What is Synergy 4 Dragon, how is it licensed, and how do I get the beta? – Synergy Help Center

Checked 14 November 2026, for Synergy 4 Dragon Beta (v4.0.0).

Want to try Synergy 4 Dragon Beta? It is on sale now as an early access beta, and the license you buy carries on into the stable release. It installs alongside Synergy 1 and Synergy 3, so you can try it without removing either. Start here: Download Synergy 4 Dragon Beta

Early Adopters and Innovators get Synergy 4 Dragon for free. There is nothing to pay and no upgrade to buy: Innovators (Synergy 1 customers since before 1 September 2014) can unlock it now, and Early Adopters (Synergy 1 customers since before 8 July 2022) can unlock it as soon as the stable version is released. How it works is under Free for Innovators and Early Adopters.

What is Synergy 4 Dragon?

Synergy 4 Dragon is our next product: a new desktop app for sharing one keyboard and mouse between computers, built from the ground up. It was free to test from August 2026, has been on sale as an early access beta, Synergy 4 Dragon Beta, since November 2026, and we expect the stable release in 2027. It uses the same core as Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 for keyboard and mouse sharing, the clipboard and encrypted connections.

For everyday work, keep using Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 while Synergy 4 Dragon is in beta. Both keep getting updates and support, and we have not announced an end-of-life date for either. How long each is supported is under Support for Synergy 1 and Synergy 3.

How is Synergy 4 Dragon different from Synergy 1 and Synergy 3?

Synergy 1 is our long-standing app, mature and widely used in business. You arrange your computers on the one that shares its keyboard and mouse (the server).
Synergy 3 is easier to set up. It has a visual layout, lets you change any computer's settings from the one in front of you, and lets you make any computer the primary.
Synergy 4 Dragon does everything Synergy 3 does and adds file transfer between computers, profiles for different setups (such as home and work), a to-scale view of your real monitors, live stats for every computer, and auto-update. It can also share with Synergy 1 computers.

The full list is further down, under What is new in Synergy 4 Dragon?

Do I need a license for Synergy 4 Dragon?

The Synergy 4 Dragon Beta download needs a license on your account on our website. The app itself does not ask for a serial key or a login, and you do not need a separate account for it. To see what your account gets, log in and open: Download Synergy 4 Dragon Beta

For business customers: a Synergy Business license includes Synergy 4 Dragon Beta for as long as its term runs, so the installers show on the download page once you log in. Synergy Enterprise covers Synergy 1 Enterprise and does not include the beta download; to try it, ask our business team: Contact our business team

For personal customers:

Early Adopters get Synergy 4 Dragon Max for free when the stable version is released. There is nothing to pay; the only wait is for it to leave early access.
Innovators get Synergy 4 Dragon Max for free now, during early access.
Joined the beta before it went on sale? Your account already holds Synergy 4 Dragon Max, and your downloads carry on.
Everyone else can buy early access, or upgrade from Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 and pay only the difference.

Free for Innovators and Early Adopters

Which one you are depends on when you created your account, and it applies to accounts that hold a Synergy 1 license:

Innovators: before 1 September 2014, when we were funded by donations.
Early Adopters: from 1 September 2014 to 7 July 2022.

Early Adopters: Synergy 4 Dragon Max is free for you, and you do not need to buy it or pay for an upgrade. It unlocks when the stable version is released, which we expect in 2027. When it is, open your account page and click Unlock beside Synergy 4 Dragon Max in the Licenses section.

Until then, that row shows an Upgrade button. It is for anyone who would rather pay the difference to use the beta early, and it is a choice, never a requirement. If you start the checkout, it opens with You can get this for free, and Wait and get it for free closes it without paying.

Innovators: Synergy 4 Dragon Max is free for you now. Open your account page and click Unlock beside Synergy 4 Dragon Max in the Licenses section, or click Unlock early access on the download page: Download Synergy 4 Dragon Beta

To check which you are, open your account page and look beside Member since: it shows the date your account was created, with an Innovator or Early Adopter badge.

Buying early access, or upgrading from Synergy 1 or Synergy 3

For personal customers who are not Innovators or Early Adopters:

Buying early access. Synergy 4 Dragon comes as Lite, Plus and Max, each a one-time purchase. The license is yours to keep and carries on into the stable release.
Upgrading from Synergy 1 or Synergy 3. You pay the Synergy 4 Dragon price minus the price of the license you own, and you keep that license.

