Just installed Rustdesk on my Raspberry Pi 4 and it permanently maxes out the CPU even when nothing is moving on screen. Is that normal? When there is nothing moving on screen the RealVNC server consumes nearly 0% and when I move a window it goes up to just 40-50%. Rustdesk not being connected to a client uses more CPU than RealVNC when it is connected. Rustdesk doesn't look very sustainable here, but seeing how many people like it, I may be missing something.
No, but some are about to - it's the end of the "realVNC", but it was free, now not and I'm not paying $25 a month to support my mom, my aunts, and my niece's computers... so that is the point of the question.
Only downside is that it's officially abandonware as Intel fired Ylian off the project.
Edit: Looking back into it, I seem to be misinformed - seems like he's still working on it now under Microsoft, I guess?
It's not abandonware, as I'm still maintaining it 😀 it's just slower updates as its all community stuff now and no paid support, unless anybody wants to sponsor/support me? 😇
Yes, for what it's worth. Sounds very limited:
> # Will you still be offering a free subscription?
> Yes, you will be able to sign up for a Lite plan, for non-commercial use only. The Lite plan includes **1 user** and **3 devices** with a limited set of features.
(**emphasis** added)
Good. I just need to get to one machine from the outside on a network that is very restrictive with its firewall rules. RealVNC has been great so far. Once I get on that box, I'm good to jump around wherever.
Wouldn't RealVNC run and update itself forever as long as you don't log into their own servers? I only connect to my RealVNC server on my Raspberry Pi locally, or via VPN when away. I don't normally log into their servers which is why I don't get their latest announcement banner in my RealVNC clients on my computers.
I do get that banner on my mobile phone, because it is logged in to their server, but it doesn't have to. I can log out and carry on using RealVNC locally or via VPN as above. Isn't all this correct?
There is such an agreement, but I am assuming it's being discontinued because RealVNC sent me the usual email about the end of the Home plan, and the client displays a banner if it logs into their system.
If I can stay with the current arrangement, possibly renamed as Lite, I won't have to change my setup for now, particularly as Rustdesk here is extremely CPU-hungry. As I said, I don't even use their infrastructure and I was hoping my RealVNC setup won't stop working. In the long run, I would prefer to move away from their proprietary solution for the usual reasons.
Guacamole really needs to work on its install and upgrade. This should be as easy as running a single install or upgrade script, but it isn't. And this has been a complaint for a very long time, so it appears there is no want in improving the experience.
Do you have it behind nginx or another reverse proxy? If so, did you configure support for websockets in your proxy? That can make a HUGE difference in performance.
The big plus for kasmvnc is that it has a web interface, so no client software is needed. It also means you can expose it using your regular reverse proxy arrangement for other apps (or just connect over vpn to access of course).
I use No Machine. Technically it's own thing versus strict VNC though is well supported, can even do authenticator via public keys, works well when accessing from the Internet.
I'm running it on windows, mac and raspberry pi. The mac and the Pi are the two servers. Pretty stable too 😂 my windows laptop is mostly used to be portaled into the servers, connections are really sturdy.
I did not like that with real VNC authentication was going through their cloud for servers that are feet away from me. And that's how I found no machine. A bonus is you can easily set it for custom ports which is great since my mac server does naughty things so is network locked on a VPN so to reach it directly outside the lan I need to use one of my wireguard port forwards and it works great.
Ps I forgot to mention it has pretty good mobile support as well, I just don't use it much that way so forgot 😂 but I have tried it and it works as advertised. All of this too is app supported. Not via browser or anything.
My rpi4 is headless as well, I needed it connected to regular VNC or monitor to set it up. Absolutely painless to set it also to have nxserver start at boot. Only RPi issue is I do run X11 instead of Wayland, Wayland gets glitchy. There may be a way to get Wayland to work but with graphics and display resolution Wayland seemed to be full of headaches so X11 was the path of least resistance. Other than that I run Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm like usual.
I have not had a monitor on that Pi since the first time. When I reboot the Pi my portal window often automatically reconnects when the Pi is back online. If not it's just a double click away on my laptop.
The Mac is essentially headless as too since the only 'monitor' it has is the TV which is a secondary. My primary is a virtual screen very similar to Linux so if I want a dock control and my windows without a huge headache then I need to be in No Machine. Plus 😂 the only directly connected input is my Kodi remote. Even to change things on the "head" it's easier for me to do it in Nx.
