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ConnectWise ScreenConnect vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Remote Access
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
245
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
ConnectWise ScreenConnect
Ranking in Remote Access
17th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (10th)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Remote Access
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.5%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ConnectWise ScreenConnect is 1.4%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 11.0%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Todd Blake - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple to set up, reasonable pricing, and useful remote control capabilities
I'm on the latest version of the solution. I just updated it yesterday. While we have the solution on-premises at this time, we'll likely move to the cloud later this year. They have a trial version that you can try. They have a free version that you can try as well. I use it myself to support my family. I would try the free version or the trial version depending on your business. They can set you up and you can get to see all the features. I would also advocate going to the cloud version. Don't bother with the on-prem. It's just easier to jump to the cloud. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Terje Romen - PeerSpot reviewer
Accessing the same desktop experience from anywhere but user template creation needs improvement
Mostly we are quite happy with it. However, some of us want a more powerful desktop. When not present, we use a remote tool called Splashtop, which is a good solution for some users. We have about ten licenses for those who need a powerful workstation at the office. We have not used many different tools. We are never in contact with Microsoft. These are quite basic configurations, to be honest. It's not complicated. AI is coming to or is already in some applications we are using. Not system-wise, however, it might be good. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It's quite good, yet certainly not perfect.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Intune's integration with Defender and other security solutions is valuable because it offers a view into different security vulnerabilities and enables us to secure them more effectively."
"I particularly appreciate the administration and security features, which can be deployed easily."
"Intune can wipe devices. For example, if a disgruntled employee wants to leak the data on their company phone, Intune can terminate their access and wipe the entire device with a click."
"We have a BYOD policy, and this solution helps us manage our devices."
"It is very easy to use. It has a very easy interface."
"The ability to push applications on devices is valuable. You do not have to manually install applications one by one. If you like to use ten different applications, you do not have to manually go and download them one by one. Intune can compile a package for you, and then you can just push them from the admin center."
"The best features include the management, which is quite good, and endpoints."
"The core management feature in Intune is invaluable to us, especially considering the challenges we often face with System Center when pushing external updates."
"Better than TeamViewer and useful for fixing problems remotely."
"Session groups and triggers are the most valuable features, because they make a greater degree of organization possible. Greater degree of organization is valuable to my organization, because we have many sessions to handle."
"Unattended access is the most important feature."
"I do love the monitoring page. If you are using ConnectWise Control, which is the on-prem version, when you are logged into the admin panel, there is a status page that checks network connectivity, the status of the license, and so on."
"Valuable features include the responsiveness, ability to tune up and tune down the connection, and video."
"Control lets us do remote management of machines without having to be on the VPN. It's super simple and super easy."
"We like the fact that on our website we can have the ConnectWise bit embedded, and it has instructions for the end-user about what they need to do. Previously, on LogMeIn, we used to have to almost talk them through everything... ConnectWise has step-by-step instructions, depending on the browser."
"Due to the fact that we can help our clients virtually, the solution has allowed us to reduce our travel costs by about 90%."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services are unification, central management, and accessibility."
"I like that it works. In most cases, it's predictable. You know what you get."
"The technical support is good."
"The solution performs well and is easy to use."
"I like the way it can assess our system."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is stable and reliable."
"The most valuable features are availability and security."
"The performance is one of the main features of this solution."
 

Cons

"Its configuration is fairly complicated. You have to do quite a bit of discovery to be able to deploy it for a customer. You have to ask them a lot of questions. So, its initial deployment is the biggest challenge. They should make it easier to deploy with the use of Wizards or something else. During the deployment stage, there could be profiles for the customers who are particularly wanting to use certain feature sets of Intune."
"I would like to see better integration with Microsoft."
"The solution could be improved by the opportunity to connect third-party application databases, such as Chocolatey or another setup store, to Intune."
"We haven't really gone through all the features of Intune. We are just discovering them. Every day, we see a new feature that we want to apply, but what will be great for Intune is to be able to deploy apps in a simple fashion. We should be able to easily install various apps on the Windows platform, iOS, and Android. Currently, we have to write some scripts. It's not as straightforward as we would like it to be. It should be simplified so that we can do it just with three clicks—next, next, finish—without needing to write a script."
"Intune's reporting and logging could be improved. When troubleshooting, it's difficult to collect the logs and determine what's happening. If I want to filter out the compliant devices, I can see it from the logs, but I would like the option to drill down further."
"Improvements can be made by allowing server integrations since it is an area where the product currently has shortcomings."
