Open-source Splashtop alternatives

RustDesk is a remote desktop application that lets you view and control another computer over the network. It is written in Rust with a Flutter interface, released under AGPL-3.0, and designed for self-hosting, making it an open-source alternative to TeamViewer. The project says no setup is needed to get started.

You decide where connection brokering happens: use the project's rendezvous and relay servers, run your own, or write a custom one. Clients exist for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, with Wayland support on Linux, and the codebase includes peer-to-peer connection support. Because you can host the servers yourself, you keep control of your data.

Desktop builds use Flutter for the interface, while the older Sciter interface is deprecated. The README includes a misuse disclaimer stating that the developers do not support unauthorized access or privacy invasion. It suits IT teams, support staff and individuals who want remote access without relying entirely on a third-party service.

FreeRDP is an open-source implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol, the protocol Windows uses for remote desktop sessions. It is provided both as a library that other software can embed and as ready-to-use client programs, so Linux, BSD and other systems can connect to remote Windows desktops and servers.

The project is written in C and its topics mention clients built on SDL, Wayland and X11 as well as an Android client. The maintainers reference Microsoft's open specifications and keep a list of reference documentation on the wiki. Its code is intended to give people the freedom to use remote desktop software wherever they choose.

FreeRDP is released under the Apache-2.0 license. Documentation includes a wiki with FAQ and compilation instructions, API documentation, a security policy and a downloads site for release tarballs. Support and development discussion happen on a Matrix room, an IRC channel and a mailing list, with bugs tracked on GitHub.

TigerVNC is a platform-independent VNC (Virtual Network Computing) implementation. VNC is a client and server system that lets users start and work with graphical applications running on remote machines. It is intended for people who administer or use remote desktops and servers.

The project aims for performance high enough to run 3D and video applications, while keeping a common look and feel and reusing components across the platforms it supports. It adds extensions for stronger authentication methods and TLS encryption. TigerVNC was originally based on the unreleased VNC 4 branch of TightVNC.

The software is written in C++ and licensed under GPL-2.0. Releases include the source code, a standalone Linux binary, a Windows installer and a universal Mac binary, and many distributions package it, among them Fedora, openSUSE, FreeBSD, Arch Linux, RHEL and SLE. The project runs announcement, user and development mailing lists.

MeshCentral is a web-based remote monitoring and management platform. You run your own web server, create device groups, and install an agent on every machine you want to control. Shortly afterward the machine appears on the site, and you can take control of it over a local network or across the internet.

The platform includes web-based remote desktop, a terminal and file management. Repository topics reference Intel AMT, KVM, remote control and file transfer. The documentation covers topics such as server configuration, database choices, Let's Encrypt, TLS offloading, IP filtering, email and reverse proxy setup, multi-factor authentication, branding, HashiCorp Vault support and SSO.

MeshCentral is licensed under Apache-2.0. A design and architecture guide explains the agent-to-server handshake and the browser-to-agent relay with WebRTC, and the project maintains video tutorials for installing on Windows, Linux and macOS.

KasmVNC provides remote, web-based access to a desktop or an individual application. Despite the VNC name, it departs from the RFB specification used by variants such as TigerVNC, RealVNC and TurboVNC so it can support modern technologies and improve security.

Users connect from any modern browser, and legacy VNC viewer applications are not supported. Configuration uses YAML at both the server level and the user level, with the server file located at /etc/kasmvnc/kasmvnc.yaml, and the project documents optional systemd auto-start on boot. Installation packages exist for Debian, Ubuntu, Kali and Oracle 8.

KasmVNC is developed by Kasm Technologies, the company behind the Kasm Workspaces containerized streaming platform. Kasm has also open-sourced Workspace Docker images with full desktops and apps, which can be used standalone or inside Kasm Workspaces. KasmVNC is written in C++ and licensed under GPL-2.0, and its README advises using the documentation for your specific release.

This repository holds the server-side parts of Apache Guacamole: the guacd proxy daemon, the libguac C API and protocol support. Guacamole itself is a clientless remote desktop gateway that supports standard protocols such as VNC, RDP and SSH.

It is called clientless because no plugins or client software are needed. Once Guacamole is installed on a server, a web browser is all that is required to reach your desktops, since the client is an HTML5 web application. That frees access from any one device or location, and the desktops can even be virtual machines hosted in the cloud.

Guacamole is built on its own documented stack of core APIs, with tutorials and conceptual overviews in the online manual. It is a project of the Apache Software Foundation, licensed under Apache-2.0, and the codebase combines C, Java and JavaScript. The project provides release archives, mailing lists, an issue tracker and commercial support options.

Remmina is a remote desktop client written in GTK that lets you use other computers from a small screen or a large monitor. It supports RDP, VNC, SPICE, X2Go, SSH, WWW (HTTP) and EXEC connection types, so a single tool can reach Windows machines, Linux desktops, virtual machines and shell sessions.

The software ships as the main remmina program plus a separate remmina-plugins package that provides the protocol support. Connections can be set up from the graphical interface, or by working with the files in the user's config directory. A port to Qt is described as underway. Installation steps are kept on the project wiki.

Remmina is copylefted free software, licensed under GPL version 2 or later, and was first developed by Vic Lee. It is now maintained by a small team of volunteers, with community chat on IRC and Matrix. The GitHub repository is a mirror of the official GitLab project.