MeshCentral vs Remotely
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | MeshCentral | Remotely |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 21 · At risk |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,279 | ★ 5,080 |
| First released | 2018 | 2019 |
| Replaces | TeamViewer, ConnectWise | TeamViewer |
What are MeshCentral and Remotely?
MeshCentral
MeshCentral is a self-hosted, web-based remote management platform that provides remote desktop, terminal, file transfer, and device management. It supports thousands of agents.
- Web-based remote desktop
- Device fleet management
- File transfer and terminal
- Wake-on-LAN support
Remotely
Remotely is an open-source remote support and remote scripting solution built with ASP.NET Core and SignalR. It offers attended and unattended remote access through the browser.
- Attended and unattended access
- Remote scripting
- Browser-based control
- Cross-platform agent
MeshCentral vs Remotely: key differences
MeshCentral is written in HTML, while Remotely is built with C#. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for MeshCentral versus GPL-3.0 for Remotely. Remotely is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for MeshCentral.
Why pick each one
Choose MeshCentral if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.3k GitHub stars
- Written in HTML
Choose Remotely if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
- Written in C#
Frequently asked questions
Is MeshCentral or Remotely better?
Neither is universally better. MeshCentral has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are MeshCentral and Remotely free and open-source?
Yes. MeshCentral is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Remotely under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MeshCentral and Remotely with Docker?
MeshCentral: yes. Remotely: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, MeshCentral or Remotely?
Remotely has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for MeshCentral. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.