"I'd like some more reporting so that I don't have to delve into PowerShell and I can pull more of the local device information such as memory, apps installed, etc. It would be nice to be able to see the apps that are present there but might not be managed. For example, if they installed 7Zip, it could report that back via an installed program or feature to see what was currently installed."
"The Mac integration has room for improvement."
"For my company, just installing the software and using it is very easy. But if I need to give one of my customers access to their machines, the process that you have to go through is some 15 to 20 steps. You have to create a group, and then you have to assign a policy. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to set up someone for remote access to their own machine."
"If it had Chrome capability, that would be great; being able to use it on a Chrome device. Right now, I can't use it on my Chrome device."
"The solution is a little bit complicated when you want to implement it."
"Something that I would like to see in the future is mobile video streaming. They do provide audio conferencing, but seeing the problem makes it easier to solve the problem. If they had video streaming, if a client had a physical problem with something and I couldn't get remote access, the client could use his mobile phone to show me the problem. In these cases, even if a client's systems were down, I could help, so long as I had a mobile phone environment."
"We have had issues. We have had circumstances, for reasons we don't know, where the service will stop running, and when the service stops running that computer no longer becomes reachable. We haven't really seen that so much on desktops, but we have seen that happen quite frequently on server operating systems, Server 2008, Server 2012. You can install the product and then a week down the road it will just stop."
"Reporting could definitely use improvement. With LogMeIn Rescue, I used to be able to, for instance, at the end of the month, pull off a report of every session. It was very simple... I could see the name that was typed in, the IP address to the computer that it was connected to, if it was running Windows... It just doesn't seem - there might be but I haven't found it - to be a way of pulling that information out of ConnectWise."
"On a Linux machine, there are different limitations that are not there on a Windows Server. Much more limitations exist on Linux deployments."
"I really didn't care for the onboarding process and it is something that should be improved."
"The user interface needs improvement."
"We'd like more granular security control of the desktop services."
"There have been some network issues in the solution. So, when we used to connect it, the solution suddenly got disconnected. So the network part needs to be improved."
"We'd like, in the future, if it would work with Linux or Unix-based operating systems or even Mac."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could improve by having graphical acceleration."
"I would like to be able to leverage it on other operating systems."
"Microsoft should be more compatible with other operating system."
"Microsoft Desktop Services is stable but it takes up a lot of resources in the CPU. It's a bit heavier than some solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's reasonable. They're not giving it away, but it's reasonable."
"Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."
"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"Its licensing model is not complex, but it is very expensive compared to other solutions. They can bring more models and reduce the pricing. They should allow customers to select the features they want and price it accordingly."
"I liked the tool's pricing until P2 came into effect. I am unsure about the current value versus the cost of the new licensing model."
"No one can compete with Microsoft when it comes to price, and the features it is offering."
"We use Defender ATP and E5 licenses."
"The product is relatively pricey, but considering its benefits, I'd say it's fair. The benefits outweigh the expensive licensing fees, especially for large organizations, but medium-sized and smaller businesses may be unable to afford it."
"Their licensing model is good, their pricing model is good, their service is good; bandwidth is excellent. They're consistent."
"Pricing is fair for Control and the licensing is simple."
"Make sure you have enough licensing for all the techs that you have."
"Good price and works well."
"It is priced fairly."
"ConnectWise Control is not an overly expensive tool. Its pricing is reasonable."
"For the price we pay, we definitely feel it's worth it, but there are some contenders in the market that are coming out now, whose products are as good; they are offering more features and the price is actually less than ConnectWise. All things considered, the biggest thing is the lack of patching in ConnectWise. If they could integrate that into the product, that would be a game changer, if offered at the same price point."
"We pay $85 per month for each user for a ConnectWise package with multiple solutions."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"I am aware that for Azure we do have an extra license because we are leveraging on different tenants."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable."
"The solution has a pretty comparable pricing."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"There is a licensing cost."
"I recall that you don't need to pay for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services because that's included in Windows."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ConnectWise Control?
I download the product for free with ConnectWise RMM's license.
What needs improvement with ConnectWise Control?
All the features provided by the product in terms of screen connectors have been good. There can be some complexities...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I've never had an issue with it. I've always thought the pricing for RDS was reasonable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
We would like configuration to be automatic and the price to be close to zero, however, that's not realistic. Everyon...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
ConnectWise Control, ScreenConnect
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Jon Rosen Systems
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about ConnectWise ScreenConnect vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.