We performed a comparison between Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The solution is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is the remote application access."
"The most valuable features are availability and security."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is highly stable."
"The solution works well as a remote desktop."
"The performance is one of the main features of this solution."
"It's simple and easy to use."
"The tool shares computer resources perfectly."
"You have the opportunity to virtualize applications in different locations. Everything is in one pane or one window, which is quite good."
"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."
"Thin client management (Windows 10 client) provides an easy way to lock down client connection to the remote infrastructure. Policies are very helpful for preconfiguring client behavior. Finally, client management is easy."
"Client compatibility with many systems makes it very versatile. The reporting that is included is awesome."
"Ease of use in publishing apps and installing the agent. The Interface is fairly intuitive after some tinkering. Although I inherited the app only two-thirds deployed, I was able to complete the deployment and service it over the last year without referring to any documentation."
"It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers."
"We can publish apps and desktops on Terminal Servers and seamlessly share printers. We also combine Parallels with Deepnet Security to get two-factor authentication."
"It is a stable solution."
"The DB card needs improvement. I have a lot of experience with other competitors and Citrix is better than VMware and Microsoft. Citrix has more extensive features."
"We face frequent disconnections."
"We are searching for a product with better remote access and remote sessions."
"The initial setup of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is not the easiest. You need to have a certain understanding of how Microsoft is provisioning the solution to be able to set it up and use it."
"The administrative functionality is not enough for me."
"The reliability of the solution could improve."
"I would say it's expensive as there similar products available for free."
"It could offer better security for enterprises."
"From a seller's point of view, there are a lot of things that they could do better in the sales cycle."
"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."
"We use several gateways because access to our secret zone requires two-factor user authentication. It is a lot of hassle differentiating among users with or without two-factor. Of course, we could use two farms, but that would mean more management too."
"It would be great if there were more sophisticated GPO templates/options."
"The solution's application virtualization feature needs improvement."
"Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."
"Opening a ticket should be available from the actual RAS console. It is cumbersome to go to a portal, hunt around for five minutes for a link to open a ticket, answer questions meant to direct you towards FAQs instead of live support, then fill out information (license #, version #, etc.) which could more easily be supplied by sending a ticket straight from the console with all of that information automatically specified."
"A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server."
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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is ranked 1st in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 75 reviews while Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is ranked 12th in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 24 reviews. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is rated 8.0, while Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is rated 8.8. 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 Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) writes "Provides good scalability and a secure environment". Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is most compared with TeamViewer, VMware Horizon, VMware Workstation, Citrix Workspace and VMware Horizon View, whereas Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is most compared with Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service), Citrix Workspace, VMware Workstation, NVIDIA GRID and Parallels Desktop. See our Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) report.
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