We performed a comparison between Microsoft App-V and Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Application Virtualization solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It is very easy to use from an administration point of view."
"The most interesting and powerful feature for us is the fact that we can upgrade any kind of app instantly."
"We can deploy applications incredibly fast."
"The solution is powerful, and it has good speed and performance."
"It is robust. We have some 75 users using it and it doesn't lag. It's very speedy."
"It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers."
"We use RAS to publish cloud desktops to our clients. The ability to easily publish resources to a subset of users is what we find most valuable."
"The management capability from the RAS portal provides greater control than using pure MS inbuilt into RDS capabilities."
"Allows us to publish applications accessible by current-generation HTML5 browser or OS-specific client (Windows, Android, iOS), and it supports popular single sign-on and multi-factor authentication protocols."
"Setup was straightforward. Our particular use case involved an Active Directory forest involving two data centers and three domains. User authentication against Active Directory was the easiest to set up and validate of any application installed in the last three years."
"It provides flexible access to Windows applications from many types of devices."
"The downside is that Microsoft bought this product and they are going to discontinue it in 2026. This is worrisome for us."
"The reporting features could be improved."
"If it were possible to integrate App-V with a cybersecurity solution then we could implement a documentation registry, which would be useful."
"Currently in the RD Session Hosts – Sessions section, I can see what server a user is logged into but not what app he is using. Being able to do so would be immensely helpful when a non-technical user is complaining of issues, but I can’t tell which app he is using, and he is actually logged into multiple servers since they serve multiple apps."
"A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server."
"HALB is not stable in our environment. When running two HALBs we have stability problems, so we use an active one and a passive for backup. Also, it would be nice to implement an upgrade of the environment without having to stop the servers. As it is, this must be done during off-hours."
"Improvement is needed in performance monitoring of the client's endpoint, and automatic re-connection of the client in the event of circuit disruptions (this works well generally but can present challenges)."
"Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."
"The solution's application virtualization feature needs improvement."
"We have had significant, ongoing issues with printing. It would be great to have a best practice for dealing with printing that we can offer to our customers."
"It needs Windows scaling on Android/iOS devices. At present, the concept of delivering apps to Android and iOS devices is appealing, but the reality is the screen size on these devices is so small that, unless there is some scaling option, it is not really usable."
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Microsoft App-V is ranked 2nd in Application Virtualization with 3 reviews while Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is ranked 5th in Application Virtualization with 24 reviews. Microsoft App-V is rated 9.6, while Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Microsoft App-V writes "Enables organizations to deploy applications incredibly fast and reduces delivery time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) writes "Provides good scalability and a secure environment". Microsoft App-V is most compared with VMware ThinApp, Numecent, Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and Systancia Workplace, whereas Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is most compared with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Citrix Workspace, Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service), Parallels Desktop and NComputing vSpace. See our Microsoft App-V vs. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) report.
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