Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Spud – cross-platform remote control, optimised for gaming
Over the last few weeks I've been working on Spud, an application that allows you to control a remote computer that you can see. For example, if you have a gaming PC connected to you TV, Spud lets you use a laptop as input. It's optimised for low-latency, as it's intended for gaming. There are even a few parameters you can tune in the application. I built this mainly for myself, to solve a particular problem I had, but I hope that others find it useful too!
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
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I wasn't quite sure if this qualified as "Show HN" given you can't really download it and try it out. However, dang said[0]: > If it's hardware or something that's not so easy to try out over the internet, find a different way to show how it actually works—a video, for example, or a detailed post with photos. Hopefully I did that? Additionally, I've put code and a detailed guide for the netboot computer management setup on GitHub: https://github.com/kentonv/lanparty Anyway, if this shouldn't have been Show HN, I apologize! [0]…
2024 · lanparty.house · its alternatives →
- 2
Hi HN, I’ve been working on Gaming Couch, a web-based game platform where up to 8 players use their smartphones as controllers to play real-time action mini-games on a central browser screen. TL;DR: - 18 competitive mini-games for up to 8 players - Runs entirely in the browser - Phones act as controllers (no apps, no accounts required) - Focused on fast, chaotic, real-time party games (no trivia) - Currently in public early access Try it here: https://gamingcouch.com. Open the link on a computer, host a session, scan the QR code with your phone(s) and play! What is it? Gaming Couch…
Dec 2025 · gamingcouch.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Controlly▲96Control your Mac using a console controller
2021 · hugolispector.com · its alternatives →
- 4
SCTP is a low level protocol focused on reliable packet transmission. Unlike hopelessly flinging packets from one device to another, it makes sure that the packets are correct using CRC, removes duplicate packets, and allows for packets to be sent in any order. Going into an established library, I thought that everything was already implemented and that there wasn't anything to do until I went through the existing issues and organized all the tasks and decided on an order. Sean DuBois (https://github.com/Sean-Der), one of the co-creators and current maintainers of Pion, an…
2025 · pion.ly · its alternatives →
- 5SA
Hello all :) I made this BBS for fun and thought you all would enjoy it. It's not perfect, but it's been a fun exercise! see it: https://asciinema.org/a/Emg6SWrXMV6cehfQxrw1GRu75 try it: ssh -p 2223 shhhbb.com host it: https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/releases/latest why? Every year I challenge myself in some new way, this year it is to push one project per week. You might recognize my static site generator [0] or my releaser for go [1] from previous posts as one of these weekly projects. If you want to join me in doing this, it's…
2023 · donuts-are-good.github.io · its alternatives →
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- 7GH
2021 · gamejoyhq.com · its alternatives →
- 8
Unified Remote▲165Turn your smartphone into a universal remote control
2017 · unifiedremote.com · its alternatives →
- 9LC
2016 · runmyrobot.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Hi all, I’ve been working on this project for a while but haven't shared it properly on Hacker News. It is a casual gaming platform focused on simple multiplayer games that can be played in person with a central screen (like a TV) or remotely via video chat. You can also play on your smart Android based TVs via the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gametje (it was just released recently so could be buggy). It is also available directly in Discord: https://discord.com/discovery/applications/12153230008666071... as an…
Nov 2025 · gametje.com · its alternatives →
- 11
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Full-body game controller built with Python, OpenCV, Mediapipe - everythingishacked/Gamebody
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13
Control your devices without touching the screen
2024 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
- 14
xCloud-ready controller for your mobile phone with Xbox keys
2020 · razer.com · its alternatives →
- 15
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AweSun▲67fast, secure remote desktop for work, support, and gaming.
2021 · awesun.aweray.com · its alternatives →
- 17
Giving gamers the power to change your controller on the fly
2015 · scufgaming.com · its alternatives →
- 18
PadlessBox is a browser based party gaming platform that uses phones as controllers and runs on TVs or computers.
Apr 2026 · padlessbox.com · its alternatives →
- 19
An interface that interacts with an XBox One controller via the usb stream. With simple methods for object or camera control (i.e. for OpenGL contexts). - MauriceGit/XBox_Controller_Linux_Interface
2016 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Play LOCAL co-op games ONLINE
2023 · libreremoteplay.vercel.app · its alternatives →
- 21LS
Serverbox is an agentless desktop control panel for Linux servers. Dashboards, terminals, file management, Docker, services, cron, users, firewalls and SSH tunnels — over plain SSH, with nothing installed on your servers. Free for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Aug 2026 · serverbox.stupidlabs.lol · its alternatives →
- 22
I wanted to play my Steam games but my aging PC couldn’t keep up, so I built Cloudy Pad - a tool to run Steam in the Cloud (GitHub: https://github.com/PierreBeucher/cloudypad) It runs on AWS, Azure, GCP, Scaleway and Paperspace with various cost optimizations and safeties: - Cost alerts - Auto stop inactive instances to avoid unwanted cost - Disk snapshots and data cleanup for cost efficiency - Spot instance support Under the hood: a Linux VM and a container running Sunshine (a streaming server https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine) with Steam. Most…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
✨ Free and OpenSource Steam Remote Play 🎮 Alternative powered by WebRTC 🌐and Web APIs - PiterWeb/LibreRemotePlay
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24
Hi HN, I’m one of the devs behind StarDesk, a P2P-first remote desktop we’ve been building for ~1 year. We started this partly out of frustration: some popular RDP tools haven’t seen meaningful updates in a long time, and long-standing issues are often left unaddressed. As devs, we really dislike software that stagnates once it “works well enough”. StarDesk is our attempt to do it differently. What we focus on: -P2P by default (relay as fallback) -Low RTT + low jitter > chasing max bitrate -Encoder / input path tuned for real-time interaction -Modern E2EE (TLS/DTLS) UX-wise, setup…
Jan 2026 · stardesk.net · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →