How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Moonlight with Sunshine is the connoisseur's free route: open source and capable of beating Parsec for pure game streaming.
- Steam Remote Play is already installed if you game: free, simple, and limited to Steam's world.
- RustDesk is the self hostable all rounder: free, open source, and yours to run end to end.
- AnyDesk, Splashtop and TeamViewer sell the business layer: fleets, permissions and support.
- Chrome Remote Desktop is the zero thought free option for helping family and reaching your own machines.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Moonlight | Open source game streaming | Free | Yes |
 Steam Remote Play | Free play through your Steam library | Free | Yes |
 RustDesk | Self hosted remote desktop | Free | Yes |
 AnyDesk | Fast commercial remote access | See website | Yes |
 Splashtop | Business remote access at a fair price | $5/month | No |
 TeamViewer | Enterprise remote support standard | See website | Yes |
 Chrome Remote Desktop | Simple free access to your own PCs | Free | Yes |
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The best Parsec alternatives in 2026
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Moonlight began as an open source client for NVIDIA's game streaming protocol and grew, with the Sunshine host software, into the enthusiast standard for playing your own PC from anywhere. Set up properly on a wired host, it delivers the low latency, high frame rate experience people bought Parsec for, at zero cost and with zero accounts, which in 2026 feels almost radical.
The price is the setup. There is no company smoothing the path: you install the host, pair the clients and learn what your router does to a stream. For the technically comfortable, an evening's tinkering buys the best free game streaming in existence. For everyone else, that evening is exactly what the commercial entries below are selling relief from.
What we like- Streams games from your own PC at high frame rates and resolutions rivals envy, pairs with the open source Sunshine host on any GPU brand, clients for everything: phones, TVs, tablets, handhelds and old laptops, no account, no subscription and no company between you and your machine
Watch out for- You assemble it: a host app, network setup and port decisions are yours, no wake on LAN magic or support line when the stream stutters, game streaming is the whole product: office fleet features do not exist
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Steam Remote Play (and its Remote Play Together feature) is the alternative people forget they own. Any Steam game with local multiplayer can be shared with a friend across the internet, rendered on your machine, streamed to theirs, at no cost beyond the game itself. For the exact use (couch co op at a distance) that made many people find Parsec, it is the shortest path in this list.
Its edges are Steam's edges: your Origin, emulator and work software worlds are outside, and stream tuning is simpler and less capable than Moonlight's. Judge it as a feature, not a platform: where it covers your need, it covers it free, instantly, and with your library already attached.
What we like- Already inside Steam: invite a friend and they play your game, even if they do not own it, streams to phones, TVs and computers through Steam Link apps, no setup beyond owning the game and having a friend with a connection, the host renders everything, so the guest needs no hardware at all
Watch out for- Steam's library is the boundary
- Non Steam games are workarounds, performance and features trail Moonlight and Parsec for serious sessions, no general remote desktop: it is a play feature, not an access tool
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
RustDesk is the sovereignty option: a full remote desktop system (screen, control, file transfer, unattended access) that you can run entirely on your own infrastructure, free and open source, with public relays available if you would rather not. Businesses fleeing subscription remote access and individuals fleeing accounts both land here.
For gaming it is a capable second rather than a champion: fine for turn based and slower titles, behind the streaming specialists for frame critical play. For everything else (supporting family, reaching the home server, a small company's fleet) RustDesk is the most complete free answer in the category and the first test for anyone whose Parsec exit is about control.
What we like- Open source remote desktop in the TeamViewer shape, with none of the licensing drama, self host the relay and ID server and the whole system is yours, clients for every platform, file transfer and tunnelling included, free for personal and much commercial use
- Paid plans add management features
Watch out for- Self hosting means running a server, however small, remote desktop latency is good, not Parsec class for fast games, a smaller ecosystem than the commercial giants when something breaks
#4AnyDesk
Best for: Fast commercial remote access4.5/5 on
G2 (1,104 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit anydesk.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
AnyDesk is the professional's quick answer: tiny download, instant session, performance that made it the support desk standard beside TeamViewer. Its codec was designed to feel responsive on weak links, and for remote work, support and administration it remains one of the best tuned tools in the business.
Its pricing is licence based and published on its site in tiers that depend on seats and features, hence See website; solo and small team licences are modest, and the free personal tier is real. Gamers should still test Moonlight first; professionals who bill by the hour usually stop at AnyDesk and get back to work.
What we like- A small, fast client with a codec built for low latency on poor connections, unattended access, file transfer and session tools cover support and remote work, free for personal use
- Licences scale from solo professionals upward, runs everywhere, including portable with no install for quick support
Watch out for- Commercial licensing is required for business use, and pricing tiers need care, performance for games is good for a desktop tool, not streaming specialist grade, free tier usage detection has frustrated legitimate personal users in the industry generally
#5Splashtop
Best for: Business remote access at a fair price4.8/5 on
G2 (534 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit splashtop.com
Starting price$5/month
Free planNo
Splashtop sells the business remote access feature set without the enterprise tax: entry plans from $5 a month billed annually get an individual or small team unattended access to their machines with good performance, and the tiers above add the management, grouping and support tooling IT departments ask for.
