VMware Workstation and Amazon WorkSpaces compete in the virtualization software market. VMware Workstation seems to have an advantage for development and testing environments due to its robust virtualization features, while Amazon WorkSpaces stands out for cloud-based security and scalability, making it suitable for businesses with remote teams.
Features: VMware Workstation provides extensive support for running multiple operating systems on a single machine, sandbox environments, and optimal resource allocation, appealing to heavy testers. Its easy integration with various software and extensive third-party support further enhances its capabilities. Amazon WorkSpaces focuses on security, offering fast, reliable performance across global regions and stable remote access.
Room for Improvement: VMware Workstation could improve its resource efficiency and simplify complexity for better virtual machine support. Its high memory footprint and feature flexibility could be enhanced. Amazon WorkSpaces may benefit from better third-party application support and reduced initial setup times. Improving user-distributed administrative control and pricing models are also areas for enhancement.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Workstation allows flexibility in on-premises and private cloud environments but lacks dedicated user support without large license purchases. Amazon WorkSpaces efficiently adapts to public and hybrid cloud models, offering scalable deployments. Although Amazon has a better support infrastructure, it is more focused on enterprise-level needs rather than individual deployments.
Pricing and ROI: VMware Workstation generally requires a one-time license fee, which, though costly upfront, is seen as beneficial for hardware cost savings, offering significant ROI over time. Amazon WorkSpaces operates on a pay-as-you-go model, potentially accumulating higher costs depending on usage, yet it is valued for its minimal infrastructure demands. This pricing strategy offers flexibility for varying needs but may be more costly for ongoing use.
I would rate the technical support from Amazon as nine out of ten.
On a scale of one to 10, I would rate their support or customer service a two or three since they never did anything.
The documents provided for Workstation were not hard to understand.
It's a very special way of working with VMware Workstation.
Compute can be increased or decreased as you pay as you go for Amazon WorkSpaces.
The solution is highly scalable.
VMware Workstation is scalable enough for larger companies, though it requires some skills.
The problem we are facing with stability is that the network adapter causes crashes of the VM when we're using it for developing purposes.
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.
A single orchestrator tool could assist with discovery, implementation, and image building for Amazon WorkSpaces.
Eventually, we had to get some licenses with Broadcom, and all the costs went up dramatically.
We faced challenges with backup due to limitations in the free version, requiring us to switch to a paid version.
The problem we are facing with stability is that the network adapter causes crashes of the VM when we're using it for developing purposes.
The positive impact of Amazon WorkSpaces on the organization includes teams becoming productive on day one, reduced cost per employee, the ability for contractors to join instantly and leave without paying for the full term, easier compliance, lower risk of data loss, peace of mind when using contractors and remote staff, easier onboarding, easier offboarding, and security cleanup.
Multi-factor authentication is enabled on AWS WorkSpaces, which provides additional security when connecting.
VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem.
VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox.
Simply being able to run several Windows PCs with different development environments has had the largest impact on our operational efficiency.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| VMware Workstation | 13.9% |
| Amazon WorkSpaces | 1.8% |
| Other | 84.3% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 6 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 10 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 32 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 17 |
Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solution provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It allows users to access a virtual desktop environment in the cloud from various devices, including laptops, tablets, and thin clients.
With Amazon WorkSpaces, users can have a complete desktop experience with their familiar applications and data, while the underlying infrastructure and management tasks are handled by AWS. The virtual desktops provided by Amazon WorkSpaces are persistent, meaning that user data and settings are retained even when disconnected from the virtual desktop.
Amazon WorkSpaces Features:
Amazon WorkSpaces Benefits:
Reviews from Real Users
Sachin Narvekar, IT-IS LEAD at Tata Consultancy, writes that "Amazon WorkSpaces is a virtual desktop platform. So, instead of having your laptops, and desktops, you can have your data on the cloud.”, he also adds, "Security, streaming, faster performance, scalability, and the fact that it is very much cost-effective, are some of the solution's valuable features."
Ravi-Bhardwaj, Manager at Ravi RITS Enterprice, states that “The solution has improved the organization because now any user who doesn't have a corporate laptop can connect to the system, security is still high, and it uses very low bandwidth.”
VMware Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure that they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.
Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next-generation interface and gives users the ability to seamlessly run several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more, using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.
VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. VMware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent of a standard x86 actual machine. It easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.
VMware Workstation Benefits
VMware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:
Reviews from Real Users
Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC says, “The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop.”
Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB says, “The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support; you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments, which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution.”
“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.” A PeerSpot user who is a Chief Technical Officer at a construction company.
are Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.
Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next generation interface and gives users the ability to run seamlessly several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.
VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. Vmware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent to a standard x86 actual machine.VMware easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.
VMware Workstation Benefits
Vmware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:
Reviews from Real Users
“The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop.” Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
“The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support; you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments, which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution.” Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB
A Chief Technical Officer at a construction company says,“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.”
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