Amazon WorkSpaces vs VMware Fusion Pro comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Broadcom are both solutions in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0, while Broadcom is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.8. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.7% mindshare in VD, compared to Broadcom’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Amazon WorkSpaces

Read 19 Amazon WorkSpaces reviews

3,036 Views
2,398 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

VMware Fusion Pro

Read 9 VMware Fusion Pro reviews

6,151 Views
6,151 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon WorkSpaces

VMware Fusion Pro

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

VMware Fusion Pro and Amazon WorkSpaces compete in the virtual desktop market. VMware Fusion Pro has an advantage in support, while Amazon WorkSpaces offers robust features deemed worth the price.

Features: VMware Fusion Pro provides local virtualization, supports multiple operating systems, and integrates with other VMware products. Amazon WorkSpaces focuses on cloud-based access from various devices, strong security features, and scalability. Its flexibility makes it attractive for enterprises seeking secure, scalable cloud solutions.

Room for Improvement: VMware Fusion Pro could enhance cloud integration, improve scalability, and offer competitive pricing options for cloud environments. Amazon WorkSpaces might improve initial setup simplicity, enhance offline features, and optimize costs for small businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Fusion Pro offers straightforward installation for on-premise environments with responsive support. Amazon WorkSpaces provides scalable cloud deployment for easy access to virtual desktops, with possible challenges in initial cloud setup, benefiting from AWS’s broad cloud support infrastructure.

Pricing and ROI: VMware Fusion Pro has a one-time setup cost leading to faster ROI in localized environments. Amazon WorkSpaces, operating on a subscription model with variable costs based on usage, offers potential savings for businesses prioritizing cloud flexibility. Its predictable costs and efficient scaling can result in a cost-effective long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon WorkSpaces vs. VMware Fusion Pro Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkSpaces vs. VMware Fusion Pro

September 2026

Download the complete report

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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

Amazon WorkSpaces

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (2nd)

VMware Fusion Pro

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

6th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Amazon WorkSpaces is 2.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Fusion Pro is 4.8%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
VMware Fusion Pro	4.8%
Amazon WorkSpaces	2.7%
Other	92.5%

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Featured Reviews

JiteshRathod

Expert Engineer at Apexon

Remote teams have gained secure, consistent test environments and onboarding stays streamlined

Desired improvements for Amazon WorkSpaces include faster and more flexible image updates, incremental image updates, patch-only updates, and a much faster push of software configuration changes to all workspaces, as well as improved cursor shutters and remote screen jitter. Amazon WorkSpaces can sometimes function as a black box, making it difficult to diagnose why a workspace is slow on any given day due to limited visibility into network latency from the client, real-time CPU and GPU utilization, and storage bottlenecks. Improvements are needed for built-in performance dashboards, clearer latency metrics, connection health reports, and root cause suggestions that distinguish between local network and VPC issues.

Read full review

Bruce Lundberg

Linux HPC Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Create custom virtual environments quickly with minor macOS integration issues

The primary advantage of VMware Fusion Pro is its simplicity in creating custom virtual machines. It allows quick construction and provides connectivity to full VMware server systems, enabling remote management. It facilitates downloading images from main VMware servers for local testing. The ability to construct a virtual environment on my laptop meets my needs, even ones I wasn't aware of.

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 most valuable feature is the mobility. I can use it anywhere."

"Amazon WorkSpaces is very fast."

"We can work remotely using the solution."

"The best thing about Amazon WorkSpaces is the security it provides."

"Amazon WorkSpaces offers several best features including ease of access, security, scalability, anywhere access, and device flexibility."

"Amazon WorkSpaces Pools is a new solution that allows a group of users to use shared workspaces."

"Security, streaming, faster performance, scalability, and the fact that it is very much cost-effective, are some of the solution's valuable features."

"For anyone looking at the solution, I can say that it is a good solution and within well-defined price ranges, and a very scalable one."

More Amazon WorkSpaces pros

"It is a highly stable solution."

"The whole point of it is to run Windows VMs on a Mac. This is the most valuable feature. There is snapshotting, but we don't really use that. The Pro version allows me to actually attach to the Windows ESXi infrastructure at the backend, and I'm able to create a session that I can attach to the VMware hooks at the backend, so one is running a VM, and the whole operating system is running on the actual Mac. The other one is literally a frontend to the VMs that are running in the infrastructure at the backend. These are the two main features I use."

"The most important feature of VMware Fusion is that it helps me rapidly launch a new OS."

