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Horizon 8 vs Horizon Cloud Service comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
Horizon Cloud Service
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon 8 is 11.3%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 2.0%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

HA
May 18, 2023
Highly Scalable and Efficient Solution
It is stable. However, when shifting from a laptop or desktop environment, there are certain expectations that need to be set correctly. For example, users in some lab environments or universities have a habit of shutting down systems at day's end. It can be inconvenient and it either needs to be disabled or the VMs need to be restarted. These challenges can be addressed within a couple of weeks, and then everything becomes stable. So, stability improves over time with proper configuration and SOPs and as users grow accustomed to new environments. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
SN
Jan 24, 2023
Overall useful features, secure, and highly scalable
We use VMware Horizon Cloud for virtual machines where everyone can log in and do their work in a safe environment VMware Horizon Cloud has benefited my company because it is centered and secure. The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together. Logging into…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It stands as a robust setup with considerable capabilities."
"The solution simplifies our work."
"We like that VMware is the top competitor in virtualization."
"Users can log in from anywhere and from a variety of devices."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its reliability."
"We are happy with the interface, configurations, pricing and support."
"The solution's most valuable feature is low bandwidth consumption. It helps to improve user experience."
"I find the product to be quite stable...It is a scalable solution...The documentation of VMware Horizon View is quite good."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users that are working from outside of the office or from different offices in the country."
"I honestly liked the application itself because it was just like using a desktop. You could copy and paste, inside and outside, and you could use multiple monitors. You could access it anytime, anywhere, no matter whether you were in the office or out of the office. I could leave the office, go somewhere, go back in, and everything would be there. I could just leave it up and running. I absolutely love this feature in VMware Horizon Cloud."
"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is easy to use and the full development cloud is very good. The main features of VMware are included. It's a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure software that allows you to permit the virtual desktops and applications to any device from the single unified management control. These are managed from the dedicated remote session desktop."
"Its advanced management features are the most valuable, especially power management. One of the really important things was to be able to have power management in a consumption world. This means that unlike a Microsoft environment, you could actually turn off virtual desktops or have them start up and shut down. If you're consuming resources in the public cloud, you want to be able to do that because when you're not using those, such as at the weekend, you want to be able to turn them off. So, the advanced options for managing the BDIs are very important."
"The interface is much easier to use compared to Microsoft and other VDI vendors that are well known on the market. I like VMware so much more than the others. With Horizon Cloud, you don't need to spend a lot of money upfront to buy the infrastructure. You can use it the on the cloud, so it lowers the barriers to entry. It's easier to test it and get started. Some clients stay in the cloud, but others prefer to go on-premise. It depends on the nature of the client."
"The product’s on-premise version has the ability to create an image of any updates or changes in the system."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."
 

Cons

"Considering the tool's weaknesses, the product probably has scope for some improvement in the context of how the applications or Linux operating systems are delivered using VMware Horizon View."
"Sometimes we had to force values so the end-user could continue working, which caused some information to get lost."
"VMware Horizon View can improve by making it easier to use for first-time users. You should learn the whole concept of VMware to be able to use it."
"The product has to improve its performance and connectivity."
"The solution has a lot of issues and bugs."
"There are some issues with RAM in the system."
"There is room for a more cost-effective pricing structure, as it could be more affordable."
"We would like to see better performance with the product."
"It is very expensive. Its price needs to be improved. They can do a better job with external resources such as a USB or a hard drive. When I tried to connect using these external resources, it failed a lot of times. I had to do a shared connection with a local laptop and then connect from a network standpoint, rather than through VMware Horizon point. They definitely have weaknesses with external connections. A lot of companies probably don't let people use external connections because it defeats the purpose of having a cloud solution and keeping the data in a secure area. You can copy to an external device, and you can lose the data. A lot of companies may not focus on this feature, but if you are providing it, you should make it work."
"The product has a lot of bugs."
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"The application remoting features have some room for improvement."
"In the design phase, sometimes the tools for designing Horizon solutions have issues when they're calculating the number of nodes and platforms needed to support the VDI systems."
"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"There should be more emphasis on the Workspace One access part of the solution. This is essentially identity management provided with Horizon. There needs to be some kind of integration because you are able to have all of these desktops on any device, but you have to have this other component to make it easier from a single sign-on perspective. That's why there should be an emphasis on Workspace One access. It actually comes free with the product, but people don't really know how powerful it can be."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"There are different editions available at different cost points."
"VMware Horizon View's licensing cost is not expensive."
"The product is extremely expensive."
"There is a monthly subscription for the use of this solution and it is expensive."
"VMware Horizon only has one license, which is a license to run desktops."
"We pay for the solution annually at a cost of approximately 10,000 HKD."
"The license could be cheaper."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is an expensive solution. This solution is approximately 30 percent more than Microsoft Azure Cloud. There can be extra costs."
"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."
"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"It is too expensive as compared to other solutions because of which we don't use it that much. We tend to go more for Hyper-V or Azure just because VMware licensing is quite up there. We sway people away from VMware Horizon Cloud. We have some clients who already have it. They stay on it for a little while, and then most of them end up moving off when we provide them a better solution that isn't as license heavy cost-wise."
"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."
"For what you get, it is very compelling. You've got to look at the total cost of ownership of this type of piece of software in terms of being able to utilize it as a cloud service. I don't have to run everything on-premises. When you look at the total cost of just being able to use it and then being able to point it to any public or private cloud, it is very compelling. You have one less thing to manage."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

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?
We paid a lot of money for software that is not really fully operational out of the box. We had to have patches from VMware to get it into production. Hence, we lost a lot of time implementing the ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Cloud?
Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out. Though I find Citrix to be an expensive product compared to VMware Horizon Cloud because of all the feat...
What needs improvement with VMware Horizon Cloud?
VMware Horizon Cloud's VDI stacks are being sold off. Considering VMware Horizon Cloud's VDI stacks complexity, even before its sell out, I feel Citrix can do a couple of pieces of infrastructure t...
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LCMC Health
Marriott, Sprint
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon 8 vs. Horizon Cloud Service and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
801,394 professionals have used our research since 2012.