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Amazon Appstream vs Amazon WorkSpaces comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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

Amazon Appstream
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
3rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon WorkSpaces
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Desktop as a Service (DaaS) category, the mindshare of Amazon Appstream is 25.5%, up from 23.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon WorkSpaces is 14.1%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

RH
Offers good performance, efficiency, and network
There is also a way in the tool for retaining customers' favorites, but it is not available natively. When you log in to your desktop, on the desktop or laptop that you are working on, you have your favorites, you have your document repository, like your documents, your personal documents that you have on your computer. I saw that there was no native way of retaining those in a non-persistent desktop. The end-user has to perform dual authentication. One is for AWS authentication, and the other used to be for Active Directory, so it is a little problematic for the end users, as it is a double work for them. I don't know if the tool has lately dealt with the area of dual authentication or not.
Saswata Mondal - PeerSpot reviewer
A High Performing Amazon Workspace Solution for Seamless Workspace Management
Making it more self-service friendly would be the implement I'd be looking for. When we have to add new applications, we have to go through the IT to do that, and they need to do some configuration changes. I believe they have to reevaluate the computation and storage and the memory. So this is this is something that as an unrequired and should be changed. Also, the initial start time takes couple of minutes and it is easy for get distracted during the time. So if it can reduce the start time to a reasonable start of time to a reasonable time of five to ten seconds. That will be great.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool is good from a latency, efficiency, and network point of view."
"Some companies use applications like Word or Excel, and they can leverage cloud services to optimize their hardware consumption."
"The infrastructure is readily available, with minimal latency, which each user can benefit from."
"The most valuable features are easy provisioning, an active directory, and mobile access."
"The most valuable feature is the mobility. I can use it anywhere."
"We can work remotely using the solution."
"Amazon WorkSpaces is very fast."
"The product is easy to access. You can access the solution from anywhere at any time."
"The experience is seamless and there is no delay. The performance is very good. Initial startup times is a little bit of wait time, but it is bearable."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"You might experience some performance issues, such as delays in data retrieval."
"The end-user has to perform dual authentication...it is a little problematic for the end users, as it is a double work for them."
"Its features for the hardware version could work faster."
"Configuration was a bit complicated at first but manageable."
"The product needs to improve its pricing. It should also improve corporate identity management and single sign-on."
"Amazon WorkSpaces needs to improve on releasing the most number of patches immediately as quickly as possible. And they need to enable more USB options to connect a mobile phone to that particular workspace."
"The speed and performance are not always the greatest. It can be improved."
"If they had a cheaper option for graphics pro, I think that it would be beneficial and I would use it."
"An area that could be improved is it could work better on VPN."
"The agent sometimes has connectivity issues, but otherwise, it's good."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a two."
"The solution is not very cheap and it is not too pricey."
"The pricing is based on consumption. You pay for each process based on the transactions you make."
"It is very expensive."
"We need to spend some amount for the support. Without money, they won't respond."
"The tool's pricing depends on company turnover and the organization's relationship with Amazon. I rate it a six out of ten."
"They have hourly and monthly pricing, and because our use case is, more of a sporadic use, so I go for hourly pricing. Again, the details of the pricing is handled by the procurement. From an end user perspective, pay as you use hourly is suitable"
"Price-wise Amazon Workspaces is cheaper than most services available."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Performing Arts
13%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Appstream?
There is also a way in the tool for retaining customers' favorites, but it is not available natively. When you log in to your desktop, on the desktop or laptop that you are working on, you have you...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Appstream?
I personally don't use the tool. I am not a consumer of it. I basically designed it. I work for an IT company and have designed and implemented Amazon Appstream and Workspace in many organizations....
What do you like most about Amazon WorkSpaces?
Performance and scalability are valuable features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon WorkSpaces?
The pricing is based on consumption. You pay for each process based on the transactions you make. The investment is almost the same as having your own on-premises solution, with the added costs of ...
What needs improvement with Amazon WorkSpaces?
There is always scope of improvement in the stability.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Appstream 2.0, Appstream, Appstream 2.0
WorkSpaces
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SolidWorks, EVARI, MathWorks, AVENA, Vanguard, Macquarie University
GrubHub, Endemol Shine Nederland, CMC Property Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Appstream vs. Amazon WorkSpaces and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.