RustDesk vs. AnyDesk vs. TeamViewer: Remote Support Without Vendor Lock-In

If you run remote support in the SMB space, you know the annual ritual: every autumn brings a price hike from TeamViewer or AnyDesk, license models get restructured, “Business” becomes “Premium”, concurrent sessions get counted a new way. For many system integrators and internal IT teams this has long been a predictable friction point — and the question of whether it also works without vendor lock-in is no longer academic. RustDesk is currently the most credible answer from the open-source camp: a fully self-hostable remote support stack that stands on equal technical footing with the commercial incumbents.

This article compares RustDesk (version 1.4.x, as of 2026), AnyDesk and TeamViewer not as a marketing battle, but from an operations perspective: what does a productive self-hosting setup look like, where are the hard limits, and when is it more honest to just buy the commercial license.

Why the discussion is different in 2026 than in 2022

Three or four years ago, the answer to “remote support in the mid-market” was almost reflexively TeamViewer — maybe AnyDesk as a cheaper alternative. That debate has shifted. RustDesk closed what we consider the most important operational gaps with the 1.3 and 1.4 releases: stable unattended access permission management, address book with roles, working delta file transfer, a usable web console for the server. At the same time, the commercial vendors have gotten more expensive and more restrictive in their terms of service — see the recurring “commercial use detected” flag on genuinely private connections.

For a system integrator like us that means: RustDesk is now suitable for the vast majority of classic remote support cases. The commercial tools remain strong for very specific requirements, which we cover further down.

RustDesk architecture at a glance

RustDesk consists of three components, all of which can be self-hosted:

• hbbs (ID Server / Rendezvous Server, ports 21114-21116): mediates the connection between client and target machine, manages the numeric ID.
• hbbr (Relay Server, port 21117): carries traffic when a direct P2P tunnel is not possible — typical case behind symmetric NAT.
• rustdesk-server-pro (optional, paid): adds web console, LDAP/OIDC integration, address book, session recording, audit log and multi-tenant management.

The open-source variant (hbbs + hbbr) is entirely sufficient for small teams. For anything above roughly 10 technicians or with compliance requirements, the Pro license is worth it — currently around 20 USD per technician per month, which is significantly below AnyDesk or TeamViewer.

Minimal Docker Compose for the self-hosted stack

services:
  hbbs:
    image: rustdesk/rustdesk-server:latest
    container_name: rustdesk-hbbs
    command: hbbs -r rustdesk.your-domain.com:21117
    ports:
      - "21114:21114"
      - "21115:21115"
      - "21116:21116"
      - "21116:21116/udp"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/root
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks: [rustdesk-net]

  hbbr:
    image: rustdesk/rustdesk-server:latest
    container_name: rustdesk-hbbr
    command: hbbr
    ports:
      - "21117:21117"
      - "21118:21118"
      - "21119:21119"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/root
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks: [rustdesk-net]

networks:
  rustdesk-net:
    driver: bridge

A reverse proxy in front (Caddy or Traefik) makes sense for TLS on the web ports plus a dedicated public DNS record (rustdesk.your-domain.com). The server fits comfortably on a 2-vCPU/2-GB VM — our reference setup for customers runs on a small Proxmox VM alongside the Proxmox cluster.

After the first start, the public key sits at ./data/id_ed25519.pub. That key — together with the server address — lands in the client configuration, either manually or as a pre-configured installer (the RustDesk configurator tool builds a signed MSI/EXE).

Feature comparison in practice

The honest comparison, without marketing filters, looks like this:

Criterion	RustDesk (OSS + Pro)	AnyDesk	TeamViewer
Self-hosting possible	Yes, fully	Only partially, “On-Premises Appliance” Enterprise	Tensor product line Enterprise
Unattended access	Yes	Yes	Yes
File transfer / clipboard	Yes	Yes	Yes
Session recording	Pro	Business+	Premium+
MFA for technicians	Pro via OIDC/LDAP	Yes	Yes
Address book / groups	Pro	Yes	Yes
Multi-tenant	Pro	No, only teams	Partial
Mobile support	Android full, iOS view-only	Yes	Yes
Wake-on-LAN via peer	Yes	Yes	Yes
License cost per technician/month 2026	~20 USD Pro	from ~35 EUR	from ~40 EUR
Vendor lock-in	None — your data stays with you	High	High

What is not in the table but matters day-to-day: RustDesk is a touch slower on initial connection setup than AnyDesk, especially on the first handshake through the relay. In stable networks with P2P available, the latency difference is barely measurable. In our customer projects we typically see no more helpdesk complaints after one or two weeks of transition — the bigger friction points are client rollout and user habituation, not performance.

