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Cisco VXI vs Horizon 8 comparison

 

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

Cisco VXI
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
21st
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
116
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Cisco VXI is 1.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Horizon 8 is 6.8%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Horizon 86.8%
Cisco VXI1.1%
Other92.1%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Sina Ghozati - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Specialist at Arrow Electronics
Straightforward implementation, scalable, but performance could improve
When using Cisco VXI in virtual environments there tends to be a lot of bugs with files you have to deploy across the virtual environment. You configure for hours, and then there is a bug that stops you, and you notice that you wasted hours. There's always room for improvement with these virtual environments because you're not dealing with the actual equipment, you're dealing with a virtual version of it that you have to install in a virtual environment. The performance of Cisco VXI could improve. It requires a lot of hardware and even if you install it on a server it is heavy on resources.
MB
Owner at CoBSS
Experience with remote access facilitates seamless user management, though improvements in integration and analytics are desired
From the analytical aspects, we used Horizon 8 Advanced Analytics and most companies switched to another product to gain insights because the insight is not as helpful as other products that are built for it. What was missing in Horizon 8 to make it a better tool was in analytics, specifically getting the right information and the drill-down process to find out where the problem is. If a user has an issue, it is crucial to determine what the issue is that the user is having and since when they have the issue. For example, if a user reports back that they had an issue yesterday evening, getting that information and ensuring that you have it was hard to find, especially to pinpoint if the issue lies with the network or the Horizon 8 platform. We utilized the multi-factor authentication, conditional access in Horizon 8, but we are not satisfied with that. It lacks some integration options that make it easy to run with Microsoft Entra, for example, and authenticate using your regular authenticator besides just getting a pop-up that says, 'I'm the one that's trying to log on.' Nowadays, there are many more complex authentication methods, but even a basic confirmation with a number to verify that you are the person connecting is not supported. I would like to see improvements in Horizon 8, specifically integration with NVIDIA for graphical performance upgrades because it creates many issues such as crashing and black screen systems, causing users to lose access to their current desktop and work. This is a real issue at the moment for many customers worldwide.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has been doing a good job for us."
"The initial setup of Cisco VXI is straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of this solution has been security."
"The most valuable features of VMware Horizon View technology is easier to use and is user-friendly with the customers."
"Horizon View provides virtual desktops on demand."
"Ability to log in from anywhere and from a variety of devices."
"My customers most likely use Horizon 8 for remote desktop, which means making sure that people can access system resources from anywhere on a secure platform, even from a non-secure, or non-company device."
"The most valuable feature is that VMware User Environment Manager works with virtualization and works with physical systems as well."
"The most valuable feature in this solution which really helped for my use case was the stand out three dimensional acceleration, which was really important for enhancing the performance for certain clients based on their scenarios."
"It is stable and easily scalable."
 

Cons

"When using Cisco VXI in virtual environments there tends to be a lot of bugs with files you have to deploy across the virtual environment. You configure for hours, and then there is a bug that stops you, and you notice that you wasted hours."
"When using Cisco VXI in virtual environments there tends to be a lot of bugs with files you have to deploy across the virtual environment."
"Technical support could be better and faster."
"It would be beneficial to see improvements in client-side functionalities, especially for some Linux clients."
"User profiles are something that needs to be improved."
"The solution isn't quite mature yet; it needs more time to mature and to get more market recognition."
"There is room for improvement in security features."
"The vendor must move the infrastructure into the public cloud."
"The initial setup is a little complicated."
"In the area of automation, there are some improvements needed in the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution when there are bugs. I'm always ready to give money for a complete solution where there are no bugs in it, but you will never find it."
"There are different editions available at different cost points."
"Pricing for Horizon is relatively high, earning a rating of one out of ten."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"The license cost has increased significantly, so we’re helping some customers with Azure VMware desktop solutions to save on licensing."
"There is a monthly subscription for the use of this solution and it is expensive."
"Licensing and hardware outsourcing is expensive, but can be cost-effective in the three to five-year range."
"The pricing could be improved."
"VMware Horizon's costs are high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

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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 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 needs improvement with VMware Horizon 7?
The solution should provide easy configuration.
 

Also Known As

VXI
VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Artoni Transporti, Calligaris, CIPCO, Citrix, Comcast, Desktone, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), LightEdge, Management Science Associates, Molina Healthcare, North West Redwater, Outscale
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893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.