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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs VNC Connect comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
377
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (1st), 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
6.1
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (2nd)
VNC Connect
Ranking in Remote Access
14th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.9%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.4%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VNC Connect is 3.1%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune4.9%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services6.4%
VNC Connect3.1%
Other85.6%
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized device management has automated onboarding and improves remote security compliance
One thing I feel Microsoft Intune could improve is troubleshooting visibility. In many cases, when a policy or application deployment fails, the error messages are a bit generic. So, admins still spend time checking logs manually or testing on devices one by one. Compared to the simplicity of deployment, troubleshooting sometimes feels less mature. I also think reporting and real-time monitoring could be stronger. The dashboard gives useful information, but in large environments, many teams still depend on additional tools or scripts for deeper reporting and analytics. If I had to focus on one area first, I would probably choose troubleshooting and reporting. Deployment through Microsoft Intune is generally straightforward, but when something fails, identifying the exact root cause can still take more time than expected. Error messages are sometimes too generic, and admins often have to dig through logs, sync status, or multiple portals to understand what actually happened. I think user experience and policy management could also improve further. Microsoft Intune has become much better over the years, but sometimes the admin portal still feels fragmented because certain configurations open in different sections or redirect to older interfaces. For new admins, especially, it can take time to understand where everything is located. Another thing is policy conflict handling. In larger organizations, multiple device policies, compliance rules, and configuration profiles can overlap. When conflicts happen, the visibility is not always very clear, so admins spend time figuring out which policy actually won or caused the issue.
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.
Jose Miguel Moya - PeerSpot reviewer
SACTA Architect at MRInformatica
Easy to deploy, but scalability needs improvement
There are no specific challenges I faced while using the product. I haven't used the solution to support any AI-driven projects. In our company, we need to have remote access to our labs because if not, people have to move to the laboratory, and we will spend a lot of time working. I don't know the features of VNC Connect that improved our company's support capabilities. I rate the tool a six 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 stability of Microsoft Intune is ten out of ten."
"The biggest thing for us is enforcing logins only from devices that are managed by Intune."
"Based on my experience, I find Intune very flexible for managing Windows devices. We can use scripting, and we can make use of the self-service portal or the company portal to publish some of the applications for Windows."
"When managing a large number of devices in an organization, it becomes easy to handle them on one platform using Microsoft Intune."
"The stability is good."
"Microsoft Intune is a tool designed for enterprise customers to protect enterprise data from leakage or sharing."
"The one feature we find most useful is the Mobile Application Manager. There are two types, we have the complete MDM and the Mobile Application Manager(MAM). We don't give our users phones, it is their own personal phone, and we need to allow them to have access to the company detail on their phone. We need to create a balance between their own personal data and the company data. We deploy the Mobile Application Manager for them so that we won't be able to interfere with their own personal data."
"Intune does consolidate all endpoint and security management tools into one place, making everything easier to manage."
"It's simple to set up."
"I give the stability a nine out of ten."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The product is stable."
"It's almost an out of the box function once you have installed the other components."
"I’d recommend the solution to others; it’s solved problems for us and worked 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."
"The initial setup is not that difficult. I have gone through the RDS initialization steps, which only seem easy."
"The product’s ease of use and security are valuable."
"The most valuable features are that it is consistently low profile and consistently works without hiccups or headaches."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its ease of use."
 

Cons

"When pushing anything from Microsoft Intune, the sync timing is 48 hours. While sometimes it takes 5 to 10 minutes, the official period given by Microsoft is within 48 hours, which can be time-consuming for policies, applications, or patches."
"The way the apps are getting deployed, the checkboxes for deleting previous versions are actually creating more conflicts than fixing problems."
"Although Intune is from the same provider, its integration with other Microsoft products, like Microsoft Defender or Microsoft Purview, could be improved."
"The initial setup of Microsoft Intune could be more simplified, but apart from this, everything is outstanding and performs well as per our expectations."
"There are challenges with Intune, specifically in reporting. Many third-party companies offer single-pane-of-glass reporting that shows you what your update environment looks like, how your patch is doing, application status, etc., but Intune's reporting is not intuitive. You can connect to Azure, monitoring, and the workbooks, but it's not streamlined."
"Reporting in Microsoft Intune presents challenges because the built-in reports are often too basic."
"Integrating certain group policies can be challenging and may necessitate using on-premises systems to integrate them with Microsoft Intune."
"The reporting and cost have room for improvement."
"We'd like, in the future, if it would work with Linux or Unix-based operating systems or even Mac."
"The initial setup is difficult and there is a lack of adequate documentation. The process should be simplified."
"We find the services are not as transparent as we would like for our integration with Citrix."
"We'd like to see more integration with other vendors."
"Security in the connection between us and our clients' servers is something that can be improved."
"There are times I get disconnected from the service and when one or two attempts to establish a remote connection. Microsoft should show where the problem is, I have to find it by myself."
"We'd like them to continue to improve on security."
"We'd like more granular security control of the desktop services."
"We occasionally have issues with the graphic software of the interface."
"Ease of access is a bit of a challenge."
"Improvements are required in the area of scalability since it is an aspect of the tool where there are shortcomings."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is reasonable for the features it has."
"There is a cost benefit of using Microsoft Intune because of the packaging with other Microsoft products."
"In terms of the product price and licensing costs, my company finds the product to be reasonably priced."
"The pricing is not cheap, especially with inflation. They've had to increase their prices. It's not excessive, but alright."
"Microsoft Intune is included in the E5 license at no additional cost."
"It is not expensive."
"Intune is inexpensive. It also comes bundled in some Office 365 licenses, so you can choose to purchase it separately or as a package."
"With one user base license, we can use Intune for up to five devices. However, with Soti MobiControl, each license is tied to a single device, meaning one license is dedicated to one device only."
"The solution has a pretty comparable pricing."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"I would say it's expensive as there similar products available for free."
"It's not an expensive solution."
"It's not an expensive product."
"The tool's pricing is high in the Slovenian market. I rate it a nine out of ten."
"The cost is fair."
"I am aware that for Azure we do have an extra license because we are leveraging on different tenants."
"I use the tool's free version."
"The tool is not cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise36
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?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing is based on licensing costs and the setup ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services can be improved in several areas. Currently, it requires a license cost, it has per...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Our main use case for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is to allow multiple users to remotely access our Windows mac...
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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.
Telesat Canada, St. Anthony's School, Pratt and Whitney, City of Sacramento
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VNC Connect and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.