ORelay vs TeamViewer

TeamViewer is the best-known remote desktop product, with a free version for personal use and business licences sold per licensed user and per managed device, plus add-ons for monitoring, asset management and mobile devices.

If you support strangers’ computers all day and want the name everyone knows, TeamViewer is the safer buy. If you look after a known set of computers, your own, your family’s or a client’s, ORelay is the better fit. The phone is a real way in, the computer’s health and alerts sit beside the screen rather than in a paid add-on, it costs less than half, and its free plan does not stop working when it decides you are at work.

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

Side by side

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

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Free use	Yes: Free for up to 5 computers, no time limit, personal or commercial	Partly: Free for personal use only. Usage that looks commercial is restricted; every session ends after 48 hours
Cheapest paid plan	Yes: Pro, $20 a month: 3 people and 50 computers included	Yes: Remote Access, US$24.90 a month billed yearly: 1 licensed user, at most 3 managed devices
A plan for 50 computers	Yes: Pro, $20 a month, with 3 people included	Yes: Business, US$50.90 a month billed yearly: 1 licensed user, at most 200 managed devices
Computers it reaches	Yes: Windows, Mac, Linux	Yes: Windows, Mac, Linux, and more
From a phone	Yes: Android and iPhone apps: see the screen and take control	Yes: Android and iOS apps
From a browser	Yes: Yes, any browser, nothing to install on your side	Yes: Yes (web client)
Unattended access	Yes: Yes: the agent connects out, and stays connected	Yes: Yes, within the plan’s managed-device count
Files	Yes: Browse, upload, download, send from your phone	Yes: File transfer
Terminal	Yes: bash, sh, PowerShell or cmd, or one command with its output	Partly: A remote terminal to the Windows command prompt (Easy Access, Windows 10 1809 or later); scripts with the Monitoring add-on
Health readings and alerts	Yes: Processor, memory, disk, network; alerts by e-mail, webhook, ntfy or app	Partly: Device Monitoring, a paid add-on: processor, memory, services, threshold alerts
Scheduled tasks, software inventory	Yes: Scheduled tasks; software inventory with CSV export	Partly: Asset Management, a paid add-on, with a CSV export; scheduled patching with Remote Management
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: TeamViewer’s is what its own pages say, 49 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	TeamViewer
Single sign-on (SAML or OIDC)	No: No SAML or OIDC yet	Partly: SAML 2.0 single sign-on, on the Enterprise/Tensor license only; OIDC not mentioned¹
Sign in with Google, Microsoft, Apple or GitHub	Yes: Yes: Google, Apple, Microsoft and GitHub, once added under Account	Partly: Create an account with Google or Microsoft, for personal use only; Apple and GitHub not mentioned²
Two-step sign-in with an authenticator app	Yes: Yes, with recovery codes	Yes: Two-factor sign-in with any TOTP authenticator app, plus a 16-character recovery code³
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	Partly: With SSO on a domain, its users are redirected to the identity provider; Enterprise/Tensor license¹

People and permissions

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Roles	Yes: Yes: owner, admin, support and viewer; admin, support or viewer on a single computer	Yes: Tensor has company administrator, user administrator and member roles, plus custom roles (up to 100)⁴
Access per computer or group	Yes: Yes, per computer or by group; support and viewers see only what they are given	Yes: Devices or device groups can be shared with chosen users or user groups at set permission levels⁵
Access that expires by itself	Yes: Yes: a day, a week, a month or always; share codes expire	Partly: Conditional access rules can expire and be limited to time slots; Tensor with the Conditional Access add-on⁶
Share one computer with someone outside	Yes: Yes, with a share code made at the computer, which stays in its owner’s account	Partly: Not stated on its pages
Several organizations under one login	Yes: Yes, each with its own database	Yes: Multi-tenancy to manage each client from one console, stated for TeamViewer ONE⁷
Audit log	Yes: Yes: every session, command, file, power and settings change, with who did it	Partly: Event log of sessions and Management Console actions, kept one year; Tensor license, off until an admin turns it on⁸

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Active Directory	Partly: Read-only: users, computers and groups through a domain controller you allow; MSP and Enterprise	Partly: AD Connector syncs users from chosen AD groups into TeamViewer accounts; computers not read; Premium and above⁹
Microsoft Entra ID sync	No: No: Entra ID is used for sign-in only	Partly: Users and groups sync from Entra ID by SCIM; needs a Tensor license and an Entra Premium subscription¹⁰
LDAP	No: No	Partly: Only inside the AD Connector, which takes LDAP identifiers for AD groups; no separate LDAP sign-in stated⁹

