What should I compare against Splashtop?

Time to a working session on a normal connection, whether managed and on-demand access are both included, administrator security controls such as enforced MFA and session logging, platform coverage across your estate, silent deployment, hosting region, and twelve-month cost under each vendor's own licensing meter applied to your real numbers.

Is a cheaper remote access tool a false economy?

Only if it fails on a requirement you actually have. Price is a poor proxy for fit in this category. A narrower tool that technicians use every day usually beats a broader platform that nobody finishes configuring, provided it covers both access models, the security controls you must evidence, and every platform in the estate.

How long does switching remote access tools take?

For most teams, days rather than weeks. There is little data to migrate; the work is agent deployment, updating runbooks that name the old product, and running both tools in parallel for a fortnight so nobody is stranded before the old agent is removed.

Do I need both attended and unattended access?

Most support teams do. Unattended access covers servers, kiosks and machines with nobody in front of them, while attended access covers a person who needs help now on a device you do not manage. Some products price these separately, so confirm both are in the plan you are costing.

Alternatives · 9 min read

Choosing a Splashtop alternative: what to compare and how to test it

Name: 247connect
Brand: 247connect

Written for: IT managers, MSPs and support leads reviewing a Splashtop subscription or shortlisting remote access tools alongside it.

Written by the 247connect Marketing Team

Scope first

Three different jobs sold under one brand: self-access to your own machines, attended support for devices you do not own, and a wider management bundle. Establish which one you are replacing before comparing anything.

In short

Splashtop is sold as several distinct product lines, so the first job in any comparison is to establish which one you are replacing: personal or business remote access to your own computers, attended remote support for other people's devices, or a wider IT management bundle. Once that is settled, the decision usually turns on five things: time to a working session on a real network, whether managed and on-demand access are both included, the administrator security controls available, platform coverage across the estate, and twelve-month cost under each vendor's own licensing meter applied to your real numbers.

Key takeaways

Identify which product line you are replacing before you compare anything, because remote access and remote support are priced and packaged differently.
Named-user, concurrent-session and per-device meters produce very different bills at the same headline price.
Test session responsiveness on a domestic or mobile connection, never on the office LAN where everything feels instant.
Confirm unattended access, session recording and reporting are in the plan you are quoting, not in a higher one.
Check what the audit log records, how long it is retained and whether you can export it before a subscription ends.
Trial two candidates on live tickets for a fortnight and let the technicians who use them decide.

Work out which product you are actually replacing

Splashtop's range spans self-access to your own machines, attended support for devices you do not own, and broader IT management packages. Those are three different jobs, and a replacement that suits one can be a poor fit for another. Teams that skip this step end up comparing an attended support tool with a personal remote access licence and concluding, wrongly, that one is expensive.

Write down what the tool is used for in your organisation today. How many people connect, how often, to what. Whether anyone needs to reach unmanned machines out of hours. Whether you support devices belonging to customers or staff who are not in your directory. That one paragraph decides which comparison rows matter and which are decoration.

The rows that decide the outcome

Vendor comparison tables are long because length looks thorough. The rows that change a decision are few, and they belong in your own scoring sheet rather than in one supplied by a competitor.

Time to a working session, measured from clicking a device to seeing its desktop, on a normal broadband or 4G link.
Access models: unattended access for devices you own and attended access for devices you do not, both included rather than sold separately.
Seats and concurrency: how many operators the licence covers, and how many sessions can run simultaneously.
Administrator security controls: enforced multi-factor authentication, permission scoping by group, session consent, session logging and retention.
Platform coverage across the real estate, including older Windows builds, macOS versions and any Linux boxes.
Deployment: silent agent installation across an estate, and outbound-only connectivity with no inbound firewall rule or VPN.
Hosting region and data residency, if a sector policy or GDPR position constrains where session metadata may travel.
Twelve-month cost at your real operator, session and device counts, including any add-on you would genuinely switch on.

