Parallels Access vs ScreenConnect comparison

Parallels and ConnectWise are both solutions in the Remote Access category. Parallels is ranked #19 with an average rating of 9.0, while ConnectWise is ranked #14 with an average rating of 9.0. Parallels holds a 1.9% mindshare in VUS, compared to ConnectWise’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Parallels users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of ConnectWise users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Parallels Access and ScreenConnect are competing in the remote access software market. ScreenConnect has an advantage regarding feature richness and perceived long-term value, whereas Parallels Access is favored for cost-effectiveness and support options.

Features: Parallels Access allows users easy navigation from various devices, supports smooth mobile and desktop connectivity, and provides reliable remote control over computers. ScreenConnect offers expanded functionalities such as unattended access, robust system control, and seamless remote access across all devices, proving suitable for complex IT setups.

Room for Improvement: Parallels Access could enhance its feature set to better support larger organizations, improve its deployment features, and add more advanced remote access functionalities. ScreenConnect may need to work on its interface user-friendliness, address connectivity issues during network changes, and simplify remote access commands to ensure ease of use for less technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ScreenConnect provides a seamless deployment process with detailed customer service, making it easy for enterprises to integrate. Parallels Access, despite its straightforward installation and dependable support, lacks the finer deployment features that might appeal more to larger organizations with more complex IT environments.

Pricing and ROI: Parallels Access offers competitive pricing, catering to budget-conscious customers seeking effective functionalities. In contrast, ScreenConnect, though more expensive, offers a significant return on investment due to its extensive feature set, making it a worthwhile long-term investment for businesses with demanding remote access needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect

December 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.1%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 1.9%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ScreenConnect is 2.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Intune	9.1%
ScreenConnect	2.8%
Parallels Access	1.9%
Other	86.2%

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

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.

Read full review

Jason Parkinson

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.

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Todd Blake

Senior IT Specialist at COMMUNITY HEALTH CONNECTIONS INC

Simple to set up, reasonable pricing, and useful remote control capabilities

I'm on the latest version of the solution. I just updated it yesterday. While we have the solution on-premises at this time, we'll likely move to the cloud later this year. They have a trial version that you can try. They have a free version that you can try as well. I use it myself to support my family. I would try the free version or the trial version depending on your business. They can set you up and you can get to see all the features. I would also advocate going to the cloud version. Don't bother with the on-prem. It's just easier to jump to the cloud. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The biggest benefit for me in Microsoft Intune is control; I can control my users and what they can do and enforce the policies that I want to enforce, and it is a great tool to control and put structure to take the organization to the place I want to take it."

"I would rate the stability of Microsoft Intune nine out of ten."

"I would rate Microsoft Intune a nine out of ten."

"Third party integrations are very convenient to use with Microsoft Intune."

"Fortunately, now everything is streamlined into a single, unified platform."

"The features of Microsoft Intune that I appreciate the most are its user-friendly interface and robust security options."

"I really appreciate the features in Microsoft Intune, including the Intune Suite Cloud PKI."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Intune is that it is more of a one-stop shop, providing an easier experience."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"Parallels Access has flexible licensing policies, which is beneficial for customers who have intermittent usage or users who are on and off the system."

"We don't have problems with stability. Everything is good."

"Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely."

"It's got a very easy-to-use interface."

"It's great that the total deployment can happen completely remotely."

"It's very low maintenance."

"ConnectWise Connect is very convenient as we can remote to a PC even when it is not within our LAN."

"Due to the fact that we can help our clients virtually, the solution has allowed us to reduce our travel costs by about 90%."

"I do love the monitoring page. If you are using ConnectWise Control, which is the on-prem version, when you are logged into the admin panel, there is a status page that checks network connectivity, the status of the license, and so on."

"We like the fact that on our website we can have the ConnectWise bit embedded, and it has instructions for the end-user about what they need to do. Previously, on LogMeIn, we used to have to almost talk them through everything... ConnectWise has step-by-step instructions, depending on the browser."

"Unattended access is the most important feature."

"Offers more security than TeamViewer, Google Remote Desktop, and Zoom. It's a stable, feature-rich solution that's easy to set up and easy to scale."

"Control lets us do remote management of machines without having to be on the VPN. It's super simple and super easy."

