TeamViewer is one of the most popular applications to share computer screens with other people. However, TeamViewer is very expensive. Is there a TeamViewer alternative? Yes there is… and it’s 100% free.

We found a TeamViewer alternative one day because, as a business, we had to provide technical support to a remote Windows computer. TeamViewer is very clear about their software being used in a business should have a business license.

From the screenshot below, you can see a single license is $34.90 per month. What TeamViewer doesn’t tell you… until halfway through the purchase process… is a yearly subscription is your only option. Ugh. This now puts your TeamViewer cost at $418.80 for a single year. More licenses require a bigger financial commitment.

We immediately went into TeamViewer alternative mode.

As an alternative, we found Quick Assist from Microsoft.

Quick Assist is 100% free and offered by Microsoft, which allows users to share their computer screen and give full control to the other person. There is no time limit for a sharing session, no limit to the number of times you can use the tool, and no restriction on who you can use the tool with.

You need to download the free utility from the Microsoft App Store, and that process is extremely easy. Type “quick assist” into the search bar and Windows will provide a link to download.

After download, the Quick Assist app is ready for use.

By launching the app you can either input a code from an assistant who is helping you remotely, or you can select the option to assist someone else. See the image below.

To assist another person you will need a Microsoft account, and if you don’t have one, Quick Assist will guide you through the process in just a couple of steps.

If you are receiving help from someone, a Microsoft account is not required.

Below are a couple screenshots showing the connection flow between an “assistant” and the person receiving help.

It is worth noting, the Quick Assist application is 100% free, but there are some limitations to it. For example, there is no built-in chat feature like in TeamViewer; however, we found that launching Notepad allows both users to type and communicate during the session. Of course, the two can always pick up a phone and communicate the old-school way.

The only potentially serious limitation is the fact Quick Assist does not allow file transfers between computers. In our situation, we needed to supply a file to the client and simply emailed the files instead. However, if email is part of the problem, this could be a roadblock.

That said, for our use case, we found an excellent TeamViewer alternative that cost nothing, was quick to set up, and had all the features we needed.

The other thing to consider is that Quick Assist is a Microsoft product designed for Microsoft Windows. The tool does not work on other operating systems.

So the next time you need to share a computer screen with someone off-site, the Quick Assist tool is a strong alternative to the popular TeamViewer application.