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AnyDesk Security Breach 2024: What Actually Happened
AnyDesk security breach: source code stolen, certificate compromised, 18,317 credentials on dark web. What IT teams need to know. (CrowdStrike, 2024)
9 min read
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7 Best AnyDesk Alternatives in 2026 (Full Comparison)
In late December 2023, AnyDesk's production systems were compromised. Source code and private code signing certificates were stolen. The company stayed silent — quietly shipping a new signed binary on January 29, 2024, under the cover of "planned maintenance" — before publicly disclosing the incident on February 2. By February 4, 18,317 credentials associated with AnyDesk customer accounts had appeared for sale on the dark web forum Exploit.in, listed at $15,000 for the full dataset. Resecurity, which reported the leak, notes that these credentials are partially attributed to third-party stealer malware infections rather than direct exfiltration from AnyDesk's systems — a distinction that matters, but one that did little to restore confidence.
Then came October 2025: a 26–40% price hike and a shift to connection-based licensing. Most pricing articles you'll find online still show the old rates. For IT teams that had weathered the breach and stayed on AnyDesk, this was the second reason to look elsewhere.
This guide covers the 7 best AnyDesk alternatives in 2026 — with verified pricing, honest security records, and a comparison table to help you choose fast.
TL;DR: The remote desktop market will reach $14.73B by 2034, growing at 15.60% CAGR (Fortune Business Insights, 2025). 50% of workers used a remote desktop tool in 2022, and 91% of organizations want to deploy one. The AnyDesk breach and 2025 pricing change have triggered a migration wave — most commonly toward Splashtop, RustDesk, or integrated platforms like Sobrii Remote.
Why Teams Are Leaving AnyDesk in 2026
The 2024 Security Breach
The AnyDesk compromise wasn't a generic data breach. What was stolen — private code signing certificates — allowed attackers to sign more than 500 samples of Agent Tesla malware with an officially-issued AnyDesk certificate. Those malicious files appeared legitimate to antivirus engines. This is a realized supply-chain attack, not a theoretical one.
AnyDesk responded: engaged CrowdStrike for incident response, revoked all compromised certificates, issued new ones (v8.0.8), forced-reset all my.anydesk.com portal passwords. The company states no end-user devices were affected and no malicious code modifications were found. The platform is technically remediated.
But for an IT admin recommending tools to their organization or clients, "technically remediated" is a hard sell to a CISO or board. The breach demonstrated a concrete, documented supply-chain risk — and that's the kind of thing that stays in vendor evaluation criteria for years.
The October 2025 Pricing Change
In October 2025, AnyDesk raised prices 26–40% and switched to connection-based licensing. Verified current pricing (annual billing):
- Solo: ~$14.90/month — 1 concurrent session
- Standard: ~$29.90/month — small teams
- Advanced: ~$79.90/month — advanced user management
- Ultimate: custom pricing
Other Common Friction Points
- "Commercial use detected" false positives: AnyDesk's automated system cuts sessions and pushes upgrades, even for legitimate freelancers
- 60-minute session cap on the free plan
- Increasingly aggressive upsell prompts in the interface
The remote desktop software market is growing at 15.60% CAGR, reaching $14.73B by 2034 — competition between alternatives is intensifying, and pricing is dropping across the board. For IT teams, this is the ideal moment to renegotiate or migrate. (Fortune Business Insights, 2025)
Which AnyDesk Alternative Should You Pick? (Comparison Table)
| Tool | Starting Price | Free Tier | Security Certs | Best For | |------|----------------|-----------|----------------|----------| | Splashtop | $5/mo (annual) | No | ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 T2 | SMBs, IT support, MSPs | | RustDesk | Free (self-hosted) | Yes | Open source, auditable | Data sovereignty | | TeamViewer | $24.90/mo | No | ISO 27001, SOC 2, TISAX | Enterprise | | Zoho Assist | $10/user/mo | Yes | Zoho infrastructure | Zoho ecosystem | | ConnectWise ScreenConnect | $30/mo | No | Rapid patch (CVE-2024-1709) | High-volume MSPs | | Chrome Remote Desktop | Free | Yes | Google infra | Personal use only | | NinjaOne | ~$1.50-3.75/device/mo | No (trial) | No documented breach | MSP full-RMM | | Sobrii Remote | €12/device/year | No | TLS 1.3, AES-256, Azure FR | IT admins, MSP, 200+ devices |
Is Splashtop the Best AnyDesk Alternative for Price-Conscious Teams?
