Pros & Cons
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- Affordable
- Offers tons of features
- Supports mobile device access
- Decent free version
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- User experience could be friendlier
- Occasionally laggy performance
- Complex plans
Zoho Assist Specs
| Drag-and-Drop File Transfer | |
| Free Version For Personal Use | |
| Video Recording | |
| Whiteboard |
Zoho Assist costs less than many other remote access services, but it still provides all the core features that SMBs need, from file transfers to mobile device access to unattended access. Its free version for personal or small-scale commercial use is also reasonably usable, even if it doesn’t include much beyond the basics. However, Zoho Assist's user experience feels more technical than we prefer, and its streaming quality isn’t as smooth as that of top alternatives. Our Editors' Choice winners remain RemotePC and TeamViewer, respectively, for business and personal use.
Pricing: Low Costs, With a Free Plan for Everyone
You can get a 15-day trial of Zoho Assist when you sign up, which lets you test most features. After 15 days, you can downgrade your account to the perpetually free edition, which supports both personal and professional use. With this plan, you can initiate unlimited on-demand remote support sessions, one at a time, over the internet. Most remote access solutions don’t have anything comparable. The exception is TeamViewer, which is free, albeit only for personal use.
That said, the free version of Zoho Assist has some major limitations. For instance, it doesn't support file transfers, unattended access, or voice chat. Moreover, the free plan lets you remotely access Android or iOS devices up to five times before you have to upgrade, and Zoho caps session times at 15 minutes. It functions as a limited-use trial of Zoho Assist’s mobile device support feature.
Zoho Assist offers two types of paid plans: Remote Support and Unattended Access. Zoho bills Remote Support plans per person, letting a single technician access an unlimited number of computers for ad-hoc remote support sessions. The Standard plan ($12 per month) allows a single technician to have two concurrent sessions and adds features such as file transfers and voice chat. The Professional plan ($18 per month) enables a single tech to conduct four concurrent sessions and adds mobile device support and other features. The Enterprise plan ($28 per month) allows a single technician to run six concurrent sessions and adds remote printing, video chat, the whiteboard-style Annotation tool, and more. None of these plans includes unattended access.
Zoho splits its Unattended Access plans into Standard and Professional tiers, which are different from the Remote Support plans of the same names. The Standard plan ($12 per month) provides unlimited unattended access to up to 25 computers for technicians and includes file transfers, voice chat, and other features. The Professional plan ($18 per month) adds features, such as mobile device support, remote printing, and video chat.
Zoho Assist’s prices are competitive but not the absolute most affordable. RemotePC, for example, starts at $2.95 per month for unattended access to a single computer and $9.95 per month for access to 10 machines. TeamViewer's paid plans start at $24.90 per month (billed annually), which is considerably higher than Zoho Assist's equivalent level. However, TeamViewer’s free personal plan includes file transfers, unattended access, and other features.
Interface and Ease of Use: Somewhat Technical
Zoho Assist lets you access devices running Android (5.0 and up), ChromeOS (16 and up), iOS (iOS 11 and up), Linux (including Raspberry Pi OS), macOS (10.9 Mavericks and up), Windows (7 and up), and Windows Server (2008 R2 and up). On most Android and all iOS devices, you can only view the mobile device's screen. That said, Zoho Assist can remotely control Samsung Android devices.
To connect to a remote device, you can use an Android, ChromeOS, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, or Windows Server device. You use Zoho’s web app in a browser or the Zoho mobile app to initiate a connection. You can also download Zoho Assist applications for Linux, macOS, and Windows, but these are web apps. That said, the Windows Native Client Technician Console is available if you connect from a Windows PC; it offers somewhat smoother performance than the web app. You must go into Zoho Assist’s settings on the web to activate this tool. Once you do, Zoho Assist will open the client on Windows, even if you initiate a connection from the website or web app.
After you sign up for an account on the web, Zoho Assist takes you to the Remote Support screen, where you can send requests to remotely control other devices. Zoho Assist will guide the user of the device you want to control through the process of giving you one-off access. To do this, they must visit a link, download a program, run it, and consent to share their screen. You can also set up access to computers without user input via the Unattended Access tab. Zoho downloads an installer that quickly configures the machine for unattended access. You can download the file to your local machine to configure it for unattended access from elsewhere, or generate a link and share it with someone to quickly configure their machine for unattended access.
The user experience clearly caters more to technicians and IT workers than providers of family tech support. The Remote Support screen, for example, talks about accessing “your remote customer’s screen.”
