Splashtop's tiers start at $5 a month and climb past $40 per user for the features that used to feel basic — file transfer, multi-monitor, session recording. Remio ships every feature, on every platform, for free — no account, end-to-end encrypted, paired with a 4-digit one-time PIN.
Splashtop is a capable, established product — it is not broken, and its enterprise tooling is genuinely mature. The reasons people go looking for an alternative are almost always about the tier ladder: what used to feel like basic remote access now depends on which plan you are paying for.
Splashtop's entry tier, Business Access Solo, runs $5 a month for one user and two computers — and it ships without file transfer. Reaching a fuller feature set means climbing the ladder: Business Access Pro, at $9.99 per user per month, is where file transfer and multi-monitor support switch on. What used to feel like table-stakes remote access is now a tier decision.
Splashtop's Enterprise tier — the one with SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, session recording, and granular admin controls — starts north of $40 per user per month. For a five-seat team over three years, that is roughly $7,200; the Pro tier without those extras still totals about $1,798 over the same span. The bill scales with headcount, not with how often anyone actually connects.
Access hangs off a central account at my.splashtop.com — email, password, and mandatory two-factor authentication on Business tiers. That is reasonable hygiene for a managed fleet, but it is a credential to create, remember, and eventually reset for every single user, even a team of one reaching their own two machines.
Connections go through Splashtop's relay infrastructure by default, encrypted with TLS 1.2/AES-256 to that relay — which then re-encrypts on the way out. It is a legitimate model, and Splashtop backs it with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification. It is just a different promise than a relay that cannot read your session because it never holds the key.
Six tests, written against the Splashtop tier ladder specifically. If a candidate fails one, you will feel it the first time you hit a paywall mid-task.
Remio ships every feature in the one build everyone gets: file transfer, multi-monitor, 4K streaming up to 120 fps, end-to-end encryption, unattended access. There is no Pro tier to unlock and no Enterprise ceiling to hit — the free version is the only version.
No Splashtop account, no per-seat bill — just a 4-digit one-time PIN.
No marketing adjectives — just the design decisions and the measured numbers behind them, including the honest spots where Splashtop is still ahead.
Remio is completely free: file transfer, multi-monitor, Wake-on-LAN, unattended access, 4K streaming, and end-to-end encryption all ship in the one build. Splashtop gates file transfer and multi-monitor behind Business Access Pro ($9.99/user/month) and SSO, SCIM, and session recording behind Enterprise ($40+/user/month). Remio's answer to which tier unlocks a feature is: there is only one tier.
There is no Remio account, and nothing to register at a central address like my.splashtop.com. The host shows a 4-digit one-time PIN; type it into the client, and the pairing request expires in 60 seconds if you do not. The devices exchange keys and remember each other, so reconnecting later is instant.
Sessions are encrypted end-to-end with AES-256-GCM, keys negotiated directly between devices over ECDHE on Curve25519. Splashtop's connections route through its relay by default and re-encrypt on the way out; Remio's relay, when NAT traversal needs one, forwards ciphertext it cannot decrypt. Full design in the security whitepaper — published openly, not sales-gated.
On the same network, input-to-pixel latency measures about 8 ms, against roughly 18 ms for Splashtop. Across the internet in the same region, Remio measures about 22 ms versus roughly 45 ms for Splashtop. Methodology is published on the benchmarks page so you can reproduce it on your own hardware.
Remio streams native 4:4:4 chroma with H.265, AV1, and VP9 — text stays sharp because color detail is never thrown away, unlike Splashtop's proprietary codec at 4:2:0. Hosts run on macOS 15+ and Windows 10 (build 19041+)/11, Home editions included, plus a Linux host (v1.0, X11); clients run on iOS/iPadOS 18+, macOS 15+, Android 10+, Windows 10/11, and Apple Vision Pro via the iPad app.
Splashtop holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and GDPR certifications; ships SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning on Enterprise; and uniquely manages unattended Android devices for kiosks, POS, and signage. Remio's compliance program, SSO, and full file-transfer are still in progress. If your team manages a large fleet under audit today, that is a real reason to stay with Splashtop a while longer.
Eight rows on the model rather than the full price list — Splashtop's numbers can shift, so compare the shape instead. Where Splashtop is genuinely ahead — compliance certifications, enterprise fleet tooling — the table says so.
| Capability | Remio | Splashtop |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Everything is free — every feature, every platform | $5–$40+ per user/month, feature-gated by tier |
| Account required | No — 4-digit one-time PIN | Yes — mandatory, email + password + 2FA on Business |
| Connection model | Direct P2P first, TURN fallback | Relay-based via Splashtop cloud by default |
| Encryption | AES-256-GCM end-to-end; relay never decrypts | AES-256, in-transit only — relay re-encrypts |
| File transfer & multi-monitor | Included free, every tier | Gated behind Business Access Pro, $9.99/user/mo |
| Streaming quality | 8 ms LAN · 4:4:4 chroma · H.265/AV1/VP9 | ~18 ms LAN · 4:2:0 chroma · proprietary codec |
| Enterprise tooling (SSO, SCIM, recording) | Planned | Yes — Enterprise tier, $40+/user/mo |
| Compliance certifications | In progress | SOC 2 Type II · ISO 27001 · GDPR |
Want the full 31-point teardown — codecs, key exchange, latency, the complete pricing ladder? The Remio vs Splashtop comparison runs the whole matrix, Splashtop's genuine strengths included.
Remio is not the only credible way off Splashtop's tier ladder. Two others people land on, plus the full technical teardown if numbers are what you want.
Every teardown lives on the comparison hub — same structure, a dozen other tools.
No migration tools, no exported address books, nothing to cancel first — Remio can run alongside Splashtop while you test. Two installs and one PIN, then turn on what used to cost extra.
On the computer you used to reach with Splashtop — macOS 15+ or Windows 10 (build 19041+)/11, Home editions included — grab the host from the download page, launch it, and grant the screen-capture permission once.
iPhone or iPad (iOS/iPadOS 18+), another Mac (macOS 15+), an Android phone or tablet (Android 10+), a Windows 10/11 PC, or Apple Vision Pro via the iPad app — all from the same download page.
The host displays a 4-digit one-time PIN; type it into the client. The pairing request expires in 60 seconds, the devices exchange keys over ECDHE-Curve25519, and they remember each other — reconnections are instant, with no PIN and still no account.
Multi-monitor and file transfer are already on — there is no Business Access Pro to buy. If you reach your own machine unattended, flip that on in the host settings too; it is opt-in, per machine, and free.
If your team manages hundreds of endpoints under compliance, keep Splashtop running for that job — the two can coexist while you test. The use-cases guide shows how far Remio's toolkit reaches today.
The five questions people ask before they replace Splashtop. Straight answers below.
Install the host on the machine you want to reach, install the client on the device in your hand, type a 4-digit one-time PIN. File transfer, multi-monitor, 4K streaming, end-to-end encryption — everything Splashtop gates by tier, included in the one free build.