It really does just work.
Here's the whole page from them on RPi https://www.nomachine.com/tips-on-how-to-set-up-your-raspberry-pi-for-remote-access-via-nomachine
There are some links too with a little googling on fully remote setup in shell.
I’ve literally used VPN + tightvnc for 15+ years on all my windows boxes. Its been as soild as they come. I have switched most servers over to Linux over the years however, so SSH is my most used remote tool these days (terminus on iOS, windows terminal otherwise).
This a thousand times. Every time I try something else I come back to it.
I've looked at every single solution suggested here and they're either proprietary or have a 30+ min. video tutorial to install it.
Tight/tiger/Ultra/whatever-VNC are dead-trivial to setup and run, then you forget about it, zero maintenance.
As for viewer wise, realvnc is good and free can can use to remote both the realvnc device as well as local tightvnc device. The address book feature of realvnc is good
No machine. I literally played 4K YouTube video and it played the audio from the machine I am remotely connecting from with no lag of course within my LAN. My target machine is macOS and the source is Windows 11. Works perfectly
That seems to work better for connecting to a FC40 (Kinote) vm with Wayland than rustdesk which seems to have an issue if the screen locks.
I was running Xorg on my FC39/Kinote just to keep rustdesk happier but it broke when I upgraded to fc40
RustDesk, very straightforward once working I never had issue other than clients not updating my public ip, usually wait 10 minutes and it fixes itself
I used the self hosted server with forced encryption turned on (client without the encryption key will not connect)
they are starting to falter it seems , not able to even run a raspberry pi with waylan (and im sure just as many problems and nonstarters on linux, its like they are not bothering anymore. now that that option is gone, and im not going to pay $3.69 per machine (i have at least 15 wich includes a few VM's) i only occasionally MIGHT need to connect through when not home, im guessing this is the next project i have to start looking into so i can use something like tiger VNC to mess with my home systems while at work. too many things to screw around with already. its not that i want something simple, i want something reliable, preferred to be self hosted, and wont hose itself on every update like truecharts.
I am effected, I usually hover around 4 devices so the free tier was great for me. I also use the mobile app so need to find an alternative that offers that as well as something that can connect without a VPN though I may skip that requirement depending on what's out there.
Are they charging for a cloud service or for access to their desktop software? Will I still be able to connect to any number of clients directly over my local network without needing a subscription?
Rustdesk is a good option. I also like to use XRDP/Remmina over Tailscale when I can.
The problem right now is that both don't work with Wayland (unless you have some good news).
I like realvnc because I the iOS phone app is pretty solid when I need to do something remote quickly and easily. Are there any comparable products with a phone app and free tier/open source?
RealVNC's decision to sunset their free plan may indeed prompt users to explore alternative self-hosted options for remote desktop access. While I'm not directly affected by this change, I can suggest some alternatives that offer self-hosted solutions with usable mobile apps and cross-platform support:
TightVNC: TightVNC is a free and open-source remote desktop software that allows you to control a remote computer's desktop from your own device. It supports various platforms including Windows, Linux, and macOS. While TightVNC doesn't have official mobile apps, there are third-party VNC clients available for mobile devices that are compatible with TightVNC servers.
xrdp: xrdp is an open-source remote desktop protocol (RDP) server that enables you to remotely access your Linux desktop from Windows machines using the built-in Remote Desktop Connection client. It's widely used and supported on various Linux distributions. For mobile access, you can use RDP client apps available for iOS and Android.
ThinLinc: ThinLinc is a remote desktop solution that offers self-hosted deployment options, allowing you to set up your own remote desktop environment. It provides efficient remote access to graphical desktop environments with features such as session management, file transfer, and application publishing. ThinLinc supports various client platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile devices.
1. I installed RealNVC so many years ago that I forgot it even exists. This email certainly came as a surprise.
I recall being unimpressed at the time and uninstalled it. In particular back then I needed to access a remote PBX recording server and listen in on recordings or shift saved recordings out for archiving with our ERP. And from what I read there was no support for audio. The file transfer was also wonky. So based on this freeware experience I decided to junk it.
2. I work in a SMB environment. Eventually we had need for some form of RAT for general operations. We ended up with TeamViewer Business plan for "single users". The price is manageable, if expensive as it may be for a small company. And it suited our needs (1 user, 3 devices to RAT from, 200 managed devices, unlimited devices to connect to).
