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Azure Virtual Desktop vs VMware Workstation comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Virtual Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Azure Virtual Desktop is 6.0%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 9.1%, down from 14.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Azure Virtual Desktop6.0%
VMware Workstation9.1%
Other84.9%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

RC
Senior Advisor at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enhanced collaboration and security with seamless remote access has transformed work efficiency
We can integrate anything with Azure Virtual Desktop from an application perspective. The App-V has evolved into MSIX. To deliver an application to Azure Virtual Desktop, MSIX can be used by expanding it as a virtual hard disk and attaching it to the virtual machine. When this is done, users who need the application will have immediate access through Active Directory group assignment. One challenge with Virtual Desktop infrastructure is application delivery. From an infrastructure perspective, it's beneficial as we can have a fallback point - if one machine is down, we can have a disaster recovery site for redirection. The delivery of applications is a tedious process. Microsoft is working on building new products for efficient application installation. This feature might be included in upcoming releases. Currently, it's burdensome for IT administrators to create applications compatible with Virtual Desktop infrastructure, unlike traditional machines where direct installation is possible.
GC
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Creating and destroying test machines has simplified our operations and reduced manual recovery time
The Snapshot feature has helped with workflows by allowing us to more easily reconstruct something if we lose it or need it. We've been making Snapshots on a consistent basis, mainly of servers. The VX Rail has worked effectively because we can create machines as we need them. It's helpful for resetting and has helped with our operations because I had set up failover servers on Vertex, but we don't have to do that anymore since VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem. We're doing our domain servers on there, and we've been very happy with that. We appreciate that we can create machines simply to test things out and then destroy them. I use it for a test machine for checking emails, so if the email has a virus in it, we can just destroy the machine and create a new one. We're slowly moving into the VMware environment, although the pricing with Broadcom has been a disaster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Azure Virtual Desktop is stable and provides a 100% stable experience."
"I rate the overall solution nine out of ten."
"The auto-scaling option allows provisioning additional virtual desktops based on user demand, making it scalable and flexible."
"Scalability is very straightforward with Azure Virtual Desktop."
"Azure pricing is quite cheap due to licensing benefits with Microsoft."
"The cost-effectiveness of Azure Virtual Machines is one of the most valuable features."
"The integration of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams within Azure Virtual Desktop helps customers enhance collaboration because it works seamlessly."
"The ability to spin up virtual machines quickly and speedily in Azure has been really valuable."
"The tool’s GUI is very user-friendly."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"It's really easy to build testing environments with VMware Player."
"VMware Workstation is great for migrating and patching operating systems."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"Because the setup is so easy, this is a solution that can be used at a moment's notice."
"It paid for itself multiple times, especially when we had to pull in older Windows 2003 servers for disk manipulation."
"This product is solid and useful for quick test/dev environments."
 

Cons

"The main issue is the response time, which needs improvement to be faster."
"The costs are a bit difficult to predict upfront. When I am trying to sell it to a customer as a consultant, it is hard to give them a fixed price."
"One of the issues I had was the ability to add an internet proxy. I would like to see built-in proxy and internet filtering."
"Access from Entra ID should be implemented to provide only tenant access to users connecting to the Azure Virtual Desktop environment, eliminating the need for on-premises requirements."
"The delivery of applications is a tedious process."
"The initial setup of Azure Virtual Desktop overall is complex. The complexities I've noticed are with application optimizations, and it can get complex by meeting customers' security requirements."
"There are challenges when upgrading the OS from Windows 10 to Windows 11, such as facing a black screen during testing. It is essential for Microsoft to ensure better testing and smoother transitions when decommissioning previous versions."
"Azure is vast, and perhaps an architect-level experience could provide more insights into potential improvements."
"The problem we are facing with stability is that the network adapter causes crashes of the VM when we're using it for developing purposes."
"VMware Workstation’s scalability could be improved."
"To avoid problems you really do need to be on the most recent version, especially if you want to use W10 images."
"For some virtual machine configurations, you have to go to the text editor and make the configuration changes, which could be improved."
"VMware Workstation uses more resources like CPU and disk space, especially the CPU, which is a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"Its networking features need improvement."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The cost differs depending on the customer's requirement."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"It has the best licensing modules."
"With all its support and ease of use, VMware Player's pricing is fair."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
"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."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"You need to pay for a license, but I don't think it costs that much. I think it's a one-time payment."
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920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Media Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Virtual Desktop?
The usual amount customers pay for this tool varies. I have seen large deployments catering to 500 or 700 users. Enterprises do use it, and they pay quite a bit for this.
What needs improvement with Azure Virtual Desktop?
I see areas for improvement in Azure Virtual Desktop, specifically regarding cost, as it is a little bit expensive. However, when you account for replacing dedicated hardware and the maintenance it...
What is your primary use case for Azure Virtual Desktop?
We use RDP with Azure and have some virtual desktops. A major use case for Azure Virtual Desktop is that we give access to external consultants so they can access our information and interact with ...
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 needs improvement with VMware Player?
Here's what happened with us regarding the prices for VMware Workstation: we purchased everything through Dell, and as is common, we got busy and didn't get everything activated. By the time we tri...
What is your primary use case for VMware Player?
I have a bunch of VMware servers set up, including our domain servers, our data servers, and some test machines on VMware. We're not really using VMware Workstation as workstations. We've got a cou...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Virtual Desktop vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.