AnyDesk vs Parsec
We give AnyDesk a 2.4 GPA and Parsec a 2.6, out of 4.0. Parsec grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AnyDesk
Remote desktop app, free for personal use, licensed for business
Parsec
Low-latency remote desktop for games and creative work
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAnyDeskFair | 2.6GPAParsecGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price could be read: AnyDesk's website answered our reader with a bot check, and its help centre sends buyers to the pricing page. With no figure to set against TeamViewer or Splashtop for the same job, it gets the C we give any missing price. Personal use is free; work use needs a licence. | CGaming at home is free, and Warp, the personal plan with extra monitors and 4:4:4 colour, is $8.33 a month billed annually. Any work use needs Teams at $30 a user a month, though, well above what Splashtop's Performance plan and Jump Desktop's Teams Enterprise charge for the same creative job. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for personal, non-commercial use, which covers reaching your own computers. But free sessions time out and have to be restarted, and any outgoing connection for work needs a paid licence. No trial is on record. | BPersonal Use is free for gaming and other non-commercial use, with 60 FPS, controllers and link sharing, and one person can live on that. It's one monitor only, no 4:4:4 colour and no work use at all; Teams has a 14-day trial. |
| Features | CAttended and unattended access, remote printing, Wake-on-LAN, screen privacy, a management portal and an on-premises server with a REST API. The gaps it lists itself: Standard allows one outgoing connection at a time, and self-hosting is Ultimate only, quoted by sales. | CLow-latency streaming at up to 4K and 240 frames per second, controllers, Wacom pressure, shared sessions and guest access. The gaps it lists itself: only Windows and Mac computers can be hosts, there's no iOS app, and outside guests cost $25 an invitation. |
| Ease of use | B4.49 from 28,268 App Store ratings, which is a B on a crowd that size. The person at the other end accepts your request and you're connected. | BNo App Store rating on record. Install it on the computer you want to reach and the one you're sitting at, and connect. There's nothing to configure for a game at home. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi, ChromeOS, iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple TV. That's a lot of devices, but there's no web app or integration list, and the REST API comes only with the on-premises server. | BWindows, Mac, Linux, Android and a Chrome browser client, with a Teams API on Enterprise. There's no iPhone or iPad app, and Linux, Android and the browser can only connect, not host. |
| Best for | remote access on nearly any device you own | streaming games and creative work with no lag |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AnyDesk and Parsec. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only AnyDesk lists an iOS app.
- Only Parsec lists a web app.
- AnyDesk is self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| AnyDesk | Parsec | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $8.33 per user / month, billed annually ($9.99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free for personal, non-commercial use. Sessions on the free version time out and have to be restarted; a paid licence removes the time limit. | Personal Use is free for non-commercial use: low-latency 60 FPS desktop capture, link sharing, keyboard, mouse and gamepad support and encrypted peer-to-peer connections, on one monitor. |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial of Teams and Enterprise |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | AnyDesk Software GmbH | Unity Technologies SF |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | parsec.app |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
AnyDesk
- Reaching your own home or work computer at no cost for personal use
- Self-employed IT specialists who need one user with up to 100 unattended devices
- IT teams and service providers supporting many people's computers
- Enterprises that need remote access hosted inside their own network
Parsec
- Playing games on a home PC from another computer or an Android device
- Game studios and VFX artists who need accurate color and low lag remotely
- Video editors and designers using a Wacom tablet on a distant workstation
- Studios inviting outside playtesters to a machine for a few days
Worth knowing
AnyDesk
- AnyDesk's website answered automated readers with a bot check, so no prices could be read; its help center sends buyers to the pricing page or the my.anydesk portal for figures.
- The free version is for personal use only; any outgoing connection for commercial use needs a paid licence.
- Standard includes 20 users but only one simultaneous outgoing connection; more are add-ons.
- On-premises hosting is only on the Ultimate licence, which is quoted by sales.
Parsec
- The free and Individuals plans are for personal, non-commercial use only; any work use needs Teams or Enterprise.
- Only Windows 10+ and macOS 10.15+ computers can be hosts; Linux, Android and the Chrome web client can only connect. There is no iOS app.
- Guest access for external users costs $25 per invitation on top of the Teams plan.
- Parsec does not offer volume discounts, and Enterprise is sold with annual billing only.
Key features
AnyDesk
- Interactive and unattended access
- Connect to any number of devices when the person there accepts the request, or to managed devices without anyone present using a password: up to 100 on Solo and 1,000 on Advanced.
- Wide platform coverage
- Clients for Windows and Windows Server, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi, Android and ChromeOS, and iOS, iPadOS and tvOS.
- Remote print and Wake-on-LAN
- Print a document from a remote Windows computer on your local printer, and wake a sleeping Windows, Intel Mac or Linux device when another AnyDesk device on its network is online.
- Screen privacy
- Black out the remote screen so people near the device cannot see what you are doing during a session.
- my.anydesk portal
- A management portal to see licence and invoice details, manage linked clients and address books, review sessions and build custom clients.
- On-premises server
- The Ultimate licence can run on your own appliance server, so only your custom clients can connect, even without internet access, with a REST API for integration.
Parsec
- Low-latency streaming
- Up to 4K resolution and up to 240 frames per second (60 at 4K), with 4:4:4 color on paid plans, over direct peer-to-peer connections.
- Controllers and Wacom tablets
- Keyboard, mouse and gamepad input on every plan; paid plans add pressure- and tilt-sensitive Wacom tablet support.
- Shared sessions
- Share a link so someone can watch or take control of your computer, for co-op games, live reviews or working on something together.
- Team computers
- Teams can provision computers on demand to a team member or group, and block computers inside the network from hosting connections.
- Guest access
- Invite outside people into a Teams computer for up to five days, for playtests, events or user research, using separately bought credits.
- Enterprise relay and API
- Enterprise adds a high-performance relay that sits in your firewall, a Teams API for automating deployment, SCIM and role-based admin roles.
Plans
AnyDesk
Pricing could not be confirmed. See anydesk.com.
Parsec
Personal Use$0
Free for gaming and other non-commercial use. No multi-monitor streaming, 4:4:4 color, privacy mode or Wacom pressure support.
Individuals (Warp)$8.33
per user / month, billed annually ($9.99 billed monthly)
Personal, non-commercial use with up to 3 monitors, 4:4:4 color, virtual monitors, privacy mode and Wacom pressure and tilt.
Teams$30
per user / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Licensed for work: admin panel, SAML single sign-on, team-managed computers and groups, 7 days of audit logs and paid guest access.
Enterprise$45
per user / month, billed annually only
Adds the high-performance relay server, Teams API, role-based access, SCIM provisioning, full audit logs and usage analytics.
Ways to pay less
AnyDesk
No public discounts listed.
Parsec
- Annual discount
Annual billing saves up to about 17%
Individuals is $8.33 a month paid annually against $9.99 monthly, about 17% less; Teams is $30 against $35, about 14% less.
