VS Code Remote Tunnels opens a remote machine in VS Code or vscode.dev through Microsoft's dev tunnels service, and VS Code can forward ports, also publicly. Paperboat works with any terminal, editor or browser, and adds persistent terminals, files, secrets, permanent tunnels and sharing.
Checked against VS Code Tunnels's own documentation and pricing, November 2026. Sources are listed under the table.
Remote Tunnels is built for VS Code: the machine opens in VS Code or vscode.dev, signed in with the same GitHub or Microsoft account on both ends.
Paperboat works with any terminal, editor or agent, including VS Code through plain Remote-SSH.
$ code tunnel$ pb devbox
$ ssh devbox.{localDomain}The machine is reachable while VS Code runs there, and one person uses it at a time.
Paperboat terminals run on the machine and keep running when your laptop sleeps or the network drops. When you come back, from the same computer, another one or a browser, you see what happened while you were away, and you can let someone watch or type along.
A forwarded port can be made public, and dev tunnels can keep a stable address on Microsoft's domain; your own domains aren't supported.
pb preview gives a port a public HTTPS link in one command, and pb tunnel keeps a permanent address with your own domain, on every plan.
$ devtunnel host -p 3000 --allow-anonymous$ pb preview 3000VS Code syncs its own settings; it has no file sending or encrypted environment variables.
pb send puts files in the other machine's Inbox, resuming if the connection drops. ENV delivers encrypted variables to the commands and terminals that need them, and config sync keeps settings the same everywhere from a Git repository.
Every answer in the VS Code Tunnels column carries a number that links to the page of theirs that says it. Put a second tool beside it
A shell on your machine that you can leave and come back to.
Run one command on another machine and get its output and exit code.
Use ssh and the tools built on it, without managing keys or opening ports.
Send a file to a machine without setting anything up.
The secrets your programs need, delivered to the machine that runs them.
The same settings on every machine, from a repository you control.
A public link to a port on your machine, for as long as you need it.
A public address for a service that stays the same.
Your machines reach each other's ports without exposing them.
Who could read your traffic on the way.
Working with other people, and deciding who may do what.
Which parts you can run on your own servers.
Where it runs.
How you pay, and what is free.
What each product does, from its own documentation, as of November 2026. “No” means its documentation describes no such feature. Found something out of date? The other product's page wins; tell us and we fix ours.
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits, November 2026
Yes. Paperboat generates SSH host names; pick one in Remote-SSH and it connects with keys handled.
Install Paperboat here, then on a second machine. Free for personal use, no card needed.
$ curl -fsSL https://get.pprbt.dev/install | bash > irm https://get.pprbt.dev/install.ps1 | iex