The Best Apple Screen Sharing Alternative for Mac

Every Mac comes with Screen Sharing built in. Turn it on, and another computer can see and control the Mac’s screen, with nothing to download and nothing to pay. For a quick look at a Mac from another Mac on the same desk, it’s hard to beat. If you’re here, you’ve probably tried it from somewhere else, like a Windows PC, a Linux box, or a Mac across a slow network, and found it slower and more limited than you expected.

This page covers what Screen Sharing and Apple Remote Desktop are, what Apple’s own documentation says they need, and why a standard RDP connection gets you more, especially from a computer that isn’t a Mac.

What is Apple Screen Sharing?

Screen Sharing is macOS’s built-in remote access feature. You turn it on under System Settings › General › Sharing, and Apple describes it this way: “Screen sharing allows users of other computers on your network to remotely connect to your Mac to view your desktop and control your Mac.” (Turn Mac screen sharing on or off)

Underneath, it’s VNC. In Apple’s words, “Screen sharing and Apple Remote Desktop are compatible with Virtual Network Computing (VNC), an industry standard for controlling computers remotely on a network using TCP/IP.” VNC is a remote desktop protocol from the late 1990s that works by sending pictures of the screen.

How well it works depends a lot on what you connect from.

From another Mac

The Screen Sharing app on another Mac is the best way to use it. When you connect, Apple has you pick a type (Screen sharing type options on Mac):

• Standard, which Apple says will “adapt resolution and frame rate to network conditions.”
• High Performance, which Apple says will “support stereo audio, HDR video reference mode, 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, high frame rates (30 or 60 fps), and low latency.”

High Performance is genuinely good, but it has a long list of conditions. Apple says it’s “available on Mac computers with Apple silicon and macOS Sonoma 14 or later,” and that “both Mac computers must be Apple silicon and macOS Sonoma 14 or later” (Use High Performance screen sharing). It also lists these requirements and limits:

• “High Performance requires high network bandwidth (75 megabits per second for a single 4K display) and consistent low network latency.”
• “A wired network connection is recommended.”
• “Only one High Performance screen sharing session can be active on each Mac at a time.”
• “The maximum screen size supported on a virtual display is 4K,” with one or two virtual displays.

So if either Mac has an Intel chip, you’re on Wi-Fi, or the network between them can’t sustain that bandwidth, you’re back to Standard.

From Windows or Linux

Apple doesn’t make a Screen Sharing app for Windows or Linux. To connect from one, you install a third-party VNC client such as TigerVNC or UltraVNC, and you usually have to turn on an older sign-in method first. In the Screen Sharing options, Apple’s setting reads: “VNC viewers may control screen with password. If you turn on this option, you need to enter a password.” That classic VNC password only uses its first 8 characters.

From a VNC client, none of High Performance applies. You get plain VNC: the Mac’s screen at the Mac’s resolution, changed rectangles of pixels encoded in software, a text clipboard, and no sound. Encryption depends on the client, and some don’t encrypt at all. RealVNC, for example, says its connections to third-party VNC servers like Screen Sharing “are unencrypted.”¹

What about Apple Remote Desktop?

Apple Remote Desktop is Apple’s paid admin tool, $79.99 on the Mac App Store. Apple describes it as “the best way to manage the Mac computers on your network. Distribute software, provide real-time online help to end-users, create detailed software and hardware reports, and automate routine management tasks — all from your own Mac.”

It’s a Mac app for managing a fleet of Macs, not a faster way in. On the Macs you manage, you turn on Remote Management in place of Screen Sharing (Apple notes “you can’t have both Screen Sharing and Remote Management on at the same time”), and when you control a Mac, it uses the same screen sharing, with the same Standard and High Performance types and the same Apple silicon requirements. It doesn’t run on Windows or Linux, so it doesn’t help if that’s where you’re connecting from.

Why use RDP instead?

Screen Sharing’s best mode only works between two recent Macs on a fast network. Everywhere else, you’re on VNC, and most of what makes it feel slow and limited comes from the protocol, not the client.

VNC sends pictures of the screen. The server works out which rectangles of pixels changed and sends them. The client sees the Mac’s screen at the Mac’s resolution, gets plain text on the clipboard, and gets no sound. Anything beyond that is an extension that only some clients and servers support, which is why Apple’s extras only work from Apple’s own app.

RDP is a standard protocol, not a product. It’s what Windows Remote Desktop uses, and clients for it already exist everywhere: Remote Desktop Connection is built into every copy of Windows, Microsoft’s Windows App runs on Windows and Mac, and FreeRDP runs on Linux. The good experience isn’t reserved for one company’s app on one kind of computer.