For large IT support teams or call centers the pricing gets very steep very fast. Super-duper expensive. But that's for whomever to consider.
Hands down they are still the best in the business, as far as I know, and their experience and features are immaculate.
3. AnyDesk, the free offering is quite good, and the pricing is well worth investing into for professionals, IMHO.
They had a recent cybersecurity scare, though. Probably learned and improved since, but it's something to take in mind.
4. IDK what RealVNC offers nowadays, or what their pricing is, maybe I'll give them a check some time, but right now I don't feel they even register on the radar, definitely not as a professional solution.
I'm also interested in alternatives as a long term user of RealVNC on Macs. I have 5-6 Macs, of various vintages, on a home network where a Mac Mini acts as multi-drive file server & backup point. RealVNC has met largely my needs and I only have occasional need to connect to the Mac Mini server when roaming away from my home network. Otherwise, the MacOS in built screen sharing & file server would probably meet my requirements.
RoyalTSX and NoMachine seem to come up a lot in Google searches. Have people had good experiences using either on MacOS?
It was nice while it lasted. I used it to assist relatives, so I had 5 machines set up that I accessed maybe once or twice a year, not worth paying a monthly fee for. Thanks for starting this thread, it should help me find an alternative.
So, i tried no machine, and it works quite well except its missing the one feature i used realvnc for.
that is unless i missed it and someone can direct me on how to set it up
What I really want is a simple way to deploy a remote desktop server on a machine and have it easily accessible from outside my lan. My reasons aren't super important, but I've gotten heavily into the habit of controlling my main machine remotely from many other devices, and i also have an ultraportable mini pc that i often control remotely because its somewhat easier than using the air mouse I have for it. I often don't have access to firewalls to make sure I can route through them, so i really liked RealVNC for just having that simple add-machine-to-group, control-from-anywhere functionality.
does anyone know about a free service that functions like that?
I've tried a bunch of these but can't seem to find the sweet spot. My senior father is in an independent living facility that provides free internet - but NATed w/o port forwarding. RealVNC allowed me to connect to him via their cloud connection. I want to try an emulate that with an alternative. The 1 user, 3 device limit of RVNC's free plan would still work, but I have other elderly relatives that I need to connect to as well - and I'm not keen on adding the server on their PC's with my credentials.
Just tested RustDesk, and it does (almost) everything I need it to, the interface on android isn't quite as smooth as RealVNC, but its more than functional. I'm replying here because i think it will function the way you want it to as well.
you could install it on the other elderly relatives PCs, and deliberately disable the onetime password option so its less of a security risk for trusting old folks, and it doesn't require more than an ID number and a password to access.
Rustdesk
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Considering this is r/selfhosted i would expect self hosting your own RustDesk server to be near the top of the list.
Yes. Maybe self hosted it. I did it from day 1, and never ever connected to the public server.
> direct IP connection ZeroTier work?
Yeah you can VPN in and connect directly by IP no coordination server needed.
Tailscale to the rescue.
Not seen lf-hosted
See Headscale for selfthosting
I installed the Unraid AiO image from ich777 and it was amazingly easy and painless.
Does this support wayland and xorg Does self hosting support 2fa?
THANK YOU! Been wanting to migrate away from RealVNC for a while now and didn't have any ideas on what to do. This is amazing.
Just installed Rustdesk on my Raspberry Pi 4 and it permanently maxes out the CPU even when nothing is moving on screen. Is that normal? When there is nothing moving on screen the RealVNC server consumes nearly 0% and when I move a window it goes up to just 40-50%. Rustdesk not being connected to a client uses more CPU than RealVNC when it is connected. Rustdesk doesn't look very sustainable here, but seeing how many people like it, I may be missing something.
I'm using NoMachine. Works great and easy to set up compared to many other things I've tried
Love me NoMachine. Works great with Linux, windows and Mac.
Even the Android client works well for accessing my desktop remotely.
Oh my god!! Why was I using realvnc!??!! I just installed NoMachine and I'm in love! Thanks for sharing!
+1 for nomachine, i've combined it with tailscale
Can I print without using the remote screen?
No idea, sorry
I started using that, thanks for the recommendation, works great!
People are paying for VNC?
People still use VNC?
