Remmina
FreeOne Linux window for all your RDP, VNC and SSH connections
A remote connection client for the Linux desktop, with plugins for RDP, VNC, SPICE, X2Go, SSH and SFTP. Each connection is saved as a profile holding resolution, credentials and shared folders, so reconnecting is a double-click. It is in most distributions' repositories and also ships as Flatpak and Snap.
Why we picked it
GPL-2.0-or-later. The main repository is on GitLab with 909 stars; the read-only GitHub mirror has 2,551.
It solves the scattered-tools problem Linux users have when connecting to other machines: RDP for Windows, VNC for a Raspberry Pi, SSH for servers used to mean three programs, and Remmina puts them in one connection list. The RDP side is built on FreeRDP, with local folder mapping, clipboard and audio forwarding, which makes it one of the least fussy ways to reach Windows Remote Desktop from Linux.
Day to day it is simple: create a connection, pick the protocol, fill in the address and credentials, save. Connections can be grouped, and several open at once as tabs in one window. SSH connections can open SFTP for file transfer without switching tools. The site lists 67 interface languages and packages in more than 50 distributions.
To be clear about:
- Linux only. There is no Windows or macOS client, and the official install guide covers only Linux distributions.
- It is a client with no server component. The target machine must already run an RDP, VNC or SSH service, and Remmina does no NAT traversal, so reaching machines across networks means handling ports or a mesh network yourself.
- Releases are unhurried; the latest stable is 1.4.43 from February 2026. Distribution packages may be older still, and Flatpak is the way to get the current version.