Parallels Access vs ScreenConnect comparison

Parallels and ConnectWise are both solutions in the Remote Access category. Parallels is ranked #23, while ConnectWise is ranked #17. Parallels holds a 1.7% mindshare in VUS, compared to ConnectWise’s 3.1% 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 Mar 29, 2026

Parallels Access and ScreenConnect are in the remote access solution category. ScreenConnect seems to have an upper hand due to its robust features and scalability, making it more appealing for complex business needs.

Features: Parallels Access provides excellent mobile accessibility and application control across various devices, making it ideal for users focused on mobility. ScreenConnect offers extensive customization and integration capabilities, including unattended access, remote management of machines, and the ability to tune video connections, which are beneficial for comprehensive remote support.

Room for Improvement: Parallels Access could enhance scalability for larger businesses and further improve advanced security measures. Some users may also seek more extensive customization options and deeper integration capabilities. ScreenConnect might benefit from simplifying the initial learning curve and offering more competitive pricing. Improved user interface upgrades and streamlined complex deployments could also enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Parallels Access offers straightforward setup, perfect for efficient, quick deployments, especially for smaller teams. ScreenConnect, with its more complex deployment model, compensates with enriched customer service designed for IT professionals needing more intricate support solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Parallels Access provides a cost-effective solution with a competitive initial setup cost, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. ScreenConnect has higher pricing but justifies this with advanced capabilities that can lead to higher ROI for enterprises seeking comprehensive functionalities. Parallels Access is attractive for those watching initial costs closely, while ScreenConnect provides strong long-term investment value.

To learn more, read our detailed Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect

June 2026

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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 June 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 6.3%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 1.7%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ScreenConnect is 3.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	6.3%
ScreenConnect	3.1%
Parallels Access	1.7%
Other	88.9%

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

OluwashileAdeniyi

Senior Infrastructure Security Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Centralized endpoint security has improved and supports hybrid work and BYOD policies

Regarding what I dislike about Microsoft Intune and its downsides, I would say that more Mac controls are needed because we have limited Mac and Linux control. When comparing controls and policies between Windows, Mac, and Linux, Windows has almost everything you can think of, while Mac and Linux have limited types of control. You cannot implement certain things on Mac and Linux that you can on Windows. The limited controls are a major issue. Additionally, if Microsoft could find a way to embed servers into Microsoft Intune, that would be beneficial. Microsoft Intune is not really designed for servers or Windows servers. It is more tailored towards Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. Windows servers are not fully supported. Enterprise organizations usually have both servers and endpoints, which are users' workstations. For servers, most people look for other solutions such as SCCM, which is Configuration Manager. However, SCCM is what Microsoft Intune is trying to replace. Both SCCM and Microsoft Intune belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to transition organizations into Microsoft Intune, the native cloud solution. However, because this update is still in process, servers are not fully compatible with Microsoft Intune and cannot be managed by it. The current policy that has emerged from issues with clients is what they call co-management, which is relatively new, and I do not know if adoption is significant. Many legacy or older customers who have been using these products for decades still have SCCM. When it is time for them to manage their Windows devices, they use what is called cloud attach. Cloud attach is a term whereby your SCCM is connected to your Microsoft Intune. Most people do not know about it, but I have deployed it for several organizations. Cloud attach and co-management work together so that your device is in SCCM, but some policies are pushed from Microsoft Intune. It is like two different solutions working hand in hand. That is what they call co-management. Microsoft Intune does not bring all of your endpoint and security management tools into one place, which is the goal and how it should be. However, as I mentioned, servers are not included. If we talk about end users, Microsoft Intune does bring all your devices together. In a typical enterprise environment, you have end users with workstations, laptops, company-issued phones, and bring your own devices. You can create policies for all of these. However, for the backend, your servers do not have much coverage. Servers are not really covered by Microsoft Intune in that way.

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Binish Parikh

Vice President at ARK Infosolutions Pvt Ltd

Easy-to-deploy and good for small as well as large setups

There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive. Since it is not very resource hungry, it doesn't require dedicated servers like high-end solutions do, so it's easier for customers to integrate it into their own solutions. In future releases, maybe more support for Macs and Unix so that customers with setups on those platforms can also benefit from the solutions.

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Todd Blake

Senior IT Specialist at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's not working perfectly, but Microsoft's Autopilot offers great visibility into automated deployment solutions."

