Product overview
Open-source VNC suits personal projects and home labs. When your business depends on remote access, RealVNC Connect adds end-to-end encryption, centralized management and commercial support from the team that created VNC. With open-source VNC, your team sets up and protects remote access itself, including a protected transport and authentication.
What it is
RealVNC Connect is a subscription remote access and remote support product. It packages the viewer and server into one cross-platform app spanning Windows, macOS, Linux, and Raspberry Pi OS, with mobile viewers for iOS and Android.
Why businesses choose RealVNC Connect
- Encryption: up to 256-bit AES end-to-end session encryption.
- Authentication: 2FA and login alerts, with MFA for sessions on Premium and Enterprise. With account SSO enabled on Enterprise, configure authentication controls at your identity provider; RealVNC account 2FA is disabled.
- Deployment: MSI mass deployment on higher tiers, Group Policy on Enterprise, and cloud connectivity without firewall or router reconfiguration.
- Priority support on Enterprise.
Sessions are encrypted end to end with 128-bit AES by default (AlwaysOn); 256-bit AES can be selected in the Viewer. Source: RealVNC Server Parameter Reference.
Plans by capability
Lite is listed separately below.
| Capability | Essentials | Plus | Premium | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed devices | 3 | 50 | 150 | 150+ |
| Active connections | 1 | up to 3 | up to 5 | unlimited |
| User/device groups (cloud management) | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| User roles/permissions (cloud management) | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Session recording (desktop video saved locally) | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Audit logs (cloud) | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Custom session permissions at RealVNC Server | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| MFA for sessions | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| On-Demand Assist (cloud; unavailable offline) | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| On-premise deployment | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Account SSO (cloud account; OIDC) | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Group Policy deployment | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Priority support | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Session recordings contain desktop video and are saved on the technician’s device. Cloud audit logs retain events for 30 days and exclude direct sessions. The On-Prem Management Console has two roles; custom session permissions are configured at RealVNC Server. Account SSO uses the cloud account and disables RealVNC account 2FA, so configure authentication controls at your identity provider.
Personal and home-lab use
Personal and home-lab use: RealVNC Connect Lite is free for non-commercial use, with 1 user, 3 devices and one connection at a time.
| RealVNC Connect Lite | Non-commercial use only; free | 1 user | 3 devices | One connection at a time |
|---|
Commercial use requires a paid subscription and a RealVNC account. Compare these requirements with the open-source ecosystem.
Read the current plan units on the vendor’s pricing page.
What you pay for
Essentials, Plus and Premium bill by concurrent sessions. On Premium, On-Demand Assist sessions count toward the overall Concurrent Session Limit alongside sessions to remote devices.
The lineage
RealVNC was founded in Cambridge in 2002 by members of the original VNC team. Read the history of VNC.
Commercial next step
If you are evaluating a subscription, continue to the vendor below.
If you are evaluating RealVNC Connect for an OEM product, prepare:
- Device count and platform mix.
- Integration surface, including APIs, embedded UI, and deployment tooling.
- Current workaround and the technical constraint it cannot meet.
For industrial plant access, start with the exposure controls in the security best practices, then take machine and HMI integration questions to the Developer and Integration Topics group.
Open-source VNC suits personal projects and home labs. When your business depends on remote access, RealVNC Connect adds end-to-end encryption, centralized management and commercial support from the team that created VNC.
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