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Cisco VXI vs Horizon 8 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

Cisco VXI
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
23rd
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
117
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Cisco VXI is 1.2%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Horizon 8 is 6.8%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Horizon 86.8%
Cisco VXI1.2%
Other92.0%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Sina Ghozati - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Specialist at Arrow Electronics
Straightforward implementation, scalable, but performance could improve
When using Cisco VXI in virtual environments there tends to be a lot of bugs with files you have to deploy across the virtual environment. You configure for hours, and then there is a bug that stops you, and you notice that you wasted hours. There's always room for improvement with these virtual environments because you're not dealing with the actual equipment, you're dealing with a virtual version of it that you have to install in a virtual environment. The performance of Cisco VXI could improve. It requires a lot of hardware and even if you install it on a server it is heavy on resources.
SF
Architect at Softcat plc
Architects have improved desktop environments and now optimize operations for diverse clients
From my perspective, there is significant room for improvement in Horizon 8. Many customers are actively seeking alternatives to VMware due to recent licensing changes after Broadcom's acquisition, necessitating upgrades or bundles that they often do not require. Given that Omniser builds on VMware technologies, this creates a negative perception, pushing customers to consider different brands or solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has been doing a good job for us."
"The initial setup of Cisco VXI is straightforward."
"The support from VMware is very good and they have amazing experts."
"The solution's most valuable aspect is the VDI - the remote virtual desktop interface."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"Horizon 7's most valuable feature is the unified endpoint management."
"From my standpoint, the desktop is the most valuable feature."
"We were using Citrix, and Horizon had better features and was easier to adapt."
"The solution is seamless and easy to use."
"With virtual environments, we are highly scalable; before, when we had a physical environment adding a server was a whole process, now we have a base VM and we just add it, provisioning servers is nothing and now it takes two to three hours instead of two to three weeks."
 

Cons

"When using Cisco VXI in virtual environments there tends to be a lot of bugs with files you have to deploy across the virtual environment. You configure for hours, and then there is a bug that stops you, and you notice that you wasted hours."
"Lacks sufficiently robust audio redirections."
"The remote connection, bandwidth usage, and error connection can be improved. Working with the load balancer sites should also be improved. For example, with Horizon, we can use two clients with a one megabit connection, but with Citrix, we can use four or five clients with the same bandwidth through ICA protocol. VMware must improve remote connection, connection stability, and load balancing."
"Ranking these, I would say that Citrix is first with a mark of 80%, Microsoft is second with a mark of 60%, and VMware is third with a mark of 50%."
"The licensing models should be improved in some cases."
"There are some licensing issues in VMware Horizon"
"In the latest versions, the deployment of certificates on the console has been implemented. Although it is functional, it is not working as well as I would like. I hope this feature can be improved in the future."
"They could incorporate an application library for application learning and licensing."
"The most important feature that is missing is the ability to do some remote support on the client itself. For example, if somebody has a Horizon client installed on his machine, there should be a way to support his local machine as well. That's because most of the problems can't be solved very often due to the computer or the setup that someone is using on his personal machine. Because a Horizon client is already installed on the machine to access the environment, it would be nice if the client itself possessed some sort of remote control tool in it so that if needed, we could support both the virtual setup and the actual setup of the machine. It pretty much does everything well. It is mostly the support aspect that can be improved. You have perfect control over your in-house environment. You have a solution that can pretty much be used anywhere, but you have no control over the machine that's being used to access your environment. Definitely, that's where most of the features are lacking. There should be an option for remote control and maybe some options for conformity."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution when there are bugs. I'm always ready to give money for a complete solution where there are no bugs in it, but you will never find it."
"We pay a monthly licensing fee for VMware Horizon."
"VMware Horizon's costs are high."
"The pricing is quite reasonable."
"The pricing could be improved."
"VMware Horizon View is an expensive product. My company needs to opt for a subscription-based pricing model when it comes to the licensing costs attached to the product."
"VMware Horizon is expensive and I would rate it an eight out of ten."
"The price of VMware Horizon 7 is more than some other solutions."
"It is an expensive product. We purchase its yearly license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

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How does VMware Workspace One compare with VMware Horizon 7?
VMware Workspace One has a powerful set of helpful features. The solution offers very good documentation, the initial setup is easy, and the product is very stable and reliable. I think the fact th...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon 7?
We paid a lot of money for software that is not really fully operational out of the box. We had to have patches from VMware to get it into production. Hence, we lost a lot of time implementing the ...
What needs improvement with VMware Horizon 7?
The solution should provide easy configuration.
 

Also Known As

VXI
VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Artoni Transporti, Calligaris, CIPCO, Citrix, Comcast, Desktone, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), LightEdge, Management Science Associates, Molina Healthcare, North West Redwater, Outscale
LCMC Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix, Broadcom, Microsoft and others in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.