Absolutely
Every day
either i can't smell the joke or the smell of joke blends with rotten enterprise. VNC is backbone of server interaction
You're doing it wrong
OK what is the better way please?
SSH, PSRP, kubectl exec.. it depends on the environment. VNC hasn't been a good option in over a decade.
learn what is VNC first, any type of hypervisor uses some kind of implementation of it.
For console communication, sure, but no one is installing VNC servers. To call it the backbone of server communication is just silly
wow lol, ok **Mr. Front End**,>!you didn't need to put words in my mouth. It was futile interaction.!<
That was my first thought. Why?
No, but some are about to - it's the end of the "realVNC", but it was free, now not and I'm not paying $25 a month to support my mom, my aunts, and my niece's computers... so that is the point of the question.
They will be. The FREE version is going bye bye.
VNC has many flavors. This is just one branded project that's going paid.
They still have "Lite" plan for 1 user and 3 machines. Their free version isn't going away (yet), but it is being crippled further.
Meshcentral ( https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral ). Runs on everything.
Only downside is that it's officially abandonware as Intel fired Ylian off the project. Edit: Looking back into it, I seem to be misinformed - seems like he's still working on it now under Microsoft, I guess?
It's not abandonware, as I'm still maintaining it 😀 it's just slower updates as its all community stuff now and no paid support, unless anybody wants to sponsor/support me? 😇
He's doing occasional Mesh maintenance on the side. At Microsoft, he's part of the Forms team.
That's good to know!
It's been picked up by some.othwr GitHub users, definitely not being massively developed but it's being kept up to date and bug fixes are being done.
Tailscale and xrdp
Do you have a recommended RDP app for Android and/or iOS?
just use the microsoft app. it's free
This. And, it works very well.
Absolute garbage reviews on the Microsoft Store =/
I used [Jump](https://apps.apple.com/app/id364876095) in the past but havent opened it since years.
I just use my own VPN and xrdp, but then I am not behind CGNAT
From what I understand you can switch to the Lite plan which as far as I can see is still free.
Yes, for what it's worth. Sounds very limited: > # Will you still be offering a free subscription? > Yes, you will be able to sign up for a Lite plan, for non-commercial use only. The Lite plan includes **1 user** and **3 devices** with a limited set of features. (**emphasis** added)
Indeed, it is, but it's enough for me. Anydesk is still free though with no limitations other than commercial use AFAIK.
They do have a "maximum session time limit" that's I think a few hours or something. I usually only run into it when I leave a session open overnight
Didn't know about that, but my sessions are often shorter than a couple of minutes.
Good. I just need to get to one machine from the outside on a network that is very restrictive with its firewall rules. RealVNC has been great so far. Once I get on that box, I'm good to jump around wherever.
Wouldn't RealVNC run and update itself forever as long as you don't log into their own servers? I only connect to my RealVNC server on my Raspberry Pi locally, or via VPN when away. I don't normally log into their servers which is why I don't get their latest announcement banner in my RealVNC clients on my computers. I do get that banner on my mobile phone, because it is logged in to their server, but it doesn't have to. I can log out and carry on using RealVNC locally or via VPN as above. Isn't all this correct?
I think Raspberry has some sort of agreement with RealVNC to have the server pre-installed on Raspian so I guess it's kind of a special case?
There is such an agreement, but I am assuming it's being discontinued because RealVNC sent me the usual email about the end of the Home plan, and the client displays a banner if it logs into their system. If I can stay with the current arrangement, possibly renamed as Lite, I won't have to change my setup for now, particularly as Rustdesk here is extremely CPU-hungry. As I said, I don't even use their infrastructure and I was hoping my RealVNC setup won't stop working. In the long run, I would prefer to move away from their proprietary solution for the usual reasons.
If you're not using Guacamole, what are you really doing?
Guacamole really needs to work on its install and upgrade. This should be as easy as running a single install or upgrade script, but it isn't. And this has been a complaint for a very long time, so it appears there is no want in improving the experience.
Because most people use a docker container
I find it sluggish even after I got the gig up and down fiber **edit** down vote for an honest observation that adds to the discussion… Reddit moment
Do you have it behind nginx or another reverse proxy? If so, did you configure support for websockets in your proxy? That can make a HUGE difference in performance.
I am using Nginx Proxy Manager, and did not have Websockets Support enabled. I’ll give that a spin and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip!
100% Websocket support is required
Just as horrible to setup.
