ORelay vs Pulseway

Pulseway is remote monitoring and management built around its phone app: monitoring and alerts for Windows, Mac, Linux and network devices, remote control, patch management and scripting, with antivirus, backup, ticketing and documentation as add-ons, sold to IT departments and managed service providers.

Pulseway and ORelay want the same thing, the computers in your pocket, for different buyers. Pulseway is a full RMM for a team that patches, scripts and tickets, priced by quote after a demo (its comparison pages say $27 a month, with no unit). ORelay is for the owner of a few computers, or the small shop that looks after a few dozen: a price on the page, a free plan, nobody to call.

The ORelay dashboard: six computers in two groups with their status, processor and memory, the latest alerts and activity.

Side by side

Pulseway’s column is what its own pages said on October 28, 2026; the sources are at the end.

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Free use	Yes: Free for up to 5 computers, no time limit, personal or commercial	No: No free plan; its pages offer a free trial, whose link leads to a demo request
Cheapest paid plan	Yes: Pro, $20 a month: 3 people and 50 computers included	Partly: No price list; its comparison pages say $27 a month with no unit, and its Pro plan covers up to 50 endpoints
A plan for 50 computers	Yes: Pro, $20 a month	Partly: Pro, up to 50 endpoints; the price by quote
Computers it reaches	Yes: Windows, Mac, Linux	Yes: Windows, Mac, Linux, and network devices
From a phone	Yes: Android and iPhone apps: see the screen and take control	Yes: iOS and Android apps: monitoring, alerts and remote control of Windows and Mac
From a browser	Yes: Yes, any browser, nothing to install on your side	Yes: Web console
Unattended access	Yes: Yes: the agent connects out, and stays connected	Yes: Yes, with unlimited sessions
Files	Yes: Browse, upload, download, send from your phone	Yes: A file browser, and file transfer during a remote control session
Terminal	Yes: bash, sh, PowerShell or cmd, or one command with its output	Yes: Terminal and PowerShell commands from the phone app; scripting and automation
Health readings and alerts	Yes: Processor, memory, disk, network; alerts by e-mail, webhook, ntfy or app	Yes: Yes: its core, for computers and network devices
Scheduled tasks, software inventory	Yes: Scheduled tasks; software inventory with CSV export	Partly: Scripts and tasks on a schedule; a software inventory is not on its pages
Patch management	No: No: ORelay does not patch	Yes: Operating systems and third-party apps
Nothing opens on the computer	Yes: Nothing opens on the computer: it only connects out	Yes: Outbound too
Self-hosted option	No: No: ORelay runs the service	No: No (cloud service)
Open source	No: No	No: No

Show the full comparison53 rows in 10 groups: signing in, people and permissions, directory, the screen, beyond the screen, files, monitoring, deployment, security, business

Both columns were last checked on October 28, 2026: Pulseway’s is what its own pages say, 44 of 53 rows answered there and the rest marked “not stated on its pages” rather than guessed. Each of its answers carries a footnote to the page it was read from, with the sentence as its tooltip.

Signing in

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Single sign-on (SAML or OIDC)	No: No SAML or OIDC yet	Partly: OpenID Connect SSO for the RMM with Google and Microsoft; SAML not stated for the RMM¹
Sign in with Google, Microsoft, Apple or GitHub	Yes: Yes: Google, Apple, Microsoft and GitHub, once added under Account	Partly: Google and Microsoft accounts through OpenID Connect, which an admin sets up first¹
Two-step sign-in with an authenticator app	Yes: Yes, with recovery codes	Yes: Authenticator-app (TOTP) two-step sign-in; admins can require it for every user²
Passkeys	Yes: Yes, on the web and in the apps	Partly: Not stated on its pages
Require the company sign-in	Partly: With Microsoft Entra ID only; MSP and Enterprise	Yes: Admins can enforce SSO for all users; administrators keep a password sign-in as fallback¹

People and permissions

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Roles	Yes: Yes: owner, admin, support and viewer; admin, support or viewer on a single computer	Yes: Built-in Administrators team plus user-defined teams with Full Access, Read-only or No Access³
Access per computer or group	Yes: Yes, per computer or by group; support and viewers see only what they are given	Yes: Each team gets an access level per organization, site or agent group³
Access that expires by itself	Yes: Yes: a day, a week, a month or always; share codes expire	Partly: Only Remote Control on Demand links expire (10 minutes if not started; 120-minute default session); expiring grants not stated⁴
Share one computer with someone outside	Yes: Yes, with a share code made at the computer, which stays in its owner’s account	Partly: End-user accounts can be given Remote Control on their own devices through the Client Portal; sharing with outsiders not stated⁵
Several organizations under one login	Yes: Yes, each with its own database	Partly: Organizations, sites and agent groups with access set per team; data separation not described³
Audit log	Yes: Yes: every session, command, file, power and settings change, with who did it	Yes: Audit log of account activity with date, user and device⁶