More ScreenConnect pros

Cons

"Its integration with Mac and Linux devices can be better. They should provide more features similar to Windows. We should be able to manage policies within Linux and Mac machines. If we can have more granular controls for these two operating systems, it will be really helpful."

"Intune could be improved by expanding its third-party patching capabilities for a more comprehensive solution."

"Intune's server management could be better. If it could incorporate more features from System Center into Intune's Configuration Manager, it would be beneficial."

"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. This is an area I believe needs improvement."

"The reports aren't complete, and it's not easy to build custom reports. For example, Windows Autopilot isn't working well in cases where the computers don't have a good internet connection. Then the option is not good enough."

"Microsoft Intune could improve by being more user-friendly and having it geared toward device management. The graphic interface is not very good."

"There have been instances where enrolling devices should take 10 minutes but ends up taking an hour due to various issues."

"There could be some kind of feature that supports a workgroup environment or a separate environment without the Entra ID."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive."

"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."

"The solution may not scale well for enterprises."

"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."

"They could improve the reporting."

"The solution should add the ability to video chat with the user on the other end."

"There needs to be a way to run the agent without installing, like GoToAssist."

"There could be improvement to the remote command line tools."

"Reporting could definitely use improvement. With LogMeIn Rescue, I used to be able to, for instance, at the end of the month, pull off a report of every session. It was very simple... I could see the name that was typed in, the IP address to the computer that it was connected to, if it was running Windows... It just doesn't seem - there might be but I haven't found it - to be a way of pulling that information out of ConnectWise."

"Something that I would like to see in the future is mobile video streaming. They do provide audio conferencing, but seeing the problem makes it easier to solve the problem. If they had video streaming, if a client had a physical problem with something and I couldn't get remote access, the client could use his mobile phone to show me the problem. In these cases, even if a client's systems were down, I could help, so long as I had a mobile phone environment."

"There is one back-end issue that I am running into at some of locations where I login to provide support, and sometimes port 443 is blocked. That is what it uses to connect. So, I am having to do workarounds to get a session started."

"They could provide a toolbox for the plan I'm on."

"I really didn't care for the onboarding process and it is something that should be improved."

More ScreenConnect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's bundled with Business Premium and an E3 license, which is beneficial. If you have to pay extra, it's pricey, but with the bundled package, it's acceptable. They recently increased the Business Premium pricing, which we don't appreciate. The price increase and yearly commitment are causing some problems for us."

"The pricing is competitive, but it is not cheap."

"It comes as a bundle, so you do not really know what the prices are. Microsoft does not break it down to the user cost for us. It is just bundled with our E5 license."

"There are licenses required for this solution. We enable licenses on the devices we need to manage."

"With our standard E5 agreement with Microsoft, there have been no pricing concerns. Introductory professional services, like a fast-track service, were included with our E5 membership, and there have been no additional costs."

"The cost is handled through our Office 365 license, so I have yet to be able to compare it directly with other tools in its class."

"Microsoft licenses are costly."

"While I can't provide insights from a business perspective, it's worth noting that the pricing may differ significantly, and the discount we received might not be reflective of standard business rates."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"The licensing costs are about $100 per user."

"I think the product's pricing is a good value. I paid $600 a year and that was fine for me. It was about $50 a month. Licensing is all very straightforward."

"The cloud version is relatively inexpensive, but the on-premise version is expensive if you do not need three technicians, only one or two for concurrent sessions."

"It is priced well and it is still a great value. Although I have been reading a lot about Splashtop. They are getting pretty competitive on their pricing, including a fairly easy to use remote support for mobile applications, like iOS and Android."

"ConnectWise Control is not an overly expensive tool. Its pricing is reasonable."

"Their licensing model is good, their pricing model is good, their service is good; bandwidth is excellent. They're consistent."

"We pay an annual licensing fee."

"We pay $85 per month for each user for a ConnectWise package with multiple solutions."

"Make sure you have enough licensing for all the techs that you have."

More ScreenConnect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

University

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

12%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	121
Midsize Enterprise	47
Large Enterprise	157

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	7

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 ...

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

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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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about ConnectWise Control?

The product is really easy to deploy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ConnectWise Control?

I download the product for free with ConnectWise RMM's license.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ConnectWise Control?

All the features provided by the product in terms of screen connectors have been good. There can be some complexities...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 10% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Access

Compared 42% of the time

TeamViewer Business vs Parallels Access

Compared 13% of the time

MSP360 Connect vs Parallels Access

Compared 12% of the time

Splashtop Remote Support vs Parallels Access

Compared 8% of the time

Parsec vs Parallels Access

Compared 6% of the time

More Parallels Access Competitors

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs ScreenConnect

Compared 10% of the time

TeamViewer Business vs ScreenConnect

Compared 7% of the time

BeyondTrust Remote Support vs ScreenConnect

Compared 6% of the time

GoTo Resolve vs ScreenConnect

Compared 5% of the time

LogMeIn Pro vs ScreenConnect

Compared 5% of the time

More ScreenConnect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

January 2026

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

Remote Access

February 2026

Download Parallels Access product report

Buyer's Guide

ScreenConnect

January 2026

Download ScreenConnect product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

No data available

ConnectWise Control

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

Parallels Access enables high-performance remote connectivity, letting users access their applications and files from any location.

Parallels Access offers a seamless remote access experience with its ease of operation and reliable connectivity. It supports application publishing and device control through a user-friendly interface, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes and individual users with specific needs. However, improvements are needed in reporting, server compatibility, and file transfer features, particularly for Mac and Unix users. Interaction with technical support can help but often provides temporary solutions.

What are the key features of Parallels Access?

Remote Deployment: Quick and easy to set up for remote access.
Application Publishing: Facilitates smooth application access from remote locations.
User Control: Offers comprehensive control over device access.
Scalability: Adapts from small to large-scale business needs.
Security: Provides a secure environment for data handling.

What benefits do users find in Parallels Access?

Ease of Use: Simple setup and maintenance save time.
Flexibility: Supports varied deployments efficiently.
Accessibility: Enhances device control, especially via mobile devices.
Collaboration: Easy to integrate into centralized management systems.

Parallels Access is widely used across industries such as CAD, ERP, and academia, allowing centralized management and virtual desktop infrastructure implementation. It supports system integrators and channel partners in improving customer service. Educational institutes find it valuable for CAD applications, whereas users operating devices via iPads find it especially transformative.

Parallels

ScreenConnect offers seamless connections to desktops, mobiles, and other devices with top-tier security features. Empowering businesses through customizable branding, it facilitates real-time problem-solving and adapts to specific access needs with granular control.

ScreenConnect stands out by providing robust remote access solutions, enhanced with security like AES-256 encryption and two-factor authentication. Users appreciate the customization options, enabling them to white-label software to reflect their brand. The Support Premium edition includes ScreenConnect View, a live streaming feature assisting with real-time hardware troubleshooting through mobile cameras. It integrates smoothly with existing systems, offering unattended access, automatic reconnection, and session recording. However, there's room for improvement in user configuration options, file transfer capabilities, and security recognition. Overall, it supports a wide range of devices and browsers, ensuring session continuity even through reboots, making the setup process straightforward.

What are the key features of ScreenConnect?

Remote Access: Facilitates easy access across devices and browsers with strong performance.
Security: Includes AES-256 encryption and two-factor authentication for secure interactions.
Customization: Allows extensive branding options to align with company identity.
ScreenConnect View: Enables live streaming for real-time troubleshooting via users' device cameras.
Session Management: Offers unattended access and session recording for quality control.
Configurability: Provides granular permissions to tailor access according to team requirements.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from ScreenConnect reviews?

Ease of Use: Users find it intuitive for support and troubleshooting.
Cost-Effective: Competitive pricing enhances ROI.
Integration: Easy incorporation with existing security protocols and management tools.
Remote Management: Provides effective remote access reducing on-site support needs.
Efficiency: Increases productivity with robust performance and seamless functionality.

Businesses apply ScreenConnect for remote support, assisting with IT tasks and troubleshooting, often using unattended access functionalities. It's popular among teams of various sizes, aiding companies in managed services and client interactions. The tool's effectiveness makes it suitable for on-site-like remote assistance, though improvements in dual monitor management and domain integration are desired. User feedback highlights the necessity for enhanced onboarding, more intuitive configuration, and advanced reporting features, making it a versatile choice for remote support across industries.

ConnectWise

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Gilt Groupe K.K.

Jon Rosen Systems

Buyer's Guide

Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect

December 2025

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