It was built to carry a whole desktop. RDP was designed as a set of channels inside one encrypted connection: graphics, input, audio, clipboard, files, and more. Modern RDP streams the screen as H.264 video, which a Mac can encode in dedicated hardware, and the client picks the resolution.

Here’s the same window drag over Screen Sharing from a VNC client and over RDP, on the same Mac and the same network:

If you want the wire-level details, RDP vs. VNC walks through both protocols.

The catch has always been that macOS doesn’t come with an RDP server. That’s the gap ProRDP fills.

Meet ProRDP

ProRDP is a native RDP server for macOS. You install it on the Mac you want to reach, and from then on any standard RDP client can connect to it. To the client, your Mac looks like a Windows PC.

A few things that matter if you’re coming from Screen Sharing:

• It’s fast from any client, not just a Mac. ProRDP captures the screen with ScreenCaptureKit and encodes it on the Mac’s hardware video encoder, at up to 60 fps and up to 4K, with a bitrate you can set from 20 to 120 Mbit/s. An idle desktop sends almost nothing.
• It runs on Intel Macs too. The Mac you connect to needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later, and it can have an Intel or Apple silicon chip. The computer you connect from can be anything with an RDP client.
• You don’t need to install a client. Connect from the RDP client that’s already on your Windows PC, or from Windows App or FreeRDP.
• Every connection is encrypted. ProRDP uses TLS on every connection, with Network Level Authentication on by default, and you sign in with a full-length password.
• Nothing goes through the cloud. Your client connects straight to your Mac. To reach it from outside your home network, connect over a VPN.
• It’s free for home and personal use. There’s no account, no sign-up, no device limit, and no features held back. See Licensing.

Screen Sharing vs. ProRDP on a Mac

This comparison covers the two ways people use Screen Sharing: from a VNC client on Windows or Linux, and from the Screen Sharing app on another Mac. The Screen Sharing columns use Apple’s own documentation wherever it says something, checked in October 2026.

When Screen Sharing still makes sense

To be fair to Screen Sharing, it’s free, it’s already on your Mac, and from another Apple silicon Mac on a fast wired network, High Performance is excellent. If you only ever connect Mac to Mac, it may be all you need. If you manage a lot of Macs, Apple Remote Desktop’s software installs, reports, and automation are things ProRDP doesn’t try to do. ProRDP is for one thing: getting into your Mac with a fast, encrypted, standard RDP connection, from whatever computer you’re on.

How do you switch from Screen Sharing to ProRDP?

Switching takes a few minutes, and you can leave Screen Sharing on until you’re happy:

1. Install ProRDP on your Mac and grant it the Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions it asks for.
2. Set a username and password in the Account pane. These are what your RDP client signs in with.
3. Click Start in the General pane. ProRDP shows you the address to connect to.
4. Connect from your RDP client. On Windows, open Remote Desktop Connection, type the Mac’s address, and sign in. On a Mac, use Windows App. On Linux, use FreeRDP.

Once it’s working, you can turn off Screen Sharing in System Settings › General › Sharing. If you turned on VNC viewers may control screen with password, turn that off too, and uninstall the VNC client from the computer you were connecting from.

For a full walkthrough from each kind of client, see How to RDP into a Mac and Getting started.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Mac Screen Sharing over the internet?

Not safely on its own. Apple describes the Screen Sharing app as a way to “view and control the screen of another Mac on your network.” To reach a Mac from somewhere else, connect to your home network over a VPN first, and don’t forward port 5900 from your router to the Mac. The same goes for ProRDP. See Connecting Remotely for the easiest ways to set up a VPN.

Does High Performance screen sharing work on Intel Macs?

No. Apple says that for High Performance, “both Mac computers must be Apple silicon and macOS Sonoma 14 or later.” If either Mac has an Intel chip, Screen Sharing uses Standard instead. ProRDP runs on Intel and Apple silicon Macs with macOS 15 Sequoia or later, and encodes the screen in hardware on both.

Do I need Screen Sharing turned on to use ProRDP?

No. ProRDP is its own RDP server and doesn’t use Screen Sharing at all. It only needs the Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions, which it asks for when you first open it.

Can I use Screen Sharing and ProRDP at the same time?

Yes. They’re separate servers on separate ports: Screen Sharing uses port 5900, and ProRDP uses the standard RDP port, 3389, by default. You can leave Screen Sharing on while you try ProRDP, and turn it off once you’re happy.

Is ProRDP really free?

For home and personal use, yes: on as many Macs as you like, with no account and no limits on performance or features. Commercial licenses for businesses and teams are on the way. See Licensing.