Shadow PC vs Sunshine (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Sunshine grades higher than Shadow PC: 2.6 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Shadow PC grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. Sunshine grades higher on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Shadow PC
A full Windows PC in the cloud for gaming and creative work
Which one is for you
Pick Shadow PC if
- Fits if you want a Windows gaming PC on a laptop or phone
- Works for monthly use with no long commitment
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you play often, since the cheapest plan is $29.99 and Lite caps at 120 hours a month
- Skip it if you want a trial first, as none is listed
- Watch out: peak-hour queue priority depends on your tier, from Lite to Premium
- Watch out: the vendor notes that not every game or app will run
- Watch out: businesses use a separate Cloud Workstations line with its own pricing
Pick Sunshine if
- Fits if you want free game streaming from your own PC using Moonlight
- Works for people comfortable with setting up ports and encoders themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need a client, as Sunshine is a host only and needs Moonlight
- Not for you if you want support sessions or unattended admin, since it targets game streaming
- Watch out: the README says its hardware requirement tables are unfinished and should not drive purchases
- Watch out: gamepad support is partial on FreeBSD, and macOS needs a separately licensed Virtual HID Broker
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAShadow PCWeak | 2.6GPASunshineGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$29.99 a month for the cheapest plan, just under the $30 line where the category's dearest tenth begins. Neo Pro is $44.99 and Power Pro $59.99. | AFree and open source under GPL-3.0, with no cloud subscription, and you run it on your own PC. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed anywhere on the vendor pages. | AFree outright with no cap listed, and no account or cloud service to pay for. |
| Features | CA full Windows PC streamed to many devices, with team management on Pro. Monthly playtime and resolution limits apply, with 120 hours on Lite. | DIt is a host only: you also need a Moonlight client to use it, so it needs another product to be useful. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record. You install the client, sign in and stream, with nothing to set up. | CNo store rating on record. It has a browser-based management page, but you configure encoders, ports and pairing yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android clients, with Steam, Epic and Battle.net. No API is listed. | CHosts run on Windows, macOS and Linux, and clients come through Moonlight. No phone host or web client is listed. |
| Best for | a full Windows gaming PC streamed to your devices | a free game-stream host for your own PC |
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: Shadow PC and Sunshine. How we grade
Price against what you get
Shadow PC starts at $29.99 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sunshine has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Shadow PC scores higher, and starts $29.99 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other remote desktop apps on the chart, 5 score higher than Shadow PC for less, and none scores higher than Sunshine for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Sunshine is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Shadow PC also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Shadow PC | Sunshine | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Starts at | $29.99 per month, no commitment | Free |
| Free plan | None | Free and open source with no cloud subscription; released under the GPL-3.0 license. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Shadow | LizardByte |
| Price read from | shadow.tech | sunshine.lizardbyte.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Shadow PC
- Playtime is a fair-use cap that resets on the 1st of each month; Lite allows 120 hours.
- Peak-hour queue priority depends on the tier, from Lite to Premium.
- The vendor notes that not every game or app will run, flagged with an asterisk on its page.
- A separate Cloud Workstations line for businesses has its own pricing page.
Sunshine
- It is a host only; you also need a Moonlight client on the device you play on.
- The README warns that its hardware requirement tables are a work in progress and should not drive purchases.
- Gamepad support is partial on FreeBSD, and macOS needs a separately licensed Virtual HID Broker for emulated pads.
- It targets game streaming, not support sessions or unattended administration of other people's computers.
Key features
Shadow PC
- A full Windows PC
- Install games from Steam, Epic or Battle.net, plus mods and your own software, instead of picking from a fixed library.
- Stream to many devices
- The download page lists apps for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and the site also offers a browser version and Android TV and Apple TV.
- Monthly playtime and session caps
- Lite plans allow 120 hours a month in sessions of up to 4 hours. Other plans list 210 hours, sessions of 6 to 8 hours and an Always On option.
- Resolution and monitor limits
- The comparison table shows 1440p at 60 Hz on the lightest tier and up to 5K at 240 Hz on the others, with 1 to 3 monitors.
- Team management on Pro
- Pro plans include a subscriptions and users manager, and a team suite adds roles, fleet management, IAM and centralized billing.
Sunshine
- Hardware encoding
- Streams with AMD, Intel or NVIDIA hardware encoding for low latency, with software encoding available on all supported systems.
- Works with Moonlight clients
- Sunshine is the host half of the pair; you install a Moonlight client on a laptop, phone, TV or handheld and pair it.
- Browser-based management
- A web interface lets you choose applications, adjust streaming settings and pair devices, from the host or from a mobile device.
- Gamepad emulation
- The README lists emulation of generic, DualShock, DualSense, Switch Pro and Xbox controllers, with limits on FreeBSD and macOS.
- Several host systems
- The site lists Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD hosts, each with its own supported capture and encoding methods.
Plans
Shadow PC
Neo Lite$29.99
per month, no commitment
Up to 120 hours of playtime a month, sessions up to 4 hours, streaming in 1440p, 256 GB storage.
Neo$37.99
per month, no commitment
Streaming up to 1440p, multi-screen and ultrawide support, RTX and DLSS. The comparison table lists 210 hours a month.
Power Lite$43.99
per month, no commitment
Up to 50% more GPU power than Neo, 28 GB RAM and 20 GB VRAM, 120 hours a month, 4-hour sessions.
Neo Pro$44.99
per month, no commitment
For 3D and rendering: priority access, longer sessions and a subscriptions and users manager.
Power$54.99
per month, no commitment
Up to 50% more GPU power, 28 GB RAM and 20 GB VRAM, streaming up to 5K.
Power Pro$59.99
per month, no commitment
Power hardware with priority access, longer sessions, a users manager and installs of CUDA and RTX workflows.
Sunshine
Sunshine$0
Free and open source, run on your own hardware. The site has a Donate link for voluntary support.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Shadow PC or Sunshine?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Sunshine is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $29.99 a month for Shadow PC. Shadow PC starts at $29.99 per month, no commitment, and Sunshine is free.
Which has a free plan, Shadow PC or Sunshine?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Sunshine has a free plan. Shadow PC does not.
Which platforms do Shadow PC and Sunshine run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Shadow PC lists a web app and iOS and Android apps. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.