ScreenConnect

Having used "ScreenConnect" for a number of years, and it being perfectly functional for my needs, it is pretty clear the Connectwise see self-hosted on Linux as a second-class citizen.

The last update was issued a few months back and it lags behind the Windows release. The performance on mono (used by the server) has degraded to the point where hosting system shows high server utilisation when there are no active sessions and the web UI becomes unresponsive.

This started over a year ago and when questioned, Connectwise support essentially advised that I should not expect the system to be the same as if it was hosted by them or on Windows. This was after sending 3 messages to them and only receiving a response when my support renewal fell due. Naturally, I have not renewed and am now looking at alternatives.

I run a managed IT services company and I ‘ve been a customer of Kaseya of well over 5 years. Some things it did well, other’s it didn’t. I ultimately came to realize 90% of what I used it for was remote support. It became very expensive, even at their lowest price tier, $2.50 for agent. I would constantly be watching how many I had out there and deleting ones that I didn’t absolutely need in order to stay under my licensing limit. Then all of a sudden, I’d get a new client with 20 machines and would have to scramble to get with Kaseya and purchase new licenses. Before I knew it, I was spending over $10,000 a year on this software. They used to have an option to buy the licenses out right, but it was ridiculously expensive. It would have cost my shop probably close to $100k. They recently came out with a new way to use remote access. It was good and bad. Good that they got rid of VNC, bad that they got rid of RDP. Good that it was very fast to connect, bad that I had to jump between screens to chat with a customer. Oh and transferring files, forget it’s larger than a few hundred MB. Bad that remote control on a Mac was too slow to use. So I ended up shelling out more money to buy a Gotoassit license. I could only afford 1, so me and my other two techs are always fighting over it.
I’m not here to totally bash Kaseya, it has some really great features for automation and integration, but I simply didn’t use them.
I started looking for alternative and found Screen Connect. I just installed the trial this week and it’s pretty bad a**. It does everything I need it to do and is a viable replacement for both Kaseya remote control and Gotoassist. It does some cool stuff.
• It’s fast and lets you adjust the colors and resolution to make it faster • File transfers work great, although it weird that it limits transfer to or from My Documents\ScreenConnect • You can reboot into safe mode • You can set up your web interface where users can download and install you agent in 1 click • It integrates with AD • It works on both Mac’s and PC’s for controlling and being controlled • You can blank out the customers screen so they can’t see what you are doing, as well as turning off their mouse/keyboard • The best part for me is, it’s licenses not by the number of computers you control, but rather by the number of concurrent support sessions you open at one time. That means I can install my agent all over the place and never have to worry about running out again.
• And it’s WAAAY cheaper than Kaseya. I haven’t made my purchase yet, but I’m definitely going to. I just need to decide how many sessions I think I’ll need.

Hart's PC Repair has tried just about all of the remote support tools out there. Some are really good. For most of them you'll have to pay a yearly subscription fee to keep using. ScreenConnect has all of the great features a remote support technician needs without the recurring yearly or monthly costs.