Remote Desktop & Access Tools comparison between 4 great open source, self hosted options!

Found this comparison and learned about RPort this way. Too bad it's no longer open source. Looked awesome and could think of some uses with the tunnels. But for what I want with it, the price is too high now.
Gonna try MeshCentral and see how that works out!
Thank you for this comparison

Hi! Thank you for your very clear and informative videos!
In my search for a self-hosted Remot Control system, I found this video comparing various solutions, thanks to which I then chose Remotely.
Thanks to your video tutorial I installed it without any problems and it works quite well.
However, there are a few things about Remotely that don't quite convince me. The software does not seem to be actively developed (even though the last update is about 5 months old), but above all I have not found an active community around the project (difficult to find answers to various questions).
So I went back to your channel to see if I could find something better.
Here are some questions.
1) When will this comparison be updated? After the exclusion of RPort I was hoping to see one with new software that you also reviewed...
2) Remotely works via the browser, but for me this is not always the best solution: sometimes I need quick access to the software and having a dedicated app would be preferable. Does only RustDesk have this functionality?
3) A very useful feature for me is being able to do remote control of a smartphone as well (I am interested in the Android world, as I don't own Apple). RustDesk has this functionality, but Remotely doesn't seem to me to have it (or at least I haven't understood if and how it can be done). For me, this is an interesting voice to include in your comparison table.
Thanks for your attention!

Fastfoward to 2024, what remote desktop management system would you recommend now? I was using RustDesk but after the controversy i took mine down. I'm intrested in MeshCentral cause of it's web-client, but guacamole also work, i'm kinda stumped. Is remotely still relevant? Ik that rport is "dead" though.

I am still looking for an alternative. The key point of TeamViewer is unattended access from the Windows and mobile clients. I liked RustDesk very much; both clients are very good. However, even when self-hosting, you don't have an address book for quick unattended access like TeamViewer. To have this feature, you have to pay a license fee, which is almost the same price as TeamViewer, and you still have to host it yourself. It's too much money and work. In my case, not having an Android client is what is preventing me from switching from TeamViewer

Rport is no longer Open source

This is a very very good video! Loved the comparisons

In your spreadsheet, cell "A2" it reads:
"See Constant Machine Details"

Maybe I missed it, but I did not see you explain what that is.
Rust Desk looks like it would be my choice. But I would like to know what "See Constant Machine Details" means -- especially because Rust Desk does not have that feature.

Thank you.

Good video.

RPort doesnt seem to be opensource anymore, Sadge :(

Rport has gone to the dark side.

Intel has ended support for these tools.

In any of the programs supports remote access to windows "locked", that is, where the user is currently logged out.

Rustdesk also has remote elavation on windows :D

The only thing I wish these remote support apps had was smart card support like yubikey login. I'm stuck using dameware or rdp.

Having watched a few of your videos, your vocal and visual presentation is remarkably good. Keep up the good work. You're the reason I tried my hand at Rustdesk as an alternative to Teamviewer. It worked straight away. Perhaps I'm ready for Remotely. No buts and ifs when I reaffirm OSS is awesome.

i need remotely software ready to pay thanks

I prefer to use X2Go as my remote access tool. It's built from NX.

open source guy

Man, you are so knowledgable. If I'm willing to pay for a remote desktop, because I really need low latency and efficiency, what would be your top pick?

Hi - As of this typing, I'm using the latest version (on both my Windows 11 PC and my S22 Ultra Android). I'm still a novice at this. Right now, my immediate problem is my attempt to control my Android device via my Windows 11 PC: My PC mouse works just fine when I try to control my S22 Ultra via RustDesk. However, my hardware PC keyboard won't control my Android device. So, I'm forced to make do with just the keyboard that is on my phone. How can I fix this? Thank you.

Your comparison is very helpfull ! In corporate environments and their networks there are many restrictions. My corporate environment allows using only TCP ports 80 or 443. So, it would be helpfull to add to your table also the column about the ports that can be used.