It was about 3 clicks in UnRaid
I love it, setup was annoying but i learn3d a l9t making my own docker compose files. It's janky but for free it's features are great
You good m8?
He has big fat fingers. Happens to me als9...
me too, wish th3ere was an 3edi6t but5ton
I've tried like 3 times to get this to work for me :-(
Work blocks it =/. Not that vnc was a solution, but still it isn't the end all be all.
On which port are you running it? Or are they DPI'ing the hell out of everything? Might be illegal if you're in the EU.
I can connect to the guild, but starting a vnc connection fails on the corporate network. Not EU so they can do whatever they want.
X2go is brilliant, been using it for years now. Great vid on how to set it up https://youtu.be/oSuy1TS8FGs This is how I learned about it 5 years ago
Kasmvnc (https://github.com/kasmtech/KasmVNC)
The big plus for kasmvnc is that it has a web interface, so no client software is needed. It also means you can expose it using your regular reverse proxy arrangement for other apps (or just connect over vpn to access of course).
Rustdesk. Super simple setup with docker then connect client to server.
I use No Machine. Technically it's own thing versus strict VNC though is well supported, can even do authenticator via public keys, works well when accessing from the Internet. I'm running it on windows, mac and raspberry pi. The mac and the Pi are the two servers. Pretty stable too 😂 my windows laptop is mostly used to be portaled into the servers, connections are really sturdy. I did not like that with real VNC authentication was going through their cloud for servers that are feet away from me. And that's how I found no machine. A bonus is you can easily set it for custom ports which is great since my mac server does naughty things so is network locked on a VPN so to reach it directly outside the lan I need to use one of my wireguard port forwards and it works great.
Ps I forgot to mention it has pretty good mobile support as well, I just don't use it much that way so forgot 😂 but I have tried it and it works as advertised. All of this too is app supported. Not via browser or anything.
How is it for headless devices? I can't use rdp as both my RPi's are headless
My rpi4 is headless as well, I needed it connected to regular VNC or monitor to set it up. Absolutely painless to set it also to have nxserver start at boot. Only RPi issue is I do run X11 instead of Wayland, Wayland gets glitchy. There may be a way to get Wayland to work but with graphics and display resolution Wayland seemed to be full of headaches so X11 was the path of least resistance. Other than that I run Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm like usual. I have not had a monitor on that Pi since the first time. When I reboot the Pi my portal window often automatically reconnects when the Pi is back online. If not it's just a double click away on my laptop. The Mac is essentially headless as too since the only 'monitor' it has is the TV which is a secondary. My primary is a virtual screen very similar to Linux so if I want a dock control and my windows without a huge headache then I need to be in No Machine. Plus 😂 the only directly connected input is my Kodi remote. Even to change things on the "head" it's easier for me to do it in Nx. It really does just work. Here's the whole page from them on RPi https://www.nomachine.com/tips-on-how-to-set-up-your-raspberry-pi-for-remote-access-via-nomachine There are some links too with a little googling on fully remote setup in shell.
TightVNC + Tailscale/wireguard. You will be surprised how fast and smooth compared to realvnc server
I’ve literally used VPN + tightvnc for 15+ years on all my windows boxes. Its been as soild as they come. I have switched most servers over to Linux over the years however, so SSH is my most used remote tool these days (terminus on iOS, windows terminal otherwise).
This a thousand times. Every time I try something else I come back to it. I've looked at every single solution suggested here and they're either proprietary or have a 30+ min. video tutorial to install it. Tight/tiger/Ultra/whatever-VNC are dead-trivial to setup and run, then you forget about it, zero maintenance.
Lol tight vnc in my PC and real vnc to vnc into my PC from my phone.
As for viewer wise, realvnc is good and free can can use to remote both the realvnc device as well as local tightvnc device. The address book feature of realvnc is good
Windows only. No linux server support unless you have a commercial license.
Rustdesk is an option.
No machine. I literally played 4K YouTube video and it played the audio from the machine I am remotely connecting from with no lag of course within my LAN. My target machine is macOS and the source is Windows 11. Works perfectly
To windows only: Sunshine/Moonlight mainly, else RDP or NoMachine. To linux via ssh
That seems to work better for connecting to a FC40 (Kinote) vm with Wayland than rustdesk which seems to have an issue if the screen locks. I was running Xorg on my FC39/Kinote just to keep rustdesk happier but it broke when I upgraded to fc40
We use meshcentral
Meshcentral and guacamole are both great solutions!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software You can sort by the latest stable version.