"For me, VMware Fusion Pro has been invaluable, allowing me to meet all my needs with a single system."

"The primary advantage of VMware Fusion Pro is its simplicity in creating custom virtual machines."

"VMware Fusion Pro offers simplicity of use and stability."

"Veeam Backup and Replication is the common product for backing up virtual machines."

"The product is easy to use and has a simple user interface."

More VMware Fusion Pro pros

Cons

"If they had a cheaper option for graphics pro, I think that it would be beneficial and I would use it."

"I would say that it is a little complex to configure."

"The agent sometimes has connectivity issues, but otherwise, it's good."

"There is always scope of improvement in the stability."

"The product needs to improve its pricing. It should also improve corporate identity management and single sign-on."

"An area that could be improved is it could work better on VPN. On VPN, it gets some issues, and frequent disconnections happen."

"One area that can be improved is the ability to install third-party apps."

"Its features for the hardware version could work faster."

More Amazon WorkSpaces cons

"VMware Fusion's licensing cost needs improvement."

"Fusion is not meant to be scalable. It runs on desktops and laptops, indicating limitations in scalability."

"Additionally, enhancing the API interactions could improve the ability to manage VS and deploy various kinds of guests."

"The backups for the VMs themselves can also be improved. I pretty much have to rely on Windows backups and not something on VMware."

"The only issue I've experienced with VMware Fusion Pro is that it doesn't register correctly with the main macOS system, causing repeated notifications about background installations. This is a minor inconvenience."

"The way they handle snapshotting can be improved. One time, I moved a machine from one to another, and I tried to pull it up on the second machine, but it didn't work. This was because I had not cleaned up the snapshot before I deleted it and moved it across. So, when I tried to pull it up, it wouldn't let me bring it up. The backups for the VMs themselves can also be improved. I pretty much have to rely on Windows backups and not something on VMware. That's where it needs improvement. I am able to upload from my Fusion into the ESXi easily. I'm able to spin something up on Fusion and push it into the big arena, but the reverse is not as easy, that is, trying to pull something down from that. I would love to have a functionality where I could pull something from the VMware infrastructure into Fusion, but I'm not sure if I can take something from ESXi and pull it into Fusion."

"Its installation process could be simpler."

"One of the problems with VMware Fusion Pro is limited redundancy; it is related to the infrastructure and the nature of the on-premises because on-premises you cannot have enough reliability since you have to fund all the resources on your own."

More VMware Fusion Pro cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is based on consumption. You pay for each process based on the transactions you make."

"The solution is expensive."

"The solution is not very cheap and it is not too pricey."

"There are several different options available, but it can range anywhere from $85 to $150 a month per machine."

"I think that the price can be lower. We have cases where the customer needs to have lower costs. So since we don't have options, like, shadow mode, they need to decrease pricing or have other models for reduced pricing."

"We need to spend some amount for the support. Without money, they won't respond."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a two."

"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"

More Amazon WorkSpaces pricing and cost advice

"I rate the product's pricing a seven or eight. It is highly-priced."

"The cost varies depending on the season and whether it is scaled up or scaled down, but I would guess that it's approximately $1,000 per month."

"Starting with version 12, it is now free on a Mac for personal use. Fusion Pro has a cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Performing Arts

14%

Construction Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

18%

University

13%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon WorkSpaces?

For Amazon WorkSpaces pricing, I think it is affordable; it is a final decision made through the management part. I am not satisfied with the billing part because sometimes it bills for huge usage ...

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What needs improvement with Amazon WorkSpaces?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon WorkSpaces?

Amazon WorkSpaces is used to provide a consistent environment for remote workers for testing purposes. Software testing is typically run on those desktops.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Fusion?

The pricing of VMware Fusion Pro is reasonable. The licensing covers all minor version updates, while major updates require payment every three years. Buying it once can sustain you for years witho...

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Fusion?

In future updates of VMware Fusion Pro, I think there should be another community to input features. It is an infrastructure tool that may need embedding some AI to help or catching up with the new...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Fusion?

My specialty is about IBM AS/400 applications, so I got to be in contact with several packages, including LX, which is why I had this research on your website.I'm mostly interested in ERP packages;...

