How should you compare the licence cost?
Count concurrent sessions rather than users, because that is what these products meter. A ten-person support team that never runs more than three sessions at once needs three, not ten.
Then check the thresholds: managed device counts, endpoint tiers and feature gates all step the price, and crossing one mid-year is where renewal surprises come from. Ask for the price at your projected count in year three, in writing.
Finally, count what you would stop paying for. Several tools here bundle features TeamViewer charges separately for, and one or two bundle none — the comparison is only meaningful at equivalent capability.
When is a self-hosted relay worth it?
When your security policy says session metadata cannot leave the organisation, which is common in healthcare, government and finance. In that case the shortlist narrows immediately to AnyDesk on-premises, ISL Online’s server licence and RealVNC direct connections.
It is also worth it when the vendor relationship itself is the risk — a support desk whose entire customer map is visible to a third party has a concentration problem that no contract fully removes.
Against that: you now operate the relay, patch it and keep it available. If the desk cannot afford that, cloud with strong access controls is the better honest answer.
What actually differs between these tools?
Less than the marketing suggests on core function: all of them show you a remote screen and let you control it. The real differences are in three places.
Platform coverage, including the awkward parts — Raspberry Pi, embedded Linux, older Windows, macOS on Apple silicon. This is where shortlists collapse, and it is worth testing against your actual fleet rather than reading a table.
Connection model, which cannot be retrofitted. And session performance on a poor connection, which is where AnyDesk’s codec earns its reputation and which you can only assess by trying it from the worst network you support.
