Best Remote Support Tools in 2026

The ticket is a printer driver on a store POS in another time zone. The user is not at the machine. VPN is down. You need a session you can start, elevate, record, and close without leaving an always-on hole on the device.

Four remote support tools we would actually shortlist: TeamViewer, BeyondTrust Remote Support, Splashtop Remote Support, and AnyDesk.

List prices below are first-party as of 19 Aug 2026. BeyondTrust stays quote-only.

TeamViewer

TeamViewer is still the name a user already has installed. Remote Access, Business, Premium, and Corporate are the annual self-serve ladder. Tensor is the enterprise cloud: SSO, audit API, MSI, conditional access, US-restricted regions, agentless SSH/VNC/RDP. Pricing is annual. Only the expert needs a license.

In July 2026, Tensor and ONE got audio/video forwarding onto a remote Windows box, license sharing across multitenancy, and case management inside the Resolution Center. Tia (the Intelligent Agent) is the AI surface: natural-language troubleshooting, session summaries, DEX automations. A ServiceNow partnership landed 23 Jul 2026 to wire DEX and remote connectivity into the ServiceNow AI Platform. DEX Essentials is an add-on for Remote and Tensor; it is included on ONE.

Best for:
A helpdesk that already lives in TeamViewer, wants Tia and the add-on catalog, and will either stay on the annual Remote ladder or open a Tensor quote.

Key Features:

• Attended and unattended access across Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile, and a long IoT/OT tail on Tensor.
• Tia plus Session Insights. DEX Essentials for Windows and Mac as of the July 2026 note.
• Tensor: SSO, conditional access, Secure Access Gateway (agentless, with Bechtle), US regional lock-in, Intune unattended.
• July 2026: A/V forwarding, multitenancy license split, Resolution Center cases on ONE.

Why we like it:
It is the only shortlist item that is both a self-serve remote-access SKU and an enterprise Tensor conversation. The July changelog is dated. Most competitors' July pages are not.

Notable Limitations:

• Add-ons (Asset Management, Endpoint Protection, Monitoring, Assist AR, MDM) stack on the base license. The sticker is not the bill.
• Tensor is quote-only. ONE is a platform pitch.
• Annual auto-renew, 28-day written cancel. Budget the year.
• Remote Access is self-access. Buying it for a 20-person helpdesk is the wrong SKU.

Pricing:
Annual subscriptions. Remote Access has listed at $24.90 per month billed annually on TeamViewer's public ladder; Business, Premium, and Corporate sit above it. Tensor is "contact us." Add-ons price by endpoints, users, or storage. Confirm the current tile at checkout. TeamViewer does not print a static table on the overview page.

BeyondTrust Remote Support

BeyondTrust Remote Support is the Bomgar line: a representative console, a session that can punch through a customer firewall, and a license that counts concurrent reps, not endpoints. Cloud, B-Series appliance, or virtual appliance. Extended availability mode consumes a second license if you leave a rep "available" while they are not in the console.

This is the buy when remote support is a privileged path. Session recordings, approvals, vaulted credentials, and the rest of the BeyondTrust PAM family sit next door. There is no public list price. Community per-rep-year figures are not a vendor list price.

Best for:
A regulated or customer-facing support org that needs to join a machine behind someone else's firewall, keep an audit trail, and already speaks BeyondTrust or Bomgar.

Key Features:

• Concurrent-representative licensing. Create as many accounts as you want; the cap is who is logged into the console at once.
• Cloud or on-prem (B-Series / virtual appliance). Chat-only license packs exist on subscription appliances.
• Attended, unattended, and mobile. Jump through customer networks you do not control.
• Same vendor family as Privileged Remote Access and Password Safe, if that is the next PO.

Why we like it:
It is the only item here that a CISO will treat as an access product. If the RFP says "session recording, approval, no standing admin," start here.

Notable Limitations:

• Quote-only. No AWS Marketplace list we can put in a mid-market budget.
• Extended availability burns licenses. Count that before you copy last year's rep number.
• Overkill (and overpriced relative to Splashtop or ScreenConnect) if the job is "fix Grandma's printer" for an MSP of five.
• Implementation is a project. The console is not a self-serve download.

Pricing:
Custom, concurrent representatives. Contact BeyondTrust. Do not budget a per-endpoint rate; that is not how RS is sold.

Splashtop Remote Support

Splashtop Remote Support (SOS) is the public-price concurrent-tech plan. A license is a concurrent technician. Attended sessions via a code are unlimited. Unattended computers are the other meter: 10 or 300 per license, stacking to 1,200.

