24 open-source remote desktop apps
Open Source Remote Desktop (AnyDesk Alternatives)
The most popular open-source remote desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux on GitHub are RustDesk, Puter and Sunshine. appsgit lists 24, including free alternatives to Parsec, NVIDIA GameStream and AnyDesk, each with its platforms, license and install commands.
Updated Oct 28, 2026
Open Source Remote Desktop (AnyDesk Alternatives)
RustDesk
rustdesk/rustdesk
An open-source remote desktop application designed for self-hosting, as an alternative to TeamViewer.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxPuter
HeyPuter/puter
The Internet Computer! Free, Open-Source, and Self-Hostable.
Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxSunshine
LizardByte/Sunshine
Self-hosted game stream host for Moonlight.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxMattermost
mattermost/mattermost
Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle..
Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessLinuxMoonlight
moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt
GameStream client for PCs (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Steam Link).
Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxElecterm
electerm/electerm
Free and open-sourced terminal/ssh/sftp/ftp/telnet/serialport/RDP/VNC/Spice client(Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, HarmonyOS, iOS).
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxApollo
ClassicOldSong/Apollo
Sunshine fork - The easiest way to stream with the native resolution of your client device.
Maintained · last commit May 21, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxmRemoteNG
mRemoteNG/mRemoteNG
mRemoteNG is the next generation of mRemote, open source, tabbed, multi-protocol, remote connections manager.
Maintained · last commit Oct 21, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsNETworkManager
BornToBeRoot/NETworkManager
A powerful open-source tool for managing networks and troubleshooting network problems!
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsTigervnc
TigerVNC/tigervnc
High performance, multi-platform VNC client and server.
Maintained · last commit Oct 23, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxFoundation Sunshine
AlkaidLab/foundation-sunshine
Sunshine fork: an enhanced sunshine, a self-hosted game streaming host for Moonlight with HDR10/HDR Vivid, virtual displays, advanced audio, optimized encoders, and a modern control panel.
Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsNetcatty
binaricat/Netcatty
SSH workspace, SFTP, and terminals in one.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinux1Remote
1Remote/1Remote
One Remote Access Manager to Rule Them All.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsCrossdesk
kunkundi/crossdesk
A lightweight, cross-platform remote desktop software with support for Web Client access | 一款支持 Web 客户端访问的轻量级跨平台远程桌面软件。.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxSill
Saffsanity/sill
Any window from your Mac, live on your iPhone or iPad.
Too new to judge · created Sep 22, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSOpenBitFun
GCWing/OpenBitFun
OpenBitFun combines a high-performance agent runtime written in Rust with a polished desktop application.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxSelkies
selkies-project/selkies
Low-Latency Accelerated Web Remote Desktop Streaming Platform for Self-Hosting, Containers, Kubernetes, or Cloud/HPC.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
OfficialRemote desktop & accessLinuxIPBan
DigitalRuby/IPBan
Since 2011, IPBan is the worlds most trusted, free security software to block hackers and botnets.
Maintained · last commit Jul 8, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxAspia
dchapyshev/aspia
Remote desktop and file transfer tool.
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxNyaterm
nyakang/nyaterm
A modern remote terminal workspace.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxOxideterm
AnalyseDeCircuit/oxideterm
AI-native workspace for local shells and remote machines.Zero Webview, zero OpenSSL, zero telemetry, and no app subscription.Written in Rust+GPUI.
Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxOmnyssh
timhartmann7/omnyssh
Fast, open-source SSH client and server manager for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Active · last commit Oct 9, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxShell360
nashaofu/shell360
Shell360 is a cross-platform SSH and SFTP client.
Active · last commit Oct 11, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinuxSshpilot
mfat/sshpilot
User-friendly, cross-platform SSH connection manager.
Active · last commit Oct 19, 2026
Remote desktop & accessWindowsmacOSLinux
What are the best open-source remote desktop apps?
By GitHub stars, RustDesk is the most popular (127,353 stars), followed by Puter and Sunshine. People often use these instead of Parsec, NVIDIA GameStream and AnyDesk. Each page lists the platforms, license and last commit.
Which of these run on Windows, Mac and Linux?
22 of the 24 open-source remote desktop apps listed here run on Windows, 18 on macOS and 19 on Linux; on a Mac, the most starred is RustDesk. 11 can be installed with a package manager such as Flathub, Homebrew, winget or Chocolatey.
Are these open-source remote desktop apps free?
Yes. All 24 use an open-source license (OSI-approved or FSF-free), so you can use, copy and change them for free.
How are these open-source remote desktop apps chosen?
Apps come from desktop awesome lists (Awesome Linux Software, awesome-mac, awesome-windows, awesome-electron and the media and file sections of awesome-cli-apps), more than 70 GitHub topics such as desktop-app, electron-app, tauri-app, gtk, qt, macos-app, pdf-editor, cad and remote-desktop, and a hand-picked list of flagship apps. An app is listed only if it has a license (one GitHub detects, or one appsgit checked by hand), a README and a commit in the last six months, is not archived or a fork, and has 1000+ GitHub stars (topics), 500+ (awesome lists) or 100+ (hand-picked). It must also be an end-user application with a desktop signal: installers in its releases, install instructions for Windows, macOS or Linux, or a Flathub, Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Snap or AUR package. Libraries, frameworks, themes, plugins and servers are left out, and source-available apps are labelled as such.