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Active Directory	Partly: Read-only: users, computers and groups through a domain controller you allow; MSP and Enterprise	Partly: Domain users and groups through a domain controller, with unlock, reset password and group changes; computers not mentioned⁷
Microsoft Entra ID sync	No: No: Entra ID is used for sign-in only	Partly: Entra ID user sync is documented for its PSA product, not the RMM⁸
LDAP	No: No	Partly: Not stated on its pages

The screen

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Multiple monitors	Yes: Yes: switch between monitors in the session	Yes: Shows all of the remote computer's screens, and can black out the screen and block input⁵
Ctrl+Alt+Del	Yes: Yes, on Windows	Yes: Sends Ctrl+Alt+Del; on Remote Control on Demand it needs elevated privileges⁹
The Windows sign-in screen	Yes: Yes, with nobody signed in	Partly: States access to macOS computers with no signed-in user; a Windows sign-in screen is not stated⁹
Clipboard	Partly: Text pasted into the computer through a box; no two-way clipboard	Partly: Pastes the local clipboard into the session as keystrokes; no two-way sharing stated⁹
Remote printing	No: No	Partly: Not stated on its pages
Session recording	No: No, by design: the screen is never stored	Partly: Records remote control sessions, shared and private, for Windows agents only⁵
Sessions start view-only	Yes: Yes: taking control is a separate, logged step	Partly: Not stated on its pages
The person at the computer can switch it off	Yes: Yes: the ORelay window on the computer shows what remote users may do, and any of it can be switched off	Partly: Remote Control on Demand asks the user to start a session with user or elevated access; for installed agents not stated⁴
Blank the physical screen	Yes: Yes, on Windows and Mac; the blanked screen says who is connected	Yes: Can block the remote user's keyboard and mouse and blank the remote display⁹

Beyond the screen

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Terminal, or one command with its output	Yes: Yes: bash, sh, PowerShell or cmd, or one command with its output, in the browser and the apps	Partly: Terminal and PowerShell commands from the mobile app; a web or desktop terminal is not stated¹⁰
Scripts across many computers	Partly: Quick fixes run on one computer or several at once; no script library yet	Yes: Built-in scripts (Bash, PowerShell, VBScript) and your own script library¹¹
Scheduled tasks	Yes: Yes: timer or cron, with every run’s output; Pro and above	Yes: Scripts and tasks run on a schedule (occurrence, days and start time) or on demand¹²
Software inventory	Yes: Yes: every installed program, searchable, with a CSV export; refresh on Pro and above	Partly: Not stated on its pages
Patch management	No: No	Yes: Patches Windows, Mac and Linux plus more than 300 third-party titles, with approval and scheduling¹³
Power actions	Yes: Yes: shut down, restart, sleep, hibernate, lock, sign out; now or up to an hour later	Yes: Lock, log off, restart, shut down, suspend and hibernate from the app; scheduling not stated¹⁰
Wake-on-LAN	No: No	Yes: Wake on WAN; needs a wired adapter, BIOS support and UDP port 9 forwarded behind a router¹⁴

Files

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Browse folders without a session	Yes: Yes, from the browser and the phone	Yes: File Browser shows the target computer's folders and files and previews them, once switched on in policy or at the agent¹⁵
Upload and download	Yes: Yes, from the browser or the phone, over the agent’s own connection	Yes: Background file transfer to and from the remote computer during a remote control session⁹
Files kept in the service	Yes: Yes: copies kept in ORelay per plan; the vault encrypts files into your own Google Drive or OneDrive	Partly: Managed Files keeps files centrally to push to devices, encrypted at rest and in transit; not a copy of a computer's own files¹⁶
Size limits	Partly: 10 GB per file sent to a computer; stored files 1 GB on Free, 25 GB on Pro, 100 GB on MSP	Partly: Not stated on its pages

Monitoring

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Processor, memory, disk, network	Yes: Yes, live, and buffered on the computer while the service is unreachable	Partly: Real-time CPU temperature, network and memory readings are stated; disk and a history over time are not¹⁷
Alerts on a reading, or a computer going quiet	Yes: Yes: a reading over a threshold for a duration, or a computer offline; severity, acknowledge, history	Yes: Notifications on low memory, processor use above or below normal, closed ports and services¹⁸
Where alerts go	Yes: Yes: e-mail, webhook (Discord, Slack or JSON), ntfy and the app; no SMS	Yes: Slack, PagerDuty, Autotask and Zendesk tickets, and mobile app alerts¹⁹
Network devices (SNMP)	No: No	Yes: SNMP monitoring of network devices such as routers, switches and printers²⁰

