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BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Intune enhanced productivity, improved security, and reduced costs by streamlining device management and minimizing third-party service needs.
Sentiment score
8.5
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access shows rapid ROI, reducing costs, improving compliance, saving time, and boosting customer satisfaction and revenue.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services allows efficient remote work with rapid deployment, offering great value despite perceived high costs.
Everything we've gained from it makes my job easier day after day, and I see value in it as an engineer.
Importantly, when someone leaves the company, it helps protect document access on their devices.
Applications are deployed through Intune, and we see fewer tickets for common issues because we can resolve them through the solution.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Intune support is mixed; premium plans often better, but efficiency and responsiveness need improvement in device-related issues.
Sentiment score
6.6
Customers praise BeyondTrust support for quick, efficient service, despite some documentation and chat limitations, with staff rated 7-10.
Sentiment score
5.1
Users find Remote Desktop Services user-friendly, often minimizing support needs, with Premier support and online communities offering effective solutions.
When a support ticket is submitted, it directly reaches someone with Intune support expertise.
When I contacted Microsoft, they had the same expertise, if not more, which is phenomenal because I felt heard and my problem was solved.
Sometimes, the support provided is excellent, and the representative is knowledgeable, while other times, the service needs improvement.
Support now requires opening a ServiceNow ticket, which can be time-consuming.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Microsoft Intune's scalability, cloud-based integration, and efficient management make it ideal for growing businesses and diverse environments.
Sentiment score
8.3
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is praised for scalability across locations, despite configuration challenges, adaptable for various organization sizes.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services scales well for most organizations, though some experience bandwidth issues or prefer alternatives.
The scalability of Microsoft Intune is ten out of ten.
Ideally, we want to automatically segregate devices based on user properties like primary use, but currently, dynamic groups seem limited to device properties.
It supports organizations with 200 endpoints and those with more than 15,000 endpoints.
I would give it an eight or nine out of ten for scalability, possibly even a ten, as I do not see a limitation in scaling.
My impression is that most of the solutions, especially today, make sense for large corporations with 2000 seats or more.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Intune is praised for its stability and reliability, despite occasional sync delays and minor bugs.
Sentiment score
5.4
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is stable, reliable, with minimal intervention, yet occasionally affected by updates, training gaps, and integration bugs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is praised for stability, reliability, and consistent performance, although occasional disconnections can occur.
We have not experienced downtime, bugs, or glitches.
Microsoft Intune has been very stable.
A couple of years ago, the performance was not as good as it is now, but there are noticeable backend improvements.
Updates sometimes introduce bugs or issues, especially with non-English versions.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Intune needs improved reporting, better non-Microsoft support, user-friendly interface, competitive pricing, and enhanced cross-platform management.
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access requires better password management, integration, usability, and improved multi-factor authentication and session handling features.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services faces challenges with security, integration, performance, user interface, and cross-platform support, requiring updates and improvements.
Features like unlocking devices sometimes fail, and the support offered for other operating systems is insufficient.
There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now.
Many third-party companies offer single-pane-of-glass reporting that shows you what your update environment looks like, how your patch is doing, application status, etc., but Intune's reporting is not intuitive.
BeyondTrust should focus on automating the update process to reduce unnecessary ticket creation.
It should be easier to create a template and duplicate users.
The only problem I see is that when I am connected, there is a certain lag because of the network.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Intune's flexible pricing is cost-effective in Microsoft 365 bundles with varied licensing models and negotiable enterprise agreements.
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is initially costly but becomes cost-effective due to its comprehensive functionality and reliability.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers seamless integration with Windows, but complex, costly licensing and support fees challenge user flexibility.
Introductory professional services, like a fast-track service, were included with our E5 membership, and there have been no additional costs.
The Intune suite and add-ons, such as batch management and remote help, are costly.
It costs approximately forty euros per user per month.
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is expensive, yet not the most expensive in the market, so the price can be considered justifiable.
These licenses are not cheap, as they add up in cost.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Intune excels in integration, security, and management features, boosting productivity and security for Windows and BYOD environments.
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access provides secure, scalable cross-platform remote access with robust credential management and integration, eliminating VPN necessity.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers secure, scalable remote access and management with seamless Windows integration and user-friendly performance across devices.
Intune excels in configuration and compliance management for Windows 10, ensuring devices receive timely updates and adhere to organizational standards.
Dynamic groups allow us to set conditions for automatic membership, eliminating the need for user intervention or manual review and ensuring a seamless workflow.
Windows Autopatch is the most valuable because it removes the burden of patch management.
The secure access must be audited live, ensuring patient data protection.
The main benefits that Microsoft Remote Desktop Services provide to me include streamlining my working process, ensuring security, and offering flexibility to connect to virtual desktops and apps from multiple devices.
A valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its native integration with Microsoft platforms.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Remote Access
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
271
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
BeyondTrust Privileged Remo...
Ranking in Remote Access
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Privileged Access Management (PAM) (13th)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Remote Access
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.7%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is 2.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 10.3%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Hahn Rolf - PeerSpot reviewer
Securely manage high-privilege remote access with granular configurations
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Better alignment between products would enhance manageability from a single point. Additionally, BeyondTrust should focus on automating the update process to reduce unnecessary ticket creation. Improved quality control for non-English language versions is needed to avoid translation and layout errors.
Terje Romen - PeerSpot reviewer
Accessing the same desktop experience from anywhere but user template creation needs improvement
Mostly we are quite happy with it. However, some of us want a more powerful desktop. When not present, we use a remote tool called Splashtop, which is a good solution for some users. We have about ten licenses for those who need a powerful workstation at the office. We have not used many different tools. We are never in contact with Microsoft. These are quite basic configurations, to be honest. It's not complicated. AI is coming to or is already in some applications we are using. Not system-wise, however, it might be good. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It's quite good, yet certainly not perfect.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What do you like most about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine.
What needs improvement with BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Bette...
What is your primary use case for BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
We use the tool for vendor access, providing secure vendor access to manage systems. Most of our use cases involve se...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
In limited use cases, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is free as it is defaulted by any Microsoft license. The paid...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I think it does what it does well, so there is nothing that needs improvement. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is v...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Bomgar Privileged Access
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Horizon Beverage, Air Liquide, Gateway Bank of Florida
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.