Free Software Collection
Free Remote Desktop and Screen Sharing Tools
Commercial remote control software shares a pattern: the free tier works until a notice about "suspected commercial use" appears, after which sessions get time limits, device caps and concurrency limits. The criteria are opaque and individuals get flagged by mistake routinely. Open-source options change the structure — you run the relay yourself, or connect peer-to-peer with no third party judging whether you are a business. This list sorts into four cases: remote control, game streaming, phone mirroring and file transfer.
12 curated recommendations
Selection Criteria
- No per-device or per-minute pricing, and no "suspected commercial use" judgement.
- The relay can be self-hosted, or the connection goes peer-to-peer.
- No forced account registration.
- Encryption and where the data actually travels are stated per tool.
Recommended Tools
RustDesk
Remote desktop that will never accuse you of "commercial use"
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Apache Guacamole
Remote desktop in a browser — no client to install anywhere
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Cross-platform
Moonlight
Stream your gaming PC to any screen in the house
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Sunshine
Runs on your gaming PC and streams to Moonlight
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
scrcpy
Mirror an Android phone to your desktop and drive it with mouse and keyboard
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
KDE Connect
Bridges phone and computer — notifications, clipboard, files, remote control
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
LocalSend
Move files between phone and PC without the cloud, a chat group or recompression
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Syncthing
Peer-to-peer real-time file sync, no cloud needed
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Remmina
One Linux window for all your RDP, VNC and SSH connections
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
TigerVNC
The long-standing VNC for putting a remote desktop on a Linux server
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- No Sign-up
Deskflow
One keyboard and mouse across every computer on your desk
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
MeshCentral
Your own web console for remote desktop and device management
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Cross-platform
FAQ
- Which one for fixing a family member's computer remotely?
- RustDesk. Install it, take their ID and password, and connect — the same flow as commercial remote software. It uses the public relay by default; if that bothers you, run your own relay server and enter its address in settings, after which no connection touches a third party.
- How do Moonlight and Sunshine relate?
- They are a pair. Sunshine runs on the machine with the GPU and encodes the stream; Moonlight runs on whatever receives it — a laptop, tablet, TV box or phone. It streams live frames with latency low enough for action games, which is what separates it from ordinary remote desktop.
- What mirrors an Android phone to a computer?
- scrcpy. Connect over USB or wirelessly and the phone screen appears on the computer, controllable with mouse and keyboard. Nothing is installed on the phone and root is not required. KDE Connect handles a different set of things — notification sync, shared clipboard, remote control — and the two work together.
- How do I send someone a file without installing a chat app?
- LocalSend. Devices discover each other on the same network and transfer directly, with no server, no recompression and no size cap. If what you want is continuous sync rather than a one-off send, use Syncthing to keep a folder identical across two devices, again without a cloud in between.