VNC Connect could work out to be cheaper if you're only connecting to a couple of devices, but it ends up being considerably more expensive as soon as you're connecting to a dozen or more. TeamViewer's paid plans start at $414 per year, which sounds expensive until you realize that plan allows for managing up to 200 devices, while VNC Connect is priced per device. RemotePC also performed better than VNC Connect in our tests. That price is high compared with RemotePC, our Editors' Choice pick for businesses, which can connect with one computer for $15 per year and 10 computers for $60 per year. VNC Connect's paid offerings start at $40.68 per year per device you want to connect. In fact, TeamViewer offers all the features of its paid product to personal home users for free, which is even more generous.
Most remote access software doesn't offer a free version, though TeamViewer does, and it's our Editors' Choice product for personal use. This free version is a little hard to find-it's not mentioned on the pricing page-but you can sign up here (Opens in a new window). VNC Connect offers a free version for personal use limited to five remote computers for up to three users. You can even use RealVNC Viewer to connect to such devices, without a VNC Connect account, over your local network. Linux and macOS users should look into the built-in servers offered by their operating systems, which can be found in the system settings. It's an open-source application based on the same VNC protocol as RealVNC. If you'd prefer a direct, IP-based connection, I recommend looking into TightVNC (Opens in a new window) for Windows devices.
(Opens in a new window) Read Our Splashtop Business Pro Review It's a strong pedigree, and no small part of why the letters VNC are synonymous-by those in the know, at least-with remote access software decades later. RealVNC, the company that makes VNC Connect, has been around since 2002, founded by members of a team at AT&T that invented the VNC protocol in the 90s. VNC Connect is the subscription service that enables cloud connections-it's the subject of this review. RealVNC is proprietary software that uses this open-source protocol. Most Linux distributions and even macOS come with a version of this VNC protocol built-in. What's The Difference Between VNC Connect, RealVNC, and TightVNC?Īs mentioned, VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, an open-source protocol for remotely controlling computers. Name quibbles aside,VNC Connect can get the job done but can also be difficult to set up and performed poorly in our tests compared with other remote access applications.
To use VNC Connect, you need the RealVNC Viewer app and the RealVNC Server app. VNC Connect comprises remote access software and a cloud service offered by RealVNC. VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, which is an open-source protocol for remotely controlling computers.
No built-in audio chat, video chat, or whiteboardĮxplaining what VNC Connect is requires using the letters VNC a lot, and it can be confusing.Low frame rate compared with other apps.
How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.And it doesn't seem to support jpeg compression so its a bit sllloooww.
I've tried chicken of the VNC and whilst it works it crashes a bit, doesn't scale well on my air (pc I'm viewing has a higher vertical resolution so the bottom of the screen gets chopped) and does funky stuff when in fullscreen. When I get back to my mac I'll be trying out the vnc:// route in safari. If you aren't comfortable with that then you're out of luck with free and you're looking at paying for some software. Note that the above shenanigans requires you to do some typing at a terminal and have some understanding of what you're doing.
I don't have an ipad/iphone but the software to do all this free is available for android (and works because I have set it up and use it) so I'd guess the same is true for ios
(there's a mac orientated description of this here).Īs an added bit of security, use public/private key encryption (RSA for preference) and disable password logons. If you want to use VNC remotely, set up an ssh server on the same machine as the VNC server (preferably don't use the default ssh port 22) and open that port through your router. I realise this is a VERY old thread but.ĭo NOT open port 5900 on your router to your pc/mac/whatever running a VNC server VNC has pretty much zero security and doing so will result in some spotty hacker somewhere remote controlling your computer.