Best Free Remote Desktop Clients for Ubuntu: Install Guides & Comparisons

Introduction

Remote‑desktop clients allow connecting to another desktop or server to perform tasks remotely. On Linux a remote‑desktop server (e.g., Xrdp) must be running on the target machine before using a client.

GNOME Connections

GNOME Connections is a native GNOME application built with GTK. It supports VNC (Linux) and RDP (Windows) and provides a simple UI.

Install via Flatpak:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Connections

KRDC

KRDC is KDE’s remote‑desktop client, supporting VNC and RDP, with options for resolution control and password setting. It integrates with the Plasma desktop.

Install via Flatpak:

flatpak install flathub org.kde.krdc

Remmina

Remmina is a feature‑rich client supporting RDP, VNC, NX, X2GO, SPICE, HTTPS, and SSH. It is available in the default repositories of most major distributions.

Flatpak installation:

flatpak install flathub org.remmina.Remmina

TigerVNC

TigerVNC is an open‑source implementation of the VNC protocol optimized for high‑performance 3D/video streaming. The client executable is vncviewer. Pre‑compiled .deb and .rpm packages are available on SourceForge.

X2Go

X2Go, based on the NX technology from NoMachine, provides client and server packages for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The client can be used via the X2Go GUI or the Python‑based Pyhoca‑GUI.

Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop is a web‑based solution that runs over WebRTC. After installing a small server component on the host, you connect from a Chrome browser using a PIN‑based authentication. Service URL: https://remotedesktop.google.com/

Additional Open‑Source Options

TurboVNC – free and open source

UltraVNC – free and open source

FreeRDP – free, open source (requires compilation, supports Wayland)

Commercial Closed‑Source Options

Thincast – free Flatpak package, works on Raspberry Pi (closed source)

NoMachine – free for personal use, commercial licenses available

AnyDesk – free for personal use, paid plans for enterprises

VNC Connect – paid, closed source

TightVNC – requires a license with an email address for Linux use

itopia – free trial, Flatpak package

Conclusion

The listed clients cover most common remote‑desktop scenarios on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions. Open‑source tools such as GNOME Connections, KRDC, Remmina, TigerVNC, and X2Go are easy to install and free, while commercial solutions provide additional features for enterprise environments.