Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the demand for screen-sharing applications has gotten a sudden spike. Since most of the people are working from home, the organizations are exploring several ways to establish effective communication with their employees.
Screen-sharing is the method in which a person shares the screen of his system with one or more people. It is generally used for the following purposes:
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- For organizing or attending the meetings between co-workers.
- For a collaboration between team members working on a project.
- Also done for communicating with the clients. Like project presentation or demonstration.
- For providing technical support to clients or a team member’s computer issue.
- Providing guidance to a new member of the team on how to work on a particular application.
There are a number of applications available on the web for online video-conferencing, collaboration, and screen-sharing. Because of the global pandemic, many companies are providing their helping hand to the people who are working from home. In this quest, many screen-sharing applications are available for free to use for a short time. Other limitations, such as the time limits on meetings, the number of participants allowed, and more such have also been temporarily lifted.
In this guide, we have listed the top free screen-sharing applications, that would ease your work from home problems.
The list is categorized into 3 major groups according to the application’s additional functionalities.
Applications with Screen Sharing as the only Function
In this section, we have gathered the top application whose sole purpose is just sharing the screen with the others.
1. Mikogo
Mikogo is the fast, efficient, and easy-to-use screen-sharing application that offers you to securely conduct online meetings, presentations, webinars, sales calls, web conferencing, and more.
Mikogo’s desktop sharing feature is quite speedy, and the presenter can easily use it to share their screen with the participant of the meeting. Whatever the presenter would show – the app, the document, or anything else, can be viewed live remotely by other participants on their respective system’s screens. For security, Mikogo uses AES encryption.
The great thing about Mikogo is that the participants need not download or install a plugin or app because it is a 100% browser-based app.
Mikogo supports voice conferencing but not the video conferencing.
2. Screenleap
Screenlap is another great screen-sharing application that lets you spontaneously share the screen with your team members. It is also a browser-based application; you do not need any add-ons for running it. And hence it is supported by every device that has a browser in it. It comes with a free plan and other paid plans.
The free plan would let you take two calls per day, with up to eight participants, and 40 minutes per day. The free plan does not support audio or video conferencing, but there is a chat window that could be used for communication purposes. For using it, you have to sign-up on the website, but it is not a lengthy process.
3. Show My PC
ShowMyPC is another screen-sharing program that serves you to access the screens of other systems. For using ShowMyPC, the person who would be sharing the screen need to download an app. That person would get the access code to share it with others for collaboration. The participants would be able to see the presenter’s screen but cannot control it. There is no video or voice conferencing option, but a chat window is available. It is best for performing web conferences, online classes, performing demos, and more.
4. Dead Simple Screen Sharing
Just as per its name, Dead Simple Screen Sharing is dead simple to use. It provides you with a simple, user-friendly screen sharing tool to present your work with other participants. The tool supports all types of devices, web browsers, and operating systems, providing you the flexibility to organize or join meetings even on the phone. The tool does not require to download anything on your system, and also no sign-up needed to use it.
Dead Simple Screen-sharing provides you an option of a high-quality audio conferencing. So your meeting would be quite productive with a crystal clear voice. The application has a recording function too. So due to some reasons, if someone from the team has missed the meeting, then the recording could be easily shared with them.
There is an open-source version of the Dead Simple Screen-sharing is also available on GitHub that lets you customize the application according to your work preference.
Application with Screen Sharing through Video-conferencing
This section groups the top applications that also support the video-conferencing while sharing the screen.
1. Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet is a multi-platform video-conferencing service that offers screen-sharing capabilities while on call. It also provides the meeting presenter the ability to share the YouTube videos with the other participants of the meetings. You don’t need to create an account or download an app for using Jitsi.
The meetings are hosted on the web browsers, and a Chrome extension is also available. However, it is not compulsory. It is an open-source application, so wholly free to use.
The invitation to the attendees could be quickly sent via a custom URL.
While on a meeting, the participants can exchange messages and emojis using integrated chat support.
2. Skype
This might be a familiar name for you. Skype is one of the popular video conferencing and messaging app. This Microsoft owned application also provides you an option to organize the video meetings without any sign-ups. This free video conferencing also supports screen sharing and is web-based, too, if you don’t want to download and install the app.
3. AnyMeeting
AnyMeeting is another great video-conferencing plus screen-sharing app. It screen-sharing option tool also includes application window sharing, and individual Chrome tab sharing options. The participants of the meeting can also comment on the shared screen in real-time while the meeting is still going on.
However, these all features are actually available in AnyMeeting’s Pro Video Conferencing plan, which generally costs $13 per user per month. But the good thing is the developer company of AnyMeeting has decided to make it free to the users for the rest of 2020.
4. Google Hangouts
Google Hangout is a handy video-conferencing application that also supports screen sharing with others. While in a call, you have an option to be a presenter and start sharing your screen with the other participants of the class. Hangouts is free to use, and all the participants just need a Google account to join the meeting.
One of the advantages of using the Hangouts is that the meeting organizer can schedule meetings through Google Calendar and share the meeting URL with other attendees.
Applications with Screen Sharing through Remote Access
This section comprises of the applications that provide access to the collaborator along with screen-sharing.
1. AnyDesk
AnyDesk, founded in 2014, is a unique remote desktop access program that is free to use for personal use, and its business plan starts with $11 per month. The application is based on a unique codec, DeskRT, which is owned by the Anydesk itself. DeskRT allows latency-free collaboration, whether you are across the hall or half-way down the earth. It also works great with lower bandwidth internet.
However, it is not web-based; you need to download a small size application from the official website. The best part is that it is a cross-platform application. It means that you can share your Windows 10 laptop screen with a person carrying an Android phone.
2. Chrome Remote Desktop
Chrome Remote Desktop would let you access another device through a Chrome Browser, a Chromebook, or an Android or iOS device which has Chrome browser. You can set it for short-term access like during technical support and also for the longer-term for the meeting and remote accessing the files and applications of the other device.
It is also a cross-platform application that supports all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.
3. TeamViewer
TeamViewer is another excellent application that lets you control the PC of other people as if you are controlling your own system. You can customize to show a part of the screen or an individual application if you don’t want to share the whole desktop. You also have the option of sharing files, chatting while at the conference, and a whiteboard for demonstration purposes. TeamViewer is free for personal and non-commercial use. It requires downloading an application.
4. UltraViewer
UltraViewer lets you control the system of other people using the remote-access. You would feel as if you are using their laptop instead of yours. There is also an option of exchanging files via the chat window. You can also turn OFF and ON the chat. It also supports screen sharing with more than one computer. However, it is only available for Windows.
Peter is an Electrical Engineer whose primary interest is tinkering with his computer. He is passionate about Windows 10 Platform and enjoys writing tips and tutorials about it.
Why have you not mentioned Quick Access, which is built into Windows 10? I used Teamviewer to help friends and family with computer problems many times in the past, but do have some friends that don’t care to install new applications on their PCs. Once Windows 10 came out, those friends that upgraded to it have no problem using an application already in the system. Some of my friends still use Windows 7, so I keep Teamviewer around for them. I have some other friends that don’t like to use entirely web-based applications, citing security as the reason, so I have not tried several of the methods you mention in this article.
Being this is basically a Windows Knowledge Web site, I concur, why isn’t Quick Assist Covered? Free, Simple to use for that particular moment in time.
Quick Assist is handy but you do need to have good internet speed on the clients end for it to work well. Also pasting info on a clients PC doesn’t always work. If both PCs are Win10 it’s one to consider. 🙂