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Remote Access Software for Everyone

Teamviewer Pricing – cost vs features

TeamViewer cost vs features, is TeamViewer pricing really one and done?

Is a TeamViewer license really a one time purchase? How much does TeamViewer cost and is there a better model?
Most people assume that a Teamviewer license is a one-time purchase, because you get unending rights to the application and unlimited endpoints, but that doesn’t reflect the true Teamviewer cost over time. Factored into their pricing model is something that many people who’ve purchased one of those licenses have pointed out. That Teamviewer often upgrades their product, without warning, and certain features break, or don’t keep up with current operating systems out in the world. So you might want to consider Team Viewer upgrades into your decision process. Some of our customers have even complained about TeamViewer upgrading all of their endpoints automatically without their knowledge, and then requiring an upgrade payment after an evaluation period. You might want to make a note that the upgrade pricing might be a total surprise to you. TeamViewer pricing is an issue where we think you could do better.
TeamViewer pricing considering its limited concurrent sessions
Another thing to consider with Team viewer pricing is how many concurrent remote sessions you need to have going at once time. Even if you are just a one person IT shop you might need to connect to several different computers or customers at the same time. Team Viewer’s Business plan (currently at $849) only gives you a “single-user” license. The Team Viewer website says “A single-user license permits connections from up to 3 devices”
At $2799 the TeamViewer cost for the corporate plan is their best bang for the buck
Things do get a little better if you purchase the “Premium” plan (currently $1689). You can add additional concurrent user licenses for only another $999 each. However you might just want to go ahead and jump up to their corporate license (currently $2799) where you start out with the ability to have 3 concurrent connections.

RemoteToPC is a better TeamViewer Alternative:

RemoteToPC has unlimited concurrent remote sessions
RemoteToPC does not limit how many concurrent sessions you can start up. So if you have 3 people working in an IT shop, each support person can open as many concurrent sessions as necessary to do their job.
Teamviewer cost more
The annual pricing for unlimited sessions cost much more than RemoteToPC in the average situation.
RemoteToPC offers mass deployment capability in all plans
As far as mass deployments of endpoints, they only offer that feature in their most expensive “Corporate” plan. RemoteToPC offers MSI deployment files with every plan. So applications like the free PDQ Deploy can deploy all of your endpoints in an entire domain all at once.
For tech support, RemoteToPC is strong TeamViewer alternative
With RemoteToPC you can inform your customers that all of their computers are being actively monitored by you. This gives them a peace of mind, and it gives you an advantage over other IT companies. RemoteToPC is easy to install and gives you a complete monitoring, alerts and remote access solution. This is why for tech support, RemoteToPC is a great TeamViewer alternative.

How does TeamViewer pricing and features compare with RemoteToPC’s pricing and features?
The first thing to note is that RemoteToPC is more than just a remote connectivity product like Team Viewer. For IT people RemoteToPC is a better TeamViewer alternative because of additional features for tech support like Remote Monitoring + Alerts. These monitoring features mean that RemoteToPC is a more complete remote support tool, and because there is some cost in server processing, we sell RemoteToPC as annual plan, but at a much lower price than TeamViewer. They try to be all things to all people, and with RemoteToPC you get a product specifically crafted to IT support.

Apart from allthat, we’ve never been hacked. TeamViewer was, which is a well documented event on the internet, and is something we mention here in our article: TeamViewer Hacked, is it worth the cost?

RemoteToPC vs RemotePC – Remote Desktop Access comparison

REMOTEPC vs REMOTE TO PC REVIEW

RemotePC review of feature differences:

While these two remote desktop access applications might have similar names they are actually very different. For one thing Remote PC is not specifically designed to be a remote support application. It does include features like in session monitoring, and comes with a MAC client, and there’s an Android app at an additional cost. There are other features like remote printing and sound, and there is a built in chat client. From other reviews it’s not considered one of the fastest remote access applications out there, but it it’s not far off from RemoteToPC performance wise.

The most distinguishing differences that RemoteToPC has from RemotePC is that of the monitoring, alerts and remote remediation capabilities. RemoteToPC includes monitoring of core system metrics such as CPU, DISK, and RAM. There are also features like a remote reboot, and heartbeat monitoring for servers. Therefore RemoteToPC is designed more specifically as a remote support application. RemotePC might be used for remote support, and RemoteToPC might be used by someone who just wants to gain remote access to a computer to do work from home, but the feature set offered by both products is clearly one where RemotePC is more of a generic remote desktop access application, and RemoteToPC has remote desktop access, as well as features specific to a remote support application.

