Screen sharing tools are incredibly important for teaching, presenting, troubleshooting, and collaborating online with others. Unfortunately, trying to successfully share your screen with someone online can be a huge headache---each party can have different programs installed, be on different devices, or have different levels of technological knowledge.

The programs we've included in this article are intended to be used when you just need to share your screen as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible. They may not be the most powerful programs, but they are quick, easy to use, and don't require a substantial download.

1. Whereby

Whereby
  • Download size: None.
  • Account required to host: Yes.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: Four, including host.
  • Time limit: None.

You might know Whereby by its old name of appear.in, but the company rebranded in 2019 and now has a fresh, modern appearance. It's wonderfully easy to use and doesn't require downloads from either the host or participants.

You will need to make an account to use Whereby and verify your email address. After that, everything is easy. Rather than having to create a new meeting each time you want to share your screen, you instead get a consistent "room" URL that you can share.

Whereby works great on both desktop and mobile, so participants can join from anywhere. Unfortunately, the free version only allows three other people to join, but if that's not a problem for you then Whereby is a cracking choice.

Speaking of mobile, you might also want to see our recommended apps for screen sharing on Android and iOS.

2. Screenleap

Screenleap
  • Download size: 825 KB.
  • Account required to host: No.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: Nine, including host.
  • Time limit: 40 minutes/day.

When it comes to easy-to-use screen sharing software, Screenleap is definitely one of your best options. Screenleap can share your screen to any device with a browser, and requires only a small download on the host's device to work.

A screen-share code is provided to the host and is entered by participants on the Screenleap homepage, after which they are immediately able to view the host's screen.

If you really like Screenleap's functionality, paid subscriptions are available that can increase your time limits, the number of participants, and security.

3. Join.me

Join.me
  • Download size: 27.6 MB.
  • Account required to host: Yes.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: 250, including host.
  • Time limit: 14 days free trial.

Join.me is primarily targeted at business customers. Their aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to jump into a virtual meeting, talk to one another, and share their screen.

While Join.me used to offer a free plan, now it only offers a free trial. Nevertheless, if you only need to screen share for a single instance, Join.me remains a good option. One great feature is that you can enable remote control so that someone else can control your screen. This is great for troubleshooting.

After you have made an account, it gives you a dedicated room URL. Hand this out to others and they can immediately join and share their audio and video if needed. Bear in mind that the free trial only lasts 14 days, after which you will need to join a paid plan to keep using the service.

4. Show My PC

Show My PC
  • Download Size: 2.5 MB.
  • Account required to host: No.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: Two, including host.
  • Time limit: None.

Show My PC is a bit outdated and doesn't look very pretty, but it still works really well. It's primarily designed as a remote support tool, so you can share your screen with a technician, but it works equally well as a general screen share solution.

As the host, you simply downloaded the program and get a password. You then share this password with your recipient and they go to the Show My PC website to input it.

The free version of Show My PC does not allow for any more than two people to participate in a screen sharing session at one time, so if you're looking for a meeting solution, you're better off with another choice.

5. Mikogo

Mikogo
  • Download size: 34.3 MB.
  • Account required to host: Yes.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: Two, including host.
  • Time limit: None.

Mikogo requires you to create an account before you can start using the program, which is a bit annoying, but the process is still relatively quick. Luckily, the participant doesn't need to register.

That's a single "participant" because Mikogo only allows you to share your screen with one other person on the free plan. That might be fine for you, but Mikogo isn't the solution if you need group meetings.

The tools on offer when screen sharing are great. You can talk on microphone or text chat, stream webcams, transfer files, display only specific windows, and there's a fun whiteboard feature for annotations. If you only need to share with one person, Mikogo is prime.

6. Hangouts Meet

Hangouts Meet
  • Download size: None.
  • Account required to host: Yes.
  • Account required to view: No.
  • Maximum number of participants: 100, including host.
  • Time limit: None.

Hangouts Meet, sometimes called only Meet, is a screen sharing tool from Google. As you might expect from the tech giant, it's seamless and very easy to use. It also supports up to 100 people in the same room, which is luxurious.

However, there is a big caveat: you can only host with Meet if you have or are part of a paid G Suite plan. Your organization might be---in which case, great! If not, choose a different free option from this list.

If you can use Meet, it's incredibly smooth. No-one has to download anything and you just press a button to begin hosting. It's then another click to share your screen; either the whole thing or a window.

Use a Program You Already Have to Screen Share

Before introducing a new program, it might be worth checking to see if your other participants regularly use free platforms like Skype, Mac's Messages, Discord, or Slack.

All of these programs have the ability to screen share. They aren't designed primarily for that and aren't as quick to get going with, which is why we haven't featured them here---but they are all great choices.

If you want some more choices that go beyond this list's online focus, check out these screen sharing and remote access software.