For years, Remote Desktop Manager (RDM) by Devolutions was the “holy grail” for my IT workflow. I remember the early days fondly, back when a license felt like an investment in a tool built by sysadmins, for sysadmins, at a price point that made sense for an individual power user.

It used to be the central nervous system for my connections, credentials, and configurations. But after being a long-time customer, I’ve finally reached my breaking point. I am officially letting my subscription lapse, and it isn’t because the software stopped working. I’m letting it go because the business model moved away from me.

The Price Hike Reality Check

When I first started using RDM, the entry point was a reasonable $84.99 and the annual renewal cost was $49.99. It was a fair price for a robust, perpetual license model that felt sustainable. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has shifted dramatically.

Annual renewals now exceed $210 per year. For an individual professional or a small shop, that is a 400% increase from that initial annual renewal. While Devolutions has certainly added “bells and whistles” over the years, the core utility of the product hasn’t changed enough to justify a recurring cost that rivals enterprise-grade suites. We are seeing a trend where software isn’t just getting better; it’s getting exponentially more expensive to simply keep the lights on.

The Death of the Self-Hosted Spirit

The steep price would be slightly easier to swallow if the product remained true to its original appeal: total control.

One of the primary reasons I chose RDM was its flexibility with data sources. I wanted my sensitive connection data stored on my terms, in my environment. For years, I relied on a self-hosted MariaDB instance. It was fast, secure, and most importantly, I owned the infrastructure.

Then came the deprecation. Years ago, Devolutions stopped supporting MariaDB/MySQL as a backend. The message was clear: if you want a modern experience, you need to move to Microsoft SQL Server, their proprietary Devolutions Server or, more pointedly, their proprietary cloud-based Devolutions Hub.

SaaS Creep: Solving Problems I Didn’t Have

RDM has pivoted hard toward a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Features that would have been designed to be local and static are increasingly tied to account-based subscriptions and cloud dependencies.

“I bought a management tool to simplify my life, not to add another recurring monthly line item to my budget for cloud features I never asked for.”

The beauty of the old RDM was its independence. Today, the software feels like it’s constantly nudging you toward their ecosystem. By pushing users toward the subscription model, the “perpetual” feeling of the software has vanished. You aren’t buying a tool anymore; you’re renting a seat.

Looking for the Exit

It’s a tough pill to swallow because RDM is, objectively, a powerful piece of software. But as a consumer, there comes a point where you have to vote with your wallet.

• Financials: I cannot justify $200+ annually for software updates to a tool I “bought” for $85.
• Philosophy: I value self-hosting, portability, and data sovereignty, two things that seem to be increasingly at odds with the current roadmap.
• Alternatives: The market is catching up. Whether it’s RoyalTS, mRemoteNG, or even simple terminal-based managers, the “all-in-one” allure of RDM is no longer worth the “all-in-one” price tag.

To Devolutions: You built a great product, but in the pursuit of the SaaS model and recurring revenue, you’ve left your long-time loyalists behind. I was a customer for 12 years. This is a year of changes, and ending this subscription is just one more I’ll be making.