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Horizon Cloud Service vs Workspace ONE UEM 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)
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (4th)
Workspace ONE UEM
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (6th), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (11th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 2.5%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workspace ONE UEM is 2.6%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Workspace ONE UEM2.6%
Horizon Cloud Service2.5%
Other94.9%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

SivaKuppala - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architect at Wipro Limited
Centralized management enhances multi-cloud flexibility with cost efficiency improvements
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. Improvements in application performance, especially for resource-heavy applications like intensive 3D workloads, are needed. More built-in automation for routine tasks like patching and upgrading could reduce administrative effort.
Vishal Bhatia - PeerSpot reviewer
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Effective product tracking and monitoring enhances daily operations despite needing documentation improvement
The documentation part of Workspace ONE UEM can be confusing. The documentation is not comprehensive compared to other VMware solutions or Microsoft documentation. Most people struggle to connect the dots when looking at the documentation. Even the training material and PowerPoint slide decks that trainers use are sometimes too confusing or overwhelming, with too much content but not enough clarity. The support side has recently become weaker compared to what it used to be with VMware. This is another area that needs improvement. Since working with Workspace ONE UEM from when it was AirWatch, it has improved significantly over the last five years. However, there are still some gray areas and scope for improvement, especially in documentation and workflow between different aspects of the solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."
"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."
"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."
"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."
"I honestly liked the application itself because it was just like using a desktop. You could copy and paste, inside and outside, and you could use multiple monitors. You could access it anytime, anywhere, no matter whether you were in the office or out of the office. I could leave the office, go somewhere, go back in, and everything would be there. I could just leave it up and running. I absolutely love this feature in VMware Horizon Cloud."
"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."
"Zero Trust implementation is a great feature."
"The feature with the highest rating for me is its employee management. I can also praise how versatile it is in terms of operating systems. It has good support for multiple operating systems and can easily manage them all. Not just that, but it can also support any kind of tool that can be run on all these operating systems."
"Cloud-based VMware Workspace ONE is very good. It is easy to deploy and manage. Maintenance is also quite simple."
"If an outside person tries to track or hack information, it is not possible without us being notified."
"The feature that we find most valuable is the corporate email pushing."
"I found the initial setup to be easy."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Workspace ONE is its reliability."
"The solution was easy to deploy."
 

Cons

"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"The licensing model needs to be adjusted, as a cloud license is currently required even for on-premises devices."
"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."
"In the design phase, sometimes the tools for designing Horizon solutions have issues when they're calculating the number of nodes and platforms needed to support the VDI systems."
"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."
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"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."
"The product has a lot of bugs."
"The security features could always use improvement, although there has already been a huge improvement from years ago."
"The solution's pre-stage enrollment could be improved."
"We'd like more useful support."
"It's not accurate enough when it comes to sending items to end-users."
"The solution needs to adapt to the cloud based reality of the current world model. Some customers may have reluctance to this, but it is the next level for all of the big providers. Azure, AWS and Google are all on the forefront of cloud-based solutions."
"We're unhappy with the quality of support we get for it. We're unhappy with how upgrades occur, so we are migrating away from it. We have an on-premise AirWatch solution and for us to do upgrades we have to call AirWatch to be able to perform the upgrades. They're busy, and scheduling it is not timely enough for us."
"They do have a good integration, but there is a long way to go as far as integration is concerned. They need to integrate with the cloud solutions a little bit more. We are looking for Azure integration."
"The pricing could always be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."
"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."
"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is more expensive than Intune."
"VMware Workspace ONE has a yearly license. You have to buy the license for one year at a time."
"You should take out a dedicated license agreement of your MDM fleet and invest heavily in innovating in this space."
"Depending on the requirements of users, there is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
"For the moment, we have a multi-year contract, meaning that we cannot go with a different solution at this time even if the price should prove more favorable."
"The pricing and licensing are affordable. They are not too high."
"The solution runs at roughly around $36/user for a year."
"If you purchase it for one year, it is very expensive. If you get it for three years or up to five years, then you can bargain a better price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Performing Arts
10%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
 

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 Enterprise21
Large Enterprise58
 

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...
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 it easy to control security and manage the usage of mobile apps when you have a ...
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 do you like most about VMware Workspace ONE?
The platform provides a stable environment for operations and quickly creates new environments. Additionally, it offers efficient flexibility.
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
VMware Workspace ONE, VMware AirWatch, Workspace ONE Assist, VMware Identity Manager, Workspace ONE Access, VMware Horizon Air
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marriott, Sprint
Australian Sports Commission, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Lomond School, Merck, United Bank, Medical College of Wisconsin, Latymer Upper School, 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Dowling Aaron Inc., Trillium Lakelands District School Board, Harrogate Grammar School, Duke University Football, Delta Air Lines, Adventist Health System, Giochi Preziosi, Cramlington Learning Village, Intermountain Healthcare, Safexpress, TAG Aviation
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon Cloud Service vs. Workspace ONE UEM and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.