"The best features in Microsoft Intune include secure authentication, which I find very favorable, and the fact that we can remotely push applications."

"The best feature is that we don't need to worry about downtime. We don't need to worry about the network connections of our office or the virtual private network. Everything is being done through the internet. Using Intune Autopilot, we can configure and deploy everything to the devices."

"Our configuration profiles used to be all over the place. For example, there's a lot of legacy stuff in Active Directory. Going through Intune has helped us enforce settings, which has improved device security and functionality. When you apply something through Intune, you know it works. You don't have to worry about a legacy setting from Active Directory that was uploaded by somebody seven years ago. With Intune, you can see that a device has a setting, and you can be confident that the device is configured how you want."

"The feature I find most valuable in Microsoft Intune is being able to configure policies and push them directly to mobile phones."

"Microsoft Intune has positively impacted my organization by providing many benefits."

"I appreciate how clear Microsoft Intune is."

"The most important thing for me is the autopilot feature."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"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."

"What seems to be the most valuable from the customer side is the ease of operation, and the overall experience they have."

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

"The application used to publish for mobile devices is very good and the desktop publishing is very, very good."

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

"The product is really easy to deploy."

"Being able to quickly remotely access other computers from anywhere, supporting our other users is simple and quick to do."

"I am overall satisfied with the product."

"Remote support is efficient and easy for our end users to receive support."

"The flexibility to manage bandwidth and organize connections, and the price, make ConnectWise a really good choice."

"Their licensing model is good, their pricing model is good, their service is good, bandwidth is excellent."

"ScreenConnect is our backup solution for remote access."

"The unattended access functionality is a valuable feature, because I can go in at any time that I want, deploy fixes, or do maintenance."

More ScreenConnect pros

Cons

"I have faced stability issues with Microsoft Intune plenty of times, but I think it's part of the process."

"When you have a pressing issue, there is a lack of response. I believe Microsoft support needs to work on the response aspect."

"I think that there is room for improvement with the reporting. If this is done, it will be a better product."

"I switched away from Microsoft Intune because it cannot manage the MacBook very well."

"I would like to see the ability to deploy custom packages as a Windows 64-bit package, as opposed to the Windows 32-bit, which is the only one available now."

"The interface can be a bit complex to set up initially, so a simpler interface would really help."

"The reports aren't complete, and it's not easy to build custom reports."

"Could benefit from user having more control over devices."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"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."

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

"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 scalability is great for small or medium-sized businesses. However, it may not scale well for enterprise-level entities."

"An option I would want would be to have a shortcut on my desktop, to click on it, and immediately be able to select which system I wanted to access and which computer in that system I wanted to access, and have fewer steps that I would have to physically go through to do so."

"I would like to see more overlap, meaning, I would like to be able to see what processes are running on a computer, for example, or what services are running."

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

"I was not thrilled with their support. I do not have a lot of time to deal with the attention which is needed to fix issues."

"Speed is a major factor in Automate, and the control panel is horribly slow."

"The solution is a little bit complicated when you want to implement it."

"What we need this product to do is to be able to control Windows Updates. LogMeIn Central allowed us remote access but also allowed to push and install Windows Updates, and third-party updates... When we made the switch to ConnectWise we lost the ability to do patching. That forced us, for our larger clients, to move to WSUS. We had to set up a VM on those larger clients to push Windows Updates and patches into the network."

"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."

More ScreenConnect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate Intune five out of 10 for pricing. It's expensive."

"It's affordable. In comparison to the competitors, the price depends on what features you need from Intune, but it's affordable. There are no hidden costs, but there are some features that go for a premium price. Those are the add-ons for which you have to pay extra."

"It's a bit expensive from a licensing perspective, especially as we look to have organizations with tenants across the globe."

"The tool is cheaper than our company's other MDM tools."

"Intune is linked with Microsoft. We can deploy the Microsoft E365 license to users by Intune. There are different types of licenses, such as device administrator licenses, E5 licenses for device enrollment manually, and P1 and p2 licenses for device enrollment automatically. These are the licenses required for the administration."

"Pricing can be improved."

"Our Office 365 Business Premium license, including Office 365 and Intune Management, offers excellent value."

"Microsoft Intune's costliness stems from licensing fees and the overhead associated with its management, user experience, and device remediation."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

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

"We pay an annual licensing fee."

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

"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."

"We pay $3,000 USD for the service, yearly upfront."

"Pricing is fair for Control and the licensing is simple."

"Good price and works well."

"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

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

University

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Transportation Company

Construction Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	192
Midsize Enterprise	62
Large Enterprise	185

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
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 ...

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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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Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

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Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Access

Compared 20% of the time

TeamViewer vs Parallels Access

Compared 13% of the time

N-able Take Control vs Parallels Access

Compared 12% of the time

Splashtop Remote Support vs Parallels Access

Compared 11% of the time

VNC Connect vs Parallels Access

Compared 6% of the time

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TeamViewer vs ScreenConnect

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs ScreenConnect

Compared 6% of the time

LogMeIn Rescue vs ScreenConnect

Compared 6% of the time

BeyondTrust Remote Support vs ScreenConnect

Compared 6% of the time

Splashtop Remote Support vs ScreenConnect

Compared 3% of the time

More ScreenConnect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

June 2026

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

Remote Access

June 2026

Download Parallels Access product report

Buyer's Guide

ScreenConnect

May 2026

Download ScreenConnect product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

No data available

ConnectWise Control

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

Parallels Access is a fast and reliable remote access software, enabling users to connect to computers from anywhere. It streamlines operations by allowing access to applications, files, and multiple computers seamlessly.

Parallels Access provides a stable, user-friendly platform with superior desktop and mobile capabilities. Designed for both small and large businesses, it emphasizes ease of use and secure remote access, enhancing user independence, particularly for those with physical limitations. However, it faces challenges including scalability issues for enterprises and aggressive pricing. Reporting and compatibility particularly with Linux and Unix servers need enhancement, alongside integration issues like the copy-and-paste function between iPads and computers.

What are the key features of Parallels Access?

Remote Deployment: Facilitates easy setup for businesses.
Scalability: Supports small to large business needs.
User Independence: Assists users with physical limitations through enhanced control.
Mobile Publishing: Offers superior capabilities for mobile users.
Secure Platform: Ensures high-level security for remote operations.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Operational Efficiency: Offers flexibility by controlling computers via iPads.
Centralized Management: Saves hardware resources.
Application Publishing: Allows independent application deployment.
Use Case Flexibility: Supports CAD and ERP applications.

Entities integrate Parallels Access into their services for remote application access, focusing on efficiency through centralized management. It supports industries such as engineering and education with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solutions, enabling flexibility and enhancing operational efficiency. Companies work alongside system integrators and channel partners to tailor offerings to customer needs.

Parallels

ScreenConnect enables seamless remote access to desktops and mobile devices with robust security features, minimizing customer downtime and safeguarding interactions.

ScreenConnect stands out with its customization options, allowing users to white-label their software and showcase brand identity in every support interaction. With AES-256 encryption and two-factor authentication, security is integral. The Support Premium edition includes ScreenConnect View, allowing real-time troubleshooting via mobile camera streams. Configurability and granular permissions ensure tailored access for team members, while unattended access and session persistence enhance usability and productivity. Integration capabilities and tool-sharing optimize efficiency, making it ideal for IT service providers.

What features make ScreenConnect unique?

Robust Remote Access: Facilitates seamless connectivity across devices.
Unattended Access: Allows remote management without user presence.
Customization: Offers white-labeling to match brand identity.
Session Persistence: Maintains connections across reboots.
File Transfers: Enables easy exchange of files during sessions.
Integration Capabilities: Enhances software functionality through third-party connections.
Session Groups and Triggers: Organizes sessions efficiently.

What benefits should users look for?

Stable Connectivity: Ensures consistent remote access.
Security: Features robust encryption and authentication measures.
Efficiency: Optimizes IT support processes and resource management.
Customization: Tailors the software to individual brand needs.
Ease of Use: User-friendly interface for straightforward operation.
Scalability: Adapts to the growing demands of organization.

Organizations use ScreenConnect for remote support, providing IT teams with a tool to assist clients efficiently from anywhere. Managed service providers leverage features like unattended access to troubleshoot and manage IT issues across multiple devices. ScreenConnect's adaptability makes it suitable for companies with remote employees, ensuring seamless support and connectivity.

ConnectWise

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Gilt Groupe K.K.

Jon Rosen Systems

Buyer's Guide

Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect

June 2026

Free Report: Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect

Find out what your peers are saying about Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

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