When comparing TightVNC vs ssh -X or ssh -Y, the Slant community recommends ssh -X or ssh -Y for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux platforms/tools for virtualizing GUI apps and viewing them remotely?” ssh -X or ssh -Y is ranked 1st while TightVNC is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose ssh -X or ssh -Y is:
In the parts of the world that are relevant to me, anyway, which is GNU/Linux and BSDs. On Windows you can use it with putty and Xming, on Mac there's also an Xserver which you can definitely use for this... Though I don't know whether these would also work for a server, but who wants non-*NIX on a server anyway.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro File transfer capability
TightVNC has some good file transfer capability with which you can transfer files back and forth with your remote system.
Pro Pretty much everywhere available
In the parts of the world that are relevant to me, anyway, which is GNU/Linux and BSDs.
On Windows you can use it with putty and Xming, on Mac there's also an Xserver which you can definitely use for this... Though I don't know whether these would also work for a server, but who wants non-*NIX on a server anyway.
Pro Low-level transmission of GUI I/O
Makes things run pretty smoothly in a LAN. And it's not even that bad over internet.
Pro Combined with other tools can let you continue developing from anywhere right where you left off
SSH by itself allows you to run commands on another machine. Together with Vim (or a good console text editor) and Tmux (for window management), you can just connect to your development machine, code and test. This allows to continue where you left off and instantly work.
Pro Supports side-channel tunneling of other services
SSH has the ability to create forwarded port mappings, SOCKS5-compatible proxies and perform file transfers, without the need for additional tools or permissions.
Cons
Con Needs port forwarding activated
In order to use TightVNC you need to have port forwarding activated within your router.
Con Needs a working X server on the local end
This only works through X11, so you need to have X installed on the local end. If you use something else, like Wayland you need to install X.