Splashtop is the most recommended AnyDesk alternative in sysadmin communities. It's significantly cheaper, holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications, and has no major documented breach.
Pricing (annual billing):
| Plan | Price | Includes | |------|-------|----------| | Business Access Solo | $5/mo | 1 user, 2 computers | | Business Access Pro | $8.25/user/mo | 10 computers/user, remote wake | | Remote Support SOS | $17/user/mo | Up to 25 computers | | SOS Unlimited | $34/user/mo | Unlimited computers |
Strengths: High-quality video and audio, multi-monitor support, attended and unattended access in the same plan, MSP multi-tenant console. As of October 2025, SOS plans are available on monthly billing.
Limitations: Less mature enterprise integrations than TeamViewer. Some users report occasional connection drops. The MSP console (Splashtop for MSP) is a separate product tier.
Security record: No major breach. One 2020 CVE (CVE-2020-12431, local privilege escalation on Windows, patched). Splashtop has explicitly used the AnyDesk breach in marketing — which signals confidence in their own track record.
Splashtop is the most-cited AnyDesk alternative in post-breach sysadmin migration discussions — lower price point, ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type 2 certified, and no major breach on record. (G2, sysadmin communities, 2025)
Best for: SMBs with 1–500 machines, IT teams looking for a reliable and affordable AnyDesk alternative, MSPs with standard support needs.
Is RustDesk the Best Open Source AnyDesk Alternative?
RustDesk is the go-to open source solution for teams that want complete data sovereignty. The client is free (AGPL-3.0); the Pro Server starts at $9.90/month (annual billing only).
Pricing:
| Plan | Price | Includes | |------|-------|----------| | OSS Server (self-hosted) | Free | Relay + rendezvous server | | Individual Pro | $9.90/mo (annual) | Web console, 2FA | | Basic Pro | $19.90/mo (annual) | Enterprise auth (OIDC, LDAP) | | Customized Pro | $19.90/mo (annual) | Custom branding |
Strengths: P2P end-to-end encryption (NaCl), VP8/VP9/AV1 and H.264/H.265 codecs, zero data sent to third-party servers when self-hosted. Version 1.4.6 released March 5, 2026.
Limitations: Requires infrastructure to self-host (VPS or on-prem server). Web console and enterprise auth require paid Pro. No SLA on the free OSS tier. Annual billing only — no monthly option.
AGPL license note: AGPL-3.0 requires that any commercial service built on RustDesk distributes its source code. For internal corporate use, this is generally acceptable. For a commercial offering to clients, check with your legal team first.
Security record: CVE-2024-25140 patched (a test certificate placed in Trusted Root CAs). CVE-2026-30791 and CVE-2026-30798 affect versions ≤1.4.5 — broken cryptographic algorithms in config import. If you're on an older version, update immediately. No supply-chain breach documented.
Self-hosting RustDesk eliminates third-party infrastructure trust entirely — no data transits external servers. For organizations with strict data residency requirements (GDPR, regulated industries), this is the decisive argument. (GitHub RustDesk, NVD, 2026)
Best for: Security-conscious IT teams, self-hosting advocates, organizations with strict data residency requirements.
Why Is TeamViewer Still the Enterprise Default in 2026?
TeamViewer remains the default recommendation for large enterprise environments, despite high pricing and two documented security incidents.
Pricing (annual billing):
| Plan | Price | |------|-------| | Remote Access | $24.90/mo | | Business | $50.90/mo | | Premium | $112.90/mo | | Corporate | $229.90/mo | | Tensor (Enterprise) | Custom |
The median enterprise customer pays $10,424/year (Vendr, 25 verified purchases). A 30% negotiation discount is common.
