Swiss data location
Servers in Switzerland and the EU. revFADP + GDPR. Lightnet Multimedia GmbH without US parent, no CLOUD Act. AnyDesk is DE-based — equally solid, but EU mutual legal assistance applies.
Swiss company · GDPR-compliant
Remote desktop
The Swiss alternative to AnyDesk
AnyDesk is attractively priced for single users. As soon as you move to a team setup, or need Swiss data protection or Pi support, WinDesk becomes the better choice. Here is the honest assessment.
Switch offer
Start for free
Switching from AnyDesk?
Try WinDesk on the free plan — no account, no card, two hours of session time a month. Pro costs CHF 29.90 per month plus 8.1% VAT and is billed from the first month.
0
hops via the cloud
CH
location of signalling
TPM
tokens in the security chip
2h
free per month, business too
The free version and its limit
AnyDesk offers its free version for personal use. Anyone using it commercially needs a licence, and an automatic detection points that out — with notices and, depending on the assessment, with sessions being ended. That is the vendor’s right and it is in the terms; it is unpleasant where the assessment gets it wrong.
WinDesk draws the line differently. The free plan applies to personal and business use alike and is capped at two hours of session time per month. No routine judges your usage: either the time is enough or it is not. Anything beyond that is listed with its price on the pricing page, cancellable monthly.
Where WinDesk is better
Sign-in bound to the security chip
The host’s sign-in is bound to the device’s security chip where available (TPM on Windows and Linux, Secure Enclave on Mac), and every pairing is additionally tied to a hardware fingerprint of the host.
Multi-session tabs natively
Several hosts open at once in tabs, each with its own monitor and audio. Tear a tab out and dock it back. AnyDesk supports this only in part.
Raspberry Pi natively
arm64 builds for Pi 4 and Pi 5 as an equal platform. AnyDesk also ships official Pi packages; on WinDesk the Pi is host and client with the same feature set as on x64.
Where AnyDesk leads
- Self-hosting: AnyDesk Custom Client with own server infrastructure. WinDesk is SaaS-only today.
- Market maturity: AnyDesk has been around since 2014, WinDesk since 2024. If stability via long track record is critical, AnyDesk is ahead.
- Mobile apps: AnyDesk has iOS/Android apps. WinDesk: on the roadmap for 2027.
- Single-user price: AnyDesk Solo comes in below WinDesk Light (CHF 19.90/month) for solo users without a team — but only on annual billing.
What AnyDesk's dark side has to do with WinDesk
AnyDesk has been misused for years in an underground economy for tech-support scams, banking hijacks and so-called findom operations — a well-documented pattern that we explicitly accounted for when designing WinDesk. Our architecture (visible session indicator, audit trail) deliberately sabotages these use cases. Lightnet Multimedia GmbH pursues confirmed abuse through criminal proceedings, internationally as well, via the Budapest Convention. Details and victim help on the Report abuse + victim help page.
AnyDesk and WinDesk, feature by feature
✓ Yes
✕ No
~ Partial
? n/a
| Feature | AnyDesk0/0 | WinDesk0/0 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Peer-to-peer default connection | ✓ | ✓ |
| No media relay (screen data never leaves the P2P path) | ✕ | ✓ |
| Cross-platform (Windows/Mac/Linux) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Raspberry Pi support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✕ | ✕ |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✕ |
| Security & privacy | ||
| End-to-end AES-256-GCM | ✓ | ✓ |
| Server location Switzerland (default) | ✕ | ✓ |
| GDPR / revFADP-compliant | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hardware-bound device tokens | ~ | ~ |
| Two-factor authentication | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passkey / WebAuthn | ? | ✓ |
| Features | ||
| Attended remote support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unattended access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple sessions in parallel (tabs) | ~ | ✓ |
| File transfer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-monitor | ✓ | ✓ |
| System audio (incl. macOS) | ~ | ~ |
| Session recording | ✓ | ✕ |
| Central host management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Roles & permissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing (checked September 2026) | ||
| Free tier available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transparent price list, no tier matrix | ~ | ✓ |
| Pro includes unattended access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company | ||
| Headquarters | Germany | Switzerland |
| Subject to US CLOUD Act | ✕ | ✕ |
TeamViewer, AnyDesk, RustDesk, Splashtop and Chrome Remote Desktop are registered trademarks of their respective owners. WinDesk and Lightnet Multimedia GmbH have no business relationship with these companies. All data is based on publicly available information as of September 2026.
Switch or stay?
Not every point favours us. The honest reading:
You need apps for iOS and Android
Stay with AnyDesk. Mobile apps are on the WinDesk roadmap for 2027.
You want data and a contracting party in Switzerland
WinDesk. A Swiss company, signalling in Switzerland, invoicing with Swiss VAT.
You need session recording
Stay with AnyDesk. WinDesk does not record sessions today.
You work with several endpoints at the same time
WinDesk. Multiple sessions as tabs, each with its own monitor and audio, detachable into separate windows.
You want the host’s sign-in tied to the device’s security chip
WinDesk. The host’s sign-in is bound to the security chip where available (TPM or Secure Enclave), and every pairing to a hardware fingerprint of the host.
You need your own server on the premises
Stay with AnyDesk. WinDesk is a managed service today and cannot be self-hosted.
Compare both for free
WinDesk Free plan: 2h/month without an account. Direct comparison table with feature parity.
Frequently asked questions
How does WinDesk differ in price from AnyDesk?
AnyDesk Solo comes in below WinDesk Light (CHF 19.90/month) for single users, but is billed annually only. From team setups onwards the ratio reverses: AnyDesk tiers by user count in bundles, WinDesk stays linear (CHF 7.90/extra user on the Pro base CHF 29.90).
What does WinDesk do better than AnyDesk?
Swiss hosting (no US-cloud hop), Pi arm64 builds as an equal platform, multi-session tabs from day one, host sign-in bound to the security chip (TPM/Secure Enclave), Apple-notarised Mac builds.
What does AnyDesk do better than WinDesk?
Self-hosting option (AnyDesk Custom Client), longer market maturity, broader mobile apps. If those points are mandatory, AnyDesk is currently better suited.
How do I switch to WinDesk?
Create an account, install the host on target devices, close out old AnyDesk sessions. No data migration required, since neither vendor persists screen content.
Is there a free AnyDesk alternative?
WinDesk has a permanently free plan: two hours of session time per month, with no account and no credit card, for personal and business use. Beyond that it starts at CHF 19.90 per month.
Why does AnyDesk report commercial use?
The free version is meant for personal use, and an automatic detection checks whether the usage looks like that. It leads to notices and can end sessions. WinDesk’s free plan has no such assessment: it applies to personal and business use alike and ends when the two hours a month are used up.
Does WinDesk run on Linux and Raspberry Pi?
Yes, as host and as client with the same feature set as on Windows. There are .deb and .rpm packages for x64 as well as arm64 builds for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. Wayland and X11 are supported natively.
Can I run AnyDesk and WinDesk side by side?
Yes. They occupy different ports and do not interfere. For a switch that is exactly the recommended path: side by side first, then move the sessions across, and cancel the old licence last. The sequence is on the AnyDesk migration page.
Where are WinDesk’s servers?
Connection signalling runs through a server in Switzerland. Picture, sound and input go directly between the devices and never reach it — there is deliberately no media relay. Details are on the security page.
Does WinDesk support several sessions at once?
Yes, as tabs in the same window. Each session has its own monitor, its own audio and its own clipboard; individual tabs can be pulled out into a separate window and pushed back.