Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft

4.1 out of 5

86 reviews
87% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers stability, reliability, and efficient performance with easy scalability and remote server access, enhancing productivity by allowing remote corporate resource access. However, it faces security issues, lacks Linux integration, and is costly compared to alternatives. Stability problems and frequent disconnections persist, while technical support is inadequate for user needs despite straightforward installation and deployment.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers stability and reliability, contributing to consistent performance and security.

It provides full accessibility to servers, enabling remote management from various locations.

The performance is efficient, and it supports easy scalability to meet different organizational needs.

Installation and setup are straightforward, making deployment quick and user-friendly.

It enhances productivity by allowing employees to log on to corporate resources remotely, saving time and improving collaboration.

CONS

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services has security concerns and requires improvements in this area.

It lacks integration and compatibility with Linux and other operating systems.

The cost of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is high compared to alternatives.

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services struggles with stability and frequent disconnections.

Technical support from Microsoft is rated poorly, lacking adequate assistance for users.

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Pros review quotes

Network Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 1, 2013

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.

Read full review

Enterprise Sales Engineer with 201-500 employees

Sep 28, 2016

For personal use, it is a great app.

Read full review

Programmer Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 27, 2017

It's stable, fast, compatible, and quite reliable.

Read full review

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Free Report: Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Management at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 28, 2017

Since we have to be on a secure network, it gives me access into my system at work that is more secure than my system at home.

Read full review

Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 16, 2016

The valuable features I mentioned assure a stable and highly available environment with maximum uptime for business users.

Read full review

Client Technologies Manager at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 28, 2016

It has enabled our clinical staff to get real-time medicine prescribing information at the patients' bedside with a near 100% service uptime.

Read full review

‎Database Administrator with 51-200 employees

Dec 10, 2018

It is a stable product.

Read full review

reviewer1212501

Information Systems Consultant at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees

Dec 15, 2019

It's almost an out of the box function once you have installed the other components.

Read full review

Product Owner IT Services at Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG)

Dec 25, 2019

I like that it works. In most cases, it's predictable. You know what you get.

Read full review

YY

IT Infrastructure and Operations General Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

Mar 19, 2020

The most valuable features are availability and security.

Read full review

Show 10 more reviews (out of 78)

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Cons review quotes

Network Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 1, 2013

Network bandwidth may limit a users experience with remote desktop services.

Read full review

Enterprise Sales Engineer with 201-500 employees

Sep 28, 2016

Having a secondary app to log in to a remote VN is not ideal, but the app itself is very good.

Read full review

Programmer Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 27, 2017

The speed should be a little more. When you're pitching from Mac to Windows, it takes a little more time than what is required.

Read full review

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Free Report: Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Management at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 28, 2017

There could be better options and it could be faster.

Read full review

Infrastructure Specialist at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 16, 2016

Currently, installation of applications on an RDS farm must be performed manually on each server.

Read full review

Client Technologies Manager at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 28, 2016

I think that the Single Sign-On (SSO) could be improved.

Read full review

‎Database Administrator with 51-200 employees

Dec 10, 2018

We find the services are not as transparent as we would like for our integration with Citrix.

Read full review

reviewer1212501

Information Systems Consultant at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees

Dec 15, 2019

In the next release, I would like to see better performance over slower networks, and integration with Linux, but this is something that we're going to get out of Microsoft in terms of a unified solution.

Read full review

Product Owner IT Services at Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG)

Dec 25, 2019

Microsoft still has some really bad remote desktop appliance for Mac.

Read full review

YY

IT Infrastructure and Operations General Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

Mar 19, 2020

We are searching for a product with better remote access and remote sessions.

Read full review

Show 10 more reviews (out of 78)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

TeamViewer vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

VMware Workstation vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

NinjaOne vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

VMware Fusion Pro vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Claroty Platform vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Parallels Desktop vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Horizon 8 vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

BeyondTrust Remote Support vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

See all alternatives

Product Categories

Product Categories

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

TeamViewer vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

VMware Workstation vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

NinjaOne vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

VMware Fusion Pro vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Claroty Platform vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Parallels Desktop vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Horizon 8 vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

BeyondTrust Remote Support vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

See all alternatives

Related questions

44

What is an efficient alternative to Microsoft Remote Desktop?

43

Which Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution is the best and why?

40

When looking for a work from home solution, which Remote Access solution do you prefer? Why?

110

What are the tools you recommend to support teleworking?

35

When evaluating Virtual User Session, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

44

What is an efficient alternative to Microsoft Remote Desktop?

136

What are the best practices to prevent a Brute Force attack via remote access?

83

Why use remote access tools?

33

Looking for recommendations for a well-priced remote/access management system for video editing

50

Looking for SDK on Remote monitoring on Android devices