TeamViewer's whole appeal is that it hides the network: install it on both ends and you are driving a remote desktop through almost any firewall, no routing knowledge required. For one-off support that convenience is real. What pushes people to leave is usually cost and trust - licensing that gets expensive and sometimes flags ordinary personal use as commercial, and the fact that every session routes through TeamViewer's own relay servers, exactly the dependency a security-minded team wants out of the path between its admins and its machines. Open source alternatives move that infrastructure onto hardware you run, so the only thing between a user and a remote session is software you host and can audit.
RustDesk is an open-source remote desktop application for accessing and controlling machines across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Designed as an alternative to TeamViewer, it works out of the box with no configuration required and gives you full control of your data.
JumpServer is an open-source Privileged Access Management platform and bastion host for DevOps and IT teams. It provides on-demand access to SSH, RDP, Kubernetes, database, and RemoteApp endpoints from a web browser, centralizing privileged endpoint access in one web interface.
Teleport is an infrastructure access platform for connectivity, authentication, access controls, and audit. It provides one identity and access layer for cloud and on-prem infrastructure, covering human users and workloads. It protects SSH servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, Windows desktops, web apps, cloud APIs, Git repositories, and MCP servers without long-lived keys or passwords.
Firezone securely manages remote access for organizations of any size. It takes a least-privileged approach with group-based policies that control access to individual applications, entire subnets, or anything in between. Built on WireGuard, it serves as a replacement for traditional VPN setups.
Boundary is an identity-aware proxy for accessing hosts and critical systems on a network. It provides a way to sign in with an IdP, control who can reach resources, and manage privileged sessions without installing software on every host.
Bastillion is a web-based SSH console and key management tool for centrally managing administrative access to systems. It acts as a bastion host, giving administrators a browser interface for SSH access instead of connecting to each system directly.
ShellHub is a centralized SSH gateway for remotely accessing and managing Linux servers, embedded Linux devices, and IoT devices from anywhere with an internet connection. It removes the need to expose public IP addresses, change router settings, or rely on VPN, firewall changes, or jump hosts.
Apache Guacamole is an HTML5 web application that provides access to your desktop using remote desktop protocols. It is built to serve as a browser-based client for remote access, so you can connect without installing a native desktop app on the machine you are using.
The choice is really about which shape of remote access you need.
TeamViewer-style remote control: RustDesk RustDesk is the closest match to how TeamViewer works: an installed app that gives full remote control across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, with audio, clipboard, input, and file copy and paste between systems. Connections go peer to peer through TCP hole punching and fall back to a relay, and the real draw is self-hosting - use the public rendezvous and relay server, run your own, or build one from the open server demo. It is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0, with desktop and mobile clients on F-Droid and Flathub.
Clientless browser gateway: Apache Guacamole Apache Guacamole takes a different approach: an HTML5 gateway that puts remote desktops in a browser, with no plugin or client to install on the user side. It speaks RDP, VNC, and SSH, so once it runs on a server any device with a browser can reach the connected machines. It packages as a .war file under a servlet container like Tomcat or Jetty, which fits teams that want centralized, clientless access to systems they already administer rather than ad hoc desktop support.
Browser access to your own fleet: JumpServer JumpServer covers the internal-IT side TeamViewer also serves: a self-hosted bastion and privileged-access platform that brokers SSH, RDP, Kubernetes, database, and RemoteApp sessions to a web browser. It centralizes operator roles, session logging, and access control across machines you own, which suits unattended administration of a fleet rather than one-off support of a stranger's desktop. It installs on a clean Linux server under GPLv3.
The options here fall into a few shapes, and choosing the wrong one causes most of the frustration. RustDesk is the close analog to TeamViewer: an agent you install on both machines that connects peer to peer through TCP hole punching and falls back to a relay, with clients on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android and a rendezvous and relay server you can self-host. Apache Guacamole is a different animal - a clientless HTML5 gateway that brokers RDP, VNC, and SSH to machines behind it, reached from a plain browser. Most of the rest - JumpServer, Teleport, Boundary, Bastillion, ShellHub, and Firezone - are bastion, privileged-access, or zero-trust tools aimed at administering your own fleet rather than supporting a stranger's desktop. For ad hoc support, RustDesk fits; for browser-based access to systems you already administer, Guacamole or one of the bastion tools does.
