Software Alternatives & Startups

CrankWheel VS Essentials

Compare CrankWheel VS Essentials and see what are their differences

CrankWheel

Insanely simple, enterprise-friendly screen sharing, free for individual use.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium Free trial $15 / Monthly (Individual user)
Essentials

Essential tools and mods for Android nerds. Contribute to sameerasw/essentials development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Rating
0 reviews
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Customer Support popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
185 vs 30

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

CrankWheel
Essentials
Website crankwheel.com github.com
Pricing
Freemium Free trial $15 / Monthly (Individual user) Official pricing
Platforms
Google Chrome Firefox Windows Mac OSX Linux Web Browser Edge Opera +6
Company Startup from Iceland · 1 - 9 employees · 2016
Listed in

About CrankWheel and Essentials

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

CrankWheel
Essentials

Share your screen to any device during a phone call. Just send a link via SMS, email, IM or say the URL to the session. The viewer enters in seconds with one click. No prompts for registration, installation or downloads. Features: Share your entire screen, browser tab or program window Grant...

Read more about CrankWheel

No description of Essentials yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

CrankWheel 7 features
Essentials 5 features
  • Screen sharing
  • Remote Desktop Access
  • Conference Calling
  • Video Sharing
  • Lead Capture
  • Screen Recorder
  • E-signature
  • Clean and Minimal Design
    Essentials provides a clean, minimal browser startpage/new tab experience that focuses on simplicity and aesthetics, reducing visual clutter compared to default browser homepages.
  • Customizable
    The project allows users to customize various aspects of their startpage, including links, bookmarks, and visual elements, making it adaptable to individual workflows and preferences.
  • Open Source
    Being hosted on GitHub and open source, users can freely inspect, modify, and contribute to the codebase, ensuring transparency and community-driven improvements.
  • Lightweight
    The project is built with simple web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), making it fast to load and easy to deploy without heavy dependencies or frameworks.
  • Self-Hosted Friendly
    Users can easily host and run the startpage locally or on their own servers, maintaining full control over their data and not relying on third-party services.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Documentation
    The project has relatively limited documentation, which may make it harder for new users or contributors to understand setup, configuration options, and how to extend the project.
  • Niche Use Case
    As a browser startpage, it serves a very specific niche purpose and may not appeal to users who are satisfied with default browser new tab pages or more feature-rich alternatives like Notion or other dashboard tools.
  • Small Community
    The project has a relatively small user and contributor base, which can mean slower development, fewer feature additions, and limited community support for troubleshooting issues.
  • Manual Configuration
    Customization often requires directly editing code or configuration files rather than offering a user-friendly settings interface, which can be a barrier for less technical users.
  • Limited Feature Set
    Compared to more established startpage projects (like Homer, Heimdall, or Flame), Essentials may lack advanced features such as service health monitoring, integrations, or weather widgets that power users might expect.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

CrankWheel
Essentials

Overall verdict

  • CrankWheel is a solid choice for businesses seeking a straightforward, reliable screen sharing solution that does not require extensive technical setup or installation. It is particularly effective for use cases where time is of the essence, and simplicity is key.

Why this product is good

  • CrankWheel is often praised for its ease of use, quick setup, and seamless integration capabilities, especially for sales teams and customer service operations. It requires no software installation for viewers, which makes it extremely accessible as participants can join meetings instantly via their web browser. Its real-time screen sharing is noted for being reliable and fast, ensuring that users can effectively engage in presentations or demonstrations.

Recommended for

  • Sales teams needing a quick and reliable presentation tool.
  • Businesses that require consistent and accessible customer support solutions.
  • Organizations looking for a browser-based screen sharing service without the need for software installs for viewers.
  • Individuals or teams conducting software demos or training remotely.

Overall verdict

  • Essentials is a well-regarded, popular Minecraft server plugin (and its modern fork EssentialsX) that provides a comprehensive suite of core commands and features for server administration, making it a solid foundation for most Bukkit/Spigot/Paper servers.

Why this product is good

  • Offers hundreds of essential commands and features out of the box, covering teleportation, homes, warps, kits, and economy
  • Actively maintained through the EssentialsX fork with regular updates and compatibility for modern Minecraft versions
  • Open source and free, with a large community providing support, documentation, and tutorials
  • Highly configurable with granular permissions integration for fine-tuned server control
  • Widely adopted, so it integrates well with many other popular plugins

Recommended for

  • Minecraft server administrators setting up a new survival or multiplayer server
  • Server owners who need a reliable all-in-one plugin for basic management commands
  • Communities wanting economy, homes, and warp systems without installing many separate plugins
  • Beginners looking for well-documented, beginner-friendly server tooling
  • Developers building on Bukkit, Spigot, or Paper who want a stable core plugin foundation

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

CrankWheel 6 videos + Add
Essentials 0 videos + Add

Share screen to desktop or tablet

More videos

  • - Testimonials from insurance agents
  • - Testimonials from digital agency sales
  • - Share screen to a mobile
  • - Instant lead capture
  • - CrankWheel Interactive Webinar

No Essentials videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
CrankWheel
Essentials
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing CrankWheel and Essentials.

What makes your product unique?

CrankWheel's answer

CrankWheel gives you instant screen sharing. Your viewers just click on a link. There are not pop-ups that nudge them to download an app or register first. You can also record your screen, give control or get electronic signatures in a screen share.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

CrankWheel's answer

CrankWheel is easier to use for everyone and you can share to any device without asking your viewers to download anything.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

CrankWheel's answer

Salespeople who sell to remote clients. Health and Life insurance agents, solar sales agents, digital marketers and people selling home services and consultations to small business owners.

What's the story behind your product?

CrankWheel's answer

An ex-Googler returned home after more than a decade abroad and met a childhood friend with over 15 years of experience in selling insurance over the phone. They decided to develop a solution for salespeople to show their screens without having to go to the prospect's home and show a laptop.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

CrankWheel's answer

CrankWheel is a browser-based screen sharing app that is based on WebRTC.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

CrankWheel's answer

  • Health Agents
  • SunRun
  • Yell
  • Yellow Pages
  • Connells Group
  • Vendasta

User comments

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Alternatives to CrankWheel and Essentials

When comparing CrankWheel and Essentials, you can also consider the following products.