FreeRDP vs Teleport
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
FreeRDP
Free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol
VS
Teleport
Identity-aware access for infrastructure
| Feature | FreeRDP | Teleport |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,527 | ★ 20,780 |
| First released | 2009 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Microsoft RDP | Cisco AnyConnect, AWS Systems Manager |
Why pick each one
Choose Teleport if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 20.8k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is FreeRDP or Teleport better?
Neither is universally better. Teleport has the larger community, while FreeRDP is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are FreeRDP and Teleport free and open-source?
Yes. FreeRDP is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Teleport under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FreeRDP and Teleport with Docker?
FreeRDP: check the project docs for container support. Teleport: yes.