Deployment

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Silent installers	Yes: Yes: Windows MSI, Mac pkg, Debian and RPM packages	Partly: Windows MSI installs silently with /qn; silent install for Mac and Linux packages is not stated²¹
Many computers at once	Yes: Yes: enrolment keys, each computer with its own certificate; Pro and above	Yes: Network-discovery mass deployment, and MSI installers made per organization, site and group²²
Intune, Jamf, Group Policy, Ansible	Yes: Yes: Intune, Configuration Manager, Group Policy, Jamf Pro, Kandji and Ansible kits, made in the browser	Partly: Not stated on its pages
The agent updates itself	Yes: Yes, signed updates	Partly: Not stated on its pages
Signed installers	Yes: Yes: Windows signed, Mac notarized, Linux packages signed	Yes: Windows and macOS agents and applications are code-signed; notarization not stated²³
Linux desktops, including Wayland	Yes: Yes: X11 and Wayland; under GNOME the person at the computer approves the first session	Partly: Linux agents (deb, rpm and others) are offered; remote control is stated for Windows and macOS only; Wayland not stated²⁴

Security

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Encryption	Yes: Yes: mutual TLS 1.3 between each computer and the service; HTTPS for the browser and the apps	Partly: Says end-to-end encryption, AES-256 with RSA key exchange; TLS version and mutual TLS not stated²³
The screen never stored, keys never logged	Yes: Yes: the screen is never recorded and what you type is never logged	Partly: Not stated on its pages
SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA	No: None yet	Partly: Names SOC 2 and ISO for its data centre; no attestation of Pulseway itself, no HIPAA or GDPR²³
Where data is held	Partly: United States; no choice of region	Partly: Cloud servers are in US East Coast data centres; a self-hosted Team server exists (FAQ); region choice not stated²³

Business

What	ORelay	Pulseway
Pricing model	Yes: A flat price per plan: Free, Pro $20, MSP $150, Enterprise $500 a month	Partly: Comparison tables show $27/month with no unit; no price list (pricing page leads to a demo); Pro plan: up to 50 endpoints (FAQ)²⁵
Trial or free plan	Yes: Yes: a free plan of 5 computers, with no time limit	Partly: A free trial is offered on its comparison pages; length and limits not stated, and its trial link now leads to a demo request²⁶
Monthly or annual	Yes: Yes: monthly, or yearly at ten months’ worth; cancel any time	Partly: Says "no contracts" on one page; its Atera page says an offer applies to annual or multi-year contracts²⁷
Support	Yes: Yes: e-mail and phone, by the people who build it	Yes: Phone for North America, APAC and EMEA, contact form, help centre and community forum; cost not stated²⁸
API and webhooks	Partly: Webhooks for alerts; the viewers’ REST API is not yet documented for others	Yes: REST API v3 with notification webhooks and device webhook commands²⁹

Pulseway’s pages, as read on October 28, 2026

pricing, onboarding and rmm-software redirect to the home page, and old addresses moved (/security to /resources/security, /remotedesktop to /products/remote-access-software, /features is a 404); /land/datto-rmm-alternative redirects to the home page, so Pulseway has no Datto comparison page now; /request/trial redirects to the demo form. Its Security White Paper, Unattended Installation Guide and UserManual PDFs return raw PDF data and could not be read as text; dev.pulseway.com refused earlier. The Entra ID sync and SAML documentation is for its PSA product; the RMM documents OpenID Connect only. Its comparison pages (Atera table, Kaseya, N-able, LogMeIn, remote-management, NinjaOne and TeamViewer posts) claim for itself a mobile app, AD monitoring, Linux agent, third-party patching, antivirus management, automation, real-time alerts, a free trial, "no contracts" and "$27/month", and nothing on sign-in, access control, file transfer or security; rows resting only on its help centre or product pages are marked by their source.

Where Pulseway is the better choice

Patching: operating systems and third-party apps, scheduled and reported.
Add-ons from the same vendor: antivirus, ransomware detection, backup, ticketing, documentation.
Network devices in the same console.
A team of technicians at scale, with the policies and automation an RMM is for.

Where ORelay is the better choice

A price on the page and a free plan: sign up, add a computer, and you are in; no demo, no quote.
Fifty computers for $20 a month, flat, with 3 people.
Made for the home and the small office as well as the IT shop: your parents’ computer and a client’s server in the same list.
The person at the computer decides: they can switch remote access off, and every session starts view-only.

What each costs

ORelay

Free: $0: 1 person, 5 computers, no time limit
Pro: $20 a month, or $200 a year: 3 people, 50 computers, scheduled tasks, inventory, webhooks, the cloud vault, enrolment keys
MSP: $150 a month, or $1,500 a year: 10 people, unlimited computers, Active Directory, company sign-in

Yearly plans are ten months’ worth. Everything is on the pricing page.

Pulseway, as shown on October 28, 2026

RMM: Not published: by quote, per endpoint: Monitoring and alerting, remote control, patch management, scripting; antivirus, ransomware detection, backup, ticketing and documentation as add-ons

Prices change; the sources below are the pages to check.

Try ORelay

Free for up to 5 computers, no time limit, nothing to open on your network.

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Sources

Pulseway pricing (no prices shown: “Get a demo”)
Pulseway: getting started with remote control from the app
Read on October 28, 2026. Pulseway is a trademark of its owner, which has no connection with ORelay Studios LLC.