Whichever you pick, you inherit infrastructure TeamViewer absorbed for you. RustDesk can use its public relay, but the point of switching is usually to run your own rendezvous and relay, which makes DNS, TLS certificates, bandwidth, and availability your responsibility. Guacamole installs as a .war file under a servlet container like Tomcat or Jetty and needs that server maintained and reachable. Expect rougher edges than TeamViewer's polish: less consistent mobile control, weaker remote printing, and a less frictionless way to invite a nontechnical user into a session. Test clipboard, multi-monitor, and reconnect behavior on the operating systems you actually support.
There is no import to run; migration is re-enrollment. TeamViewer IDs, unattended passwords, and account trust relationships do not transfer, so inventory your device groups, saved partner IDs, unattended hosts, and any session reports you must keep, then rebuild them. Deploy the RustDesk client or stand up Guacamole, verify unattended or gateway access after a reboot, and only remove TeamViewer once a fallback window has passed. Export any connection history you need for compliance before closing accounts, because that record rarely maps cleanly into a new tool.
They target different jobs. RustDesk is the direct TeamViewer analog: an installed agent for remote control of Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android machines, including ad hoc support of someone else's desktop. Guacamole is a clientless browser gateway to systems you administer over RDP, VNC, and SSH. If your use case is helping a nontechnical user through a live problem, choose RustDesk; if it is browser-based access to your own servers and desktops, choose Guacamole.
Yes, if you plan for relay infrastructure. RustDesk connects peer to peer through TCP hole punching where possible and falls back to a relay when a direct route is not available, and you can run your own rendezvous and relay server for this. That means public DNS, TLS, and enough bandwidth for screen updates during busy support hours. Direct peer connections alone will not cover NAT, carrier networks, and locked-down offices.
It does not carry over. Unattended access is tied to TeamViewer's installed host, account assignment, and access policy, none of which transfer. With RustDesk you deploy its client to each machine, configure permanent access, and verify the connection survives a reboot; with Guacamole you register the host's RDP, VNC, or SSH connection in the gateway. Keep TeamViewer available during the transition so you can recover any machine where the new setup fails.
It depends on your discipline. TeamViewer centralizes identity, relays, and policy in its own service; a self-hosted replacement gives you control over keys, logs, and network placement but hands you patching, hardening, and abuse prevention. RustDesk and Guacamole both keep sessions on infrastructure you run, which removes a third-party relay from the path. Require multi-factor authentication for operators, restrict unattended access, and log sessions, since a compromised operator account is now your problem to contain.
Often yes, which is an advantage for labs, factories, and isolated sites. Guacamole brokers connections to hosts by address inside your network, so a browser on the LAN can reach them without any external service. RustDesk can run entirely against your own self-hosted relay rather than its public servers. Test authentication while offline, because anything that depends on a public relay or external identity provider can fail during an outage even when both machines share a LAN.
Remote printing, polished customer-invitation links, session recording, mobile control, and address-book style device management are the usual friction points. Guacamole is clientless and browser-based but expects the target to speak RDP, VNC, or SSH, and mobile control in particular varies. Clipboard and file transfer exist in RustDesk but can behave differently across operating systems and privilege levels. Build a short checklist from real TeamViewer sessions and test each item live rather than trusting a feature name.
It differs by tool. RustDesk needs its client running on both ends, which is what enables remote control of a desktop and file copy and paste between systems. Guacamole is clientless on the user side - any browser reaches it - but the target machine must already expose RDP, VNC, or SSH for the gateway to broker. So Guacamole suits servers and desktops you configure in advance, while RustDesk suits reaching a machine that only has the agent installed.