Is Kasmvnc able to work with Ubuntu DE, I tried it once and the interface of my desktop confused me a bit.
Wire guard or tailscale with no machine (get audio from remote too)
Following... In the same boat and don't want another subscription service.
ZeroTier makes sense to me.. or WiFiMan if you have a Ubiquity router at home
I just use Rustdesk from the outside, or RDP from within the network/vpn. Most of the time I just use rustdesk.
RustDesk, very straightforward once working I never had issue other than clients not updating my public ip, usually wait 10 minutes and it fixes itself I used the self hosted server with forced encryption turned on (client without the encryption key will not connect)
Not affected, I only use it to get into my single Windows machine. Everything else is just ssh.
Same here. I only use to get to my Plex server running Windows since an RDP session fucks up hardware transcoding
Yeah, I dislike the whole RDP new session behaviour.
I see you got the email as well. Commenting to remind myself to look at this later
interesting, the last few times I tried to use their products they didn't work for me.
they are starting to falter it seems , not able to even run a raspberry pi with waylan (and im sure just as many problems and nonstarters on linux, its like they are not bothering anymore. now that that option is gone, and im not going to pay $3.69 per machine (i have at least 15 wich includes a few VM's) i only occasionally MIGHT need to connect through when not home, im guessing this is the next project i have to start looking into so i can use something like tiger VNC to mess with my home systems while at work. too many things to screw around with already. its not that i want something simple, i want something reliable, preferred to be self hosted, and wont hose itself on every update like truecharts.
I am effected, I usually hover around 4 devices so the free tier was great for me. I also use the mobile app so need to find an alternative that offers that as well as something that can connect without a VPN though I may skip that requirement depending on what's out there.
Teleport
Will realvnc viewer still be free? I use tightvnc as the server for all my computers and realvnc as the viewer (android and pc) for all computers.
I use splashtop, tailscale, chrome remote desktop and pikvm - if I need to access remotely I've got a few choices. Splashtop is $16.99 a year
For 1 user and 3 devices you can go Lite which is free. It has some limitations compared to the old Home though.
UltraVNC and an inbound VPN
Ugh wtf. Sigh this is pretty shit.
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ssh and tmux ;-)
SSH is the first stop for a lot of tasks but I have windows machines in the mix. Two of them I have to have the GUI (like my laser cutter controller).
I would use rdp over a WireGuard VPN.
xpipe recently added vnc support
NoMachine, x2go, ThinLinc... There are a ton of options.
Moonlight / sunshine with wireguard
[https://novnc.com/info.html](https://novnc.com/info.html)
Are they charging for a cloud service or for access to their desktop software? Will I still be able to connect to any number of clients directly over my local network without needing a subscription?
Why not google chrome Remote Desktop ?
Anyone use Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager for VNC? I use it for RDP but understand it has VNC capability also...
That’s a bummer. Is tight VNC still around? It was dated and lacked QoL features, but I remember core functionality was solid
Remote Desktop Manager, free for one user. With RDP, VNC and SSH.
Tailscale and then whatever protocol I like.
MeshCentral 🙌🏻
Rustdesk is a good option. I also like to use XRDP/Remmina over Tailscale when I can. The problem right now is that both don't work with Wayland (unless you have some good news).
Rustdesk or NoMachine
Anydesk
VNC is behind the times isn’t it.
I like realvnc because I the iOS phone app is pretty solid when I need to do something remote quickly and easily. Are there any comparable products with a phone app and free tier/open source?
fast vnc alternative - nomachine. since always.
RealVNC's decision to sunset their free plan may indeed prompt users to explore alternative self-hosted options for remote desktop access. While I'm not directly affected by this change, I can suggest some alternatives that offer self-hosted solutions with usable mobile apps and cross-platform support: TightVNC: TightVNC is a free and open-source remote desktop software that allows you to control a remote computer's desktop from your own device. It supports various platforms including Windows, Linux, and macOS. While TightVNC doesn't have official mobile apps, there are third-party VNC clients available for mobile devices that are compatible with TightVNC servers. xrdp: xrdp is an open-source remote desktop protocol (RDP) server that enables you to remotely access your Linux desktop from Windows machines using the built-in Remote Desktop Connection client. It's widely used and supported on various Linux distributions. For mobile access, you can use RDP client apps available for iOS and Android. ThinLinc: ThinLinc is a remote desktop solution that offers self-hosted deployment options, allowing you to set up your own remote desktop environment. It provides efficient remote access to graphical desktop environments with features such as session management, file transfer, and application publishing. ThinLinc supports various client platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile devices.
