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Horizon Cloud Service vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Horizon Cloud Service
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (4th)
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 1.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 17.2%, up from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Vaisakh Natesh M - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, stable, and scalable
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. It is a multiple cloud deployment that provides flexibility. You can choose cloud capacity management by VMware or infrastructure management with Microsoft Azure. Advanced user configuration management through dynamic environment management is available. There are many self-serve options.
Phanindar Ada - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ease of deployment and use along with a comfortable configuration process to be handled
The tool's performance is really good, so I can rate it a ten out of ten. The product did meet my expectations by allowing me to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up. I took care of the integration part of VMware Workstation with vSphere. I describe the product's documentation as a good area. My company gets complaints about technical notes from VMware. My company does face limitations with the product, and it is based on the licenses that we have purchased from VMware. I rate the overall product a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"We can undo some changes using the snapshot feature."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support, you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"The features are good."
"VMware Workstation allows multiple operating systems in the same physical machine."
"The product works well."
"VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"The product has a lot of bugs."
"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 application remoting features have some room for improvement."
"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."
"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."
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"VMware Workstation uses more resources like CPU and disk space, especially the CPU, which is a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The price should be reduced."
"The price of VMware Workstation is an area of concern where improvements are needed."
"It would be better if software updates occur automatically."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"Performance could be improved, it's somewhat clunky."
"The solution should provide a guide on its installation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."
"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."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
"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."
"With all its support and ease of use, VMware Player's pricing is fair."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"It is an expensive solution."
"VMware Workstation's costs are lifetime."
"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."
"The product has a moderate price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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.
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marriott, Sprint
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon Cloud Service vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.