These apps run your games on your gaming PC, send the picture to another screen, and send your controller input back to the PC. The PC does the work, so a TV box, a phone or an old laptop can play games it could never run itself. Sunshine with its Moonlight player apps, Steam Remote Play and Parsec all do this for free for personal use, but they differ in what you have to set up, which games they will stream, and whose servers sit between your devices.
Two questions decide most of the choice. Are your games all on Steam, or do some come from other launchers? And will you play only at home, or also from somewhere else, with friends joining in?
| Sunshine with Moonlight | Steam Remote Play | Parsec | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streams | Any game or app | Steam games | The whole desktop |
| Host computers | Windows, Linux, FreeBSD; macOS experimental | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS |
| Account needed | None | Steam | Parsec |
| Paid extras | Driver for newer controllers on Windows hosts | None listed | Warp plan for extra display features |
We compared the three from their own documentation, support pages and release notes in November 2026. The one with the most picture options and the fewest limits asks the most of you during setup, and the easiest one only officially covers one store.
Scores
1–5 per criterion · select a score for its reasoning and sources| # | Product | Devices you can play on | Computers you can stream from | Picture quality options | Playing away from home | Playing with friends | Accounts and outside servers | Cost | Graphics hardware on the host | What you can stream | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunshine | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.3 |
| 2 | Steam Remote Play | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3.8 |
| 3 | Parsec | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.1 |
How each criterion is scored
Devices you can play on
How many kinds of device can receive the stream, counting apps the project makes and community ports its own site lists, including ones marked experimental. Counted kinds: Windows PCs, Macs, Linux PCs, Android phones and tablets, iPhones and iPads, Apple TV, Android-based TVs and TV boxes (Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV), Chromebooks, web browsers, VR headsets, Raspberry Pi or other single-board computers, game consoles, and smart TVs with their own system (LG webOS, Samsung Tizen).
- 5 Ten or more kinds
- 4 Eight or nine kinds
- 3 Six or seven kinds
- 2 Three to five kinds
- 1 One or two kinds of device
Computers you can stream from
Which desktop operating systems can run the host side, the part that captures your games and sends them out. Counted systems: Windows, macOS, Linux and others such as FreeBSD.
- 5 Four or more operating systems
- 4 Windows, macOS and Linux, none documented as experimental or beta
- 3 Three operating systems, one of them documented as experimental or beta
- 2 Two operating systems
- 1 One operating system
Picture quality options
How many of these picture options the stream supports in a released version, on at least one combination of host and device, in any plan: HEVC (H.265) video, AV1 video, HDR, 4:4:4 color (sharper colored text), 4K resolution, frame rates above 60 per second, and setting the stream to the receiving screen's resolution automatically. Options documented only for a beta version don't count.
- 5 All seven options
- 4 Five or six options
- 3 Four options
- 2 Two or three options
- 1 None or one of the seven options
Playing away from home
What it takes to stream over the internet, for example from a phone on mobile data, rather than inside your home network.
- 5 Connects over the internet without router setup, and relays the stream through its own servers at no cost when a direct connection fails
- 4 Connects over the internet without router setup, but documents no free fallback route when a direct connection between the devices fails
- 3 Over the internet through automatic port opening on your router (UPnP), IPv6 or a VPN you set up, with no connection service of its own
- 2 Over the internet only after you forward ports on your router by hand
- 1 Home network only
Playing with friends
How other people join a game running on your PC over the internet, and how much control the host keeps over what they can do.
- 5 Friends join through an invite link or a friends list, and the host sets each guest's controller, keyboard and mouse access, in any game or app
- 4 Friends join through an invite link or a friends list, and the host sets each guest's controller, keyboard and mouse access, but only in games marked as supporting it
- 3 Friends join through an invite link or a friends list, and every guest gets the same input access
- 2 Another person's device can connect once you pair or approve it on the host, with no invite link or friends list and no per-guest input settings
- 1 No documented way for another person to join your stream
Accounts and outside servers
Whether you need an account with the developer, and whether the developer's servers take part in connecting your devices or carry the stream itself.
- 5 No account, and no documented part for the developer's servers; you pair your devices with each other
- 4 No account, but the developer's servers help devices find each other or connect
- 3 Needs an account; the developer's servers set up connections, but the stream goes directly between your devices
- 2 Needs an account; the developer's servers set up connections and can relay the stream
- 1 Needs an account, and every stream passes through the developer's servers
Cost
What streaming costs for personal use, and which streaming features are only in a paid plan, add-on or license.
