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Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

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

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Remote Access
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
334
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
Devolutions Remote Desktop ...
Ranking in Remote Access
15th
Average Rating
9.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Remote Access
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.2%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager is 1.6%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 8.2%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune9.2%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services8.2%
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager1.6%
Other81.0%
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24
Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license
The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.
StephenWatson - PeerSpot reviewer
National Sales Manager & Technical Consultant at Secure Networks
Easy to deploy with great security and responsive support
The security on offer is the most valuable aspect of the solution. It offers, for example, two-factor authentification. The remote connection across platforms is great. You can deploy it on anything, including Windows, Mac, iOS, your iPhone, et cetera. It offers multi-platform utility. This makes it great for enterprise. Users can use it for PAM access as well. The feature of Devolutions that has improved our customer's efficiency the most is probably the security side. It's gotten a lot tighter. Authentication and secure connections are helpful. They use encryption between them, which is just standard for them. The company has so many regulatory controls that they must ensure their security is very tight. There's a lot of potential cybercrime around casinos, and this solution ensures they are well-protected. Devolutions is a great product that can be safely used between China, Australia, or the Philippines, and it remains a good, safe product.
reviewer2795433 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Secure remote access has protected sensitive country data and supports strict compliance needs
I understand from the IT team managing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services that it is complex to set up the multiple roles, certificates, and networks required. Networking is quite complicated. Even though on the data center side it is quite simple, maintaining the farm of other connections that connect to that server is the complex piece. I understand there are more modern systems replicating what this solution does, which are easier to use, such as Azure Virtual Desktop within Microsoft Azure Cloud or Amazon WorkSpaces, which I have used before. Rather than having to manage all the complex networking, you could abstract it away a little further in the cloud for easier use. I also understand that this tool is in an end-of-life state now, with Microsoft actively pushing people towards Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365. I do not believe further features will be rolled out due to its end-of-life state, making it a legacy solution now.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I can reach devices or computers over the internet. I don't need to worry about the network connectivity between the offices. I can manage any device. That is the most important part."
"Mobile device management is most valuable."
"If you need only to load a specific profile and you don't have deep security functionalities, et cetera, Intune is very nice and good."
"There has been a noticeable increase in productivity for both my organization and clients."
"Intune provides full visibility into all active mobile device users. If their devices are noncompliant with our security policies, I have the flexibility to update them remotely."
"The best features in Microsoft Intune include secure authentication, which I find very favorable, and the fact that we can remotely push applications."
"I really appreciate the features in Microsoft Intune, including the Intune Suite Cloud PKI."
"The features of Microsoft Intune that I appreciate the most are its user-friendly interface and robust security options."
""Inherited" function for credentials - Configure the desired credential at one (top) location, and use the Inherited function on all sub-connections that should use this credential."
"With the integrated VPN providers you are able to link the VPN entry directly to the session or entire folders, so you no longer have to configure the VPN manually on the machine."
"Integration with a third party credential storage, web login, and VPN are the most usable and useful functions at the moment."
"It saves a lot of time for all of our IT staff from having to just use the RDP Windows client and reenter each server every time we access a different system."
"Organizing credentials, connections, and contents by clients makes it so simple for someone to provide support."
"I was able to maintain connections to over 400 different servers and services using password best practices."
"It sped up our response rate to anything that happened in the network."
"The interface is great to work with as it allows multiple connections in a tabbed interface. It also has the option to automatically start a VPN or an SSH tunnel, if required."
"It's built into the operating system and has a command line interface capability to insert credentials, IDs, a password, et cetera."
"Things can be made easier if someone is not with us or at a long distance since we can connect easily with those people. So, it's easy for us to use such features."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its security and simple configuration."
"It's simple and easy to use."
"The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The solution now includes a multi-screen feature which is great."
"It's part of the Microsoft Operating system and is free."
 

