I use thread, needle and bare hands. Oh, sometimes, I protect my finger with one of those metallic toppers (sorry, no idea how they're called in English). When I'm working on a long project, I scroll it myself, just like I would a parchment. It's been working fine for more than 12 years ! It's also much faster.
The thing is, if you're cross stitching on aida or linen, your hands stay on the same side of the fabric, so you don't need a ring or anything to keep the tension. On the other hand, when using ribbon, hardranger, drawnthread or such techniques, you can't keep the tension while your right hand is reaching for the needle underneath the fabric, so you have to use a ring.