PiKVM - Open and inexpensive IP-KVM on Raspberry Pi

PiKVM is a feature-rich, production grade, open-source, Raspberry Pi based KVM over IP device.

It will help you to manage servers or workstations remotely, whatever the state of the operating system or whether one is installed.

PiKVM allows you to turn on/off or restart your computer, configure the UEFI/BIOS, reinstall the OS using the Virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive, and much more! Everything works as if you were working on a remote system directly.

It's a true hardware-level access with no dependency on any remote ports, protocols or services!

PiKVM was created as a pet project to develop a DIY KVM over IP. We wanted it inexpensive and better than old "industry standard" proprietary units. Over the years, PiKVM has gathered a huge community of IT experts and enthusiasts, and the small project has turned into the most modern and reliable remoate access tool trusted by many commercial companies.

Now you can buy a ready-made PiKVM device, or follow the DIY way.

No ugly browser plugins or applets - only open Web standards.
No license restrictions or paywalls - it's free with GPLv3!
No weird proprietary software - Linux and our open-source code inside.
Our own super fast video streaming server.
The most cost effective and feature-rich solution!
...and many many more cool features.

PiKVM V4 Plus & Mini	PiKVM V3	DIY PiKVM

Buy a ready-made PiKVM device		... or make with DIY

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ CORE SYSTEM ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

Plug and Play out of box!	✅	✅	✅	DIY	DIY
Base Raspberry unit	CM4 ^Included!	CM4 ^Included!	RPi4 ^Included!	RPi4 Zero2W	RPi3 RPi2 Zero2W


⭐ ⭐ ⭐ VIDEO ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

Video passthrough to local display	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
HDMI 1920x1200@60Hz support for big displays	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
HDMI 1920x1080@60Hz support for better BIOS/UEFI compatibility	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
HDMI audio capture	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Super fast H.264 & MJPEG video: 720p - 60fps, 1080p - 30fps for H.264	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅


⭐ ⭐ ⭐ PERIPHERY ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

USB keyboard/mouse emulation	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Virtual Flash Drive / CD-ROM emulation	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Ability to simulate "eject/insert" for USB	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Onboard ATX controller for power management of the host	✅	✅	✅	DIY	DIY
Built-in OLED with IP and other info	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Multiport KVM switches support	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅


⭐ ⭐ ⭐ HARDWARE ABILITIES ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

Internal secured USB 3.0 storage port	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
USB serial console port	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
CISCO-style RJ-45 console port	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
A real-time clock for accurate logging	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Locator LED to find device in the rack	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
mPCIe slot with USB lines for LTE/5G cards	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
SIM card slot for modem	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
External antenna support	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
USB host support for external USB devices connectivity	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅


⭐ ⭐ ⭐ POWER AND COOLING ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

Cooling system / fan type	Quiet Radial	Fanless	Axial	DIY	DIY
PWM fan controller	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Fan speed and health monitoring	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Power consumption in idle mode	3.3W	2.65W	3.3W


⭐ ⭐ ⭐ MISCELLANEOUS ⭐ ⭐ ⭐	V4 Plus	V4 Mini	V3	DIY V2	DIY V1

USB relays, lamps, smartplugs control	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅
Pi's GPIO ports control from the Web UI	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅

Look what they say about PiKVM!

Easy and powerful	The widest hardware support	Production features
Just a few cheap parts and half an hour of assembly and you will have the device that supports Full HD video, Mass Storage Drive, keyboard & mouse, control the ATX power and much more.	There are many ways to build a PiKVM. Raspberry Pi models 2, 3, 4, or Zero 2 W may be used. Video capture devices can be attached using the CSI-2 or USB interfaces.	Access via Web UI and VNC, IPMI BMC/SoL and Redfish support, Wake-on-LAN server, advanced authorization and HTTPS out of the box. This is just a short list of what PiKVM can do out of the box.

Fully-featured and modern IP-KVM

Easy to build
A ready-to-use OS images and friendly build environment. The hardware can be made in half an hour and without soldering.
Very low video latency
~100 milliseconds of video latency. This is the smallest delay of all existing solutions.
Extra lightweight Web UI and VNC
No weird proprietary clients. No ugly applets. Just use your favorite browser to connect to the PiKVM. No flash plugins either! Ah, and VNC is also supported.
Keyboard & mouse
Mouse usage works directly in the browser. The keyboard emulator supports displaying the state of the keyboard LEDs.
Mass Storage Drive
On the Raspberry Pi 4 and Zero 2 W, PiKVM can emulate a virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive. A live image can be uploaded to boot the attached server.
ATX power management
With a very simple circuit that can be assembled on a breadboard, the power button of the attached server can be controlled using the ATX button headers on the motherboard.
Security
PiKVM can be opened to the Internet and no one will get access without the authorization. SSL is used to protect traffic from being intercepted by third parties.
Local monitoring
PiKVM monitors the health of the Raspberry Pi board and will warn you if it's too hot or is not receiving enough power.
GPIO management
You can control GPIO and USB relays via the web interface. The extensible interface allows you to make anything out of it.

Production-ready

Linux-based embedded OS
The PiKVM OS is based on Arch Linux ARM and can be customized for any needs. Thousands of pre-built binary packages are at your service and can be updated with a single command!
Read-only filesystem
By default the OS runs in read-only mode, as an embedded system should. This prevents damage to the memory card due to a sudden power outage.
VNC server
The managed server and its BIOS can be accessed using a regular VNC client which supports JPEG compression.
IPMI BMC/SoL and Redfish
Use ipmitool, ipmiutil or any existing network infrastructure that supports IPMI to manage the server's power and access to serial port via LAN. Redfish and redfishtool supported too.
Wake-on-LAN
PiKVM can be configured to power up a managed server using WoL. This will be available in the Web menu.
Extensible authorization methods
Multiple PiKVMs can be configured to use a common authorization service. PAM and its rich authorization mechanisms can also be used to integrate PiKVM into your existing authentication infrastructure.
Macro scripts
If repetitive actions must be performed on the attached server (or on several different servers), a macro can be recorded with keyboard & mouse actions and can be played back multiple times.

Open Source

Open & free
PiKVM is Free and Open Source Software released under the GPLv3.
Community & support
PiKVM has a large community. Join the Discord chat if you have any questions.
Extensible
PiKVM was designed as a set of microservices with a plug-in architecture. It's very easy to modify and maintain.
Comprehensive API
Everything that can be done via the user interface can also be done via a powerful HTTP API.
Know-how
We created our very own MJPG video server written in C with multi-threading support and GPU video encoding - the fastest streaming solution available to provide the best video quality for PiKVM. We also tested a lot of hardware configurations so that you can be sure devices you assemble will work reliably.

Buy PiKVM device

DIY Getting Started