Pinggy is a tunneling tool — it punches holes through firewalls. HeyListenUp is a webhook development tool — it shows you exactly what's inside the payloads. They solve different problems. Here's how to know which one you need.
Pinggy solves an infrastructure problem: getting traffic from the internet to your machine. HeyListenUp solves a development problem: understanding what that traffic actually contains — and testing how your code responds to it. Most developers who use Pinggy for webhook testing are using a tunnel when they don't need one.
Pinggy
Pinggy's job is to create a secure tunnel from a public URL to your localhost. To test a webhook, you still need a running local server, a configured handler, and a way to read your logs.
HeyListenUp
HeyListenUp gives you a permanent endpoint that captures, displays, replays, diffs, and mocks webhooks — no local server, no tunnel, no terminal required.
Pinggy gets webhooks to your machine.
HeyListenUp tells you what they're saying.
One is plumbing. The other is a stethoscope.
Tunnels solve one step. HeyListenUp covers the whole workflow.
For the developers who like to read the fine print.
| Feature | Pinggy | HeyListenUp |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Access | ||
| Works without installing anything No GUI install — Pinggy uses SSH (pre-installed) | SSH command required | |
| Works without a running local server Receive webhooks even with no code written | ||
| Permanent endpoint URLs Free forever, never expire | Paid only | Free |
| Browser-only forwarding to localhost No ports opened, no config | ||
| Webhook Inspection | ||
| Real-time payload viewer WebSocket streaming | Via web debugger | |
| Headers, body, query params Syntax-highlighted, formatted | Basic | |
| Event history 7-day free / 90-day Pro | 7–90 days | |
| CSV / JSON export | Pro | |
| Debugging & Testing | ||
| Event replay Pinggy: session only (tunnel must be live). HeyListenUp: any stored event, any time. | Session only | Pro |
| Payload diff Field-level comparison between any two events | All plans | |
| Response mocking Return custom status, body & headers | Pro | |
| Slack notifications | Pro | |
| Team & Production | ||
| Shared team workspace | Paid | Team |
| General localhost tunneling SSH, TCP, UDP, TLS — full network tunnels | Core feature | Not the job |
Webhook development features, compared honestly.
Pinggy
HeyListenUp
The honest answer depends on what you're actually trying to do.
You need to see what Stripe, GitHub, Shopify, or Twilio actually sends — before you write a single line of handler code.
Production misfired. You want to replay the exact payload, diff it against the last working one, and find the field that changed.
You need a client to see your entire running application, or you're sharing a local API with a remote collaborator over the network.
You want everyone on the team to see the same webhook events, share endpoints, and debug together without tribal log knowledge.
You need to expose a non-HTTP service — a game server, a database, a raw TCP socket — to the internet.
You have 5 minutes, no local server running, and you just need to know what payload your service is sending. Zero setup tolerance.
10 permanent endpoints, local forwarding, payload diff — free forever.
No credit card required.