RustDesk

What is RustDesk?

RustDesk is an open-source remote desktop application that works out of the box, but also lets you run your own relay and rendezvous server. Self-hosting the server gives you a private remote access setup with no third-party in the middle.

Best for

Anyone needing remote desktop without trusting a commercial relay

Why choose RustDesk

RustDesk is the answer to remote-desktop software that has started treating personal use as a licence violation. You can run it in two modes: point it at the public relay servers for a free TeamViewer-like experience, or host the relay yourself and route every connection through infrastructure you control. That second option is the valuable one — for anyone supporting family machines or a small office, it means no third party can see the session, and no vendor can decide your usage looks commercial.

Replaces

• TeamViewer
• AnyDesk
• Chrome Remote Desktop

Key features

• Cross-platform client
• Self-hosted relay server option
• File transfer and clipboard sync
• End-to-end encryption

What to watch out for

The public relay servers are shared and will sometimes be slow or briefly unavailable; that is the trade for not paying anything, and it is the reason the self-hosted relay exists. Self-hosting the relay (the hbbs and hbbr components) is a genuine sysadmin task — you need a VPS with a public IP, correct port forwarding, and to hand every client your relay's address. Client maturity also varies by platform, and the mobile apps are less polished than the desktop ones. Control quality on a weak connection is noticeably below commercial tools.

How to deploy

• Docker
• Binary

Getting started

Try the free public relay first to confirm it does what you need — install the client on two machines and connect. If it works and you want the privacy, then rent the smallest VPS you can find and run the hbbs and hbbr containers with a domain pointing at them; the official documentation walks through the key exchange. Generate a fixed key and distribute it to clients rather than leaving the default, or you have set up an open relay. For supporting relatives, configure the client to start on boot so you are not talking them through launching an app before every session.

Typical setup

The free setup is the client on every machine talking to the public relay servers, which is enough for occasional support. The private setup adds a small VPS running the relay and signal containers, a domain pointing at them, and a fixed key distributed to every client, so all connections route through infrastructure the operator controls. People supporting family machines configure clients to start on boot, which turns remote help from a phone call into a two-minute session.

Who should look elsewhere

Not the tool to expose directly to the internet, and not a substitute for a properly managed remote-access solution in a regulated environment. Anyone unwilling to run the relay server should understand that the free public relays are shared and occasionally slow, and that control quality on poor connections trails the commercial products.

Project health

• GitHub stars: 124,892
• Last code push: 2026-09-30
• Open issues: 166
• Status: actively developed

Figures pulled from the GitHub API and refreshed periodically.