RustDesk vs WebSSH

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureRustDeskWebSSH
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRustPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 119,867★ 5,135
First released20212017
ReplacesTeamViewer, AnyDeskPuTTY

Why pick each one

Choose RustDesk if…

  • Easy self-hosted server
  • Works everywhere
RustDesk details

Choose WebSSH if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
WebSSH details

Frequently asked questions

Is RustDesk or WebSSH better?

Neither is universally better. RustDesk has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are RustDesk and WebSSH free and open-source?

Yes. RustDesk is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WebSSH under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run RustDesk and WebSSH with Docker?

RustDesk: yes. WebSSH: yes.

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