The Best Splashtop Alternative for Mac

Splashtop is a popular choice for remote access, and for good reason. It’s fast, it’s priced lower than many of the big names, and it works across Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. If you’re here, you probably just want to get into your own Mac, and you’re wondering which Splashtop plan you need for that, or whether you need one at all.

This page covers how Splashtop reaches a Mac, what its free and paid plans include according to Splashtop’s own pages, and why a standard RDP server on the Mac is a simpler fit if all you want is your own desktop.

How does Splashtop connect to a Mac?

Like most remote access products, Splashtop uses two apps. Splashtop Streamer goes on the computer you want to reach. In Splashtop’s words, you “install the Splashtop Streamer on any Windows, Mac, or Linux computers that you want to remotely access, view, and control from another device using the Splashtop app.”¹ The Splashtop app goes on the device you connect from.

So both ends run Splashtop software, and you connect to the Streamer with Splashtop’s own app.

Splashtop says its remote sessions “are protected with TLS (including TLS 1.2) and 256-bit AES encryption,” and that the screen stream is “end-to-end encrypted.”²

What does Splashtop cost?

Splashtop has two different products for individuals, and which one applies depends on how you use your Mac.

Splashtop Personal

Splashtop Personal is Splashtop’s free option. Splashtop describes it as “free for personal, non-commercial use on your local home network,” for up to two computers “that are not used for business or commercial purposes.”³

Two conditions come with that:

• It’s free on your home network only. Splashtop’s footnote reads: “Free in your local home network. Subscription is required to connect from an outside network.” That subscription is the Anywhere Access Pack, listed at $5.99 a month or $23.99 a year.³
• It’s for non-commercial use. Splashtop says “commercial use, including working from home, requires a business trial or subscription.”³ If you’re reaching your own Mac to do your job, Splashtop points you to its paid Remote Access plans instead.

Splashtop Remote Access

For work, Splashtop sells Remote Access plans, each billed annually⁴:

• Solo, “for individual users,” at $72 a year. Splashtop lists it with two computers per license.⁵
• Pro, at $99 per user per year. Splashtop lists multi-monitor support, session recording, and up to ten computers per license with this plan.
• Performance, at $149 per user per year, which adds features like 4:4:4 color and “240 FPS Capability.”

Splashtop says all of its Remote Access plans include “4K streaming up to 60fps.”⁵ Plans and prices can change, so check Splashtop’s pricing page⁴ for the current details.

Why use RDP instead?

Splashtop was built to reach computers from anywhere, for individuals, IT teams, and support desks. That’s why it has its own apps on both ends and a range of plans for different kinds of use. If you’re getting into your own Mac, from your own network or over your own VPN, there’s a simpler option.

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. You don’t need a matching app from the same company on both ends.

It connects straight to the computer. An RDP client connects to the Mac’s address and signs in with a username and password. There’s no plan to pick based on where you’re connecting from or what you’re using the Mac for.

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. If you want the wire-level details, RDP vs. VNC walks through how RDP works.

The catch has always been that macOS doesn’t come with an RDP server, which is why remote access products bring their own software to the Mac. ProRDP fills that gap with RDP instead.

Meet ProRDP

ProRDP is a native RDP server for macOS. You install it on the Mac you want to reach, in place of Splashtop Streamer, 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 Splashtop:

• It’s free for home and personal use. There’s no account, no sign-up, no device limit, and no features held back for a higher plan. See Licensing.
• Nothing goes through the cloud. Your client connects straight to your Mac by its address, and you sign in with ProRDP’s username and password. To reach the Mac from outside your home network, connect over a VPN.
• Every connection is encrypted. ProRDP uses TLS on every connection, with Network Level Authentication on by default.
• You don’t need ProRDP on the other end. Connect from the RDP client that’s already on your Windows PC, or from Windows App or FreeRDP.
• It’s fast. 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 uses all your monitors. A client with several monitors gets up to four, each a full-screen display.

Splashtop vs. ProRDP on a Mac

This comparison is for using Splashtop to reach your own Mac, with Splashtop Streamer installed on the Mac. The Splashtop column uses Splashtop’s own website and pricing page, checked in October 2026.

When Splashtop still makes sense

To be fair to Splashtop, it does a lot that ProRDP doesn’t try to. If you need to reach computers on networks you can’t set up a VPN for, want to connect from a phone or tablet, need features like remote printing, USB passthrough, or Wacom support, or manage access for a team across Windows, Mac, and Linux machines, Splashtop handles all of that. ProRDP is for one thing: getting into your own Mac with a fast, encrypted, standard RDP connection.

How do you switch from Splashtop to ProRDP?

Switching takes a few minutes, and you can leave Splashtop Streamer installed 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 uninstall Splashtop Streamer and revoke the permissions you gave it in System Settings › Privacy & Security. If you have a paid Splashtop subscription, check its renewal date and cancel it from your Splashtop account if you no longer need it.

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