We performed a comparison between Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and VMware Horizon based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Both solutions are easy to deploy and have good features. However, users of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services are happier with the price and more satisfied with the technical support.
"We use it to connect to the legacy system."
"I give the stability a nine out of ten."
"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 installation of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services was easy."
"The solution works on Microsoft servers."
"The initial setup is not that difficult. I have gone through the RDS initialization steps, which only seem easy."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is the ability to remote into a system that is not on-premises."
"The solution is now stable."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility."
"We use VMware Horizon to provide remote access for remote users."
"The thin image offers efficiency and stability for the system, which is not always available in other alternatives."
"It offers great flexibility, allowing us to access it as a complete virtual machine or even just as individual applications."
"The ease of deployment is one of the most valuable features. If I want to install something, I can have a test phase to see what sort of impact it will have and whether it will affect production. So I can install it on my lab, make sure it is okay, and if it is, I can deploy it directly to the users or to the staff."
"The most valuable features of VMware Horizon in our education organization are its Graphics Virtualization Unit (GVU) integration."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is secure remote access to resources."
"One of the most interesting features in the enterprise version is the ability to do some support. There is a feature for remote control and debugging, which is something we didn't have before having Horizon 7 and the enterprise version."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could improve by having a better application for managing multiple sessions. There used to be one but they stopped supporting it."
"Sometimes the server stops working, and we don’t know why. Occasionally we’ll get a message to the effect of "There is no remote license.""
"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."
"I want to connect easily from an external network even when I'm not in my enterprise or company. It should be easy to connect or integrate Microsoft Teams, for example, with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services."
"There are problems with using Microsoft Teams within a virtual desktop on a mobile device."
"We'd like them to continue to improve on security."
"The pricing could be better."
"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."
"Areas for improvement in VMware Horizon 7 would be the logging and the troubleshooting, e.g. they could be made clearer."
"The multimedia playback is not very good and they could improve it by increasing the quality."
"VMware Horizon's initial setup is fairly complex."
"What I would like to see improved is not so much about the product. It's more about how to get information about products. It's always too much sales pitching and fancy works and stuff."
"We have seen and face notable challenges in the configuration aspect specifically while creating and assigning groups which have proven to be a very cumbersome and tiring process. Apart from this the Reliance on the Active Directory as the only directory has its own limitation, which include the requirement to purchase a windows server for an environment outside the standard set up."
"The majority of things in VMware Horizon can be done only in Windows and not in Linux. There are Linux customers who would like to use VMware Horizon's features."
"The support team's technicalities and the pricing of the solution need improvement."
"There is room for a more cost-effective pricing structure, as it could be more affordable."
More Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is ranked 1st in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 69 reviews while VMware Horizon is ranked 4th in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 33 reviews. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is rated 8.2, while VMware Horizon 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 VMware Horizon writes "Compelling solution for virtual desktop infrastructure with advanced technology, straightforward licensing, easy setup, and seamless integration". Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is most compared with TeamViewer, VMware Workstation, Citrix Workspace, Parallels Access and Apache Guacamole, whereas VMware Horizon is most compared with VMware Workspace ONE, VMware Horizon View, VMware Player, VMware Horizon Cloud and VMware Workstation. See our Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VMware Horizon report.
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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.