Cons

"During the onboarding of Microsoft Intune, we faced the problem that the policies were not getting synced."
"Lacking ability to leverage more iOS device management internally."
"In the next release, I would like a feature to be able to properly lock down the device. For example, if an attacker or somebody steals the phone, you can be sure that the pin cannot be broken."
"For autopilot, there should be more granularity on the settings that they offer at this stage."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in terms of compatibility, extending beyond the well-known major brands."
"Historically, Group Policy has simplified the management of various items, such as printer and drive mappings and while Intune offers workarounds, it lacks native support for these functionalities."
"There is room for improvement in Microsoft Intune's understanding and user experience as the interface is easy to navigate for deploying applications and finding user information, but I think there should be a reduction in dependency on on-premises infrastructure and focus on artificial intelligence and automation to improve further."
"The reporting part needs improvement, and it would be beneficial if it could integrate with third-party tools instead of just Power BI."
"The RDM client (.NET issue, actually) can stall or lock up while it clears communication threads to the server."
"The only complaint I have heard is there are too many updates."
"Sometimes when updating, the install window is on top of the prompt to close the application."
"The filing system of connections is a little clunky, but is completely functional."
"Security roles could be improved, especially by enabling renaming of a role."
"Sometimes the manual inventory of some entries hangs, and RDM must be closed via task manager."
"The filing system of connections is a little clunky, but is completely functional."
"On complex setups, I actually needed to reach out to support to get it working correctly."
"There is a limitation on the number of concurrent users."
"The training profiles could be better."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could be improved because we have keyboard compatibility issues with some platforms; on macOS, we sometimes experience keyboard connectivity issues, and it can be problematic when connecting to servers that then need to connect to other servers, as the keyboard layout doesn't match."
"Updates sometimes impact the application and we have system crashes."
"We'd like more granular security control of the desktop services."
"Sometimes the server stops working, and we don’t know why. Occasionally we’ll get a message to the effect of "There is no remote license.""
"In the past, my company had faced some issues related to the stability of the product. The product's stability can be improved."
"I would like to see the hard drives work without locking up and integrate the local drives in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's monthly for us, but it's built into the license cost that we pay our IT each month. It's maybe 129 Kroner per head, which translates to £10. There are some additional costs. Our IT had to set up and configure their own server, so there is an extra cost for that, but I'm not sure what that costs."
"Licensing depends on how you are providing support to your enterprise, whether it's device-based or user-based."
"The E5 license is expensive."
"Microsoft's licensing is more flexible and adaptive than its competitors."
"We have the business premium licenses for the solution."
"The solution is cost-efficient."
"While I can't provide insights from a business perspective, it's worth noting that the pricing may differ significantly, and the discount we received might not be reflective of standard business rates."
"We are partners, so we receive some discount. However, from the customer's perspective, Microsoft Intune's pricing is competitive with non-Microsoft technology, and the price is good compared to other market competitors."
"If you are a Microsoft MVP, VMware vExpert, Cisco Champion, etc., Devolutions offers a free Enterprise License."
"The Free Edition is completely free. You can try also the Enterprise Edition for 30 days for free."
"Setup costs for most people is negligible."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"The tool's pricing is high in the Slovenian market. I rate it a nine out of ten."
"The solution is expensive. Since things are made to be a bit easier in the solution, the solution's cost is a bit on the higher side."
"The cost of the solution is low."
"There is a licensing cost."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"Although not an expensive product, pricing is always something that can be improved."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Media Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business124
Midsize Enterprise53
Large Enterprise168
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager?
With the security factors built into it, the price point is quite good. They have entry-level and enterprise-level li...
What needs improvement with Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager?
The console is a little bit clunky. It could be modernized. A tech developer might think it is fine, however, from a ...
What is your primary use case for Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager?
We use the solution for a customer that needs pretty high security. They are in the poker machine manufacturing world...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I was not involved in the pricing and licensing perspective, so I cannot speak too much on that. However, I know that...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I understand from the IT team managing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services that it is complex to set up the multiple ro...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
No data available
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Financial Services, Healthcare Provider Network, Government Agency,Technology and Software Development,Telecommunications, Retail Chain Management, MSPs, Manufacturing, Global Logistics and Shipping, Education, IT teams.
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.