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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Access 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
312
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
5.8
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (5th)
Parallels Access
Ranking in Remote Access
18th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.3%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 8.5%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 2.0%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Intune9.3%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services8.5%
Parallels Access2.0%
Other80.2%
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.
MN
technology consultant at Bank of America
Remote access has simplified certificate checks and daily support tasks across our organization
The best features Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers include providing me administrator access, certain inbuilt client tools, and the ability to remotely access enterprise applications, as well as helping me validate whether certificates exist or are missing, or near to expiry. The product also allows for multiple session virtualizations even if users are based in remote locations and offers support for legacy applications that need to be upgraded. Out of those features, the one I rely on the most is certificate validation and plugin installation or removal in certain IDEs which developers or coders generally use. Being able to do this remotely makes my job significantly easier than going to everyone's desk in the office.
JP
CEO at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Allows users to access and operate their computers remotely
When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work. I'd have to turn on the Bluetooth a lot of times and transfer it that way on both devices, which was troublesome. However, it would sometimes randomly work. I could go on my iPad, find whatever I wanted to do, click copy, then go over to the computer through Parallels Access, click paste, and it would randomly work. I had to call Parallels many times. They would log in and try something, which would temporarily work, but then it wouldn't. When it worked, it made integration between the two things great. That was a very helpful feature that didn't get polished.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ease of applying security policies to applications we deploy is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Intune."
"The feature that we need occasionally but is really important is the ability to remotely wipe a device, control it, and perform similar functions."
"It is a stable solution."
"Intune's integration with Defender and other security solutions is valuable because it offers a view into different security vulnerabilities and enables us to secure them more effectively."
"The central administration con dashboard is very easy to use and provides very good oversight on all that needs to be monitored."
"The most useful features in Microsoft Intune are the policy enforcement and conditional access."
"I am easily able to manage devices and assets, especially laptops and desktops."
"The most valuable feature of Intune is the user-friendly portal for end users."
"The most valuable feature is ease of use."
"We use cloud remote support because we need to assist our customers. It allows them to connect from the web. I"
"The technical support is good."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is highly stable."
"The most valuable features are the desktop session and desktop virtualization."
"The main benefit, is that it's easy for us to get the same desktop and do things in the same way regardless of our location."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The most valuable features are it is fast and cost-effective."
"Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely."
"It's great that the total deployment can happen completely remotely."
"We don't have problems with stability. Everything is good."
"It's got a very easy-to-use interface."
"Parallels Access has flexible licensing policies, which is beneficial for customers who have intermittent usage or users who are on and off the system."
 

Cons

"The technical support by Microsoft is not so good. We have to manage many things by ourselves and do not receive responses in a timely manner."
"It would be great to see on-premises mailboxes and for the solution to have geofencing capabilities."
"Intune is not the most user-friendly mobile device management platform available."
"I have a lot of Apple products in my environment. It would be nice to have an improved integration of Apple products with Microsoft Intune without Jam."
"There should be more predictability in the release cycle. We don't feel we have any control over when new updates come out, and whether there are changes to the backend functionality or to the user interface. Updates just happen."
"Improvements are needed in Microsoft Intune's enterprise app management, including support for more applications in app patching, boot batching, and discovery. I also hope the cost of Remote Help will decrease because it's a much-needed Intune function. Our customers need that capability, or they will buy it from a third party at a premium."
"Intune's areas for improvement revolve around security and certificate management."
"The solution requires Mac support."
"Microsoft Desktop Services is stable but it takes up a lot of resources in the CPU. It's a bit heavier than some solutions."
"We had some instability during the implementation process. This has since been resolved."
"The only issue I experienced was with the initialization of the session, which affected the stability of the solution."
"The current process I have to go through to get a Windows 11 VM up and running is difficult. Windows 10 worked a whole lot better than Windows 11."
"For Microsoft, maybe bandwidth optimization is one of the areas that need improvement."
"There could be some improvement in the integration of the solution."
"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."
"Users have to re-enter their ID and password every time they log on, which is tedious and repetitive."
"When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive."
"The solution may not scale well for enterprises."
"They could improve the reporting."
"One challenge we do notice is that the application is limited to Windows servers only. If a customer has a Linux server, things get complicated. They should open it up a bit to be more compatible with different types of servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license needed for this solution and it is either included in one of the enterprise license agreements. Microsoft licensing is a mathematical institute, it could be quite complex. We tend to ask specialized organizations to research what the most profitable way it would be for us to use licenses in the organizations."
"Microsoft Intune is pretty reasonable. We have difficulty with Azure, which is probably why we have not put many assets in Azure. Everything we put there is very expensive."
"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"Its pricing seems reasonable."
"If you're subscribing to Premium or E3, there are no additional costs for Intune, it's included."
"Generally, we get favorable discounts, so it's not too bad. Obviously, we're looking at decreasing those wherever we can to bring value back to the public purse because it's all charity based. It's all publicly funded."
"Previously the price was $4 per month per user. Now it's $2.25 per user per month."
"Pricing can be improved."
"I think that Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is expensive compared to Login solution."
"It will probably cost about $500 USD to get the resources set up in the cloud."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. We're on the educational or academic license, and our terms are good. We're very happy with the pricing."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable."
"The pricing is moderate."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"The solution is expensive. My company pays toward the monthly licensing costs of the solution...The additional cost, apart from the solution's licensing cost, is related to the technical support a user wants."
"I am aware that for Azure we do have an extra license because we are leveraging on different tenants."
"The licensing costs are about $100 per user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business121
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise154
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise32
No data available
 

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 Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
In limited use cases, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is free as it is defaulted by any Microsoft license. The paid...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could be improved because we have keyboard compatibility issues with some platforms...
What do you like most about Parallels Access?
Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely.
What needs improvement with Parallels Access?
When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't ...
What is your primary use case for Parallels Access?
Parallels Access is an amazing product and a total game changer. The solution allows me to access and operate my comp...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Gilt Groupe K.K.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. Parallels Access and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.