- 5 Every documented streaming feature is free
- 4 Free, with one or two streaming features only in a paid plan or add-on
- 3 Free for personal use, with three or more streaming features only in a paid plan or add-on
- 2 Free trial, or free use with time or session limits
- 1 No free use
Graphics hardware on the host
Which graphics hardware the host can encode the video stream with: hardware encoders from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, and a software encoder that uses the processor when no supported encoder is present.
- 5 Hardware encoders from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, plus software encoding on any host
- 4 Software encoding on any host, with hardware encoders documented for one or two of NVIDIA, AMD and Intel
- 3 Hardware encoders from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, with no software encoding
- 2 Hardware encoders from two graphics makers, with no software encoding
- 1 A hardware encoder from one graphics maker only
What you can stream
Whether you can stream any game or app on the host, or only games from one store, and whether you can start games from the receiving device.
- 5 The whole desktop, plus a list you can fill with any game or app and start from the receiving device
- 4 The whole desktop, plus a list of one store's games you start from the receiving device
- 3 The whole desktop, so any game or app, started from the host's own screen
- 2 Games from one store; other games and the desktop work only unofficially or as a fallback
- 1 Only games from one store, with no way to reach other apps
Sunshine is an open-source host program for your gaming PC, and Moonlight is the free app you install on each screen you play on. We’d recommend the pair to anyone who will stream regularly, because it streams games from any launcher, needs no account, and documents more picture options than the other two.
We counted seven picture options: HEVC and AV1, newer video formats that keep more detail at the same bandwidth; HDR; 4:4:4 color, which keeps small colored text sharp; 4K; more than 60 frames per second; and matching the receiving screen’s resolution automatically. Sunshine and Moonlight document all seven, with Moonlight’s PC client going up to 120 frames per second and HDR official on Windows hosts and experimental on Linux ones. Steam’s pages document HEVC, HDR, 4K and resolution matching, and Parsec’s document HEVC, 4:4:4 color, more than 60 frames per second and resolution matching.
Privacy is where it differs most. There is no account and no company service in the middle: you pair each device by typing a PIN into Sunshine’s web page on your PC. Under Apple’s rules, an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV has to be paired on your home network first. In exchange, nothing connects you over the internet unless you set it up.
Controllers come with a catch on Windows hosts, where a driver has to present each streamed controller to your games as a virtual gamepad. The free option, ViGEmBus, covers only Xbox 360 and DualShock 4 controllers and has reached end of life. DualSense, Switch Pro and newer Xbox controllers need LizardByte’s separately licensed Virtual HID Driver.
What it does
- Streams the full desktop, or games and apps you add to a list that Moonlight shows
- Moonlight apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromebooks and Raspberry Pi
- Community ports for Xbox consoles and for LG and Samsung Tizen TVs
- Hardware encoding on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel graphics, or software encoding on the processor
Pros
- Open source under GPL-3.0, both the host and the Moonlight apps
- Runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD hosts
Cons
- Playing away from home means opening router ports or setting up a VPN yourself
- Its docs describe pairing each device by PIN on your PC, and no invite link or friends list for guests
- Hosting on macOS is experimental, and gamepads don't work there
Who should skip:Mac owners who want to host games with a controller.
Steam Remote Play is built into Steam. Between two computers, you sign in to Steam on both and press Stream instead of Play. On an Android phone or TV, you install the free Steam Link app, connect it to the same home network as your PC, and pair it with a PIN; the Valve pages we read describe these steps for Android only. We’d recommend it as the first thing to try if your games are on Steam, because a PC that already runs Steam needs nothing extra installed.
It is also the easiest to use away from home. Valve’s release notes say remote connections try to go directly and fall back to Valve’s relay network when that fails, so you don’t touch your router. The privacy cost is that you are signed in to Steam on both ends and a relayed stream passes through Valve’s servers.
The limit is the library. Valve says all Steam games stream, but non-Steam games added to Steam “may work but is not officially supported”.
Remote Play Together is its best extra. You invite friends from your Friends List, and they see only the game, never your desktop. It works in games that list Remote Play Together support on their store page, so check before you plan a session.