Remote PC price:

The price of iDrive RemotePC is significantly higher than RemoteToPC. They appear to target the smallest market segment, and only have advertised plans that go up to 100 computers. RemotePC’s pricing for 100 unattended access PC’s is currently $499.75. When compared to RemoteToPC’s current $299 pricing for access of up to 100 unattended access computers, RemotePC’s cost is 50% higher.

RemotePC does offer to add additional computers in addition to the 100 offered in its highest level plan at a rate of an additional $3 per month per computer. That would be $5899.75 for a 250 computer plan, vs RemoteToPCs $599 for the same plan. That is a 10X increase in cost, and the differences only get more extreme attempting to match up with RemoteToPC’s higher level plans. RemotePC’s pricing for 10 computers is their best seller at $49.75 for the first year. This is clearly their target market.

Other RemoteToPC vs RemotePC differences:

While not usually a factor in products, in the case of RemotePC, the specifics about their corporation is worth noting. They are actually a spin off product by the makers of IDrive, the popular remote backup software application. They have offices in both India and California. RemoteToPC is a small startup created in Fort Worth Texas in 2014, and launched to the public in February of 2016. While it’s not clear what IDrive’s markers plan to do with RemotePC as a product, RemoteToPC clearly intends on adding additional features to assist small IT companies as their remote support application, all the way up to Enterprise level customers.

Conclusion:

RemotePC’s strengths are its low cost for remote desktop access to 10 and under computers, and its alternative platform capabilities. RemoteToPC is a much better solution as a full remote support application.

Remote Desktop Access + Remote Monitoring + Alerts

How RemoteToPC made Remote Desktop Access + Remote Monitoring + Alerts easy and affordable.

Coming from a small IT business I know I never had a whole lot of time on my hands to implement a complex monitoring tool. I recall installing GFI Max a few years back, and the fact that I had to install 2 pieces of software to get Remote Desktop Access, and Remote Monitoring was a real issue. In addition to that, I believe it called for a reboot to even work. Then there were the settings. It seemed like I had a million settings I could configure for the computer, and 90% of it was stuff I had no interest in monitoring.

There might have been a way to setup all of those parameters and have it make the changes on several computers at once, but I wasn’t able to figure out how. That’s sort of the problem, I didn’t have time to learn all of that. I had enough trouble just keeping my customer’s computers going, and now I was going to add a whole layer of complexity, and things to learn on top of that? That was going to make my life easier?

I guess the point was that I could monitor systems, and get alerts when there was a problem on them, and so I could be proactive with fixing stuff for my customer, and thereby give my customer a better experience.

I became convinced that that was my path from going from a break-fix IT consultant to a Managed Service Provider (MSP), with the ability to get regular money in through unlimited support plans. I must have tried to do that about 3 times over as many years, but eventually I just gave up. The reality is that selling that whole concept to my existing customers never really worked for me. Somehow, I guess it did for a lot of IT people.

For the IT Company there’s now more options than ever: Labtech corp, Kaseya, and Solar Winds all offer some RMM features now, but the other problem that I had was the pricing for all of that was just too much for my little IT Company. I had to pay all that extra money, learn and install a more complex product, and keep doing all of the current work I was doing. At some point that was just too much to ask of this overworked IT consulting guy.

That’s sort of the premise behind why we built RemoteToPC. RemoteToPC is actually cheaper than most unattended Remote Access solutions out there, and we provide basic monitoring, and alerts with each install — By the way, it’s a single install, and there is no reboot required. There is also barely any learning curve. Most of the options are preset, and they just start working, informing you if the RAM, CPU, or DISK on any workstation or server it’s installed on goes over a very high percent. There’s also a server heartbeat monitor, and other features, such as a remote reboot, and graphic metric monitoring history. That’s just the monitoring and alert portion of our secure, unattended remote desktop access client.

We built a Remote Desktop Access @ Remote Monitoring product we wanted and needed, sell it for a price our small IT business could afford, and now we provide it to IT people everywhere. That’s why our tagline is: “RemoteToPC: Built by IT people for IT people.” Try a free 14 day trial today. You can cancel at any time in the first 14 days and you’ll not be charged.

TeamViewer Hacked, is it worth the cost?

