AnyDesk Alternative With No Subscription

The short version

AnyDesk is free for personal use, and anyone using it for work needs a yearly subscription. JoyRemote charges the same at home and at work, and charges only for reaching a computer over the internet. That costs $5 once per computer, after 1.5 free hours. Between computers on the same network it costs nothing at all.

AnyDesk runs on more systems: Intel Macs, older Windows, more Linux distributions, Raspberry Pi and an iPhone app you can download today. If you need one of those, or session recording, or you manage hundreds of devices for a team, AnyDesk does things JoyRemote does not.

Side by side

	JoyRemote	AnyDesk
Free use	Unlimited between computers on the same network, for ever. 1.5 hours over the internet per computer. The same for people and companies, at home and at work.	Free for personal use. "Professional users need a license."¹ Using AnyDesk at home to reach your office workstation counts as commercial use.³
Paying	$5 once per computer, not a subscription. Relay time, needed only on networks that block a direct connection, is extra: 15 minutes free, then $5 for 5 hours. Pricing	Solo $24.90, Standard $42.90 or Advanced $90.90 a month, all billed yearly, excluding VAT; 20% off the first year.¹
Renewal	None. The payment lasts for as long as we run the service.	The contract renews automatically unless you cancel in time,¹ which AnyDesk's help centre puts at 30 days before renewal.⁶
Account	None. Each computer has a ten-digit number.	Not required; each device has a 9- or 10-digit ID or an alias.⁵
Computers it runs on	Windows (64-bit), macOS on Apple silicon, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, Fedora 44 or newer. Download	Windows XP SP2 and later, macOS 11 and later, Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 10+, RHEL 8+, openSUSE, Linux Mint, Raspberry Pi OS, FreeBSD, ChromeOS.⁴
Linux on Wayland	Can be reached. The first time, Linux asks once to share the screen.	Only outgoing sessions; reaching a Linux computer needs Xorg.⁴
From a phone	Android app on Google Play. iPhone app coming soon; until then, Safari works through the browser.	Android and iPhone apps, free for personal use.⁷
From a browser, nothing installed	Yes. On your own Wi-Fi the computer serves the page itself; away from it, type the computer's number at joyremote.com.	None found on AnyDesk's current pages.
Unattended access	Yes: tell a computer to remember yours. Windows and Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora) can be reached at the sign-in screen.	Yes. Managed devices: 3 free, 100 on Solo, 500 on Standard, 1,000 on Advanced.¹³
File transfer	Yes, including dragging files onto the remote screen.	Yes, on every plan including free.¹³
Session recording	No.	On paid plans.¹
Encryption	TLS 1.3 between the two computers; each proves which computer it is with a key generated on it that never leaves it. Security	TLS 1.3, RSA 2048 key exchange, 256-bit AES.²

What a year of reaching one computer costs

Say you reach one office computer from home most evenings. On AnyDesk that is commercial use,³ so the cheapest plan applies: Solo at $24.90 a month, billed as a year at a time. That is $298.80 a year at the list price, or $239.04 for the first year with the current discount, plus VAT, and it renews.¹

On JoyRemote the session counts on the computer it was started from. That computer gets 1.5 free hours, then $5 once, and that is the end of it. If your network refuses a direct connection, as some hotels and offices do, relay time is the one thing sold by the clock: 15 minutes free, then $5 for five hours. Most connections never need it.

If both computers are in the same house or the same office, JoyRemote costs nothing, however long you use it.

Where JoyRemote is the better fit

You work from home and do not want a subscription for it.
Your computers are on the same network, so you never pay at all.
You want to reach a computer from a phone or a borrowed laptop's browser without installing anything there.
You run Linux on Wayland, the default on current Ubuntu and Fedora, and want to reach that machine.
You keep several computers open at once: step between them with Ctrl+Alt+→ and Ctrl+Alt+←.

Where AnyDesk is the better fit

You need an Intel Mac, a Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, older Windows or a Linux other than Ubuntu and Fedora.
You need a native iPhone app today.
You need session recording, or tools for managing many devices across a support team.

Who has to say yes

Every JoyRemote connection is approved by somebody at the computer being reached, on that computer's own screen, unless it has been told to remember the one asking. A browser reaching in from outside your network that has not been remembered also has to give a six-digit code shown on that computer before anything rings there. Phone and browser access can be switched off in Settings.

FAQ

Is there a free AnyDesk alternative?

JoyRemote is free for ever between computers on the same network, with no time limit. Over the internet each computer gets 1.5 free hours, then a one-time $5 per computer. It is not a subscription.

Can I use the free version of AnyDesk for work?

AnyDesk says its free version is for personal use and that professional users need a license.¹ Its commercial-use page counts using AnyDesk at home to reach your office workstation as commercial use.³ Paid plans are billed yearly and renew automatically.

Does JoyRemote need an account?

No. Each computer has a ten-digit number, and every connection is approved on the computer being reached unless it has been told to remember the one asking. Paying collects an email address at the payment provider, but there is no JoyRemote account.

Try it where it is free: install JoyRemote on two computers on the same network and connect one to the other. Download JoyRemote for Windows, Mac, Ubuntu and Fedora, or get it on Google Play.

Sources

AnyDesk's pages, read on 18 October 2026. Prices are as AnyDesk showed them in US dollars on that day.

AnyDesk is a trademark of its owner. JoyRemote is not affiliated with or endorsed by AnyDesk.

An AnyDesk alternative with no subscription.