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Horizon 8 vs Parallels Desktop comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

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)
Parallels Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon 8 is 6.8%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Desktop is 4.8%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Horizon 86.8%
Parallels Desktop4.8%
Other88.4%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
MH
Payments Architect at Self Employed
A great platform to develop interoperable code on
The decision to transition away from Intel chips to their silicon. They are processing, and there are many examples. Instead of not having a product to use for a while, they have just released it now. However, if you're seeking a product that is industry-ready regularly or has plans to make it so, considering the upcoming changes, I recommend trying out Parallels Desktop in beta. When you're only dealing with Windows, we do much in the Windows version, but it is not improving the Windows operating system. If you're hosting a Windows platform or another version of the machine, the code will have limitations. Windows is not a walled garden, with no significant volatility or instability. Windows is quite versatile. I never encountered intrusive ads or unused features, which is quite good. Overall, I rate the solution an eight 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

"VMware Horizon View is easy to configure and deploy."
"This product works quickly and is reliable."
"The local hardware pass-throughs are valuable; I like being able to have access to local hardware."
"It's centralized management, and you have access gateway to enter the the VMs from outside."
"It is wonderful for multi-user environments, and it supports different virtual machines and operating systems."
"The most valuable features are that it is easy to use and easy to manage."
"The support from VMware is very good and they have amazing experts."
"Horizon 7's most valuable feature is the unified endpoint management."
"Parallels Desktop integrates seamlessly with macOS. It works better than VMware on Apple operating systems."
"Parallels Desktop integrates seamlessly with macOS and works better than VMware on Apple operating systems."
"I like how, with Parallels, you can either boot into Mac or Windows to get better control over the resources of the laptops since you're sharing the resources in dual mode."
 

Cons

"There should be a function where one can connect and work; whenever not required, one can deprovision it."
"VMware Horizon View can improve by making it easier to use for first-time users. You should learn the whole concept of VMware to be able to use it."
"The multimedia playback is not very good and they could improve it by increasing the quality."
"The multimedia playback is not very good and they could improve it by increasing the quality."
"We have seen and face notable challenges in the configuration aspect specifically while creating and assigning groups which have proven to be a very cumbersome and tiring process."
"Horizon View's pricing is high."
"User profiles are something that needs to be improved."
"The support team's technicalities and the pricing of the solution need improvement."
"There may have been some issues with device drivers on my Mac. Similarly, there are some issues with transferring data from Parallels to the Mac."
"The biggest challenge is compatibility between VMware and Parallels because the two systems are incompatible. It can be challenging if you are switching between Windows and Mac. I recommend sticking with one product because there isn't good compatibility between the different products."
"The biggest challenge is compatibility between VMware and Parallels because the two systems are incompatible."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a three-year contract, for which we pay about ten euros per user per month."
"I don't know about the price. I know there are different tiers with the license, but I'm not sure exactly what it costs anymore."
"The license could be cheaper."
"There are different editions available at different cost points."
"The pricing is quite reasonable."
"I rate the product cost a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."
"VMware Horizon is expensive. It should provide a special price for more user licenses."
"We pay for the solution annually at a cost of approximately 10,000 HKD."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business61
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise44
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LCMC Health
Lytro, University of Washington, Slalom, Veeva Systems, Oklahoma Christian University
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon 8 vs. Parallels Desktop and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.