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Azure Virtual Desktop vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Virtual Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Azure Virtual Desktop is 8.2%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 10.4%, down from 17.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Workstation10.4%
Azure Virtual Desktop8.2%
Other81.4%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

RC
Senior Advisor at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enhanced collaboration and security with seamless remote access has transformed work efficiency
We can integrate anything with Azure Virtual Desktop from an application perspective. The App-V has evolved into MSIX. To deliver an application to Azure Virtual Desktop, MSIX can be used by expanding it as a virtual hard disk and attaching it to the virtual machine. When this is done, users who need the application will have immediate access through Active Directory group assignment. One challenge with Virtual Desktop infrastructure is application delivery. From an infrastructure perspective, it's beneficial as we can have a fallback point - if one machine is down, we can have a disaster recovery site for redirection. The delivery of applications is a tedious process. Microsoft is working on building new products for efficient application installation. This feature might be included in upcoming releases. Currently, it's burdensome for IT administrators to create applications compatible with Virtual Desktop infrastructure, unlike traditional machines where direct installation is possible.
GC
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Creating and destroying test machines has simplified our operations and reduced manual recovery time
The Snapshot feature has helped with workflows by allowing us to more easily reconstruct something if we lose it or need it. We've been making Snapshots on a consistent basis, mainly of servers. The VX Rail has worked effectively because we can create machines as we need them. It's helpful for resetting and has helped with our operations because I had set up failover servers on Vertex, but we don't have to do that anymore since VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem. We're doing our domain servers on there, and we've been very happy with that. We appreciate that we can create machines simply to test things out and then destroy them. I use it for a test machine for checking emails, so if the email has a virus in it, we can just destroy the machine and create a new one. We're slowly moving into the VMware environment, although the pricing with Broadcom has been a disaster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Azure Virtual Desktop provides users the ability to do remote work in a secure environment that is easy to manage."
"Azure Virtual Desktop is stable and provides a 100% stable experience."
"I've always found Azure Virtual Desktop to work for me without issues."
"The cost-effectiveness of Azure Virtual Machines is one of the most valuable features."
"This integration enhances productivity 100%, as it makes it much easier for us to give access to external third parties to work with us for collaboration."
"Scalability is very straightforward with Azure Virtual Desktop."
"The best feature is scalability, as it can be used from anywhere."
"Azure Virtual Desktop enables anyone connecting to Microsoft to use MFA (multi-factor authentication), totally secured to connect and has end-to-end encryption through tunnel encryption."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the speed of access and quality of upgrade. Those are the more important and pertinent aspects as far as we were concerned. Functionality and features were relevant for the customers. What a customer chose, we had to make sure that it operated."
"VMware Workstation made various enhancements to the system once the deployment was completed."
"The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up."
"It's really easy to build testing environments with VMware Player."
"We initially intended to work with Hyper-V because we are selling a virtual appliance and thought our customers would want to run that on Hyper-V."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"The technical support is good."
 

Cons

"My overall rating of Azure Virtual Desktop is five out of ten. While the stability and cost-effectiveness are commendable, there is room for improvement in technical support."
"The main issue is the response time, which needs improvement to be faster."
"I would like to see built-in proxy and internet filtering."
"The delivery of applications is a tedious process."
"Azure is vast, and perhaps an architect-level experience could provide more insights into potential improvements."
"Access from Entra ID should be implemented to provide only tenant access to users connecting to the Azure Virtual Desktop environment, eliminating the need for on-premises requirements."
"Azure could improve its uptime and the scaling aspect, as it lacks intelligent scaling."
"The primary area for improvement is around the scalability of Azure, specifically on the desktop side."
"The tool has limited scalability."
"Its price could be better."
"VMware Workstation could improve the export and import of virtual machines."
"I would want to see features included that make deployment easier."
"VMware Workstation has some network limitations which could improve, it is not as flexible as VMware NSX."
"The tool can improve network storage technology."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
"The interface is a little wonky and needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"The product has a moderate price."
"VMware is expensive. Licensing can be tricky. For example, I recently had a client running VMware vSphere Essentials and wanted to migrate to a more scalable solution. However, they had no choice but to purchase a completely new license and deploy a completely new instance of VMware."
"With all its support and ease of use, VMware Player's pricing is fair."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"It is an expensive solution."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions are best for your needs.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
24%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Virtual Desktop?
The usual amount customers pay for this tool varies. I have seen large deployments catering to 500 or 700 users. Enterprises do use it, and they pay quite a bit for this.
What needs improvement with Azure Virtual Desktop?
I see areas for improvement in Azure Virtual Desktop, specifically regarding cost, as it is a little bit expensive. However, when you account for replacing dedicated hardware and the maintenance it...
What is your primary use case for Azure Virtual Desktop?
We use RDP with Azure and have some virtual desktops. A major use case for Azure Virtual Desktop is that we give access to external consultants so they can access our information and interact with ...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Virtual Desktop vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.