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ConnectWise ScreenConnect vs Parallels Access 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Remote Access
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
255
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
ConnectWise ScreenConnect
Ranking in Remote Access
17th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (10th)
Parallels Access
Ranking in Remote Access
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.4%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ConnectWise ScreenConnect is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 2.1%, down from 2.8% 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.
Todd Blake - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple to set up, reasonable pricing, and useful remote control capabilities
I'm on the latest version of the solution. I just updated it yesterday. While we have the solution on-premises at this time, we'll likely move to the cloud later this year. They have a trial version that you can try. They have a free version that you can try as well. I use it myself to support my family. I would try the free version or the trial version depending on your business. They can set you up and you can get to see all the features. I would also advocate going to the cloud version. Don't bother with the on-prem. It's just easier to jump to the cloud. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Binish Parikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy-to-deploy and good for small as well as large setups
There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive. Since it is not very resource hungry, it doesn't require dedicated servers like high-end solutions do, so it's easier for customers to integrate it into their own solutions. In future releases, maybe more support for Macs and Unix so that customers with setups on those platforms can also benefit from the solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a very helpful solution."
"The biggest thing for us is enforcing logins only from devices that are managed by Intune."
"We were trying to solve many issues, mainly the lack of centralized management. Before Microsoft Intune, we had to manually support devices one by one, installing applications and configuring policies individually. When we implemented the tool, it became much easier to manage our devices. We enroll them in Microsoft Intune and can manage all devices with a few clicks. For application management, it's the same process. If we want to deploy applications to hundreds or thousands of devices, we can do it easily with just a few clicks. This also applies to policies."
"I can reach devices or computers over the internet. I don't need to worry about the network connectivity between the offices. I can manage any device. That is the most important part."
"It works pretty well for us."
"It is a comprehensive security solution that not only controls access to enterprise resources but also tracks and prevents unauthorized access, ensuring the protection of sensitive data and preventing potential data loss scenarios."
"Microsoft Intune has definitely reduced management burdens."
"Intune makes our organization more secure and flexible."
"The product's two-factor authentication means we are not worried like before about the state of our security."
"The flexibility to manage bandwidth and organize connections, and the price, make ConnectWise a really good choice."
"The ConnectWise ScreenConnect tool is very good for remote access."
"Unattended access is the most important feature."
"ConnectWise Connect is very convenient as we can remote to a PC even when it is not within our LAN."
"Session groups and triggers are the most valuable features, because they make a greater degree of organization possible. Greater degree of organization is valuable to my organization, because we have many sessions to handle."
"Remote connect via webpage. I use it to support employees when I am not in the office or when they are at a remote location."
"You can bring up a command prompt remotely and execute commands without having to disturb the user."
"Parallels Access has flexible licensing policies, which is beneficial for customers who have intermittent usage or users who are on and off the system."
"It's got a very easy-to-use interface."
"It's great that the total deployment can happen completely remotely."
"Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely."
"We don't have problems with stability. Everything is good."
 

Cons

"The security aspect could be more effective."
"The current Intune reporting functionality could benefit from some improvements."
"I know that their AI pieces are at the infancy stage, but allowing users to do more tagging for information would be an interesting thing because Intune also directly integrates with Azure. Because a lot of the devices are hosted with that, you also get a lot of tagging of user data and other things like that."
"Reporting and troubleshooting for the application deployment could be better. It's very difficult to understand."
"Intune is not the most user-friendly mobile device management platform available."
"We've faced significant pushback with Copilot as our clients aren't seeing a favorable cost-benefit analysis."
"There is room for improvement in the remediation and detection modules, which are currently about eighty percent fully functional."
"China blocks Google and Google Play Store, which makes installation challenging. Microsoft Intune is a company software, which has to be installed to the app portal or Microsoft Software Center."
"There needs to be a way to run the agent without installing, like GoToAssist."
"There could be improvement to the remote command line tools."
"For my company, just installing the software and using it is very easy. But if I need to give one of my customers access to their machines, the process that you have to go through is some 15 to 20 steps. You have to create a group, and then you have to assign a policy. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to set up someone for remote access to their own machine."
"Reporting could definitely use improvement. With LogMeIn Rescue, I used to be able to, for instance, at the end of the month, pull off a report of every session. It was very simple... I could see the name that was typed in, the IP address to the computer that it was connected to, if it was running Windows... It just doesn't seem - there might be but I haven't found it - to be a way of pulling that information out of ConnectWise."
"I would like to see more overlap, meaning, I would like to be able to see what processes are running on a computer, for example, or what services are running."
"They could provide a toolbox for the plan I'm on."
"The solution is a little bit complicated when you want to implement it."
"Mobile interface."
"The solution may not scale well for enterprises."
"They could improve the reporting."
"One challenge we do notice is that the application is limited to Windows servers only. If a customer has a Linux server, things get complicated. They should open it up a bit to be more compatible with different types of servers."
"When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Intune is moderately priced. There is a monthly license required to use the solution and it is approximately eight dollars per month."
"There is a license needed for this solution and it is either included in one of the enterprise license agreements. Microsoft licensing is a mathematical institute, it could be quite complex. We tend to ask specialized organizations to research what the most profitable way it would be for us to use licenses in the organizations."
"The pricing is good because customers are not complaining about it."
"Its price is quite okay. I wish they provide certain additional features with the same license."
"The product is relatively pricey, but considering its benefits, I'd say it's fair. The benefits outweigh the expensive licensing fees, especially for large organizations, but medium-sized and smaller businesses may be unable to afford it."
"Microsoft's licensing is more flexible and adaptive than its competitors."
"Previously the price was $4 per month per user. Now it's $2.25 per user per month."
"The E5 license is expensive."
"Pricing is fair for Control and the licensing is simple."
"We pay $85 per month for each user for a ConnectWise package with multiple solutions."
"We pay $3,000 USD for the service, yearly upfront."
"It is priced well and it is still a great value. Although I have been reading a lot about Splashtop. They are getting pretty competitive on their pricing, including a fairly easy to use remote support for mobile applications, like iOS and Android."
"Make sure you have enough licensing for all the techs that you have."
"The cloud version is relatively inexpensive, but the on-premise version is expensive if you do not need three technicians, only one or two for concurrent sessions."
"I download the product for free with ConnectWise RMM's license."
"Their licensing model is good, their pricing model is good, their service is good; bandwidth is excellent. They're consistent."
"The licensing costs are about $100 per user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ConnectWise Control?
I download the product for free with ConnectWise RMM's license.
What needs improvement with ConnectWise Control?
All the features provided by the product in terms of screen connectors have been good. There can be some complexities...
What do you like most about Parallels Access?
Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Parallels Access?
It's around $125 per user per year. It is a one-time charge for installation and implementation, which is a small cos...
What needs improvement with Parallels Access?
When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't ...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
ConnectWise Control, ScreenConnect
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Jon Rosen Systems
Gilt Groupe K.K.
Find out what your peers are saying about ConnectWise ScreenConnect vs. Parallels Access and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.