Comparison
Remote desktop vs Pane for coding on another machine
TL;DR
Remote desktop is right when you need the other machine's whole screen. For coding, Pane is faster and works far better on a phone, because it sends text and data instead of video.
At a glance
| Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop) | Pane | |
|---|---|---|
| What crosses the network | A video stream of the screen | Terminal text, file contents, page data |
| Feel on Wi-Fi | Laggy, blurry text | Like local |
| On a phone | Tiny desktop, pinch and zoom | Built for the phone screen |
| Multiple devices at once | Usually one viewer controls | Each device has its own view |
| Dev servers | Open the browser on the remote screen | Open at localhost on your connected desktop, or in a browser tab on your phone |
| Price | Varies | Free, open source |
What crosses the network
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- A video stream of the screen
- Pane
- Terminal text, file contents, page data
Feel on Wi-Fi
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- Laggy, blurry text
- Pane
- Like local
On a phone
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- Tiny desktop, pinch and zoom
- Pane
- Built for the phone screen
Multiple devices at once
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- Usually one viewer controls
- Pane
- Each device has its own view
Dev servers
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- Open the browser on the remote screen
- Pane
- Open at
localhoston your connected desktop, or in a browser tab on your phone
Price
- Remote desktop (Screen Sharing, RDP, Chrome Remote Desktop)
- Varies
- Pane
- Free, open source
When remote desktop is the right choice
- You need a graphical app that only runs on the remote machine (Xcode Simulator, design tools).
- You're helping someone and need to see exactly what's on their screen.
When Pane fits better
- Coding and agents. Terminals, files and dev servers at native speed.
- From your phone. Readable, tappable, with agent status at a glance.
- More than one of you. Your laptop and phone can look at different things on the same machine.
Use both
Keep Screen Sharing for the rare graphical task; use Pane for daily work on the machine.
Sources
- Corrections
- If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
- Sources
or
Download*
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
Paste that in PowerShell.Linux
By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .