Free and conditionally free IT admin tools grouped by task, each with its licence, version and supported systems
Software Catalogue
octoDNS lets you keep DNS zones in YAML under Git and sync them to one or many providers such as Route 53, Cloudflare or Azure DNS, with a dry-run plan before every change. Free and open source (MIT), installed with pip.
Official Windows agent of Salt (SaltStack). Lets a Linux Salt master run commands, apply states, install software and manage updates on Windows 10/11 and Windows Server. Free and open source, Apache-2.0.
Rudder keeps servers in a defined state: agents check and fix configuration every few minutes, and a web interface shows compliance per rule and per node. Free and open source core (GPL-3.0) for Linux; Windows agents and CVE features are in paid plans.
Open-source event-driven automation platform for ops teams: sensors, rules, actions, Orquesta workflows and ChatOps, with full execution audit. Server runs on Linux, Docker or Kubernetes; Windows hosts via WinRM. Free, Apache-2.0.
Free edition of Iperius Backup for Windows and Windows Server. It schedules full, incremental and differential file backups to NAS, USB/RDX drives and network shares, with zip compression and email alerts. No service mode, VSS, cloud or image backup.
Free, portable folder backup and sync tool for Windows: update, refresh, mirror, synchronise and dated backup modes, filters, preview and saved batch jobs for USB and LAN copies. Dormant: the last version, 2.90.0.a, dates from 2020.
Free, open-source (GPL-2.0) file backup for Windows and Linux. Full, incremental, differential and delta backups to disks, NAS shares and FTP/SFTP, with Zip64 compression, AES encryption and as-of-date restore. Current releases come from the maintained bugtamer fork.
Continuous file backup for Windows with a timeline of earlier file versions. The Free edition has been discontinued: Genie9 lists Genie Timeline as a legacy product, now commercial with paid Home, Pro and Server editions and a trial.
Free, open-source self-hosted file sync and collaboration platform: files, sharing, Calendar, Contacts, Talk, Mail and Office editing with LDAP/AD and SSO. Server runs on Linux or Docker (All-in-One); sync clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android.
Free, open-source (AGPL-3.0) SMTP, POP3 and IMAP mail server for 64-bit Windows. Runs as a service with SQL storage, DKIM, SPF, DMARC and TLS 1.3. Version 5.7.1 fixes a script-injection flaw, so upgrade older 5.6 servers.
Java-based email server and email firewall for Windows, Linux, macOS and UNIX: spam and virus filtering, archiving, encryption and SMTP/POP3/IMAP, in front of Exchange or Microsoft 365. Shareware (conditionally free): Community Edition for personal use only.
Open365 was a free AGPL-3.0 self-hosted suite from eyeOS combining LibreOffice Online, Seafile, KDE Kontact and Jitsi. It never left beta and has been abandoned since December 2016, with no official successor; Nextcloud with an online office suite is the usual replacement.
Windows Server mail server with SMTP, POP3, IMAP, AJAX webmail, list server and web admin. The Standard edition is free for personal and commercial use with unlimited domains; paid editions add ActiveSync, advanced anti-spam and clustering.
Free multi-tab remote connection manager for Windows: RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, ICA and web in one window, with favorites, AD import and a credential store. Legacy: the last release is 4.0.1 from June 2017.
Free, open-source (GPL-3.0) tabbed file manager for Windows that runs without installation. Adds tabs, bookmarks, a drives toolbar, file split and merge, bulk attributes and directory listings to an Explorer-style layout. Works on Windows 7 to 11 and Windows PE.
Wyns SSH Box: A Lightweight SSH Console for Windows Admins on the Move Wyns SSH Box is a portable SSH client built with one goal — fast, no-frills access to remote systems over SSH. It doesn’t try to be a full-featured terminal manager or emulate an IDE. Instead, it provides a clean, tabbed interface for connecting to Linux servers, routers, or embedded systems without the bulk of tools like MobaXterm or SecureCRT.
It’s the kind of utility that fits on a flash drive, launches instantly, and jus
Free, under-2 MB dual-pane file manager for Windows with built-in SSH/SFTP/SCP/FTP, archive tools, checksums and a file shredder. Development is dormant: the last stable release is 4.0 (April 2017), and the 5.0 beta is undated.
Free, open-source (GPL-2.0) infrastructure monitoring, formerly called Checkmk Raw Edition. Runs on Linux, Docker or a virtual appliance and monitors Windows, Linux, Unix and network devices with auto-discovery and rule-based configuration on a Nagios core.
Xitogent is the lightweight agent that sends server metrics, service checks and integration data from Linux and Windows Server to the hosted Xitoring monitoring service. Free to install, but the service is paid: shareware (conditionally free).
The Free edition of Power Admin’s PA Server Monitor watches Windows event logs, pings devices and checks web pages, for one server or up to ten monitors. Disk, CPU, service and SNMP monitoring need a paid edition. Windows only.
Open-AudIT by FirstWave discovers devices with Nmap and audits hardware, software and configuration over SNMP, WMI and SSH, without agents. The Free edition covers up to 100 devices at no cost; paid editions add scheduling, dashboards and vulnerability reporting.
Free, open-source IPAM and DCIM web application: sites, racks, devices, cables, prefixes, IP addresses, VLANs and circuits with a REST and GraphQL API. Runs on Linux (PostgreSQL + Redis) or in Docker; maintained by NetBox Labs and the community.
Portable tool that discovers the physical layer-2 topology of your LAN over SNMP and maps every host to its switch port, with link monitoring and alerts. Shareware (conditionally free): discovery is unrestricted. Windows and Linux builds.
Free, open-source (GPL-2.0) IP and port scanner for Windows, macOS and Linux. Finds live hosts, hostnames, MAC vendors and open TCP ports across a subnet and exports results to CSV, TXT or XML. The Windows installer and macOS builds include Java.
Fast IPv4/IPv6 network scanner for admins: ping sweep, MAC and port discovery, shared folders, agentless WMI/registry queries and remote commands. Windows (incl. portable), macOS and Linux. Shareware (conditionally free): trial shows up to 10 devices.
PRTG Freeware is the free edition of Paessler PRTG Network Monitor: full monitoring features with ping, SNMP, WMI, flow and HTTP sensors, maps and alerts, limited to 100 sensors (about ten devices). The core server runs on Windows.
Cloud-brokered remote desktop from Oray, sold internationally as AweSun: unattended access, ad-hoc support with ID and code, file transfer and mobile control. Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Shareware (conditionally free): free Personal edition.
Free edition of LiteManager remote administration. It controls up to 30 computers, including for commercial use, by IP or by ID behind NAT, with file transfer, task manager, chat and QuickSupport. Windows, plus apps for macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
Self-hosted broker and relay server for Wayk Now remote desktop by Devolutions. Discontinued in July 2021: no sales, no support since the end of 2021, no security updates. The official successor is Devolutions Gateway with Devolutions Server.
Remote desktop client for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Shareware (conditionally free): private, non-commercial use needs no licence, any work use requires a paid plan. Supports unattended access with 2FA, file transfer and a portable mode.
Free, open-source firewall and router distribution based on FreeBSD: stateful filtering, NAT, OpenVPN/IPsec/WireGuard, multi-WAN, VLANs, CARP high availability and add-on packages such as Suricata and HAProxy. Installs on amd64 hardware or a VM from a USB or ISO image.
Behaviour-based anti-keylogger and anti-spyware layer for Windows 10/11 (x64, ARM64 on Windows 11): anti-screenshot, mic/camera alerts, registry and file protection. Works alongside your antivirus. Free for non-commercial use.
Free, open-source SIEM and XDR platform: log analysis, intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection and compliance checks. The server runs on Linux (or OVA/Docker); agents cover Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX.
Network monitor for 64-bit Windows 10/11 and Android that graphs which apps use the network and where they connect. Shareware (conditionally free): the free version monitors with 24-hour history; firewall control, alerts and unlimited history require Premium.
NetCrunch 16 is AdRem Software’s agentless monitoring platform: discovery, Layer 2 maps, SNMP/WMI/flow monitoring and alerting from one Windows server. Commercial software with a trial; there is no free edition of the monitoring server.
Bare-metal virtualization platform for hosting providers: OpenVZ-based system containers and KVM virtual machines on one node, with backups, storage and rebootless kernel patches. Commercial, licensed per server; OpenVZ is its free relative.
Hyper-V Manager: Native Virtualization for Windows-Based Infrastructure What Is It? Hyper-V Manager is the official management console for Microsoft’s native hypervisor, built into Windows Server and optional on Windows 10/11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. Unlike third-party hypervisors, Hyper-V is tightly integrated with the Windows kernel, offering high performance and strong isolation — without relying on external drivers or user-mode hacks.
Administrators use Hyper-V Manager to cr
Canonical’s free, open-source (GPL-3.0) tool for launching Ubuntu VMs in one command on Windows, macOS and Linux. It supports cloud-init, snapshots, mounts and bridged networking, and suits disposable test servers and labs.
Free, open-source QEMU-based virtual machine host for Mac, iPhone and iPad: runs Windows 11 ARM, Linux and legacy systems, fast on Apple silicon. Apache-2.0. There is no Windows version; on Windows use VirtualBox, VMware Workstation or QEMU.