We performed a comparison between Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and TeamViewer based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Microsoft Remote Desktop Services slightly nudges out TeamViewer in this comparison. Microsoft Remote Desktop is a complete solution that is already a part of every Microsoft ecosystem. TeamViewer’s cost and security concerns make it less attractive for many users.
"The solution is scalable."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is stable and reliable."
"The most valuable features are it is fast and cost-effective."
"It's simple to set up."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is highly stable."
"The installation of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services was easy."
"The most valuable part of RDS is that it allows you to work from any location and check the server through a VPN connection."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is that it scales well."
"The dashboards they have are good."
"The pilot feature is what stands out the most. I love the ability to use the pilot feature for remote inspections. The augmented portion of the software comes in handy when I have to assist my inspectors. They use the app in the field, and they show me what they're seeing through their phones."
"I recommend it as a solution for remote disk users."
"With an image, you can see immediately what's going on. You can run some tests. Without the solution, you need to do everything by telephone. It's not even thinkable."
"Our computers are spread amongst six physical locations. TeamViewer reduces the need to travel to those offices to help staff."
"I have been satisfied with TeamViewer overall."
"The solution is a very good tool for monitoring and for remote access. Anyone is able to use it, it is simple to use."
"Ease of use was the number-one thing. It's an industry leader for ease of use, specifically on the client-side, which is the absolutely critical thing. If I want to connect to somebody, how easily can I — without seeing their computer — walk them through the steps to install it to a point where I can key in the code and help them resolve their situation?... TeamViewer is just a dead-solid, easy answer."
"The solution is unsuitable for direct external internet connections. You must set up a VPN and password handling to use it."
"We face frequent disconnections."
"We'd like to see more integration with other vendors."
"Microsoft Desktop Services is stable but it takes up a lot of resources in the CPU. It's a bit heavier than some solutions."
"We'd like, in the future, if it would work with Linux or Unix-based operating systems or even Mac."
"There is a limitation on the number of concurrent users."
"In a future release, they could improve by providing more advanced technology and better buffering for if the connection is degraded or lost."
"We had some instability during the implementation process. This has since been resolved."
"TeamViewer has a legacy and may not be using the latest UI trends."
"If were to I put myself in the seat of a small business owner, I would prefer TeamViewer to be more of a pay-once-and-own-it solution, rather than paying via a subscription model (although I am using the free version). Only annual subscriptions are available. It makes paying for it the first time seem a little daunting."
"The security could improve in TeamViewer."
"You can't configure multiple, unattended control passwords on the Mac. On the Mac, there's only one. On Windows, there are multiple unattended control passwords. I have people in different departments. My infrastructure people need to control a server and my developers may need to go into that same server. But I don't want them to have the same password... on the Mac, it can be done but it's extremely clunky and problematic."
"I didn't like the fact that you had to install a client for remote support. If you didn't install the client, you were very limited in terms of what you could do. For a whole enterprise, it is just not an easy task to install a client on everything. Even if you're using SCCM, it is an undertaking. For transient clients that you don't necessarily support a hundred percent of the time, it would be nice to be able to connect to them and support their issues without having to install something on their machines. In my previous company, we were looking at this solution as being a collaborative tool for the enterprise in terms of video conferencing, calling, and scheduling. They were working on bringing a bunch of products together to make their suite a little more integrated, but it really wasn't at the point where we wanted it to be in terms of integration. We looked at it, reviewed it, and tested it out a bit. We then decided to go with Microsoft Teams. It has the clunkiness of having separate modules that aren't totally integrated. There are different methods for doing different things, which makes it a little bit more complicated. There should be the same way whether you are doing remote support or just calls."
"I have noticed that when I access another person's computer, sometimes the tab is visible, and sometimes it is not, which can be difficult."
"TeamViewer can improve connectivity. I had some problems connecting to my clients and now I use AnyDesk."
"It's not the program itself that's an issue, but there is a need for some better documentation on how to use the web portal Management Console. That seems to be a bit lacking in directions, if you aren't paying attention and you don't know what to do. Better documentation would make it a little bit easier to set things up in different groups and share groups between people."
More Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is ranked 2nd in Remote Access with 76 reviews while TeamViewer is ranked 1st in Remote Access with 85 reviews. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is rated 8.0, while TeamViewer is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services writes "Easy to set up and reliable, but needs an additional control panel". On the other hand, the top reviewer of TeamViewer writes "Solid cross-platform remote control, but with kludgy central management and some serious feature issues on macOS". Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is most compared with VMware Horizon, Citrix Workspace, VMware Workstation, Parallels Access and Apache Guacamole, whereas TeamViewer is most compared with TeamViewer Tensor, Parallels Access, ISL Online, BeyondTrust Remote Support and Webex. See our Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. TeamViewer report.
See our list of best Remote Access vendors.
We monitor all Remote Access reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.