Opportunities › Self-hosted remote desktop software › Proposed app
Portlight
Browser-based control room for your own self-hosted remote desktop fleet
- Score
- 59
- confidence 50
- Evidence
- 4
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 4
- named in sources
- First version
- 60 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop and mobile
- PWA: on computers and phones alike
- Market since
- 1998
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop and mobile: Admins set up and monitor device fleets at a desk, but must approve urgent connection requests from phones on-site or while mobile. Sample screens on a computer and a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Fleet
3 offline42 online
About this appAI proposal
Portlight is a web console for teams that run their own remote desktop servers. It sits on top of an open-source relay you host yourself and gives IT admins one place to see devices, approve connections, and open a session from any browser or phone.
It is built for IT administrators and small organizations who want to leave TeamViewer or AnyDesk-style services without losing a tidy admin experience. Your relay, your data, your keys. Connections go peer-to-peer where the network allows, and through your own relay when not.
What is different: the console is installable as an app, the audit trail is readable by non-engineers, and sharing a one-time support link takes seconds. A managed relay is optional for people who do not want to host one.
- Tagline
- Remote access on your own terms.
- Voice
- PlainCalmDirect
- Why this name
- A port is where connections land and a light shows someone is there. Two plain words that suggest a reachable machine you control.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Device fleet view
See every enrolled computer and server, online state, owner and last session in one list, with groups and search.
No member yet
One-time support links
Send a link that lets a person share their screen for one session. It expires after use and needs no account.
No member yet
Connection approvals
Require a person at the remote end to accept, or allow unattended access only for devices you tag.
No member yet
Readable audit log
Who connected to what, when, for how long, and from where. Export it as CSV for reviews.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#14282BDeep Teal · primary dark#1D5C63Harbor · primary#F4F1EAPaper · surface#1F2A2EInk · text#E07A3FSignal Orange · accent#8A9A5BMoss · data / online state
Typography
Aa
Portlight
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. These tiers are a starting point to test, based on the inferred model of paid support, managed relay and optional features.
Self-host
Free
- Connect your own relay
- Up to 10 devices
- Fleet view and support links
- 30-day audit log
Team
$29 a month
- Up to 100 devices
- Approvals and device groups
- 1-year audit log and CSV export
- Email support
Managed relay
$79 a month
- Hosted relay, no server to run
- Up to 250 devices
- Relay health alerts
- Priority support
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Admins send one-time support links to colleagues and customers. The page they open is branded Portlight and explains that the host runs it on their own server.
- Do they become customers?
- Link recipients are mostly end users, not buyers, so conversion may be low. Test whether the IT staff and small-business owners among them ask to set up their own instance.
- First customers
- Small managed IT providers and in-house IT leads at companies with 20 to 200 staff who already self-host tools and look for a TeamViewer alternative.
- Where to reach them
- Self-hosting communities: Share setup guides and a demo in self-hosting forums and subreddits where admins compare remote desktop tools.
- Open-source project community: Post in the relay project's discussions and offer the console as a free add-on for early testers.
- Direct outreach to MSPs: Contact small IT service firms by email and offer a free pilot on their own relay.
- First milestone
- Ten small IT teams run Portlight on their own relay, and at least three pay for Team within 60 days.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 125437 stars in 2201 days
- Public claimA significant market exists for remote desktop applications, evidenced by TeamViewer and AnyDesk being established commercial competitors with paying user bases.
- AI inferenceThere is substantial adoption of this open-source remote desktop solution, shown by high repository engagement metrics.
- Public claimUsers perceive commercial remote desktop solutions as undesirable enough to seek alternatives, specifically self-hosted and open-source options.
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Remote desktop relayOpen-source relay and signaling serverCarries the screen sessions. Users host it themselves, or we run it for the managed tier.
- This app · Browser session viewerWebRTC with a web viewerLets admins open sessions in the browser and connect peer-to-peer where possible.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalReliable screen streaming, input control and NAT traversal across operating systems is hard. Depending on an existing open-source relay ties us to its releases and licence terms.
- CommercialThe core software is free and open source. Admins may not pay for a console on top of it, so the paid layer must clearly save time.
- RegulatorySession logs and optional recordings hold personal data. Managed relay customers may need data processing terms and regional hosting.
- PlatformBrowsers limit background activity and clipboard or file access in PWAs, so some actions may need the desktop agent.
- Intellectual propertyBuilding on an open-source project may bring licence obligations, and the relationship with its maintainers needs checking before launch.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.