone router-level app, limiting whole-network protection options.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

TunnelBear

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 2GB of data per month
    • Access to VPN servers
    • Unlimited devices
  • Unlimited$9.99/month
    • Unlimited monthly data
    • All server locations
    • Cheaper on annual/3-year billing
  • Teams$undefined/month
    • Unlimited data
    • 5 connected devices per user
    • Dedicated account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose TunnelBear if

  • You need encrypted vpn tunnel.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want server location switching.
TunnelBear review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or TunnelBear better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and TunnelBear at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or TunnelBear?
Hookdeck starts at Free and TunnelBear at Free.
Does Hookdeck or TunnelBear run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. TunnelBear runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what TunnelBear is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that TunnelBear cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. TunnelBear covers Encrypted VPN tunnel, Server location switching, GhostBear obfuscation, Browser extensions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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