It is the value pick of the commercial three on this page, and its streaming heritage shows in smooth video over the connection. What it lacks is a free personal tier to live in before paying, so use the trial deliberately: test your real locations and your worst connection in the trial week, because that test is the purchase decision in this entire category.
What we like- Remote access plans from $5 a month billed annually undercut the category's giants, high performance streaming roots: it began life as a media streaming company, strong education and IT customer base with management tooling above the entry tiers, unattended access, file transfer and multi monitor support included
Watch out for- No free tier for personal users
- Trials are the way in, product line sprawl (access, support, SOS variants) needs a careful read, game streaming is possible but not the product's promise
#6TeamViewer
Best for: Enterprise remote support standard4.5/5 on
G2 (4,203 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit teamviewer.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
TeamViewer is the default of record in corporate remote support, and buying it buys an absence of meetings: security has seen it, legal has terms for it, and every technician on earth has used it. Its platform now spans device management, augmented reality support and enterprise access control far beyond a Parsec shaped need.
That weight is the trade. Solo users and small teams pay enterprise prices for enterprise assurances they may not need, which is why AnyDesk and Splashtop exist. Where your organisation's size or regulation makes remote access a governed system rather than a tool, TeamViewer is the standard answer and its quote based pricing is simply the cost of that standard.
What we like- The name enterprises already approve: security reviews, compliance and procurement are pre answered, the deepest platform: fleet management, AR assisted support, conditional access and integrations, free for personal use, with clients and host apps for everything, global infrastructure makes cross continent sessions routine
Watch out for- Business pricing sits at the top of the category and is quoted by tier, the client is heavyweight beside AnyDesk or RustDesk, personal free users periodically meet usage suspicion prompts, a licensing history that long term users still grumble about
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Chrome Remote Desktop is the answer that ends most casual searches: you want your home PC from a hotel, or your parent's laptop fixed from your sofa, free, now. Google's tool does exactly that with a setup measured in clicks, and its reliability over years of quiet service is its whole reputation.
Do not ask it to be Parsec. Frame rates, controller nuance and streaming polish belong to Moonlight and Steam above; fleet features belong to the commercial tools. Within its lane (simple, free access to machines that are yours) it has never really been beaten, only outgrown.
What we like- Free, from Google, set up in minutes through the Chrome account you already have, reliable unattended access to your own machines from anywhere, remote support sessions with a code for helping family, nothing to install beyond Chrome or the small host package
Watch out for- A utility, not a platform: no fleet management, no file transfer elegance, not built for game streaming latency or high frame rates, tied to a Google account, with the account risk that implies
How we chose
Eligibility required a working remote access or game streaming product a Parsec user could adopt in October 2026, split honestly by job: game streaming (Moonlight, Steam Remote Play), general remote desktop (RustDesk, AnyDesk, Splashtop, TeamViewer) and the simple free utility (Chrome Remote Desktop). Prices: Splashtop's published entry of $5 a month billed annually is printed; licence tiered vendors say See website; the open source and Google tools are free. No latency figure from any vendor is quoted, because none survives your postcode.
What to test before you leave Parsec
Test the worst route, not the best. Your real alternative must survive the actual pair of places you connect (home to office, home to a friend's flat across the country) at the actual hour you play or work. Run the same game scene or the same scrolling document through each finalist on that route and trust your hands over every specification sheet ever printed.
Name the job you are actually hiring for. Game streaming, unattended work access, supporting customers and helping your mother are four products wearing one category name. Moonlight wins the first, the commercial trio fight over the middle two, and Chrome Remote Desktop quietly owns the last. Buying for the wrong job is how people end up paying TeamViewer prices to play a platformer.
Check the exit and the account. Self hosted RustDesk and account free Moonlight leave nothing behind when you stop. Account based services hold your device lists, your unattended passwords and your habits; read what deleting an account actually deletes. In a category built on access to your machines, the trust question outranks every feature table, including this one.
Frequently asked questions
Which alternative is best for gaming?
Moonlight with Sunshine, for players willing to set it up: the performance ceiling is the highest of the free tools and your whole PC library is in scope. Steam Remote Play is the zero setup version for Steam games with friends. Parsec's own free tier set the bar these two are judged against, and both clear it in their lanes.
Is RustDesk really free for business?
The software is open source and self hosting it is free, including for many commercial setups; RustDesk also sells Pro plans with management features and hosted options. Read the current licence terms for your exact use, because open source licences have conditions, but the widespread small business pattern (self hosted, unmodified) is the use the project is built around.
Why do companies pay for TeamViewer or AnyDesk at all?
For everything around the connection: user and device management, permissions, session logging, compliance evidence, integrations and a support contract. The screen sharing itself is the commodity. A ten person company can live on free tools; a regulated five hundred person company is buying governance, and the price difference is that governance.
Can I self host to avoid subscriptions entirely?
Yes: RustDesk with your own relay server is the complete answer, and Moonlight plus Sunshine never had a subscription to avoid. The costs move rather than vanish (a small server, your time, your security updates) and for most households the free public options are enough. Self hosting is for people who value control in itself, and they know who they are.
What internet speed do I need for remote play?
A stable 15 to 25 Mbps at both ends covers 1080p streaming for most tools, with upload speed at the host being the figure people forget. Latency and jitter matter more than the headline number: a wired host on a modest connection beats a wireless one on gigabit for feel, every time.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.