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Horizon Cloud Service vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services 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 Cloud Service
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (4th)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 3.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 5.9%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services5.9%
Horizon Cloud Service3.1%
Other91.0%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1970973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Virtual Desktop and Applications Offerings Global Offering Manager at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Cloud-based platform offers flexibility with robust protocol and exceptional user management
The main benefit of Horizon Cloud Service is that it is cloud-based, allowing our organization to leverage the service without having to manage all infrastructure directly. This offers significant flexibility and efficiency. Additionally, Horizon Cloud Service has a robust protocol, making app management straightforward. The scalability of Horizon Cloud Service is also excellent, and its stability is strong for our use cases.
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

"Horizon Cloud Service provides deployment flexibility across multiple clouds with a scalable architecture that easily scales virtual desktops and applications up or down based on demand."
"Its advanced management features are the most valuable, especially power management. One of the really important things was to be able to have power management in a consumption world. This means that unlike a Microsoft environment, you could actually turn off virtual desktops or have them start up and shut down. If you're consuming resources in the public cloud, you want to be able to do that because when you're not using those, such as at the weekend, you want to be able to turn them off. So, the advanced options for managing the BDIs are very important."
"The tool remains pretty stable."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."
"Horizon Cloud Service provides deployment flexibility across multiple clouds with a scalable architecture that easily scales virtual desktops and applications up or down based on demand."
"The interface is much easier to use compared to Microsoft and other VDI vendors that are well known on the market. I like VMware so much more than the others. With Horizon Cloud, you don't need to spend a lot of money upfront to buy the infrastructure. You can use it the on the cloud, so it lowers the barriers to entry. It's easier to test it and get started. Some clients stay in the cloud, but others prefer to go on-premise. It depends on the nature of the client."
"The main benefit of Horizon Cloud Service is that it is cloud-based, allowing our organization to leverage the service without having to manage all infrastructure directly."
"The product’s on-premise version has the ability to create an image of any updates or changes in the system."
"The installation of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services was easy."
"The solution works well as a remote desktop."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services are unification, central management, and accessibility."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services has positively impacted my organization by leading to an overall productivity increase because it has simplified what used to be a physical task of going to certain users' machines for validation, allowing for remote management from geographically distributed locations."
"You can scale the product."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is that it scales well."
"For all users that love the convenience of being able to work from any location, Remote Desktop Services provides a secure network connection and has the potential of lowering developers cost, making it a great way to get more work from your employees at all times."
"It works fine, and it is largely issue-free."
 

Cons

"There should be more emphasis on the Workspace One access part of the solution. This is essentially identity management provided with Horizon. There needs to be some kind of integration because you are able to have all of these desktops on any device, but you have to have this other component to make it easier from a single sign-on perspective. That's why there should be an emphasis on Workspace One access. It actually comes free with the product, but people don't really know how powerful it can be."
"The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."
"The application remoting features have some room for improvement."
"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"The product has a lot of bugs."
"It is very expensive. Its price needs to be improved. They can do a better job with external resources such as a USB or a hard drive. When I tried to connect using these external resources, it failed a lot of times. I had to do a shared connection with a local laptop and then connect from a network standpoint, rather than through VMware Horizon point. They definitely have weaknesses with external connections. A lot of companies probably don't let people use external connections because it defeats the purpose of having a cloud solution and keeping the data in a secure area. You can copy to an external device, and you can lose the data. A lot of companies may not focus on this feature, but if you are providing it, you should make it work."
"The cost of Horizon Cloud Service is high, however, it could be optimized. The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"Microsoft should be more compatible with other operating system."
"The pricing could be better."
"The initial setup of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is not the easiest. You need to have a certain understanding of how Microsoft is provisioning the solution to be able to set it up and use it."
"Teams component can be a bit cumbersome to use. It takes some time to get it working as expected."
"The stability must be improved."
"The DB card needs improvement. I have a lot of experience with other competitors and Citrix is better than VMware and Microsoft. Citrix has more extensive features."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services needs to improve its security."
"The only issue I experienced was with the initialization of the session, which affected the stability of the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."
"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is an expensive solution. This solution is approximately 30 percent more than Microsoft Azure Cloud. There can be extra costs."
"It is too expensive as compared to other solutions because of which we don't use it that much. We tend to go more for Hyper-V or Azure just because VMware licensing is quite up there. We sway people away from VMware Horizon Cloud. We have some clients who already have it. They stay on it for a little while, and then most of them end up moving off when we provide them a better solution that isn't as license heavy cost-wise."
"For what you get, it is very compelling. You've got to look at the total cost of ownership of this type of piece of software in terms of being able to utilize it as a cloud service. I don't have to run everything on-premises. When you look at the total cost of just being able to use it and then being able to point it to any public or private cloud, it is very compelling. You have one less thing to manage."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."
"It's not an expensive solution."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable."
"I am aware that for Azure we do have an extra license because we are leveraging on different tenants."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comes free as part of Microsoft Windows."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"I recall that you don't need to pay for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services because that's included in Windows."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable. The solution can come for free for some clients with certain agreements."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
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 Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Cloud?
The cost is considered normal, not remarkable but not outrageous. In terms of expense, compared to other virtualization products, I would rate it as a six.
What needs improvement with VMware Horizon Cloud?
The licensing model needs to be adjusted, as a cloud license is currently required even for on-premises devices. Horizon Cloud Service should continue improving their protocol and work with other h...
What is your primary use case for VMware Horizon Cloud?
Our primary use case focuses on virtual desktop and application hosting. This is spread across different industries. We have a large number of employees, and we are one of the largest GSIs globally...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services was that the licensing was acceptable, but I think the cost was fair.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could be improved because when I am connected to a larger screen like an external monitor, the window for remote desktop is not able to fill the screen entirely bu...
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marriott, Sprint
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon Cloud Service vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.