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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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 Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd)
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.1%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 17.0%, up from 13.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Terje Romen - PeerSpot reviewer
Accessing the same desktop experience from anywhere but user template creation needs improvement
Mostly we are quite happy with it. However, some of us want a more powerful desktop. When not present, we use a remote tool called Splashtop, which is a good solution for some users. We have about ten licenses for those who need a powerful workstation at the office. We have not used many different tools. We are never in contact with Microsoft. These are quite basic configurations, to be honest. It's not complicated. AI is coming to or is already in some applications we are using. Not system-wise, however, it might be good. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It's quite good, yet certainly not perfect.
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation 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

"The solution works on Microsoft servers."
"I like that it works. In most cases, it's predictable. You know what you get."
"It's built into the operating system and has a command line interface capability to insert credentials, IDs, a password, et cetera."
"It's scalable enough for our needs and very reliable."
"I've had good experiences with Microsoft customer support."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is stable and reliable."
"We have scaled the solution and find this easy to do."
"I would recommend Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, especially for general support."
"VMware Workstation is great for migrating and patching operating systems."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"We can undo some changes using the snapshot feature."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the speed of access and quality of upgrade. Those are the more important and pertinent aspects as far as we were concerned. Functionality and features were relevant for the customers. What a customer chose, we had to make sure that it operated."
"VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox."
"The initial setup is simple and takes only five minutes to complete."
"The tool’s GUI is very user-friendly."
"I like that it's easy to use. It's easy to deploy virtual machines. You have to insert your ISO and the image of your OS and configure it. They provide a step-by-step guide, and you have to follow it. In the end, you have to start the machine, and that's all you have to do. I liked that they synchronized the mouse, keyboard, and everything. When you finish the installation, it directly links to your laptop. This makes copying and pasting things from my laptop inside the virtual machine easy."
 

Cons

"The performance of Remote Desktop Services could be better."
"We find the services are not as transparent as we would like for our integration with Citrix."
"We are searching for a product with better remote access and remote sessions."
"The only issue I experienced was with the initialization of the session, which affected the stability of the solution."
"There have been some network issues in the solution. So, when we used to connect it, the solution suddenly got disconnected. So the network part needs to be improved."
"Teams component can be a bit cumbersome to use. It takes some time to get it working as expected."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its security and simple configuration."
"We've had issues with security breaches."
"They could add more integration between them, and compatibility with the standard virtualization format."
"The GUI interface could be improved."
"The big issue that we've always had with VMware, was the disparity between what was presented for a Windows-based client and a Linux-based client. The Windows client was always two or three releases ahead of the Linux client. We always wanted VMware to change and improve the feature sets between the client connector on Linux and on Windows."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
"The product could provide the features available in Microsoft Hyper-V."
"It takes too much time to load all the plug-ins and software."
"It would be helpful if VMware Workstation included an in-built monitoring tool for monitoring things."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"The pricing is moderate."
"The cost is fair."
"The cost of the solution is low."
"The price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is reasonable. The solution can come for free for some clients with certain agreements."
"I rate the price of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services a three out of five."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comes free as part of Microsoft Windows."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"The pricing is a bit steep in my opinion for testing and there are other options."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
"The product has a moderate price."
"It is an expensive solution."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive tool. I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low or good price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I've never had an issue with it. I've always thought the pricing for RDS was reasonable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
We would like configuration to be automatic and the price to be close to zero, however, that's not realistic. Everyone wants to join some kind of cloud service today. We have decided to keep our ER...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

Remote Desktop Services
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.