polarvsrustdesk
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| polar | rustdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 92/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #1 of 22 in Remote Desktop |
| GitHub stars | 10 436 | 127 412 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +157 | +2 940 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 7 |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | 1.5.0 · 25 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Python | Rust |
Which one should you pick?
rustdesk scores 92/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.
rustdesk ships more often: 7 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.
If you want the quickest setup, rustdesk is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.
rustdesk is growing faster right now (+2 940 stars in 30 days).
polar details →rustdesk details →
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