After you connect to a PC, everything works fairly simply. If you initiate a remote access request from the Zoho Assist website, you don’t need to install anything. It simply pops up a convenient window that lets you remotely access the device in your browser. If you send a remote access request from the mobile app, it guides you through a simple set of touch gestures.
Zoho Assist now includes a Cobrowse feature that lets you remotely control someone's web browser tab. The remote user just needs to install Zoho’s browser extension and provide access. This feature worked reliably in testing and gives businesses a way to provide remote tech support for websites. Although this might be useful for some home users, it’s an example of Zoho Assist's business focus, as are its integrations with Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. Zoho Assist also integrates with IT help desk software, including Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk and Zoho Desk. (Note: Spiceworks is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement.)
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The Cobrowse feature requires a separate Cobrowse plan, starting at $12 per technician per month, though you get unlimited free two-minute sessions.
Performance: A Little Laggy, But Better on Windows
I set up Zoho Assist for unattended access on a desktop PC running Windows 11. I then connected to it from an Android phone, a MacBook, and a Windows 11 laptop to test the mobile app, web app, and Windows native client, respectively. I also remotely connected to my MacBook from my Windows laptop. Zoho’s software worked reliably across all platforms. However, in all cases, the performance was laggier than with RemotePC, Splashtop, and TeamViewer, which have native clients. Streaming a YouTube video in a browser over the remote connection was noticeably choppy, for example. That said, Zoho Assist works well enough for remote support and basic desktop application use, which are its main focus areas.
The streaming performance improved a bit when I connected from the native client on a Windows machine to a remote Windows PC or Mac. RemotePC, Splashtop, and TeamViewer still felt smoother, however.
Accessing Mobile Devices: Zoho Assist’s Superpower
Zoho Assist lets you remotely access Android and iOS devices, a feature competitors don’t offer. With a Remote Support plan, if you start a remote support session with someone using a mobile device, Zoho guides them through installing the required app and granting you access. This experience is extremely powerful on Samsung phones, since Zoho lets you fully interact with the other person’s phone. On iOS and other Android devices, you can merely view the device’s screen. With an Unattended Access plan, you can configure an Android or iOS device for unattended access from anywhere.
With mobile access, you can troubleshoot problems and generally help people use their phones. On Samsung Android devices, the ability to take total control could speed up complex device configuration processes. In testing, I was impressed by how easy it was to connect to my Samsung Galaxy phone and control it from my PC.
Extra Features: Diagnostics, File Transfers, and Remote Audio
Once you connect to a remote device, you see a collection of tools and options in a left-hand menu (desktop or web) or under a menu button (mobile). You get options for remote audio, remote printing, screen resolution, and more. The menu also includes a collection of troubleshooting tools, including a command-line console and registry access, which are useful for IT and troubleshooting.
To transfer files, you first open the file transfer pane from the menu. Then, you can use a drag-and-drop interface or your operating system’s file picker. However, you can’t drag and drop files directly onto or from the remote device’s screen, as you can with RemotePC, Splashtop, and TeamViewer. Zoho also has a dedicated native file transfer tool with a dual-pane interface for Windows, but it works only between Windows PCs.
Zoho Assist has a chat function for real-time communication. You can also leave a digital note if you need to access someone's machine while they're away, but still want to let them know what you did. However, this feature requires the Professional or Enterprise Remote Support plan. Audio and video chat features are available through the web and mobile apps with paid plans, but not via the native Windows client. You can trigger the available whiteboard feature, called Annotation, from the session window on a remote device if you have an Enterprise (Remote Support) or Professional (Unattended Access) plan.
Remote audio is available when you connect to Linux, Mac, and Windows computers, and it also works with Zoho Assist’s free plan. You can activate it from Zoho Assist’s left-hand toolbar. It worked reliably, but the audio didn’t quite sync with YouTube videos due to Zoho's lag.
Security: Is Zoho Assist Safe to Use?
Zoho says it uses AES-256 encryption to protect your data in transit. Zoho Assist always notifies you when someone is remotely accessing your PC, and it offers multi-factor authentication to protect your account.
You should never install Zoho Assist or any other remote access software if someone you don’t know asks you to. Criminals could use it to compromise your computer by accessing your data or installing malware. Zoho Assist warns people about this risk before they accept a remote support connection. If someone you don’t recognize calls you and claims to be tech support, hang up. Reach out to any companies via official channels if you have concerns about your account.
Zoho seems to proactively ban scammers using its service. The company locked my free account during testing, asking me to contact customer support and provide information about my business to continue. A Zoho representative told me that this is an anti-spam measure and that Zoho would unlock accounts even for people using Zoho Assist for noncommercial use.