Strengths: Advanced features (AR remote assistance, AI session summaries, MDM), extensive certifications (ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, TISAX, BSI C5 for Tensor).
Security record: Two documented incidents:
- 2016 (disclosed 2019): Intrusion by a Chinese APT group using the Winnti backdoor. TeamViewer claims no customer data was stolen. The delayed disclosure is a legitimate governance concern.
- June 2024: Corporate IT network breached by APT29 (Cozy Bear / Midnight Blizzard — the same group that hit Microsoft). The product network was isolated; no customer data was exposed.
Both incidents affected TeamViewer's internal infrastructure, not the product itself. The distinction matters: the company's certifications cover separation between corporate IT and product environments. No confirmed customer data breach from either incident.
Best for: Large enterprises, regulated industries (healthcare, manufacturing), teams that need the full TeamViewer ecosystem.
Is Zoho Assist the Right AnyDesk Alternative for Zoho Ecosystem Teams?
Zoho Assist is the AnyDesk alternative to consider if your team already runs Zoho Desk, CRM, or ServiceDesk. Native integration and a free plan make it competitive for SMBs.
Pricing (per user/month, annual billing):
| Plan | Price | |------|-------| | Free plan | $0 | | Remote Support Standard | $10/user/mo | | Remote Support Professional | $15/user/mo | | Enterprise | $24/user/mo |
Strengths: Session recording, remote printing, voice and video chat during sessions, MSP multi-tenant mode, MDM add-on available.
Limitations: Zoho ecosystem lock-in. UI/UX is considered less polished than Splashtop by some reviewers. Performance can degrade on slow connections.
Security record: No major documented breach.
Best for: SMBs and MSPs already in the Zoho ecosystem, customer support teams, budget-conscious IT departments.
What Makes ConnectWise ScreenConnect the Best AnyDesk Alternative for High-Volume MSPs?
ConnectWise ScreenConnect uses a concurrent-technician licensing model — well-suited for MSPs managing many endpoints in parallel.
Pricing (annual billing):
| Plan | Price/mo | |------|----------| | One | $30 — 1 tech, 10 unattended agents | | Standard | $45 — unlimited unattended agents | | Premium | $55 — video auditing, advanced diagnostics | | Enterprise/MSP | Custom |
Strengths: Unlimited unattended agents from Standard tier, session video recording, native integration with ConnectWise PSA/RMM, white-labeling available.
Security record: In February 2024 — the same week as the AnyDesk breach — ConnectWise disclosed CVE-2024-1709, a CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass vulnerability. The patch was released rapidly. There's no confirmed mass exploitation or customer data breach from this CVE. ConnectWise's speed in disclosure and patching should be noted fairly — this is how responsible disclosure is supposed to work.
Best for: High-volume MSPs, enterprise IT teams embedded in the ConnectWise ecosystem.
Is Chrome Remote Desktop a Real AnyDesk Alternative for IT Professionals?
Chrome Remote Desktop is free, requires no paid plan, and works from any Chrome browser. It's acceptable for personal use or occasional help sessions — not for professional IT management.
Pricing: Free (no paid tiers)
Critical limitations for professional use:
- No centralized management console
- No session logging or audit trail
- No granular RBAC
- 30-minute renewal requirement for attended sessions
- Requires a Google account on both ends
- Not suitable for compliance-regulated environments
Security record: No documented incidents. Tied to Google account security (Google 2FA).
Best for: Personal use, occasional tech support between individuals. Avoid for any professional IT use case.
Is NinjaOne a Viable AnyDesk Alternative for MSPs?
NinjaOne is not a standalone remote desktop tool — it's a full RMM platform (patch management, endpoint monitoring, MDM, backup, documentation, ticketing) that includes remote desktop as one module.
Pricing: Not publicly published. Observed ranges: $1.50–$3.75/device/month depending on volume (50 devices: ~$3.75/device; 1,000+ devices: ~$1.75/device).
Strengths: All-in-one platform for MSPs, 30,000+ customers worldwide, bundles with Splashtop or TeamViewer for remote access.