Where RustDesk is not (yet) enough

It would be dishonest to sell RustDesk as a silver bullet. Three scenarios where we still recommend commercial solutions:

1. Multi-tenant support with clean tenant separation: If you are an MSP providing remote support to many customers simultaneously and need separate address books, technician permissions and session recordings per customer, TeamViewer Tensor or AnyDesk Business have the older and more mature multi-tenancy logic. RustDesk Pro can do this now, but the rough edges are more visible.
2. Session recording with compliance requirements: RustDesk Pro records sessions, but the recordings are not signed and not audit-proof. If a customer needs an audit trail under BAIT/DORA requirements, TeamViewer is currently the safer choice.
3. iOS access with screen control: Apple only allows genuine iOS screen control for certified partners — RustDesk is view-only here, TeamViewer and AnyDesk offer full control.

Everything else — classic Windows/Linux/Mac support, unattended access to servers, occasional Android support — RustDesk covers cleanly.

Security architecture and what you need to open on OPNsense

RustDesk uses end-to-end encryption with NaCl (Curve25519 + XSalsa20 + Poly1305). The server only sees encrypted traffic, even when it relays. Important: the server’s public key must be pinned in the client, otherwise the client warns about an unknown peer — that is a feature, not a bug.

On OPNsense, the following ports need to be exposed for the self-hosted server:

21114/tcp   # Web console (internal only or behind reverse proxy!)
21115/tcp   # NAT type test
21116/tcp   # ID/rendezvous
21116/udp   # ID/rendezvous (hole punching)
21117/tcp   # Relay
21118/tcp   # Websocket (optional)
21119/tcp   # Websocket TLS (optional)

If you expose the web console (21114), it must sit behind a reverse proxy with TLS and ideally basic auth or client certificates. Operational recommendation: daily backup of the ./data/ volumes via a proper backup concept, including the .pub and .priv keys — losing the server key means re-enrolling all clients.

Migration path for existing TeamViewer/AnyDesk environments

The pragmatic path we use with customers:

• Phase 1 (2 weeks): Set up the RustDesk server in parallel, the technician team migrates its own workstations and test clients.
• Phase 2 (4-6 weeks): New client rollouts get the pre-configured RustDesk installer, existing systems keep TeamViewer/AnyDesk in parallel.
• Phase 3: Do not renew the old license at expiry, migrate the remaining systems via remote session.

In numbers: a 15-technician team typically saves 6,000 to 9,000 EUR per year by switching to RustDesk Pro compared to a comparable TeamViewer or AnyDesk Business setup — with essentially the same day-to-day feature set. The one-time effort for server setup, client rollout and internal training is between 2 and 5 consulting days for us, depending on the size and distribution of the environment.

Conclusion

In 2026 RustDesk has arrived in the SMB space. If you do not have very specific multi-tenant or compliance requirements, a cleanly set up self-hosted stack (ideally with a Pro license from 10 technicians upward) gives you a remote support solution that keeps up technically and keeps data sovereignty in-house. For everything beyond that — MSP multi-tenancy, audit-proof recording, iOS control — TeamViewer and AnyDesk remain the more suitable choice, and that is perfectly fine.

DATAZONE helps you build a self-hosted RustDesk server on Proxmox or Docker, secure it via OPNsense and roll it out in an orderly manner into existing TeamViewer or AnyDesk environments. Get in touch — we will look at your setup together and figure out whether RustDesk is the right answer or whether a commercial license makes more sense.