RustDesk: Open Source Alternative to Teamviewer
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:02 am
Teamviewer has become a bloated mess, and the so-called free version was giving me problems setting it up on a new laptop last night. So I hit Reddit for alternatives and found RustDesk highly recommended.
It's open source, it's simple to set up, it can be installed or just run as a one time executable. It runs very light weight, and like Teamviewer you can set it up for a one time password, or a permanent password to be able to access the system unattended.
The free version let's you do most everything, as long as you're connecting to one PC at a time. A paid subscription allows for multiple concurrent connections, like for serious helpdesk work, and adds address books, auditing and 2 factor authentication.
Even more interesting is that if you want the ultimate in security, instead of using their handshake servers to allow your PCs to find each other, you can setup your own private RustDesk server, and it can run on Windows, Docker or Synology. And yeah, there's a free open source version.
https://rustdesk.com/
It's open source, it's simple to set up, it can be installed or just run as a one time executable. It runs very light weight, and like Teamviewer you can set it up for a one time password, or a permanent password to be able to access the system unattended.
The free version let's you do most everything, as long as you're connecting to one PC at a time. A paid subscription allows for multiple concurrent connections, like for serious helpdesk work, and adds address books, auditing and 2 factor authentication.
Even more interesting is that if you want the ultimate in security, instead of using their handshake servers to allow your PCs to find each other, you can setup your own private RustDesk server, and it can run on Windows, Docker or Synology. And yeah, there's a free open source version.
https://rustdesk.com/