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.
"The solution is really fast."
"The most valuable feature is the remote application access."
"It's largely stable."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The initial setup is not that difficult. I have gone through the RDS initialization steps, which only seem easy."
"Since the tool has a graphical user interface, it's easier for us to access the server."
"The product is stable."
"It's simple and easy to use."
"We are happy with the interface, configurations, pricing and support."
"From my standpoint, the desktop is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable features of VMware Horizon in our education organization are its Graphics Virtualization Unit (GVU) integration."
"The application delivery is it's most valuable feature."
"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."
"We use VMware Horizon to digitalize environments."
"We don't have to pay for HyperFlex. The solution's speed gives a nice user experience."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is easy to set it up, and the user experience it provides is just like a normal desktop."
"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."
"Teams component can be a bit cumbersome to use. It takes some time to get it working as expected."
"The only issue I experienced was with the initialization of the session, which affected the stability of the solution."
"We find the services are not as transparent as we would like for our integration with Citrix."
"Updates sometimes impact the application and we have system crashes."
"The performance of Remote Desktop Services could be better."
"Its look and feel could be updated. In Azure Remote Desktop Services (RDS), which is a VDI solution, we would like to see linked clones. It is a Hyper-V solution, and it doesn't support linked clones and uses a lot of storage. That's why we don't use it. VMware has a similar solution that supports linked clones for the master image."
"I would like to be able to leverage it on other operating systems."
"The initial setup may be a little difficult for those with no experience."
"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."
"I would like to see the VDP or other features for backing up the VMs."
"I would like to see seamless integration with the cloud because right now, the dependency is on the cloud providers."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"Areas for improvement in VMware Horizon 7 would be the logging and the troubleshooting, e.g. they could be made clearer."
"My deployment is complex and I hope it will only take a month."
"Horizon 7's performance could be improved."
More Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is ranked 1st in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 76 reviews while VMware Horizon is ranked 3rd in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 34 reviews. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is rated 8.0, while VMware Horizon is rated 8.4. 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, Citrix Workspace, VMware Workstation, 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.