Comparing licensing without being misled

Remote access tools meter on different units, and the unit matters more than the list price. A per named user meter charges for everyone who might connect. A concurrent meter charges for how many connections run at once, which for most desks is a far smaller number than headcount. A per managed device meter charges for the estate under unattended control, which grows independently of the team.

Model the same twelve months under each candidate's meter using your own figures. Two products advertising similar prices can differ by a large multiple once the meter meets a real team, and the gap widens the moment you add a technician or a site.

Take current numbers from each vendor's own pricing page on the day you build the model. Any figure quoted in a blog post, including a comparison page, should be treated as out of date.

Security questions to put to every candidate

Remote access is a privileged route into every machine you manage, so it is a standing target. Public guidance from the NCSC, CISA and NIST converges on the same fundamentals, which makes a useful neutral checklist.

Ask how sessions are encrypted in transit and at what key length. Ask whether multi-factor authentication can be enforced on every operator account rather than merely offered. Ask how permissions are scoped, so a first-line technician reaches only the devices they support. Ask what the audit log records, whether it names the operator and device, how long it is retained and whether it can be exported. Ask what an end user sees and consents to during an attended session. Ask where session metadata is hosted.

A serious candidate answers all of that in public documentation. Difficulty getting straight answers is itself a result.

Running a trial that tells you the truth

A demo shows the product working under conditions the vendor chose. A trial on your own tickets shows how it behaves at 4pm on a Friday over a domestic line. Shortlist three on paper, then trial the two strongest for a fortnight.

Give the trial a fixed shape. Install agents on a representative sample including one awkward machine and one remote site. Handle a set number of real tickets on each tool. Record time to session every time. Deliberately run the unhappy paths: a sleeping device, a user on a slow link, a session handed to a colleague, a reboot with automatic reconnection, a file transfer in both directions.

Common mistakes

Comparing a personal remote access licence with an attended support product and drawing conclusions about price.
Assuming unattended access is in the tier you were quoted.
Testing only on the office network, where every product feels fast.
Buying named seats for a team that is rarely connected simultaneously.
Cancelling the incumbent before exporting audit logs you may be obliged to retain.

Frequently asked questions

What should I compare against Splashtop?: Time to a working session on a normal connection, whether managed and on-demand access are both included, administrator security controls such as enforced MFA and session logging, platform coverage across your estate, silent deployment, hosting region, and twelve-month cost under each vendor's own licensing meter applied to your real numbers.
Is a cheaper remote access tool a false economy?: Only if it fails on a requirement you actually have. Price is a poor proxy for fit in this category. A narrower tool that technicians use every day usually beats a broader platform that nobody finishes configuring, provided it covers both access models, the security controls you must evidence, and every platform in the estate.
How long does switching remote access tools take?: For most teams, days rather than weeks. There is little data to migrate; the work is agent deployment, updating runbooks that name the old product, and running both tools in parallel for a fortnight so nobody is stranded before the old agent is removed.
Do I need both attended and unattended access?: Most support teams do. Unattended access covers servers, kiosks and machines with nobody in front of them, while attended access covers a person who needs help now on a device you do not manage. Some products price these separately, so confirm both are in the plan you are costing.

Why teams choose 247connect

Fixed, predictable pricing
Unlimited operators with five concurrent connections per user, so the bill does not move every time the team grows.
Both access models included
Managed (unattended) access to devices you own and on-demand (attended) access to devices you do not, in the same console.
Fast time to session
Sessions typically connect in around eight seconds, which is the number a support desk feels dozens of times a day.
Zero-trust, AES-256 encrypted
Outbound agent connections with no inbound port to forward, and session activity logged against a named operator.
Try it on your own estate
A 14-day trial with 2 on-demand licences and 10 managed devices, no credit card required.

Where 247connect fits: it is a focused remote access and remote support layer rather than a broad IT platform. Sessions connect in around eight seconds, managed and on-demand access are both included, and pricing is fixed with unlimited operators and five concurrent connections per user. If your requirement list is dominated by speed, security and predictable cost rather than breadth of adjacent tooling, the 14-day trial covers ten managed devices, which is enough to test it against your own estate.

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