Self-hosted remote access — MeshCentral & RustDesk, deployed and managed by Brocent
MeshCentral and RustDesk are both genuinely free, open-source remote access tools — there's no vendor license to buy. Brocent's fee here is a deployment and management services charge, not a resale margin, because both projects are free to self-host.
How self-hosted remote access works
Self-hosting trades convenience for control. You (or Brocent, on your behalf) run the server that brokers connections — for MeshCentral that's a single web-managed server handling agent check-ins; for RustDesk it's the hbbs/hbbr relay pair, unless you use RustDesk's own hosted Pro relay instead. The upside is full control over where session data, logs and device inventory physically live, which matters in compliance-sensitive environments — but you're relying on community support (GitHub issues, forums) rather than a vendor SLA if something breaks, and you own patching and uptime for the infrastructure. That's the real trade-off against a commercial SaaS tool like Splashtop or TeamViewer, which is zero infrastructure burden with vendor-backed support in exchange for a recurring subscription and less control over exactly where data sits.
MeshCentral
MeshCentral is genuinely free — Apache 2.0 licensed open source with no paid tier at all. There's no vendor license fee to pay; Brocent's cost is entirely the services fee for deployment, hosting and ongoing management.
- Web-based remote desktop, no client install required to view
- Terminal / command-line access to managed devices
- In-browser file transfer
- Intel AMT (hardware-level out-of-band management) support
- Agent-based device management across Windows, macOS and Linux
RustDesk
Free (self-hosted)
Free
AGPL-3.0 core · self-hosted relay server
The full open-source RustDesk client and self-hosted relay server (hbbs/hbbr) at no license cost — the trade-off is you run and maintain the relay infrastructure yourself.
Get a quote →Individual Pro
$9.9 / month
Billed annually · 1 user, 20 devices
RustDesk's own hosted relay service for a single user — no relay server to run yourself, plus a web console, 2FA and coverage for up to 20 devices.
Get a quote →Basic Pro
Most popular$19.9 / month
Billed annually · 10 users, 100 devices
Team-scale hosted relay for up to 10 users and 100 devices, adding OIDC/LDAP SSO and custom client branding on top of everything in Individual Pro.
Get a quote →RustDesk add-on pricing notice
RustDesk's exact per-additional-user/device add-on rate for its Pro tiers came back inconsistent across sources during research ($1 per extra user / $0.10 per extra device vs. $1.20 per extra user / $0.12 per extra device) — we are not stating a specific add-on rate as fact here. Confirm the current figure directly at rustdesk.com/pricing before budgeting for extra seats or devices beyond a tier's included limits.
FX moves; USD figures are for comparison only.
Public list prices observed 2026-07-05. Subject to change by the vendor / operator without notice.
Self-hosted remote access FAQ
If MeshCentral and RustDesk are free, what exactly am I paying Brocent for?
A deployment and management services fee, not a software license. We size and provision the server, harden and patch it, configure agents across your fleet, set up backups/monitoring, and handle ongoing operation — the same work an in-house engineer would otherwise spend time on. There is no markup on the software itself, because there's no license to mark up.
Should I self-host or use a commercial SaaS tool like Splashtop or TeamViewer instead?
It depends on what you're optimizing for. Self-hosting gives full control over where session data and logs live — relevant for compliance-sensitive environments — at the cost of running your own infrastructure with community-only support if something goes wrong. Commercial SaaS trades that control for zero infrastructure burden and vendor SLA-backed support. Neither is universally right; see the comparison on the Remote Access & Device Management hub page.
Want MeshCentral or RustDesk deployed and managed?
Tell us your device count and compliance requirements — we'll provision, harden and manage the server, roll out agents across your fleet, and keep it patched.