Jetty vs Expose
Expose (by Beyond Code) is the PHP community's tunneling tool — open-source, self-hostable, well-liked. Jetty comes from the same ecosystem but makes the opposite bet: the server side is operated for you, and the product is everything around the tunnel.
The short version
Want to run your own tunnel server and own the whole stack? Expose is genuinely good at that, and Jetty does not offer self-hosting. Want tunnels plus galleries, inspection, and crew management without operating a server? That is Jetty.
Side by side
| Jetty | Expose | |
|---|---|---|
| Share several servers as one page | Yes — public gallery page | No |
| Self-host the server | No — the edge is operated for you | Yes, open-source |
| Multi-region hosted edge | Yes | Hosted plan regions vary; self-host is wherever you deploy |
| Request inspection | Dashboard inspection + replay (Captain+) | Local dashboard |
| Crew collaboration | Crews, roles, shared tunnels, one bill | Per-developer focus |
| TCP/UDP tunnels | Captain and up | HTTP-focused |
| PHP-native CLI | Yes — PHAR via install.sh | Yes — PHP package |
Comparisons reflect publicly documented behavior as of August 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us: support@usejetty.online.
Where Expose wins
- Open source and self-hostable — audit it, fork it, run it on your own domain and infrastructure.
- White-label your own tunnel service on your own hardware.
- If you want zero recurring vendor dependency, running Expose yourself is the honest answer.
Where Jetty wins
- Nothing to operate: multi-region edge, TLS, uptime are somebody else's pager (ours).
- Galleries, reserved subdomains, custom domains, traffic replay, and crew billing as products, not config.
- One flat crew price instead of per-developer licensing.
Common questions
- Can I self-host Jetty?
- No. The jetty-edge network is privately operated — that is the tradeoff for it being run, monitored, and multi-region without your involvement. If self-hosting is a requirement, Expose is the better fit and we will say so.
See it instead of reading about it
The live demo gallery is the whole pitch. Dinghy is free — no card, no clock.