I have seen two articles about some of our larger competitors in the past week. One about the TeamViewer hack and one about LogMeIn. The first was an article about how users were upset with LogMeIn price bumps. I have seen articles and users continually upset about that since they first started charging for LogMeIn back in January of 2014. In fact I was one of the users that was upset about the lack of a good and affordable alternative to LogMeIn back then, and that was one of the catalysts that drove the creation of RemoteToPC. That and the question that no one would answer, was Teamviewer now charging for upgrades?

This latest article that I read, it was not so much about how LogMeIn had continually bumped up prices, but how users were surprised by the charging of their credit cards without warning. When they first started raising prices, they often offered users a discount on the new pricing, but now it seems that they just charge them the new higher price with no warning at all. One user complained that because he was using it for 700 devices, his pricing went from $299 per year to $14,999 per year. That drove him away from LogMeIn to TeamViewer. His price with RemoteToPC would be $1999 per year, and he could add up to 1000 computers at that price level.

For all of the disgruntled LogMeIn users, it’s not as if TeamViewer users are happy. Teamviewer pricing is based on a large upfront cost that many might feel was a bad investment because according to articles and lot’s of blog chatter, TeamVeiwer was recently hacked. Because of this allegedly massive TeamViewer hack, (A point finally conceded by Teamviewer here: Admission of Hack) many companies that had been using TeamViewer are scrambling to find another more secure product among Teamviewer competitors. I was contacted by one IT company in Spain that was looking to leave TeamViewer for that very reason, and articles are all over the internet, and sites like Reddit. (see: Teamviewer alternative Reddit) Others have also commented on the fact that TeamViewer has a nasty habit of unexpectedly requiring mandatory upgrades of customers who have already bought the product, raising the question how much does Teamviewer really cost them over time? Teamviewer should allow users to turn off automated updates of installed client host software, but I would suspect that this regular windfall of new cash for upgrades is built into thier pricing model.

Ultimately, I really don’t consider TeamViewer an apples to apples comparison to what we offer with RemoteToPC, because TeamViewer does not offer any sort of system monitoring or alerts the way we do. I would categorise TeamViewer as more of a generic remote access application. Although we have some customers that use RemoteToPC to just access their work PCs from home, RemoteToPC was designed specifically for IT people, and so that’s why every install also includes system health monitoring. We could have designed a more generic product, but as our tag line says, RemoteToPC is designed by IT people for IT people. So what that means is that from our perspective any new RemoteToPC features will always have the IT person in mind.

Remote Monitoring and Management – RMM software

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) – RMM software creates one of the key selling points that Managed Service Providers (MSPs) bring to their corporate customers. That is, the ability to proactively monitor their computer systems for trouble. Some RMM software packages even have built in remediation of common IT issues.

For the IT support staff, being able to know when there is trouble on a system by receiving an alert is crucial. For the customer, it’s the kind of peace of mind they are looking for when they choose a service provider.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software creates one of the key selling points that Managed Service Providers (MSPs) bring to their corporate customers. That is, the ability to proactively monitor their computer systems for trouble. Some even have built in remediation of common issues.
For the IT support staff, being able to know when there is trouble on a system by receiving an alert is crucial. For the customer, it’s the kind of peace of mind they are looking for when they choose a service provider.

The costs vary, but for the small computer consulting company, it’s typically punitive. This is why most small IT companies just opt out. They either stay a break/fix shop, or if they do try to go with some kind of fixed price model, they are at a distinct disadvantage to many of the larger IT support companies, who have bunch larger budgets, and they’re willing and able to pay for a premium RMM software solution.

The real target customer of these RMM software products are mid-sized MSPs or enterprise, which really leaves out the largest segment of IT consulting companies, the little guy. This is why RemoteToPC was invented, as a sort of in-between product that provides basic system hardware monitoring (a Lite-RMM) along with and unattended remote access.

RemoteToPC provides remote monitoring and alerts for the core system metrics of: CPU, RAM, and the C-Drive, as well as a system Heartbeat monitor for servers or workstations that need to always be up and online. If any of the system metrics go beyond a threshold, or the heartbeat monitored system goes offline, a text message or email alert gets sent to the IT person that’s responsible for that system.

Now any small computer consulting company can compete with larger MSPs simply by using RemoteToPC. Many of those larger companies don’t even monitor all of the computer systems at a customers site, but RemoteToPC does. So, because all your remote access installs include Lite RMM software built-in this leaves an opening for you to say “we’ll monitor everything”, giving you an edge over the big guys.

We are continually improving RemoteToPC, and while more monitoring and features are being added, our commitment is still to keep it simple: One install, no reboot, and a simple and intuitive product that just works. RemoteToPC is a remote support tool designed by IT people for IT people.

Is it just another way to remotely access a PC?

“So it it just a another way to remotely access a PC?”

I sometimes struggle to answer people who ask me what Remote To PC is. Do I tell them that, it’s like the name sounds, a way to remotely access a PC? That doesn’t quite do it, because it’s more than that. It’s also got monitoring, and alerts. Describing that is where I often find their eyes glaze over. Even IT people I speak with sometimes don’t understand the significance of that. Those who have investigated RMMs seem to get it, but they often think of expensive, and complex products like Labtech, or GFIMax. Some even think of us as a LogMeIn alternative, but all of those products are way out of our price range and offerings. We don’t think IT people need a product that they have to learn, that has difficult configurations, and installations. We think that IT people are busy enough, and have enough issues to deal with without having to pile another layer of complexity on top of their jobs.

That’s why we invented RemoteToPC. No one was thinking of the small IT consultant, or the 2 man in-house IT shop that has to support users at remote locations. Those products tend to go after Enterprise level customers, because they have deeper pockets, and enough staff to take time for training.

Remote to PC is priced far below those companies, and offers a core of primary monitoring features that IT people are most concerned about. CPU, RAM, and DISK utilization. There’s also a HEARTBEAT monitor to detect if a server goes down. Workstations, and Servers all get the same basic monitoring, and remote access features, so the entire company gets proactively monitored. IT consulting companies can assure their customers that they’ll be the first to know when there’s trouble with computer systems, and from our own testing, Remote To PC often starts paying for its self as soon as it’s installed at a client’s site. That’s what’s been missing out in the market. A zero configuration way to have basic system health monitoring on every workstation an server. We’re the first to provide that. Other competitors are taking interest, but we invented that. No one was doing it before us, and that’s why RemoteToPC is going to be the best choice for the future, because we get it right, and will continue to get it right.

So, I guess I could just tell them that RemoteToPC is a way for the little IT company to get the core features of the big RMMs at an affordable price. So what is RemoteToPC? It’s remote support tools, it’s a lite RMM, it’s still a remote access application that could be used for anything. RemoteToPC is all of that, but the point is that Remote To PC was built for IT people by IT people.

The IT Remote Support Dilemma

The continually rising costs of remote IT support tools

In recent years IT support is increasingly accomplished though some form of remote access service. In several organizations more than 70% of all computer support given is some form of remote IT support.

Microsoft offers the Remote Desktop application on all versions of Windows that can easily be used by internal IT departments, or even remotely through ports setup and forwarded through corporate firewalls. One problem that Remote Desktop has however, is the fact that a new login session must be initiated on the computer, and the local user of that computer gets logged off of their computer while the IT remote support staff is working on their problems.

This is one reason why third party Remote Access applications like LogMeIn, or TeamViewer are used by many IT consultants and even internal IT staff. These applications automatically punch their own holes through corporate firewalls and connect to the desktop of computers without logging out of the current session.

For access to multiple corporate computers, TeamViewer cost a few thousand dollars up front, then there are additional costs for any upgrades. LogMeIn used to provide a free service for up to 10 computers with a remote desktop serving of up to 100 computers for $299 a year, making it the choice for many small IT departments, or IT consulting companies. At the beginning of 2014 LogMeIn stopped offering it’s free service, which upset a lot of IT people who used to depend on it, and now here again at the beginning of 2015, their service changed again offering a dramatic price increase of $499 to $1299 for just 25 computers per year.

As the two most popular remote IT support platforms today, and with LogMeIn annual contracts running out, many IT departments and consultants are concerned about what they are going to do. The fact that LogMeIn keeps moving the goal posts on what it takes to use their service have IT people looking for cheaper alternatives, and some new startups like Remote To PC have popped up to fill the gap that rising prices has created.

Google Searches for “Logmein Alternative” spiked in January of 2014 and it appears that they are on the same upward trend this year. Some IT consultants may have to either raise their support rates, or talk customers into paying for it if they intend on continuing to use the same services.

Any time the large players in any industry make dramatic changes to price, or what their product offering is, it creates some sort of pain or upheaval for their customers, but that also creates an opportunity for competition to make headway. Both LogMeIn and TeamViewer make millions of dollars each year off their customers, but they also have vast amounts of expenses including staff, and facilities, as well as loyalties to shareholders, and investors that demand they maximize their profits. As a small IT business owner myself who has used both products, I see an opportunity for some remote desktop access company to disrupt this sector. That will turn a dilemma that IT people have into an advantage.

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