[REQUEST] Does anybody use ScreenConnect on premise?

[tek9]

I've been using a self hosted ScreenConnect on premise server for the past 11 years. I got it a steep discount via the Technibble discount. I've been renewing the maintenance license over the years, enjoying the TN discount (although they keep on raising the price) and it's been working great for most part.
A few weeks ago, I guess after they were hit with a few "events", they decided to lock things down a bit and are now requiring on premise installs to use the partners' own code signing certificate with the most recent update. I've been trying to wrap my head around all their documentation, and it's very confusing. Apparently, I need to purchase an EV code signing cert at an annual fee, then store that cert in an Azure Key Vault, at a monthly fee, get validated after a few days, and then hopefully everything will start to work.
After all that, tallying up the prices, and considering that they're offering a 40% discount to move to the cloud hosted solution, I'm wondering if it's still worth it to keep going self hosted or just switch to cloud.
Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[Porthos]

they're offering a 40% discount to move to the cloud hosted solution

Most likely for the first year only, like everyone else who offers a discount.
Is the full price in your budget?

 

[Markverhyden]

Most likely for the first year only, like everyone else who offers a discount.
Is the full price in your budget?

aka loss leader. And no one wants to loose long term. I got a Splashtop SOS promo several years ago. 100/year which was like 1/2 to 1/3 the normal price. When they auto renewed it at the same rate I was pleasantly surprised. But they put the kibosh on it after 5 or 6 years. I currently self-host SimpleHelp in a Azure VM. License was like $700 for 2 seats and included 1 year of updates. After that the updates stop but the rest works just fine.

 

[tek9]

I understand that, and they'll probably raise the base price as well, on the cloud and self-hosted instances.
What I want to know is this: up until now the cost of going self hosted for a single concurrent license, considering the TN discount, was much lower than the cloud hosted version. Now with the requirement to purchase a code signing cert, the gap between the two is very narrow, if at all, not to mention the hassle to maintain it going forward. Aside from that, the cloud hosted version allows for up to 3 concurrent sessions, which is helpful at times.
If I can find a cheaper, easier way to get a code signing cert, that would be ideal. But they seem to start at like $250/year, plus the monthly cloud key vault storage and whatnot. Unless I'm missing something?

 

[Sky-Knight]

Not anymore... and I would NOT recommend it. They get hit with a massive zero day at least once a year, and the liability if you're slow on the patching is BRUTAL.

 

[timeshifter]

I had a sweetheart deal on ScreenConnect a while back. It was great. I hosted on a Digital Ocean server. But as time wore on I got more concerned about being responsible if something happened. I prefer to put that responsibility (mostly) on someone else - a larger entity that hosts the stuff and they have to maintain it and keep it secure. If they eff up and let stuff through then I'm not in crisis and damage control mode (well not as much as if it was my eff up).

I went with Syncro MPS. $139 per month. It's a full RMM etc but I use it for the free Splashtop. You can use as many concurrent connections as your please.

 

[jflitney]

Check with sales about grandfathered license.

 

[Diggs]

I currently self-host SimpleHelp

As did I. Not sure why SimpleHelp hasn't gotten more traction in our market. Their standard system is only one time $300 for a seat to monitor up to 1,000 machines. (Just say'n...)

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Diggs I don't because that amount of money isn't sufficient to provide the technical expertise to fuel proper investigations and defensive stances for the product in question.

Their track record so far isn't all that bad, but that still doesn't mean much.

https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-36364/Simple-help.html

For this price point, I think you're better off deploying MeshCentral somewhere. https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral

The community that stands behind it is large enough to absorb some of the realistic risk.

https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-34500/Meshcentral.html

Hosting that can power this is cheapest with Vultr, I'm using the $6 / month "High Performance" Linux plan. But doing all of this does require you to know linux, how to harden it, and how to patch it.

Finally, SimpleHelp very much is NOT $300 one time, that support only lasts a year and that's your updates too. If this thing isn't patched current, you're being negligent. So it's more properly described as $300 / year. Which is a great deal! But if their coding standards aren't up to snuff, it's not a ton of money left for updates.

I just showed you the cheapest Linux hosting I know of that can power this, that's $72 / year. That leaves ONE HOUR of engineer time left at American rates to ensure the code is good, per year. I know economies of scale are a thing, and I know I can triple that investment by hiring in India... but still there are limits. The investment here doesn't feel right.

 

[tek9]

I had a sweetheart deal on ScreenConnect a while back. It was great. I hosted on a Digital Ocean server. But as time wore on I got more concerned about being responsible if something happened. I prefer to put that responsibility (mostly) on someone else - a larger entity that hosts the stuff and they have to maintain it and keep it secure. If they eff up and let stuff through then I'm not in crisis and damage control mode (well not as much as if it was my eff up).

I went with Syncro MPS. $139 per month. It's a full RMM etc but I use it for the free Splashtop. You can use as many concurrent connections as your please.

I, too, use SyncroMSP, but I prefer ScreenConnect for Remote Access. The Splashtop included with Syncro isn't as feature-rich as ScreenConnect and it's also slower to connect than ScreenConnect.

 

[JoelM]

I'm also using a on-premise ScreenConnect. I have 2 concurrent licenses and am trying to verify with them what the actual cost of the migration will be but also what will my renewal cost be in one year.
Trying to get clear info before making the decision to switch to the cloud version. If you find out let me know.

 

[allanc]

I'm also using a on-premise ScreenConnect. I have 2 concurrent licenses and am trying to verify with them what the actual cost of the migration will be but also what will my renewal cost be in one year.
Trying to get clear info before making the decision to switch to the cloud version. If you find out let me know.

Me too and I was on a grandfathered plan.
I also use SimpleHelp.
I just (yesterday) started ScreenConnect's Cloud-Hosted Trial which I am going to convert to two concurrent sessions at $131 USD/Year each.
I prepaid a year of maintenance in March which they will credit towards my first year's licenses.
This is assuming, of course, that they will invoice as agreed.

The migration was very smooth for the clients who were online.
Hopefully, most of the others will go online after the weekend.

 

[tek9]

Me too and I was on a grandfathered plan.
I also use SimpleHelp.
I just (yesterday) started ScreenConnect's Cloud-Hosted Trial which I am going to convert to two concurrent sessions at $131 USD/Year each.
I prepaid a year of maintenance in March which they will credit towards my first year's licenses.
This is assuming, of course, that they will invoice as agreed.

The migration was very smooth for the clients who were online.
Hopefully, most of the others will go online after the weekend.

Same here re: the grandfathered plan. I decided to switch to the cloud version and migrated over the online systems on Friday. Hoping to get the rest when they return to office.
I only have one concurrent license in my self-hosted plan. I'm wondering if they'll honor the $131 per session just for the one license I have or even for multiple.

 

[allanc]

Specially mention the $131 type of license *before* you click the 'buy' button.