We performed a comparison between Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and VMware Workstation based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: The main difference between the two solutions is that users of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services feel it should integrate with other operating systems and say they would like a notification feature, while VMware Workstation users say the solution’s interface needs improvement. In this comparison, VMware Workstation comes out slightly on top because it is low-cost and users report an ROI.
"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 initial setup is not that difficult. I have gone through the RDS initialization steps, which only seem easy."
"The solution now includes a multi-screen feature which is great."
"It is a stable product."
"The solution works well as a remote desktop."
"It's scalable enough for our needs and very reliable."
"The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its security and simple configuration."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"The solution's customer service is good."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease to create a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop."
"We can undo some changes using the snapshot feature."
"It will not harm any of the computer settings to run a specific program. For example, if a program needs a specific security policy, we don't have to use the shared configuration. We have an individual copy of Windows installed on the virtual machine, so anybody can access that. It helps us a lot."
"It's stable."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"The only problems that you're going to have with the remote desktop are going to be firewall ports, security, and NLA, which is a net network level access control, or TLS transfer layer security or some other SSL-type of security."
"In the past, my company had faced some issues related to the stability of the product. The product's stability can be improved."
"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."
"There is a limitation on the number of concurrent users."
"It could be more user-friendly."
"Users have to re-enter their ID and password every time they log on, which is tedious and repetitive."
"We'd like more granular security control of the desktop services."
"We'd like, in the future, if it would work with Linux or Unix-based operating systems or even Mac."
"My experience with Workstation is limited, so I don't know all the functionalities of this tool. Maybe Workstation could add some more compatibility with other vendors."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"It would be better if software updates occur automatically."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"Installing VMware Workstation isn't so easy. It's highly complex compared to Windows. I rate it four out of 10 for ease of installation. Setting up a remote desktop only takes a minute or so, but the Workstation itself takes some time."
"The GUI interface could be improved."
"I have had issues with the virtual network adapters in the past that has taken some time to troubleshoot."
"The dashboard can be improved."
More Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is ranked 1st in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 76 reviews while VMware Workstation is ranked 2nd in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 42 reviews. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is rated 8.0, while VMware Workstation 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 VMware Workstation writes "An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players". Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is most compared with TeamViewer, VMware Horizon, Citrix Workspace, Parallels Access and Apache Guacamole, whereas VMware Workstation is most compared with Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, KVM, VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop. See our Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VMware Workstation report.
See our list of best Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) vendors.
We monitor all Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 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.
