Drovio vs Saros

Drovio lets distributed teams share an IDE, app or screen for pair programming, code reviews, coding interviews and remote collaboration. Each participant has a separate mouse cursor and can interact with shared apps. Voice chat with echo cancellation and webcam sharing are available, and participants can join a session from a browser without installing the app. Drovio says its screen sharing is designed for low latency, including on low-bandwidth connections and at high resolutions. It describes sessions as using peer-to-peer technology and end-to-end encryption. The Slack integration lets users start sessions from within Slack. Cloud sign-in options include local accounts, Slack, GitHub, Google and SAML single sign-on. The free Basic plan allows up to two participants and limits remote control to 30 minutes per day. Standard costs $15/user/mo and includes up to 10 participants; the plan has a 15-day trial, after which accounts move to Basic unless payment details and billing contact information are registered. Business costs $30 per month. An Enterprise on-premises option runs on customer machines in a private network without an internet connection, with pricing by quote.

Saros is an open-source IDE plugin for distributed collaborative software development. It synchronizes shared text files so participants with write access can edit together. Follow mode lets one participant observe another's navigation and editing activity, while session awareness shows where others are working and what they have changed. Built-in instant messaging supports group and one-to-one conversations; the documentation recommends a separate VoIP or audio conferencing tool. Documented integrations are Eclipse and IntelliJ-platform IDEs, and sessions use an XMPP/Jabber account. Teams can host their own server to keep session communication within their network. Session size varies by the stated product information: the homepage says up to five team members, while Saros/I release notes limit that plugin to two participants. Saros/I also shares only one module, which must have exactly one content root, and does not include sub-modules. Collaboration needs higher bandwidth and lower latency than ordinary chatting, and public chat servers may be too slow for smooth operation. Saros is free and open source, with no paid plans listed.