Intune Remote Help Alternative: Why Splashtop Is the Best Choice

As hybrid workforces grow and IT support becomes increasingly complex, organizations are turning to tools like Microsoft Intune and its Remote Help add-on to assist users remotely. While Remote Help offers native integration with Microsoft environments, it comes with limitations, including high licensing costs, narrow OS support, and complicated setup requirements, especially in BYOD or cross-organization scenarios.

That’s where Splashtop comes in. As a powerful, cost-effective alternative to Intune Remote Help, Splashtop delivers fast, secure remote support across a wider range of devices and platforms. Splashtop also enhances your Intune environment with more flexibility, broader support, and autonomous endpoint management features.

In this blog, we’ll explore why Splashtop is the best Intune Remote Help alternative and how Splashtop offers a complete solution designed to meet the evolving needs of IT teams.

What is Microsoft Intune Remote Help?

Microsoft Intune Remote Help is a cloud-based remote assistance tool offered as an add-on to Microsoft Intune. Designed primarily for organizations using Microsoft 365 and Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), it enables IT teams to view or take control of a user’s Windows, macOS (limited), or Android device to provide support.

However, despite its integration with Microsoft services, Remote Help has several notable limitations.

4 Major Limitations of Microsoft Intune Remote Help

1. Expensive, Tenant-Wide Licensing

Remote Help is priced at $3.50 per user per month, and both the person receiving help and the technician providing support must have licenses. On top of that, Remote Help must be enabled across the entire Intune tenant, offering no flexibility to license only selected users. This structure can lead to escalating costs, especially for large organizations or those with rotating device pools.

2. Limited Operating System Support

Remote Help supports Windows, macOS (limited functionality), and Android. It does not support iOS, Linux, or Chromebook devices, which are increasingly common in hybrid and BYOD environments. For IT teams supporting cross-platform users, this limitation creates unnecessary friction and gaps in coverage.

3. Complex Setup and Access Requirements

To initiate a session, both the end user and the technician must be:

• Logged into Entra ID (Azure AD)

• Members of the same tenant

This makes it difficult to support users outside the organization (e.g., contractors, remote partners) and adds friction for helping employees using BYOD or unmanaged devices. Supporting devices not enrolled in Entra often requires additional steps, reducing IT responsiveness.

4. Missing Core Remote Support Features

Despite its cost, Remote Help lacks several essential features:

• No file transfer

• No unattended access on macOS devices

• No integration with ITSM tools, making it harder to connect support workflows to ticketing systems

• Limited visibility and customization, with fewer controls over session management or advanced security settings

Why Splashtop is the Best Intune Remote Help Alternative

For IT teams that need more flexibility, better cross-platform support, and lower total cost of ownership, Splashtop offers a powerful alternative to Intune Remote Help. Whether you're looking to replace Remote Help entirely or enhance your existing Intune deployment, Splashtop delivers robust remote support and endpoint management features.

1. Lower Cost, Greater Flexibility

Unlike Remote Help, Splashtop offers flexible licensing models that let you pay only for what you need. There's no requirement to license your entire tenant, and you don’t need to pay for both the helper and the recipient, only by concurrent technician. This makes Splashtop significantly more cost-effective, especially for growing teams or organizations managing large or dynamic environments.

2. Broader Platform Support

Splashtop works seamlessly across:

• Windows

• Mac

• iOS

• Android

• Linux

• Chromebook

This broad compatibility makes it ideal for BYOD, education, MSPs, and hybrid workplaces where devices aren’t limited to Microsoft platforms.

3. Powerful Remote Access & Control

Splashtop offers a complete suite of remote support capabilities:

• Full remote control on all major platforms

• Unattended access to any enrolled device

• Attended access for BYOD and unenrolled devices

• File transfer during sessions for delivering scripts or retrieving logs

• Privilege escalation (admin access) on Windows and Mac

• Real-time performance with low latency and HD quality

These features enable faster troubleshooting, better productivity, and a smoother support experience for both users and technicians.

4. Seamless ITSM Integrations

Splashtop integrates with leading ITSM and PSA platforms, allowing IT teams to launch support sessions directly from tickets, chats, or incidents. This streamlines workflows and eliminates the need to switch tools or duplicate work.

5. Enterprise-Grade Security

Security is a priority with Splashtop. IT teams get:

• SSO/SAML support

• IP whitelisting

• Granular permissions

• Cloud session recording

• Watermarking

• SIEM integration

These features ensure that every support session meets strict security and compliance requirements, including SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.

Splashtop + Microsoft Intune: A Perfect Pair

Splashtop isn’t just a replacement for Intune Remote Help, it’s also the ideal complement to Microsoft Intune. While Intune delivers core endpoint management features, it has operational gaps when it comes to real-time support, patching flexibility, and platform coverage. Splashtop AEM (Autonomous Endpoint Management) fills these gaps, giving IT teams the power to act quickly, support any device, and reduce time-to-resolution across their environment.

Real-Time Patch Management

Intune applies patch updates on an 8-hour sync cycle, delaying critical updates and leaving systems temporarily vulnerable. In contrast, Splashtop delivers real-time patch deployment and immediate remediation, allowing IT to push updates on demand, customize patch schedules, and address issues instantly.

Additional benefits of Splashtop:

• Supports third-party and in-house apps

• Offers detailed reporting on patch status, success, and failure reasons

1-to-Many Actions for Scalable Support

Splashtop enables IT admins to run tasks across multiple endpoints simultaneously, including:

• Mass reboots

• Script executions

• File transfers

• Software updates

These 1-to-many actions streamline routine maintenance and reduce manual overhead, a feature that Intune doesn’t handle natively without additional tooling.

Deeper Visibility and Control

While Intune provides basic reporting, it often lacks actionable insights. Splashtop enhances visibility with:

• Customizable dashboards

• Real-time alerts

• Drill-down reporting on device status, patch history, and session activity

This enables IT teams to monitor device health and make data-driven decisions faster and proactively.

A Unified Endpoint Experience

By pairing Intune for device policy enforcement and M365 integration with Splashtop for fast, flexible support, organizations can build a comprehensive endpoint management strategy—without overspending on add-ons like Remote Help.

Feature Comparison: Splashtop vs Intune Remote Help

This side-by-side comparison makes it clear how Splashtop outperforms in functionality, flexibility, and value.

Get Started with Splashtop as Your Remote Help Alternative

Whether you’re looking to eliminate the high costs of Intune Remote Help or expand your IT support capabilities beyond Microsoft’s limitations, Splashtop is the ideal solution. It gives you the freedom to support any device, from anywhere, with all the advanced tools your team needs, without the licensing restrictions or platform gaps.

With Splashtop, you can:

• Provide remote access and support to Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and Chromebook devices

• Take unattended control, escalate privileges, and transfer files securely

• Integrate with ITSM, PSA, and ticketing platforms to streamline support workflows

• Deploy real-time patching, monitoring, and 1-to-many actions to manage your endpoints efficiently

• Do it all with enterprise-grade security, session logging, and compliance-ready features

Splashtop is easy to deploy alongside Microsoft Intune and offers flexible pricing to fit your organization’s needs.

Ready to simplify your remote support stack and reduce costs?

Start your free trial of Splashtop today or contact us to learn how Splashtop can replace Remote Help and enhance your Microsoft Intune environment.