Choosing between Lite, Plus and Max? Pick the one you want from the start: a higher Synergy 4 Dragon license is bought at its full price, with no upgrade from one to the next. To compare them, see: Synergy 4 Dragon pricing

Support for Synergy 1 and Synergy 3

For business customers: if your business relies on Synergy 1 or Synergy 3, no end-of-life date has been announced for either, and both are planned to move into an extended maintenance phase for business customers.

For personal customers: your Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 license stays yours whether or not you upgrade. We have not announced an end-of-life date for Synergy 1 or Synergy 3. We plan to keep both updated and supported for 5 years after the stable release of Synergy 4 Dragon, and after that both are planned to move into an extended maintenance phase for business customers. That is why Innovators and Early Adopters get Synergy 4 Dragon free: their updates and support carry on in Synergy 4 Dragon.

Deciding whether to buy Synergy 3 now or wait for Synergy 4 Dragon?

For a setup to rely on today, buy Synergy 3 now. It is yours to keep, and no end-of-life date has been announced for it. We plan to keep it updated and supported for 5 years after the stable release of Synergy 4 Dragon, which we expect in 2027. You can upgrade to Synergy 4 Dragon at any time: you pay the Synergy 4 Dragon price minus the price of your Synergy 3 license, and you keep Synergy 3. To compare licenses, see: Pricing

Can I use my personal license at home and at work?

The same license rules apply to Synergy 4 Dragon as to Synergy 1 and Synergy 3. If you paid for your personal license yourself, you can use it on any computer you personally use, including a work computer. If your employer pays for, installs or manages it, a business license is needed instead. The rules in full: Do I need a Business or a Personal License?

How do I get Synergy 4 Dragon Beta?

The beta is an early access build that can crash or lose your settings, so it is best kept off the computers you rely on for everyday work.

What the page shows depends on your account:

With a Synergy Business license or a Synergy 4 Dragon license, or if you joined the beta before it went on sale, it shows the installers.
For Innovators, it shows Unlock early access, which adds Synergy 4 Dragon Max to your account for free.
For Early Adopters, it shows Get early access while the beta lasts. There is no need to buy: Synergy 4 Dragon is free for you once the stable version is released.
For everyone else, it shows Get early access, which opens the purchase page.

To buy early access:

Open the Synergy 4 Dragon Beta download page: Download Synergy 4 Dragon Beta
Log in to your account.
Click Get early access.
On the purchase page, choose Synergy 4 Dragon Lite, Synergy 4 Dragon Plus or Synergy 4 Dragon Max.
Complete the checkout, which shows the early access warning before you pay.
Back on the download page, download the installer for your operating system.
Install it on every computer you want to share a keyboard and mouse between.

Synergy 4 Dragon Beta has installers for these systems, all 64-bit:

Windows 10 and later
macOS, one installer for Apple silicon and Intel Macs
Debian 13 (.deb)
Ubuntu 26.04 (.deb)
Fedora 44 (.rpm)
Fedora 43 (.rpm)
Arch Linux

Synergy 4 Dragon installs alongside Synergy 1 and Synergy 3, but only one of the three can run on a computer at a time, because they share a port. Each beta build stops working 90 days after it was built. Updates install on their own by default and we release every couple of weeks, so most people never reach that limit. If you turned automatic updates off, install a newer build from the Synergy 4 Dragon Beta download page before then.

How do I set up my computers?

Open Synergy 4 Dragon Beta on your first computer.
Follow the first-run steps and name the computer.
When asked Is this your first computer?, choose Yes, start here.
On every other computer, choose No, connect to a computer I already set up.
Check that the code shown is the same on both computers.
Click Codes match on both computers.

To add a computer later, click + Add computer. Computers on your network show up on their own while Auto discover is on, or you can connect by IP address.

On a Mac, Synergy 4 Dragon asks for permission to control the keyboard and mouse. If the app shows Waiting for permission, click Open System Settings and allow it.

What is new in Synergy 4 Dragon?

Send files between computers

Open the Layout tab.
Drag a file from your file manager onto another computer's card.
On the other computer, choose where to put the file in the Incoming files window.
Click Save, or Save and open.

Someone must be signed in on the computer receiving the file. To stop being asked each time, open Settings, then Input, then Drag and drop, and change Where to save received files.

Switch between setups with profiles

Each profile is its own network, with its own computers and layout, so you can keep one for home and one for work.

Click the profile name in the top bar.
Choose a profile to switch to it, or choose Manage profiles to create or remove one.
To create one, type a name under Create a new profile and click Add.

More that is new

See your real screens. In the Layout tab, switch to Display layout to see each computer's monitors drawn to scale.
Watch computer stats and resources. The Monitor tab graphs the ping to every computer. Switch on Resources for a computer to graph its CPU and memory too.
Share with Synergy 1 computers. Synergy 4 Dragon can connect to Synergy 1 computers. The steps are under Can I use Synergy 4 Dragon with my Synergy 1 computers?
Update without visiting each computer. Updates download and install on their own by default, and the primary can update the other computers. The steps are under How do I keep Synergy 4 Dragon up to date?

What does Synergy 4 Dragon share with Synergy 3?

If you use Synergy 3, these will feel familiar, and Synergy 4 Dragon does them too:

Change the settings of any computer from the one in front of you, with the layout shared across all of them.
Make any computer the primary.
Read live logs from the app, in the Diagnostics tab.
Copy and paste up to 128 MB by default, with the status bar showing clipboard transfers. Synergy 1 does this too.
Follow your system's light or dark mode, or pin the window to one of them, in Settings under Appearance.
Remap modifier keys and set hotkeys that switch computers or lock the pointer. In Synergy 4 Dragon, open Settings, then Input, then Hotkeys, or select a computer in the Layout tab and click Settings for this computer.

Can I use Synergy 4 Dragon with my Synergy 1 computers?

Yes, Synergy 4 Dragon can share with Synergy 1 computers. A Synergy 1 computer does not get clipboard sharing or monitoring, and it cannot be the primary.

To let Synergy 1 computers connect to a Synergy 4 Dragon computer:

Open Settings, then Advanced, then Compatibility.
Switch on Allow Synergy 1 computers.
Under Synergy 1 computers, add the screen name each Synergy 1 computer is configured with.

The screen name must match exactly, or Synergy 1 will not let that computer connect.

To make a Synergy 4 Dragon computer take input from a Synergy 1 server instead, switch on Run this computer as a Synergy 1 client in the same place.

How do I keep Synergy 4 Dragon up to date?

Updates download and install on their own by default. When one is waiting, an icon appears in the top bar; click it to update other computers from the primary or to Restart to update. Keep every computer on the same build, since newer features are missing on older ones.

How do I report a problem or ask for a feature?

Feedback goes to our developers, so you do not need to collect logs yourself.

Click Send feedback (the speech bubble) in the top bar.
Choose Bug report or Feature request.
Describe what happened or what you would like.
Enter your address under Email for a reply.
Leave Attach diagnostics and Attach a screenshot ticked, or untick them.
Click Send feedback.

What if my computers cannot find each other?

Update every computer to the newest Synergy 4 Dragon Beta build.
Connect all the computers to the same local network.
Pause any VPN.
Allow ports 24800 and 24801 (TCP) and 5353 (UDP) through the firewall on each computer. The Windows installer does this for you.
Run a ping test between them. For the steps, see: How to do a ping test

Install Synergy 4 Dragon Beta again over the top, and sharing comes back. The status bar shows Sharing is not installed, with this message:

The part of Synergy 4 Dragon Beta that shares the keyboard and mouse is missing from this computer. Installing Synergy 4 Dragon Beta again puts it back.

Open the Synergy 4 Dragon Beta download page: Download Synergy 4 Dragon Beta
Download the installer for your operating system.
Run the installer on the computer showing the message.

If the message comes back after reinstalling, send a bug report from the app so our developers can see what removed it. The steps are under How do I report a problem or ask for a feature?

What is still coming?

We expect the stable release of Synergy 4 Dragon in 2027. The beta changes with every build, so the newest features and fixes are in the release notes on the Synergy 4 Dragon Beta download page.

Some settings are visible but switched off and marked Coming soon, such as requiring a pairing code and a maximum file size for transfers.
If the primary computer is off, the others stay read-only until you make another computer the primary.
On Linux with Wayland, clipboard sharing and remembering the input permission between restarts are being fixed, and dropping a file onto a computer may send nothing.