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 (card required), then paid — 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 | No | 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) |
Bottom line
Splashtop is genuinely good at what it's built for — IT teams managing fleets, MSPs supporting customers, mass-deployable unattended access with audit logs and role-based controls. Scry is not that. I built Scry because I wanted to get into my own Mac at home from a coffee shop without negotiating a per-user contract or wading through an enterprise admin console. If you're an IT admin or MSP, pick Splashtop. If you're one person who wants one license to reach your own machines, Scry is the right size of tool.
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 with a 7-day trial).
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 is not available in Scry today.
More Scry comparisons
Pricing verified 2026-05-08. Splashtop pricing source. Subject to change.