The pricing page is blunt: a monthly concurrent-user license, billed annually, with a 10-computer rung and a 300-computer rung. Enterprise is quote. SSO, IP allow, SIEM, APIs, unattended Android, more than 1,200 devices. Endpoint management, AR, and Connector (agentless RDP/SSH) are add-ons.

Best for:
An IT team or MSP that wants attended plus unattended on a number it can put in a budget this afternoon, and does not need a BeyondTrust appliance.

Key Features:

• Concurrent tech licenses. A ten-person desk with four simultaneous sessions buys four licenses.
• Session code for attended. Persistent unattended on the 10 or 300 pool.
• Reboot-and-reconnect, UAC elevate, file transfer, session recording, up to three techs in one session.
• Enterprise adds SSO, granular ACL, cloud recording, service desk, APIs.

Why we like it:
It is the only shortlist item with a first-party dollar that a controller will accept without a sales call. The 10-computer rung versus the 300-computer rung is a real fork.

Notable Limitations:

• SOS does not include Tensor-class or BeyondTrust-class controls. SSO and SIEM are Enterprise.
• 1,200 managed-computer ceiling on SOS. Past that, you are on the quote.
• Remote Access (Solo / Pro / Performance) is a different product. Do not buy it for helpdesk work.
• No AWS Marketplace listing we are using here.

Pricing:
SOS $22 / month / concurrent license, billed annually at $259 (10 computers) or $399 (300). Enterprise quote. Confirm the tile. Splashtop has also sold older Basic/Plus/Premium endpoint packs.

AnyDesk

AnyDesk sells speed and a small client. Solo, Standard, Advanced, Ultimate. All commercial plans are billed annually; the site shows monthly equivalents. The January 2026 list is public. Solo, Standard (one connection), and Advanced (two connections). Extra connections on Standard and Advanced bill annually. Ultimate is quote, including on-prem.

Standard is 20 users and 500 unattended devices. Advanced is 100 users, 1,000 devices, MSI, CLI, GPO, live phone support. Solo is one user, one outgoing connection. That is not a helpdesk plan.

Best for:
A small IT team that wants a fast session and a public annual price, and will count concurrent connections before it counts seats.

Key Features:

• Cross-platform remote desktop. Custom-branded client on Standard and up.
• Unattended device pools: 100 / 500 / 1,000 by tier.
• Connection add-ons bill annually.
• Advanced: mass deploy, GPO, MDM-friendly, phone support.

Why we like it:
The pricing page is a real table. After two years of increases, the 2026 numbers are at least printed. Latency is still the reason people switch to it.

Notable Limitations:

• Annual prepaid. The monthly-equivalent tile is due as a year in full.
• Standard starts with one concurrent connection. A three-tech desk that works at the same time is already buying add-ons.
• No AWS Marketplace listing.
• Ultimate on-prem is a different conversation. Do not assume Standard can go on-prem.

Pricing:
Solo $28.90, Standard $49.90 (1 connection), Advanced $111.90 (2 connections), per month billed annually. Extra connections $29.90. Ultimate quote. Taxes extra.

Which license you are actually buying

1. 01TeamViewer: licensed users + channels. Remote Access on the annual ladder. Tensor quote.
2. 02BeyondTrust: concurrent representatives. Quote. Appliance or cloud.
3. 03Splashtop SOS: concurrent tech + 10 or 300 unattended, billed annually.
4. 04AnyDesk: annual connections. Solo / Standard / Advanced, billed annually.

ConnectWise ScreenConnect is the MSP default we would still demo: One $30, Standard $45, Premium $55 per concurrent tech per month billed annually. Standard includes unlimited unattended agents and Backstage. If ConnectWise PSA is already the ticket system, start there and skip inventing a fifth "winner." Zoho Assist still has a one-user free plan. LogMeIn Rescue is the legacy high-touch desk. Electric, ShowMyPC, and the AR-only tools (Help Lightning, SightCall, XMReality) are a different aisle.

Attended, unattended, and the Zero Trust question

Is remote support the same as remote access?
No. Remote access is you on your own PC. Remote support is you on someone else's, with a session code, elevate, and a log. TeamViewer Remote Access and Splashtop Solo are the first. SOS, Tensor, BeyondTrust RS, and ScreenConnect Support are the second. Mixing them is how a helpdesk buys a laptop license.

Do I need BeyondTrust if Splashtop already has a public concurrent-tech price?
Only if the session is a privileged path: customer networks you do not own, recorded approval, an appliance, a PAM story. A 12-person internal desk with 80 laptops is a Splashtop or ScreenConnect buy.

What did AnyDesk do to the price?
The first-party 2026 tiles are billed annually and sit at roughly double the 2024 Solo/Standard list. Count connections before you call it cheap.