VMware Horizon vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

VMware Horizon
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the market share of VMware Horizon is 3.0% and it decreased by 66.8% compared to the previous year. The market share of VMware Workstation is 21.3% and it increased by 112.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Unique Categories:
No other categories found
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Hans Kraaijeveld - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 5, 2024
Complete, fully mature, easy to manage and design
A simple way to load-balance components has been missing for several years. Because VMware Horizon lacks a load-balancing component, you must always use a third-party solution. VMware recommends that since you have VMware vSphere underneath, you run NSX to get your load balancer from there. However, not every customer can afford to run NSX. A simple way, particularly for smaller environments, would be to have load balance connection servers and unified access gateways would be extremely beneficial. The backlog of the development team is extensive. We know the load-balancing is in the roadmap somewhere but it's unknown when it will get addressed. I would like to see simple load-balancing for smaller environments that lack large solutions like F5, or NSX; it should be redundant or unavailable but in a simple way. Perhaps limited to only two components; if more are required, a paid load balancing solution can be used. Load balancing for simple environments, or simple redundancy, is sorely lacking.
Alexander Lavrinovich - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 5, 2022
Useful to run VMs on a desktop, stable with a good performance
It is used to spin up games on a desktop. It can also run VMs on a desktop on-premises The performance is good and depends on your PC. It could have more platforms and CPUs. We have been using this solution for more than ten years. It is deployed both on cloud and on-premises. It is a stable…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is stable and easily scalable."
"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."
"I like VMware Horizon's ability and performance."
"The thin image offers efficiency and stability for the system, which is not always available in other alternatives."
"We like that VMware is the top competitor in virtualization."
"The benefits of this solution are that it is modern and it works perfectly well with the rest of the VMware environments we have. Having this vertical integration is what matters to us as an organization and this solution excels in this area. You deploy it and it works without much hassle."
"The solution has enabled us to offer a secure desktop experience to our remote users. This ensures that our personally identifiable information and HIPAA data remain protected, eliminating the risk of being copied to a local, potentially mobile, device. Everything is contained within a centralized structure."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is secure remote access to resources."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
"VMware Workstation has tons of third-party support, the largest partner ecosystem. VMware works with a ton of different vendors. They have plugins for almost everything. Other hypervisors lack the flexibility that VMware Workstation offers."
"The platform’s most valuable feature is snapshot."
"VMware Workstation allows multiple operating systems in the same physical machine."
"The technical support is good."
"Instead of relying on dual-boot operating systems, I can utilize open-source tools within my infrastructure. This approach allows me to create an in-house cloud platform suitable for testing. VMware Workstation enables me to perform tasks across various operating systems using a single device. It has helped me save time."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"Because the setup is so easy, this is a solution that can be used at a moment's notice."
 

Cons

"The multimedia playback is not very good and they could improve it by increasing the quality."
"VMware Horizon could be improved with more integration. It is also very costly for Enterprise Plus, which is a drawback. The renewal costs for the license are very, very high."
"Areas for improvement in VMware Horizon 7 would be the logging and the troubleshooting, e.g. they could be made clearer."
"Horizon 7's performance could be improved."
"We should be able to use the tool on different platforms."
"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."
"VMware Horizon's initial setup is fairly complex."
"The support team's technicalities and the pricing of the solution need improvement."
"Lacks the ability to clone onto another system rather than starting from scratch."
"The GUI interface could be improved."
"The solution should provide a guide on its installation."
"The price should be reduced."
"For some virtual machine configurations, you have to go to the text editor and make the configuration changes, which could be improved."
"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."
"The price of VMware Workstation is an area of concern where improvements are needed."
"The product could provide the features available in Microsoft Hyper-V."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its cost is fair. You can go for a free trial, but for initializing a project, you need to purchase a license. There are different types of licenses."
"VMware Horizon is expensive and I would rate it an eight out of ten."
"VMware Horizon is expensive. It should provide a special price for more user licenses."
"At present, they provide decent pricing in terms of bundled licenses."
"There are different editions available at different cost points."
"We pay for the solution annually at a cost of approximately 10,000 HKD."
"The VMware Horizon 7 license is for three months. We are in the testing stage, we are still evaluating the product. We are sure now that we need to buy a license for the production environment."
"The license for this product is paid on a monthly basis."
"The price of the solution per workstation is approximately 200 Francs annually. We pay a total of 800 francs. Everything is included in the price such as the support."
"VMware is expensive. Licensing can be tricky. For example, I recently had a client running VMware vSphere Essentials and wanted to migrate to a more scalable solution. However, they had no choice but to purchase a completely new license and deploy a completely new instance of VMware."
"VMware Workstation has a high price than competitors in the market."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
"The pricing is a bit steep in my opinion for testing and there are other options."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
"VMware Workstation's costs are lifetime."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does VMware Workspace One compare with VMware Horizon 7?
VMware Workspace One has a powerful set of helpful features. The solution offers very good documentation, the initial setup is easy, and the product is very stable and reliable. I think the fact th...
What do you like most about VMware Horizon 7?
VMware offers a friendly environment, and it's easy to provide the user with the package. It is a bundled solution that is readily deployable. The advantage lies in its simplicity, it requires mini...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon 7?
Pricing for Horizon is relatively high, earning a rating of one out of ten.
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LCMC Health
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Horizon vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.