Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Portal

Self-host open source apps in seconds

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. Portal launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Portal▲81

   Run apps on your own easy to use cloud server

   2015 · portalplatform.net · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Portal - Run apps on your own easy to use cloud server▲86

   2015 · portalplatform.net · its alternatives →

3. 3
   Breakout Room for the Web ▲94

   Instant screen recording + API

   2016 · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Hoppscotch Self-Host▲237

   Open-source API development — now on-premise!

   2023 · hoppscotch.io · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Portal▲181

   Hey HN, I'm Zach, founder of Portal. Portal lets you share a live sandbox browser session as a link. Try it here: https://www.makeportals.com/try Instead of asking someone to sign up, install software, or book a demo for user research, onboarding, or sales, you send a link and they interact with the real product in a sandboxed browser environment, then you get session replays. Each viewer gets a fresh remote browser instance that starts from a defined state (URL, cookies, extensions, local files, etc). Sessions are isolated and expire automatically. The sessions have…

   Feb 2026 · makeportals.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Backbeam▲93

   Build web and mobile apps in half the time.

   2014 · loryn.me · its alternatives →

7. 7
   StaticBackend▲118

   Low code self-hosted backend API to build web apps

   2023 · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Pushpin▲79

   Building and scaling realtime APIs made easy

   2015 · pushpin.org · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Omniref▲144

   Stackoverflow for Github

   2014 · its alternatives →

10. 10
    API Point▲90

    Automate all your routine dev work for free with API

    2022 · its alternatives →

11. 11
    OAuth.io▲111

    Integrate 100+ OAuth providers in 90 seconds

    2015 · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Rapid - Real-time Database Service▲184

    Build real-time apps without maintaining the infrastructure

    2017 · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Collabinate▲68

    an API for hosted activity streams

    2014 · its alternatives →

14. 14
    Frame.io▲151

    Cloud-based collaboration for everything

    2015 · frame.io · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Ru▲95

    Ru

    2020 · its alternatives →

16. 16
    WeTime▲73

    Easy Scheduling on mobile

    2014 · its alternatives →

17. 17
    CloudApp 2.0▲103

    Share faster

    2014 · getcloudapp.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Meteor▲107

    Platform for building web apps in a fraction of the time

    2014 · meteor.com · its alternatives →

19. 19
    Waffle▲84

    Your github workflow open sourced.

    2014 · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Timeful▲78

    Design web apps and sync with your own codebase

    23d ago · timeful.io · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Ionic Portals▲84

    Supercharged web view for native apps

    2021 · ionic.io · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Flowhub▲85

    Let's Make Code More Playful (Beta Open)

    2014 · 12bet.review · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Parsehubfree tier, from $189/mo▲96

    Turn dynamic websites into APIs

    2014 · parsehub.com · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Boundary Free▲74

    Server and App Monitoring

    2014 · domaineasy.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →