What are the best ways to share your screen with others?

Question

14

Options
Considered

221

User
Recs.

Dec 14, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 2 of 12 OptionsWhy?

Best ways to share your screen with others	Price	Platforms	End-to-end encryption
94 TeamViewer	-	-	-
90 Google Hangouts	-	iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web	0
89 Chrome Remote Desktop	-	-	-
76 Join.me	-	Windows, Mac, iOS, Android	-
66 LogMeIn	-	-	-

See Full List

Google Hangouts

Top Pro

Share whole screen or a select window

You can choose to share whole desktop or a select window. See More

Top Con

Won't work on Windows 8-style UI

As Hangouts uses a browser plugin on the desktop and it doesn't work with Windows 8-style UI, it has to be used in desktop mode. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web

End-to-end encryption:0

Media:0

Videoconferencing:0

See All Specs

Top Pro

Easy to start using

Hangouts is integrated with Gmail & Google+, does not require you to download desktop software, and all chats can take place directly in your browser, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for a new user. See More

Top Con

Poor video call quality

Only goes up to 720p30 + low bitrate. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a Google account

For people that use Gmail or any other Google service, Google Hangouts is already included. No need to set up another account or manage another tool, as its already right there and integrated with Google accounts. See More

Top Con

Non-collaborative

You can only stream your screen, can't give someone else control. See More

Top Pro

Live broadcasting and instant recording

With Google+ “Hangouts on Air”, you can broadcast any hangout to an unlimited audience via your Goolge+ Profile or simply a generic YouTube link. Moreover, any Hangout on Air (public or private) is automatically saved as YouTube video that you can keep for private reference or use in any way that you would normally share a YouTube video. This allows you to record conversations without additional obtrusive software. See More

Top Pro

Group video support

Hangouts offers group video support for up to 25 simultaneous video streams and 150 members in the chat room. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with Google Maps for sharing locations

When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful. See More

Top Pro

Mobile support

Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop. See More

Top Pro

Screen sharing

Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation. See More

Top Pro

Free group video support

Hangouts works with up to 10 participants using video out of the box or up to 15 if you are a business, government or school. It determines who is the primary speaker at any given time, and the camera view automatically switches to that user. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension. See More

Top Pro

Useful for businesses

Hangouts can scale to become a videoconferencing solution for an entire company, since the software can run on nearly all platforms. In fact, Google itself uses Hangouts as its meeting room video conference software. See More

Top Pro

Google Voice integration

Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free. See More

Top Pro

Completely free

Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

You can use your web browser, Android or iOS device. See More

Top Pro

Chrome Remote Desktop extension

We can delegate input into our computer. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp See More

See All

10 Other Options Considered

Chrome Remote Desktop

Top Pro

Impressively fast

Faster than most similar applications. See More

Top Con

Single user only

If multiple users want to connect to a device, they have to take turns. See More

Yonatan's Experience

It works really nice & smooth. So easy to set up I use it to help my grandma with her computer problems!! See More

Top Pro

Simple set-up

All you need to do is install a Chrome extension. See More

Top Pro

Completely free

There are no restrictions on how you use it. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Works on Windows, Mac and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

Top Pro

Keeps making sure connection is still wanted

Every few minutes the sharer gets a popup asking if they want to continue sharing the screen, while the popup is shown the viewer can't control anything. This is important in case the sharer forgets to close the connection. See More

Top Pro

Allows viewer to make actions

If the user that shares their screen doesn't touch the mouse/keyboard the viewer can control them which makes it easy take actions instead of explaining by voice. See More

See All

Join.me

Top Pro

Joining a meeting is straightforward

To join you need only enter a 9-digit code on the join.me website, that you get from the person sharing. See More

Top Con

No Linux support

Only available on Windows and OSX. See More

Daniel A's Experience

easy to use and pretty reliable See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Top Pro

Easy to set up

To start sharing, download and run a file from join.me. You'll be given a 9-digit code to share with anyone you wan't to be able to access your screen. See More

Top Con

Bought out by Logmein

Logmein is notorious for buying out small companies and disregarding the wants and needs of the customer base of the newly bought-out company. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative

You can give others the ability to control your screen. See More

Top Pro

Up to 10 participants

10 people can view your screen. See More

Top Pro

File sharing

Join.me allows for easy file transfers among participants. See More

Top Pro

Mobile support

Join.me supports iOS, Android and Kindle. See More

Top Pro

Multi-monitor support

Works well with multiple monitors. See More

See All

LogMeIn

Top Con

The sound and chat can be buggy

The quality of the sound and chat is fairly inconsistent. See More

Top Pro

Access through a website

You can access a computer that you've previously installed LogMeIn on from any computer that has an internet connection through their browser. There is nothing to install on the computer you are accessing from. See More

adamlogan's Experience

Logmein as a corporation often buys out smaller companies and has a long history of not honoring the wants and needs of the customers of the newly bought-out company. See More

Top Pro

Easy setup

To set up, you need to create an account on LogMeIn, download and run their software on the computer you wish to be able to access, and set the software to allow accessing that computer from the Internet. See More

See All

Skype

Top Pro

Easily connect with others due to how popular the service is

There's a good chance that whoever you're trying to reach has Skype already set up and familiar with it, avoiding the hassle of installing and getting to know new software. See More

Top Con

Non-collaborative

You can only stream your screen, can't share control. See More

KindheartedAeternitas's Experience

skype for linux doesn't have this option (to share screen) See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS Android WP OSX Windows Linux

End-to-end encryption:no

Media:images / video /audio / emoji

Videoconferencing:yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

File sharing

You can transfer files simply by dragging and dropping. See More

Top Con

Subpar video quality with more than 5 users

Skype has significant problems with multiple users and video quality. Skype recommends that a max of 5 users group chat as video quality is severely affected. Even webcams tested with other chat services showed lower quality when used with Skype. See More

Top Pro

Group video for free

You can hold video calls with up to 10 people and share your screen at the same time. See More

Top Con

Requires both ends to be online (if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device)

Messages are sent and received only when both ends are online, if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device. In this case, if you are online 9-17 and your recipient is online 18-3, messages will never be delivered. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

There's software for Windows, Mac & Linux and apps are available on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. See More

Top Con

Plagued by bugs on all platforms

Crashes and other bugs are prevalent on Android, Windows and other platforms. See More

Top Pro

Choice in what you share

You can show your whole desktop, a select part of the screen or a specific window over Skype. See More

Top Con

Obnoxiously large ads

Ads take up over 25% of the usable space. See More

Top Con

Owned by Microsoft

Top Con

Poor Linux support

The version available for Linux users is quite outdated, and does not support some of the newer functionality, such as the free group video calling and screen sharing. See More

Top Con

On Macs it can hijack the microphone of the machine

See All

Discord

Top Pro

User friendly

Discord follows the same type of interface design popularised by Slack, which is extremely clean and attractive, and doesn't clutter the interface with unnecessary chrome and cruft. See More

Top Con

No self-hosting avaliable

Discord is wholly hosted by Discord (the company), you cannot run private instances, and all servers are hosted on their infrastructure. For most people, this won't really impact their usage. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web / Android / iOS / Mac / Windows / Linux

End-to-end encryption:No

Media:All files under 8MB for free users

Videoconferencing:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Free for unlimited users

Unlimited amount of users. See More

Top Con

Proprietary software

Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction See More

Top Pro

Can be used in browser

Users can invite others to join a Discord channel via a web link, which means no installation is required to use the software - which is one of the big typical barriers to entry for social software. See More

Top Con

Can't connect to own devices

This service is fine for sharing screens with other people, but no good for sharing screens among your own devices. See More

Top Pro

Good 1-click invite system

Discord allows inviting people to a specific channel with a link. Links can be set to expire. Low effort/passive invite mechanics. See More

Top Pro

Multiple people can share screens at the same time.

When in a group call or just in a private call with someone, everyone in the call can screen share and share video at the same time. See More

See All

Appear.in

Top Pro

No download necessary for video collaborations

Top Con

Requires a good network connection

When the internet connection is not stable, such as when communicating internationally, it doesn't perform well. See More

max's Experience

Appear.in allows for a quick and easy video conferencing solution for distributed teams, friends, and colleagues. No required registration makes this tool an obvious choice for video collabs. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web/iOS/Windows

Top Pro

Allows sharing your screen

Top Con

Lacks file sharing support

Top Pro

Includes instant messaging

Top Con

Requires upgraded plan for better screen sharing

Top Pro

Allows locking rooms

See All

Alpemix

Top Pro

Fast

ComposedEnbilulu's Experience

Stable, safe and cheap See More

Top Pro

Cheap

Top Pro

Great support

Top Pro

Safe

Top Pro

Multiplatform

See All

Screenhero

Same.io

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