Do any of these tools have the ability to scan for and tunnel to non-PCs (printers etc)?

Excellent breakdown thank you. I have RustDesk running but might checkout some of these now

Please review tactical rmm. It integrated with Mesh Central and provides a great RMM solution.

MeshCentral. Row 17. It does have this IF the notification bar is enabled. The user can click the X on it, and it will disconnect the session.

MeshCentral vs Rustdesk... which wins with latency? which is easiest to use from an iPad?

Rustdesk can also connect over RDP or ssh by using TCP Tunnel. RDP works very Well, I use this daily to connect to my Workstation. Of cause we hosting own rustdesk Server for that.

any info on remote printing?
also anything about apache guacamole?

Nice!
Make an IP KVMs review

Have you looked at a program called nomachine? I have been using it for while. When install the client, it automatically detects other nomachine systems and connects them. The only catch is that machine has to have the video connected, which for headless machines just get a video dummy plug and you are good to go.

one more category I would like to see on your spreadsheet. iOS and android, or maybe any other common os's one would like to connect to.

FYI the windows session in remotely is for incase you connect to a terminal server with multiple user sessions, you can swap user sessions

RustDesk has Android App and this works very well, You can control another PC/Mobile from your Cell phone, or be controled by...

Excellent video as always. Just wanted to say personally don’t mind the long format. In-fact I think it is just kind of a staple of your content and videos. While I understand this is hard for some do to attention spans and the short videos ruling the world it seems. The longer form is appreciated.

Great video, thanks..

1st time on your channel... awesome breakdown!! Wuz just looking for this info on RUST or alternate to connect between my Mac & Windows machines!! Thanks, ..."Liked & Subbed"!!👊🔥

With MeshCentral, can you turn off the ability to create accounts? As it is seeing your video on it (1 year ago), it looked like anyone could simply create an account. Also on RustDesk, you can run remote commands.

From my point of view Meshcentral is the best. The rest of remote desktop software allow you to manage already running pc but what happens when Windows won't boot up properly? With Meshcentral you can start up pc (boot to BIOS / change boot order) and with WDS(and PXE) remotly reinstall os. If you have VPN tunnels (site-to-site) within all remote location you can easily re-deploy whole computer even which resides in diffrent country.

This is great! I’d note that you can disconnect the remote session as the end user with admin configuration.

One of the most important feature is to be able to get pass company firewall.

Is there one that can control iOS devices? I found TeamViewer has this but behind a hefty price. I just want to do family members device support.

Do the SSH connections in each accept key based auth?

Remotely is impossible to Google, it autocorrected to remote. It's also in every article about remotely connecting

This is a great comparison! In the beginning you included in your chart, Mesh Central can act as a remote support only portal. I’m interested in this. Any guides how to set it up?

if the enduser isn't logged in as admin ie standard user and when you remote in and try to install apps it blanks the UAC prompt to enter the admin password, what one can show the UAC please

Hmm i would like comper to Anydesk and Teamviewer. Becouse opensourse software is freeware most time but sometimes you give something away. In Anydesk sessions can be recorded automatic and you can draw on client screen. For me it's key. For somebody it's no deal.

The web page / spreadsheet isn’t working on mobile (iOS) for me. The whole page is one tall skinny column. You can only see the left column and can’t scroll to the right.

Have you tested elevated command promt? We use it a lot in our organisation.

We use Remotely at work, I actually provisioned it and we deploy it over intune and saltstack. The windows install is pretty straightforward, the Linux however.... It's clear that whoever made it doesn't know Linux very well. I had to hack it to make it install in the correct location for example. However... I can't say we had toooo much trouble getting it to work on Linux outside of that. What im trying to say is it's very doable

Great video, thanks. I appreciated the worksheet, it must have taken a lot of time to do it!!
btw do you know some alternative of x2go? in other words, remote control of Virtual screen in Order that multiple users May rdc on their screens in the same server.