What it does
- Streams to the Steam Link app or to another PC signed in to Steam
- Steam Link app for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android phones and TVs, Fire TV, Raspberry Pi, Windows, macOS, Linux and Meta Quest
- The Android app matches your screen's resolution automatically, up to 1080p
Pros
- Hosts on Windows, macOS and Linux
- The Android Steam Link app is free
Cons
- Valve's notes mention AV1 only with the Steam beta
- Valve's FAQ says racing wheels and flight sticks aren't supported; the Sunshine and Parsec pages we read don't mention them
Who should skip:Anyone whose games come mostly from other stores or launchers.
Parsec is a remote desktop app built for low delay: a friend or your own laptop sees and controls your PC’s whole screen. We’d recommend it when the point is to play with friends, because they join through a share link or your friends list, in any game.
Guests get controller access by default, and you grant keyboard and mouse per person. A host setting called Approved apps can stop them interacting outside the games you pick. Steam’s Remote Play Together is the alternative, and your friends only need Steam for it, but it covers only games that support it.
For streaming to your own devices, it trails the other two. There is no iPhone or iPad app, the Android app is experimental, and hosting works only on Windows and macOS, with no gamepads on a Mac host.
Warp, the paid plan for individuals, costs $9.99 a month, or $8.33 a month when paid yearly. For that you get 4:4:4 color, up to three monitors at once, and virtual displays, which are extra screens that exist only in software.
What it does
- Shares the host's whole screen with you or with guests
- Clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and Chromium-based browsers
- Presents guests' controllers as Xbox 360, DualShock 4 or DualSense gamepads
Pros
- Guests can play from a web browser
- Over the internet, the stream goes straight between your devices rather than through Parsec's servers, with port forwarding optional
Cons
- Can't connect through double NAT, where one router sits behind another, or through CGNAT; only the Enterprise plan has a relay server
- Hosts need a hardware video encoder, the part of a graphics card that compresses video, which AMD's RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT lack
Who should skip:iPhone and iPad owners.
How to choose
- Your games are all on Steam and you want the least setup: Steam Remote Play.
- You also play games from Epic, Xbox, emulators or other launchers: Sunshine with Moonlight.
- You want HDR or AV1 video: Sunshine with Moonlight. Steam Remote Play also streams HDR from Windows PCs; Parsec’s pages don’t mention either.
- You’ll play on mobile data or away from home without touching your router: Steam Remote Play, or Parsec unless either end is behind CGNAT. With Sunshine, turn on its UPnP option, forward ports yourself, or set up a VPN such as Tailscale.
- Friends will join a game that isn’t built for online co-op: Parsec, or Steam Remote Play Together if the game supports it.
- You play on an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV: Sunshine with Moonlight or Steam Remote Play.
- Your gaming PC runs Linux: Sunshine or Steam Remote Play.
- You don’t want an account or a company’s servers involved: Sunshine with Moonlight.
Our picks
Also considered
- Apollo
A fork of Sunshine whose description promises the easiest way to stream at the receiving device’s own resolution, a job Sunshine handles by switching your PC’s display resolution. Apollo hasn’t had a stable release in more than a year, so we stayed with Sunshine, which still gets regular releases.
- NVIDIA GameStream
The original host that Moonlight was built for. Moonlight’s site says NVIDIA is discontinuing GeForce Experience’s streaming feature and recommends Sunshine instead.
Questions
Does game streaming work over Wi-Fi?
It can, but all three recommend a fast connection. Sunshine’s minimum is 5 GHz Wi-Fi of the 802.11ac standard on both the PC and the device, and it suggests wired Ethernet for 4K and HDR. Steam recommends a wired network for the best results, and Parsec recommends 30 Mbps of upload speed on the host for 1080p at 60 frames per second.
Do my friends need to own the game?
Not with Steam Remote Play Together, which Valve says lets friends join your local co-op sessions without owning or launching the game. With Parsec, guests see and control your screen, so the game only runs on your PC.
How we scored
Every score cites quotes from each product's own documentation, website and release notes, or from trusted third parties, captured in November 2026. Each criterion counts the same, and a criterion the evidence doesn't cover is shown as "?" and left out of that product's overall score.
Sunshine is scored together with the Moonlight apps it streams to, since it has no player app of its own.