Limitations: Overkill and expensive if you only need remote desktop. Opaque pricing, sales call required. 60-day cancellation notice required.
Best for: MSPs managing 50+ endpoints who want to consolidate all tools into a single platform.
Which AnyDesk Alternative Is Best for IT Teams Managing a Device Fleet?
Sobrii Remote isn't a standalone remote desktop tool. It's the intervention layer inside a unified IT fleet management platform — built for IT admins and MSPs managing fleets of 200 to 50,000 devices.
What makes Sobrii different:
When you open a remote session in Splashtop or AnyDesk, you see the screen. In Sobrii, before you even open the session, you have the full device context available: battery health score, CPU performance score, patch status, installed apps, active alerts. You intervene with context, not blind.
Pricing: €12/device/year — all modules included (remote control, inventory, battery health, monitoring, security, ITSM). Remote is not sold separately.
Security:
- Database-per-tenant architecture (Azure, France region)
- TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256 at rest
- RSA-2048 certificate authentication
- GDPR compliant by design
- No documented breach or CVE
Limitations to know: Sobrii is not designed for fleets under ~200 devices. It's not a direct competitor to cheap or free standalone remote tools. If you need an affordable standalone remote desktop, Splashtop is probably the better fit.
For teams dealing with the hidden IT challenges explored in our shadow IT guide — where unmanaged devices and unauthorized tools proliferate — having remote access with full fleet intelligence becomes especially critical.
Try Sobrii Remote →Best for: IT admins and MSPs who want a single platform combining fleet intelligence with remote control — without juggling four separate tools.
FAQ
Is AnyDesk safe after the 2024 breach?
Technically, yes. AnyDesk engaged CrowdStrike, revoked the compromised certificates, issued new ones (v8.0.8), and affirms no end-user device data was exfiltrated. The platform is technically remediated.
The real issue is strategic, not technical: the stolen certificates were used to sign 500+ malware samples. For IT teams recommending AnyDesk to clients, justifying that choice post-breach remains difficult — even if the platform itself is clean. AnyDesk is also transparent about its current security posture via its trust center (trust.anydesk.com).
What's the best free AnyDesk alternative?
RustDesk for technical teams: free open source client (AGPL), self-hosted option, end-to-end encryption. Requires your own infrastructure.
Chrome Remote Desktop for personal or occasional use: no deployment, no cost. Not suitable for professional IT use (no logging, no RBAC, no centralized management).
Best AnyDesk alternative for MSPs?
It depends on your volume and integration needs:
- Splashtop: best price-to-value, MSP multi-tenant console, ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type 2 certified
- ConnectWise ScreenConnect: ideal if you're in the ConnectWise ecosystem, concurrent-tech licensing model
- NinjaOne: if you want to consolidate RMM + remote into one platform
- Sobrii Remote: if you manage 200+ device fleets and want remote control bundled with full fleet intelligence
Why did AnyDesk raise prices in 2025?
In October 2025, AnyDesk raised prices 26–40% and shifted to connection-based licensing. Official reasons were not communicated. For teams that had stayed on AnyDesk post-breach, this pricing change was the tipping point that drove migration.
Conclusion
The AnyDesk breach and the October 2025 pricing change have changed the calculus for many IT teams. Neither is a reason to panic, but both are legitimate reasons to evaluate alternatives.
The right choice depends on your situation:
- SMBs or individuals → Splashtop (price, security, simplicity)
- Data sovereignty → RustDesk (open source, self-hosted)
- Large enterprise → TeamViewer (certifications, ecosystem)
- High-volume MSPs → ConnectWise ScreenConnect or NinjaOne
- IT admins managing 200+ device fleets → Sobrii Remote (remote + fleet intelligence, unified)
Remote access tools are a high-value attack target. Whatever tool you choose, verify its security track record, certifications, and vulnerability disclosure practices before rolling it out at scale.
If TeamViewer is also on your shortlist, see our dedicated TeamViewer alternatives comparison — with the same verified pricing methodology.
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