Self-hosted RustDesk is the hardest possible path for what Assistee needs — and it's leaking through the brand. This lays out every realistic engine, what each costs, and a recommendation for a system that's both easy and on-brand.
Assistee was scaffolded on free self-hosted RustDesk. That decision optimized for "95% margin / full ownership" on paper, but in practice it's the worst-of-both-worlds for a support tool you want to look polished:
hbbs+hbbr), a generated key pair, and 5 ports (21115–21119) TCP and UDP opened on the droplet firewall.Good news: the Assistee dashboard, org/team/billing, sessions log, and BOO hook are ~90% engine-agnostic. Only the session-invite generator and the client download page are RustDesk-specific. Swapping the engine underneath is cheap — the shell you built is keepable no matter which option you pick.
You run the engine. Near-zero per-seat cost, full ownership, best resale margin — but you own uptime, the relay server, agent deployment, and code-signing.
Best when: you want to own the stack and volume is high enough that per-tech license fees would sting.
A commercial engine does the hard parts (relay, signed clients, Android, mobile, uptime); you rebrand it and wrap it in the Assistee dashboard via their API. Pay per tech/month.
Best when: you want it working this week, branded, with Android + mobile handled, and low ops.
| Option | Type | Indicative cost* | Unattended | Attended | Android | Brandable | Ops load | API |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Assist ⭐ | Buy | ~$10–24 / tech / mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rebrand* | Low | REST |
| MeshCentral | Build | $0 (droplet only) | Yes | Yes | Weak | Full | Medium | Yes |
| AnyDesk | Buy | ~$15–80 / mo (tiers) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Custom client* | Low | Ltd |
| Splashtop SOS/OEM | Buy | ~$17–40+ / mo · OEM custom | Yes | Yes | Yes | OEM SDK | Low | Yes |
| GetScreen.me | Buy | free → ~$8–18 / mo | Yes | Yes | Ltd | White-label* | Low | Yes |
| ConnectWise ScreenConnect | Buy | ~$39–50 / tech / mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full | Med (self-host opt) | Yes |
| RustDesk Pro (self-host) | Build | ~$10–33 / mo license | Yes | Yes | Yes | Client gen | High | Yes |
| RustDesk free (current) | Build | $0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | High | No |
| Chrome Remote Desktop | Free (Google) | $0 | Own machines | Yes | Weak | None | None | No |
| Apache Guacamole | Build | $0 (droplet only) | Yes (RDP/VNC) | Ltd | No | Full | Medium | Ltd |
| In-app WebRTC share | Build | $0 | No | Yes | View | 100% | Low | N/A |
*Pricing is indicative (per-tech, billed annually) and changes often — confirm current tiers before committing. "Rebrand / white-label" availability is usually gated to a vendor's higher tier (custom logo, custom domain, remove-vendor-branding).
The one you already know and like — and it happens to check every box. Browser-based technician console (nothing for you to install), one-click attended sessions via a link/PIN, and true unattended access. Critically for restaurants: native Android unattended covers your menu screens, and Windows agents cover POS.
Fast, lightweight, great Android. A custom client / namespace (your name baked in) is available on higher tiers + power add-ons.
The most serious white-label/OEM program — an actual SDK to embed a fully-Boom-branded remote engine into your own app.
Browser-based, cheap, has white-label + API on paid tiers. A budget alternative to Zoho.
The MSP standard — deep branding, self-host license option, strong unattended fleet management.
Open-source, fully web-based remote desktop. A single server (far simpler than RustDesk's two-container + key + 5-port dance), the technician works entirely in the browser, the device agent is fully brandable ("Boom Assist"), unattended access is native, and there's a real API. This is the DIY pick that actually beats RustDesk on ease.
rustdesk.ts)Keeps almost everything you built. Pro unlocks the branded client generator (your logo + relay baked in), a web console, and an API.
Dead-simple and free: client visits remotedesktop.google.com/support, runs a tiny host, reads you a one-time code. Great for a quick personal "help my own PC" moment.
Clientless — control a machine from the browser with nothing installed on it, via RDP/VNC. Great for Windows POS/back-office.
Client clicks a link, shares their screen in the browser. Nothing to download, totally on-brand.
Where you are now.
Restaurant menu boards are usually Android, unattended. That single requirement quietly eliminates most build options: MeshCentral, Guacamole, and WebRTC either don't do Android unattended or do it poorly. The engines that cover Windows POS + Android menu screens + both attended & unattended in one system are the commercial ones — Zoho Assist, AnyDesk, Splashtop. Among those, you already use and like Zoho, it's the cheapest mature one, and it has the API to sit behind your dashboard.
The pain was never RustDesk's capability — it does both modes, Android, and one-click connect. The pain was our clunky, jargon-leaking front-end ("enter Your RustDesk ID") and the unfinished theme. So we fix what we control: brand it "Boom Assist," clean up the flow, finish the theme. Free + owned = best resale margin, no per-tech fee. Chrome Remote Desktop and raw manual RustDesk are both rejected; Zoho stays the documented pay-to-remove-ops upgrade.
Until a custom client exists, the app the customer downloads is still literally named RustDesk — our copy brands every screen we render, but not the third-party installer. Two ways to fully brand it + bake in the server so the "set your server" step vanishes:
#8b7bf0) to match the suite brand.NEXT_PUBLIC_ASSIST_DL_*, RUSTDESK_SERVER_KEY, NEXT_PUBLIC_ASSIST_CUSTOM_CLIENT) let you drop in Boom Assist installers later; setting the flag auto-collapses the flow to Install → Connect. Meanwhile the free client shows a one-click copy for server host + key instead of a settings hunt.Still to do: (1) run the SQL to mark the Boom Media org internal/active; (2) commit + push to deploy to assistee.online; (3) grab the relay public key and set RUSTDESK_SERVER_KEY; (4) later — self-compile the branded client (free) or buy Pro. Engine layer lives in src/lib/rustdesk.ts.
#8b7bf0), and strip "RustDesk" from the session-invite UI. Set your internal Boom Media org to an active/internal plan so the trial + "Upgrade Now" nag disappears (you're the admin/owner).src/lib/rustdesk.ts for a Zoho API adapter; the session-invite page generates a Zoho link/PIN instead of asking for a RustDesk ID.devices table.SaaS/Assistee/src/lib/rustdesk.ts.