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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs N-able Take Control 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)
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)
N-able Take Control
Ranking in Remote Access
30th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 8.9%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 7.9%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Take Control is 1.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune8.9%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services7.9%
N-able Take Control1.5%
Other81.7%
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.
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.
Brian Hershey - PeerSpot reviewer
Platform Manager at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
It covers you for HIPAA and PCI certification
Take Control is a way to remotely take over the console of a managed machine, but it also gives you other abilities. You can take over the console, access the registry, throw commands at it in the background, and manipulate the file system Take Control enables you to collaborate with end users.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It works well if you have a Microsoft environment."
"The interface is user-friendly, and the reporting tool works in real-time."
"I believe that the solution is actually in Gartner's top quadrant at the moment for mobile device management."
"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."
"Windows Autopatch is the most valuable because it removes the burden of patch management."
"The most valuable includes managing everything from a single console."
"It helps us manage user certificates."
"The solution is scalable. We currently have tens of thousands of users within our organization using the solution."
"The most valuable feature is that it gives me full accessibility to my servers."
"In terms of the valuable features, I like the profile, the new version is really good."
"The most valuable feature is ease of use."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The solution performs well and is easy to use."
"The performance meets our requirements and the stability is good."
"It's largely stable."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services has led to measurable improvements in faster response times and increased productivity for my team as I work in a team that is spread across different time zones, and having access to remote desktop enables us to collaborate across those time zones."
"The most valuable part of N-able Take Control is being able to remotely access your customer's site. You are able to view their network. Once you have it set up, it's always available. N-able Take Control can be used even when other remote access controls have been made."
"Take Control enables you to collaborate with end users. It's for supporting a workstation where you want the person on the other side to see you moving their mouse, and you can work with them."
 

Cons

"The closest Microsoft Intune can be to GPOs, the better. There needs to be more granularity on application deployments. However, they have done better recently with the application deployments."
"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 are a lot of updates coming from Microsoft that suddenly affect our security policies."
"Reporting could be improved. It needs to be more expensive and robust."
"One drawback of Intune is that we cannot find devices based on a user's region or location."
"They need to integrate more with security options."
"I think that there is room for improvement with the reporting. If this is done, it will be a better product."
"The technical support could be improved."
"Microsoft should be more compatible with other operating system."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is only available for the professional version of the Windows operating system. This restricts a lot of users. The feature should be available for all versions."
"We would like configuration to be automatic and the price to be close to zero, however, that's not realistic."
"Remote Desktop Services doesn't scale well."
"In the past, my company had faced some issues related to the stability of the product. The product's stability can be improved."
"Microsoft still has some really bad remote desktop appliance for Mac."
"The stability could be improved."
"For Microsoft, maybe bandwidth optimization is one of the areas that need improvement."
"We've seen some latency problems in AWS environments. Aside from that, it's a pretty solid service."
"The dashboards I do not use because there are issues. The solution monitors your antivirus and other programs but it does not seem to work well."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My team members bundled it together with their Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft 365 and related products."
"It is average. Some of the costs are quite high depending on what the customer currently uses, but overall, it is not bad. I would not say that I would not recommend Intune based on the cost. I definitely would, but they can definitely improve on the cost. So overall, its cost is not bad."
"We spend a lot of money on Intune licensing, and some of our users have to be double licensed just because of how our dev and corporate environments are segmented."
"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."
"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"Microsoft Intune's pricing is reasonable."
"There is a cost benefit of using Microsoft Intune because of the packaging with other Microsoft products."
"Intune is available as an individual product, but it also comes with Office 365 Premium or an Enterprise license, and the price varies for each version."
"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"The pricing could always be improved."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"The cost of the solution is low."
"It's not an expensive solution."
"There is a licensing cost."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable."
"N-able Take Control charges you a monthly fee for every customer that you have booked in, and it used to be inexpensive but it's a little bit more expensive now."
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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
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Non Profit
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business124
Midsize Enterprise53
Large Enterprise167
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise34
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
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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 Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services was that the licensing wa...
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 m...
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Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Remote Desktop Services
SolarWinds MSP Take Control, SolarWinds MSP Anywhere, SolarWinds Take Control
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Bainbridge Technology Solutions, NKIT Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. N-able Take Control and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.