The screen

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Multiple monitors	Yes: Yes: switch between monitors in the session	Yes: Switch between the remote monitors or show each in its own window¹¹
Ctrl+Alt+Del	Yes: Yes, on Windows	Yes: Send Ctrl+Alt+Del from the session toolbar¹¹
The Windows sign-in screen	Yes: Yes, with nobody signed in	Partly: Policy setting gives full access to partners connecting at the Windows login screen; off until activated¹²
Clipboard	Partly: Text pasted into the computer through a box; no two-way clipboard	Yes: Clipboards sync both ways, or paste as simulated keystrokes¹¹
Remote printing	No: No	Yes: Remote printing, needing a print driver; not on Windows 11 on ARM¹¹
Session recording	No: No, by design: the screen is never stored	Yes: Policies record incoming or outgoing sessions, saved locally or uploaded to SFTP (Tensor)¹³
Sessions start view-only	Yes: Yes: taking control is a separate, logged step	Partly: An admin can set Confirm all or View and show; the default level is not stated¹⁴
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	Yes: With Confirm all, the person at the computer approves each feature before it is used¹⁴
Blank the physical screen	Yes: Yes, on Windows and Mac; the blanked screen says who is connected	Yes: A security image hides the remote screen during a session; needs a license¹¹

Beyond the screen

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
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: Remote terminal to the Windows command prompt without a desktop session; needs Easy Access, Windows 10 1809 or later¹⁵
Scripts across many computers	Partly: Quick fixes run on one computer or several at once; no script library yet	Partly: Script execution on many devices at once, Windows scripts only; Linux and macOS scripts run on one device; Monitoring add-on¹⁶
Scheduled tasks	Yes: Yes: timer or cron, with every run’s output; Pro and above	Partly: Patch deployment and backups run on schedules; scripts run on demand; general scheduled jobs not stated¹⁷
Software inventory	Yes: Yes: every installed program, searchable, with a CSV export; refresh on Pro and above	Partly: Software list per device with CSV export, in Asset Management, sold as an add-on¹⁸
Patch management	No: No	Partly: Windows and macOS updates plus third-party apps, in the Remote Management add-on¹⁹
Power actions	Yes: Yes: shut down, restart, sleep, hibernate, lock, sign out; now or up to an hour later	Partly: Reboot (normal or safe mode), lock now and sign out in a session; shutdown and scheduling not stated¹¹
Wake-on-LAN	No: No	Yes: Wake a sleeping or powered-off computer; Macs only from sleep²⁰

Files

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Browse folders without a session	Yes: Yes, from the browser and the phone	Partly: Separate file-transfer connection mode, no desktop session; folder browsing not stated²¹
Upload and download	Yes: Yes, from the browser or the phone, over the agent’s own connection	Yes: File transfer window in a session; File Box shares files with the end user¹¹
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: Not stated on its pages
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	No: No stated limit; its page says it imposes no strict file size limits²²

Monitoring

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Processor, memory, disk, network	Yes: Yes, live, and buffered on the computer while the service is unreachable	Partly: Monitoring checks CPU, memory and services; history over time not stated; add-on²³
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	Partly: Threshold alerts from monitoring policies, with Detected and Resolved states; Device Monitoring add-on²³
Where alerts go	Yes: Yes: e-mail, webhook (Discord, Slack or JSON), ntfy and the app; no SMS	Partly: E-mail to company members and push to the mobile app; no webhook, chat or SMS stated²³
Network devices (SNMP)	No: No	Partly: Monitoring is said to cover network devices; SNMP not stated²³

Deployment

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Silent installers	Yes: Yes: Windows MSI, Mac pkg, Debian and RPM packages	Partly: MSI package for mass deployment is part of the Corporate license and above²⁴
Many computers at once	Yes: Yes: enrolment keys, each computer with its own certificate; Pro and above	Partly: Mass deployment by MSI script, Corporate license and above²⁴
Intune, Jamf, Group Policy, Ansible	Yes: Yes: Intune, Configuration Manager, Group Policy, Jamf Pro, Kandji and Ansible kits, made in the browser	Partly: Guides for Intune and Jamf Pro; deployment guide is for Premium, Corporate and Tensor²⁵
The agent updates itself	Yes: Yes, signed updates	Yes: Update policy installs new versions automatically on full and Host clients²⁶
Signed installers	Yes: Yes: Windows signed, Mac notarized, Linux packages signed	Yes: Software is signed with DigiCert code signing; macOS notarization not stated²⁷
Linux desktops, including Wayland	Yes: Yes: X11 and Wayland; under GNOME the person at the computer approves the first session	Partly: Linux desktop supported; Wayland is experimental, X11 advised for incoming connections²⁸

