SHSelfHostIndex

RustDesk vs WebSSH2

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?
RU RustDesk Open-source remote desktop alternative to TeamViewer VS WE WebSSH2 Web-based SSH client using xterm.js and WebSockets
FeatureRustDeskWebSSH2
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseAGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageRustTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, source
GitHub stars★ 119,867★ 2,766
First released20212017
ReplacesTeamViewer, AnyDeskPuTTY

Why pick each one

Choose RustDesk if…

  • Easy self-hosted server
  • Works everywhere
RustDesk details

Choose WebSSH2 if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
WebSSH2 details

Frequently asked questions

Is RustDesk or WebSSH2 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 WebSSH2 free and open-source?

Yes. RustDesk is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WebSSH2 under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run RustDesk and WebSSH2 with Docker?

RustDesk: yes. WebSSH2: yes.

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