Um... Ssh? Surprised people have a gui on their servers.
I have a couple machines that require gui like my laser cutter controller.
Lol this is the correct responce
I use Meshcentral server and only open Port443 to the networks I need access to. No complaints so far.
UltraVNC
1. I installed RealNVC so many years ago that I forgot it even exists. This email certainly came as a surprise. I recall being unimpressed at the time and uninstalled it. In particular back then I needed to access a remote PBX recording server and listen in on recordings or shift saved recordings out for archiving with our ERP. And from what I read there was no support for audio. The file transfer was also wonky. So based on this freeware experience I decided to junk it. 2. I work in a SMB environment. Eventually we had need for some form of RAT for general operations. We ended up with TeamViewer Business plan for "single users". The price is manageable, if expensive as it may be for a small company. And it suited our needs (1 user, 3 devices to RAT from, 200 managed devices, unlimited devices to connect to). For large IT support teams or call centers the pricing gets very steep very fast. Super-duper expensive. But that's for whomever to consider. Hands down they are still the best in the business, as far as I know, and their experience and features are immaculate. 3. AnyDesk, the free offering is quite good, and the pricing is well worth investing into for professionals, IMHO. They had a recent cybersecurity scare, though. Probably learned and improved since, but it's something to take in mind. 4. IDK what RealVNC offers nowadays, or what their pricing is, maybe I'll give them a check some time, but right now I don't feel they even register on the radar, definitely not as a professional solution.
Lucky enough to have access to a Bomgar Remote Support box. Never used anything I have loved more.
I'm also interested in alternatives as a long term user of RealVNC on Macs. I have 5-6 Macs, of various vintages, on a home network where a Mac Mini acts as multi-drive file server & backup point. RealVNC has met largely my needs and I only have occasional need to connect to the Mac Mini server when roaming away from my home network. Otherwise, the MacOS in built screen sharing & file server would probably meet my requirements. RoyalTSX and NoMachine seem to come up a lot in Google searches. Have people had good experiences using either on MacOS?
DwService RustDesk
I've had a good experience with dwservice.net. It's free and open source.
I just got the email. Pay? are they high? lol.
It was nice while it lasted. I used it to assist relatives, so I had 5 machines set up that I accessed maybe once or twice a year, not worth paying a monthly fee for. Thanks for starting this thread, it should help me find an alternative.
Just use parsec lol. Play games remote or do work.
So, i tried no machine, and it works quite well except its missing the one feature i used realvnc for. that is unless i missed it and someone can direct me on how to set it up What I really want is a simple way to deploy a remote desktop server on a machine and have it easily accessible from outside my lan. My reasons aren't super important, but I've gotten heavily into the habit of controlling my main machine remotely from many other devices, and i also have an ultraportable mini pc that i often control remotely because its somewhat easier than using the air mouse I have for it. I often don't have access to firewalls to make sure I can route through them, so i really liked RealVNC for just having that simple add-machine-to-group, control-from-anywhere functionality. does anyone know about a free service that functions like that?
I've tried a bunch of these but can't seem to find the sweet spot. My senior father is in an independent living facility that provides free internet - but NATed w/o port forwarding. RealVNC allowed me to connect to him via their cloud connection. I want to try an emulate that with an alternative. The 1 user, 3 device limit of RVNC's free plan would still work, but I have other elderly relatives that I need to connect to as well - and I'm not keen on adding the server on their PC's with my credentials.
Just tested RustDesk, and it does (almost) everything I need it to, the interface on android isn't quite as smooth as RealVNC, but its more than functional. I'm replying here because i think it will function the way you want it to as well. you could install it on the other elderly relatives PCs, and deliberately disable the onetime password option so its less of a security risk for trusting old folks, and it doesn't require more than an ID number and a password to access.
Does no machine works with SMB or is Remote Desktop have to be enabled? I just don’t trust Ms remote unless is securely safe!!
Why you would ever need anything more than a terminal is beyond me. Servers don't have guis ya silly goose.