Security

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Encryption	Yes: Yes: mutual TLS 1.3 between each computer and the service; HTTPS for the browser and the apps	Yes: Mutually authenticated TLS 1.3, AES-256-GCM session data, end-to-end encrypted sessions²⁷
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	Yes: Audits against ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and 3, TISAX, ISO 9001; HIPAA-compliant data centers²⁷
Where data is held	Partly: United States; no choice of region	Partly: Servers holding sensitive data are in Germany or Austria; no region choice stated²⁷

Business

What	ORelay	TeamViewer
Pricing model	Yes: A flat price per plan: Free, Pro $20, MSP $150, Enterprise $500 a month	Yes: Per licensed user with concurrent channels and device limits; add-ons by endpoint; Tensor by quote²⁹
Trial or free plan	Yes: Yes: a free plan of 5 computers, with no time limit	Yes: 14-day trial of all features; 30-day add-on trials; free plan for personal, non-commercial use only³⁰
Monthly or annual	Yes: Yes: monthly, or yearly at ten months’ worth; cancel any time	No: Annual subscriptions only; renews every 12 months, cancel 28 days before the term ends²⁹
Support	Yes: Yes: e-mail and phone, by the people who build it	Yes: Live chat (English 24/5), phone and support requests for licensed users; paid Premium support with an SLA³¹
API and webhooks	Partly: Webhooks for alerts; the viewers’ REST API is not yet documented for others	Yes: Web API (REST, OAuth 2.0) for users, groups, sessions, reports, monitoring and patch management; webhooks not mentioned³²

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

Every page loaded; nothing returned 403 or 404. https://www.teamviewer.com/en/free-plan/ now redirects to https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/pricing/overview/, where prices are drawn by script and are not in the page text. The pricing and product-description pages are tables whose feature rows are collapsed or drawn by script, so feature cells could not be read there. The comparison pages' check marks do not survive as text. TeamViewer's own comparison pages claim for itself, for TeamViewer Tensor and ONE, single sign-on, conditional access, auditability, multitenancy and mass deployment, plus AES-256 end-to-end encryption, two-factor sign-in and SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR compliance. One of them (best-remote-access-software) says AES-256 with TLS 1.2, where the security statement says TLS 1.3. Plan names vary between pages (Enterprise and Tensor are the same top tier).

Where TeamViewer is the better choice

Attended support of people you have never met: the other person installs TeamViewer, reads you an ID, and you are in. ORelay is built for computers that stay yours.
Supporting phones and tablets themselves, as an add-on. ORelay reaches computers.
Integrations with ServiceNow, Zendesk, Freshworks and the like, and a large partner ecosystem.
A name a client’s IT department already trusts.

Where ORelay is the better choice

Price: ORelay Pro is $20 a month for 50 computers; TeamViewer Business is US$50.90 for one user, and its monitoring and inventory are paid add-ons on top.
The free plan: 5 computers, no time limit, and no commercial-use detector ending your session in the middle of a fix.
Everything in one place: the screen, a terminal, files, power, health readings, alerts, scheduled tasks and the software list, with the same computers in the browser and on the phone.
The person at the computer decides: they can switch remote access off at any time, 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.

TeamViewer, as shown on October 28, 2026

Remote Access: US$24.90 a month, billed yearly: 1 licensed user, 1 concurrent connection, 3 managed devices
Business: US$50.90 a month, billed yearly: 1 licensed user, up to 200 managed devices
Premium: US$120.90 a month, billed yearly: 15 licensed users, 1 concurrent connection, 300 managed devices
Corporate: US$245.90 a month, billed yearly: 30 licensed users, 3 concurrent connections, 500 managed devices

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.

Start free See how it works

Sources

TeamViewer prices and license overview (US)
TeamViewer: connection blocked after timeout (free version, commercial use, 48-hour limit)
Read on October 28, 2026. TeamViewer is a trademark of its owner, which has no connection with ORelay Studios LLC.