See all answers

Comparisons

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Amazon WorkSpaces

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon DCV vs Amazon WorkSpaces

Compared 12% of the time

Horizon Cloud Service vs Amazon WorkSpaces

Compared 11% of the time

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Amazon WorkSpaces

Compared 9% of the time

RapidScale vs Amazon WorkSpaces

Compared 8% of the time

More Amazon WorkSpaces Competitors

VMware Workstation vs VMware Fusion Pro

Compared 52% of the time

Parallels Desktop vs VMware Fusion Pro

Compared 18% of the time

Horizon 8 vs VMware Fusion Pro

Compared 6% of the time

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs VMware Fusion Pro

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs VMware Fusion Pro

Compared 5% of the time

More VMware Fusion Pro Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkSpaces

October 2026

Download Amazon WorkSpaces product report

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

September 2026

Download VMware Fusion Pro product report

Also Known As

WorkSpaces

No data available

Overview

Amazon WorkSpaces offers scalable virtual desktop environments that integrate seamlessly with existing IT structures. Its robust security measures and flexible access options make it ideal for remote work and daily operations, transforming traditional setups into efficient, cloud-based solutions.

Amazon WorkSpaces provides businesses with an efficient way to deploy and manage virtual desktops across multiple regions. Its integration with Active Directory and mobile access features enable users to connect from various devices, ensuring functionality on the go. With strong security measures including multi-factor authentication and encrypted data storage, organizations can confidently manage sensitive information. The platform supports multimedia applications and offers persistent storage for seamless performance. WorkSpaces is designed for cost-effectiveness and scalability, supporting multimedia integrations and adaptable deployment options.

What are the key features of Amazon WorkSpaces?

Easy Provisioning: Simplifies deployment for rapid setup
Active Directory Integration: Facilitates remote access control
Mobile Access: Enables connectivity from multiple devices
Strong Security: Includes multi-factor authentication
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers scalable solutions for budget-conscious businesses
Persistent Storage: Ensures data continuity and availability
Scalability: Supports extensive deployments across regions

What benefits should users consider in reviews of Amazon WorkSpaces?

Efficient Resource Management: Optimizes IT resources
Remote Accessibility: Provides access from any location
Smooth Performance: Delivers low-latency operation
Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive information with robust measures
Ease of Integration: Seamlessly connects with AWS and other tech ecosystems

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, organizations implement Amazon WorkSpaces to facilitate remote work and ensure secure cloud-based access. By transforming traditional IT setups, companies can offer flexible work-from-home solutions and maintain essential operations without geographical constraints, leading to increased productivity and streamlined management.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

VMware Fusion Pro allows Mac users to run Windows virtual machines, leveraging its interface with Windows ESXi infrastructure. The platform is user-friendly, enabling efficient OS launches and providing snapshot and cloning capabilities for a stable experience.

VMware Fusion Pro empowers Mac users with robust virtualization capabilities, including the ability to run Windows VMs and interface seamlessly with Windows ESXi infrastructure. The platform is noted for its rapid custom VM construction and remote management through full VMware server systems. Despite its advantages, users indicate areas for improvement, particularly in snapshotting, backup processes, and resource demands. Compatibility with operating systems and integration with macOS are additional concerns, with enhancements in security, cloud functionality, and API interface desired. Installation complexity and command-line interface improvements are also highlighted by users.

What are the key features of VMware Fusion Pro?

Windows VM Support: Runs Windows virtual machines on Mac efficiently.
ESXi Infrastructure: Interfaces with Windows ESXi for seamless operations.
Snapshot & Cloning: Allows creating backups and clones of virtual machines easily.
Custom VM Construction: Enables rapid development of custom VMs tailored to needs.
Network Simulations: Supports network setup simulations for testing and development.
Remote Management: Connects to full VMware server systems for comprehensive management.

What benefits or ROI can users expect from VMware Fusion Pro?

Cost-Efficiency: Reduces infrastructure costs through effective virtualization.
Stability: Offers a stable platform for running various operating systems.
Versatility: Accommodates different networking and testing configurations.
Resource Efficiency: Optimizes existing computing resources for performance improvements.
User Experience: Provides a user-friendly interface for easy navigation and management.

VMware Fusion Pro is widely implemented for running Windows on Mac, managing networking servers, and testing on Apple laptops. It is used by developers and system administrators for creating virtual environments, while users in industries such as networking and software development utilize it for building test machines, evaluating software, and managing ERP packages on IBM AS/400 systems. The solution is preferred for virtualization tasks in sectors requiring robust, reliable tools that support both Mac and Windows environments seamlessly, supporting script writing and general virtual machine management.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

GrubHub, Endemol Shine Nederland, CMC Property Services

NetApp

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkSpaces vs. VMware Fusion Pro

September 2026

Free Report: Amazon WorkSpaces vs. VMware Fusion Pro

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