What is Synergy Dragon, how is it licensed, and how do I join the alpha? – Synergy Help Center

Checked 13 October 2026, for Synergy Dragon Alpha (v0.5.0).

Want to try Synergy Dragon Alpha? Existing customers can join the alpha for free, and it installs alongside Synergy 1 and Synergy 3, so you can try it without removing either. Start here: Download Synergy Dragon Alpha

What is Synergy Dragon?

Synergy Dragon is our next product: a new desktop app for sharing one keyboard and mouse between computers, built from the ground up. It has been in public alpha since August 2026, and we expect it to go on sale 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 Dragon is in alpha. 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 When Synergy Dragon goes on sale.

How is Synergy 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 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 Dragon?

Do I need a license for Synergy Dragon?

Not during the alpha. Synergy Dragon Alpha is free, and it does not ask for a serial key or a login. Your existing account on our website is all you need to join, and you do not need a separate account for it.

When Synergy Dragon goes on sale

For business and enterprise customers: a Synergy Business or Synergy Enterprise license gives access to every one of our products, and that includes Synergy Dragon. 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:

Innovators get Synergy Dragon free, before it goes on sale.
Early Adopters get Synergy Dragon free, after it goes on sale. How many days after is still to be decided.
Everyone else can upgrade to Synergy Dragon for a small fee.

To see whether you are an Innovator or an Early Adopter, open your account page and look for the Innovator or Early Adopter badge beside Member since. Innovators donated to us before September 2014, before we became a business, and Early Adopters bought Synergy 1 before July 2022.

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 Synergy Dragon goes on sale, 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 Dragon free: their updates and support carry on in Synergy Dragon.

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

If you want to share a keyboard and mouse 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 Synergy Dragon goes on sale, which we expect in 2027, and when it does you can upgrade to Synergy Dragon for a small fee. To compare licenses, see: Pricing

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

The same license rules apply to Synergy 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: What are the differences between the business and personal editions?

How do I join the alpha?

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

Open the Synergy Dragon Alpha download page: Download Synergy Dragon Alpha
Log in to your account.
Tick the box that says you understand Synergy Dragon Alpha is an unstable early alpha.
Click Join the alpha.
Download the installer for your operating system.
Install it on every computer you want to share a keyboard and mouse between.

Synergy Dragon Alpha 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)
Arch Linux

Synergy 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 alpha 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 Dragon Alpha download page before then.

How do I set up my computers?

Open Synergy Dragon Alpha 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 fingerprint shown is the same on both computers.
Click Accept 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 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 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 Dragon can connect to Synergy 1 computers. The steps are under Can I use Synergy 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 Dragon up to date?

What does Synergy Dragon share with Synergy 3?

If you use Synergy 3, these will feel familiar, and Synergy 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 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 Dragon with my Synergy 1 computers?

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

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

Open the Synergy Dragon Alpha download page: Download Synergy Dragon Alpha
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 Synergy Dragon to go on sale in 2027. The alpha changes with every build, so the newest features and fixes are in the release notes on the Synergy Dragon Alpha 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.