Scry vs Splashtop — honest comparison
Looking for a Splashtop alternative? Here's an honest Scry vs Splashtop comparison — what each one does well, and where the other one wins. Splashtop is built for IT teams and managed-service providers — unattended fleets, mass deployment, role-based access, session recording. Scry is built for individuals who want to reach their own Mac or PC from anywhere without an enterprise contract.
| At a glance | Scry | Splashtop |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $9.99 / mo | $6 / mo (Solo, billed annually at $72) |
| Most popular plan | $95.99 / yr | $8.25 / mo / user (Pro, billed annually at $399/user) |
| Lifetime license | $399 one-time | None |
| Platforms | Mac (host + client) · Windows (host + client) · Linux (host + client) · iOS (client) · Android (client) · Web (client) | Windows · macOS · Linux · iOS · Android · ChromeOS · Web |
Pick Splashtop if
- ·Mature unattended fleets. Splashtop's bread and butter is fleet management — set up once, access forever, with restart-and-reconnect, wake-on-LAN, and proper session resilience. Scry has unattended access too (it's the core model), but no Wake-on-LAN and none of the fleet/IT-grade polish.
- ·Mature mobile clients on iOS, Android, and ChromeOS. Mass-deployable, well-rated, and battle-tested. Scry has iOS and Android viewer apps too, but they're newer and not mass-deployable.
- ·Multi-user / team features at the Pro tier — role-based access, session recording, chat, up to 3 users per computer. Scry is single-user only.
- ·Enterprise polish: SSO/SAML, audit logging, RMM-friendly deployment, MSP-grade management. None of this is on Scry's roadmap; Scry is consumer-focused.
- ·Performance tier with 4:4:4 color, 240 fps capability, and high-fidelity audio for color-critical creative work. Scry's video pipeline is good for desktop productivity but not tuned for that ceiling.
Pick Scry if
- +Honest, predictable price for individual use. $9.99/mo, $95.99/yr, or $399 once and you own it. Splashtop's cheapest plan is $6/mo billed annually with no lifetime option, and Solo is per-user.
- +No enterprise contract or per-user pricing. Scry charges one person, one license, no minimum seats. Splashtop's Pro tier is per-user and assumes team deployment.
- +Browser-based client at scry.bravely.dev. Sign in and connect from any modern browser, no install. Splashtop's web client is gated behind paid tiers and feels secondary to their native apps.
- +End-to-end encrypted, peer-to-peer transport on an open standard. Your screen, keystrokes, and clipboard are encrypted device to device with DTLS-SRTP over WebRTC, and the session flows straight between your two machines; even when a strict network forces a relay hop, our relay only forwards packets it can't read. Splashtop runs sessions through its own gateway infrastructure on a proprietary stack. Splashtop encrypts its traffic too — the wedge is an open, inspectable transport and a relay that only steps in as a fallback, not a server-mediated black box.
- +Personal-use first. Splashtop's marketing, onboarding, and feature surface are tuned for IT teams; consumers feel like they're squeezing into a tool that wasn't built for them. Scry is the opposite.
Full feature comparison
Verified 2026-05-08. Source linked at the bottom.
| Feature | Scry | Splashtop |
|---|---|---|
| Price (entry) | $9.99/mo | $6/mo (Solo, annual) |
| Lifetime license | $399 | None |
| Per-user pricing | No — one license, one person | Yes — Pro is $8.25/mo per user |
| Free path | 7-day trial on the annual plan (card required); no free tier | Personal tier exists but limited and pushed toward paid |
| Platforms (host) | Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac, Windows, Linux |
| Platforms (client) | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, Web |
| Browser client (any browser) | Yes | Yes — paid tiers only |
| Open standard transport | Yes (WebRTC) | Proprietary |
| End-to-end encrypted transport | Yes (DTLS-SRTP) | Yes (proprietary, TLS-based) |
| Connection path | Peer-to-peer — relay only as fallback, and it can't read the packets | Routed through Splashtop's gateway infrastructure |
| Single-monitor session | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-monitor | Switchable — one display at a time | Yes (Pro tier) |
| Audio in session | Mac (mic) / Windows (system audio); none on Linux/mobile/web | Yes |
| File transfer | Yes — in-session, all platforms | Yes |
| Mobile clients | Yes — iOS + Android (viewer only) | Yes (iOS, Android, ChromeOS) |
| Unattended access | Yes (core model); no Wake-on-LAN, no fleet tooling | Yes — mature, IT-grade, with wake |
| Multi-user / team management | No — single-user only | Yes (Pro+) |
| SSO / audit logs / RMM | No — consumer-focused | Yes (Enterprise) |
FAQ
Why pick Scry over Splashtop for personal use?+
Three reasons: (1) one-time $399 lifetime price instead of a recurring subscription, (2) consumer-focused product surface — no per-user pricing, no enterprise admin console, no SSO/RBAC complexity you don't need, (3) a browser client at every plan level instead of gated behind higher paid tiers. Scry has no free tier (a paid app; the 7-day free trial is on the annual plan).
Why pick Splashtop over Scry?+
If you're an IT admin or MSP managing more than one user's machines, Splashtop wins. Mature fleet management, mass deployment, role-based access, session recording, audit logs, RMM integrations, Wake-on-LAN, and a per-user pricing model that fits team budgets. Scry has none of that and is not building toward it.
Does Scry have unattended access?+
Yes — unattended access to your own machines is Scry's core model: sign in on both ends and connect. What Scry doesn't have is the IT-grade layer around it — Wake-on-LAN, fleet deployment, restart-and-reconnect polish, audit logs. The host also has to already be awake and online. Splashtop has been shipping that IT-grade layer for years and the gap is real.
Can multiple people use one Scry license?+
No. Scry is single-user — one account, one license, one person's machines. Splashtop Pro supports up to 3 users accessing one computer and is built for that use case.
Is Scry suitable for an MSP?+
No. Scry is consumer-focused with no SSO, no SCIM, no audit logging, no RBAC, no tenant policies. If you need any of those, pick Splashtop or another enterprise-grade tool.
Is Scry end-to-end encrypted?+
Yes. Scry's screen, input, and clipboard run over a peer-to-peer WebRTC connection encrypted end-to-end with DTLS-SRTP — the keys are negotiated directly between your two devices, and the session flows straight between them. Splashtop encrypts its traffic too, but routes sessions through its own gateway infrastructure on a proprietary stack; Scry's transport is an open standard, peer-to-peer, and our relay only handles signaling and forwards already-encrypted packets it can't read when a direct path isn't possible.
Does Scry have audio, file transfer, and multi-monitor?+
In-session audio ships on the Mac host (mic) and Windows host (system audio); none on Linux hosts or mobile/web clients. Multi-monitor is switchable — Scry streams one display at a time and lets you switch. File transfer ships on every platform: send and receive files in-session between connected machines.
More Scry comparisons
Pricing verified 2026-05-08. Splashtop pricing source. Subject to change.