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Horizon Cloud Service vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

Horizon Cloud Service
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (4th)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 3.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 5.9%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services5.9%
Horizon Cloud Service3.1%
Other91.0%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1970973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Virtual Desktop and Applications Offerings Global Offering Manager at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Cloud-based platform offers flexibility with robust protocol and exceptional user management
The main benefit of Horizon Cloud Service is that it is cloud-based, allowing our organization to leverage the service without having to manage all infrastructure directly. This offers significant flexibility and efficiency. Additionally, Horizon Cloud Service has a robust protocol, making app management straightforward. The scalability of Horizon Cloud Service is also excellent, and its stability is strong for our use cases.
reviewer2795433 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Secure remote access has protected sensitive country data and supports strict compliance needs
I understand from the IT team managing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services that it is complex to set up the multiple roles, certificates, and networks required. Networking is quite complicated. Even though on the data center side it is quite simple, maintaining the farm of other connections that connect to that server is the complex piece. I understand there are more modern systems replicating what this solution does, which are easier to use, such as Azure Virtual Desktop within Microsoft Azure Cloud or Amazon WorkSpaces, which I have used before. Rather than having to manage all the complex networking, you could abstract it away a little further in the cloud for easier use. I also understand that this tool is in an end-of-life state now, with Microsoft actively pushing people towards Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365. I do not believe further features will be rolled out due to its end-of-life state, making it a legacy solution now.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main benefit of Horizon Cloud Service is that it is cloud-based, allowing our organization to leverage the service without having to manage all infrastructure directly."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users that are working from outside of the office or from different offices in the country."
"Horizon Cloud Service provides deployment flexibility across multiple clouds with a scalable architecture that easily scales virtual desktops and applications up or down based on demand."
"The tool remains pretty stable."
"The interface is much easier to use compared to Microsoft and other VDI vendors that are well known on the market. I like VMware so much more than the others. With Horizon Cloud, you don't need to spend a lot of money upfront to buy the infrastructure. You can use it the on the cloud, so it lowers the barriers to entry. It's easier to test it and get started. Some clients stay in the cloud, but others prefer to go on-premise. It depends on the nature of the client."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."
"Its advanced management features are the most valuable, especially power management. One of the really important things was to be able to have power management in a consumption world. This means that unlike a Microsoft environment, you could actually turn off virtual desktops or have them start up and shut down. If you're consuming resources in the public cloud, you want to be able to do that because when you're not using those, such as at the weekend, you want to be able to turn them off. So, the advanced options for managing the BDIs are very important."
"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."
"The installation is straightforward."
"It's stable, fast, compatible, and quite reliable."
"The solution is really fast."
"I like that it works. In most cases, it's predictable. You know what you get."
"What I found most valuable in Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is accessibility because the solution lets you take control of your computer remotely."
"The product saves time."
"I've had good experiences with Microsoft customer support."
"The product is stable."
 

Cons

"The licensing model needs to be adjusted, as a cloud license is currently required even for on-premises devices."
"In the design phase, sometimes the tools for designing Horizon solutions have issues when they're calculating the number of nodes and platforms needed to support the VDI systems."
"The cost of Horizon Cloud Service is high, however, it could be optimized. The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."
"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"There should be more emphasis on the Workspace One access part of the solution. This is essentially identity management provided with Horizon. There needs to be some kind of integration because you are able to have all of these desktops on any device, but you have to have this other component to make it easier from a single sign-on perspective. That's why there should be an emphasis on Workspace One access. It actually comes free with the product, but people don't really know how powerful it can be."
"The application remoting features have some room for improvement."
"The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"Currently, installation of applications on an RDS farm must be performed manually on each server."
"Sometimes, the updates break the system."
"The solution should have better security."
"I would say it's expensive as there similar products available for free."
"It could offer better security for enterprises."
"The user interface needs improvement."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could improve by having graphical acceleration."
"The administrative functionality is not enough for me."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."
"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."
"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is an expensive solution. This solution is approximately 30 percent more than Microsoft Azure Cloud. There can be extra costs."
"It is too expensive as compared to other solutions because of which we don't use it that much. We tend to go more for Hyper-V or Azure just because VMware licensing is quite up there. We sway people away from VMware Horizon Cloud. We have some clients who already have it. They stay on it for a little while, and then most of them end up moving off when we provide them a better solution that isn't as license heavy cost-wise."
"For what you get, it is very compelling. You've got to look at the total cost of ownership of this type of piece of software in terms of being able to utilize it as a cloud service. I don't have to run everything on-premises. When you look at the total cost of just being able to use it and then being able to point it to any public or private cloud, it is very compelling. You have one less thing to manage."
"The pricing could always be improved."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comes free as part of Microsoft Windows."
"The solution has a pretty comparable pricing."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"The cost of the solution is low."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. We're on the educational or academic license, and our terms are good. We're very happy with the pricing."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Performing Arts
11%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Cloud?
The cost is considered normal, not remarkable but not outrageous. In terms of expense, compared to other virtualization products, I would rate it as a six.
What needs improvement with VMware Horizon Cloud?
The licensing model needs to be adjusted, as a cloud license is currently required even for on-premises devices. Horizon Cloud Service should continue improving their protocol and work with other h...
What is your primary use case for VMware Horizon Cloud?
Our primary use case focuses on virtual desktop and application hosting. This is spread across different industries. We have a large number of employees, and we are one of the largest GSIs globally...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I was not involved in the pricing and licensing perspective, so I cannot speak too much on that. However, I know that two license types are needed: the Windows Server license and another client lic...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
I understand from the IT team managing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services that it is complex to set up the multiple roles, certificates, and networks required. Networking is quite complicated. Even ...
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marriott, Sprint
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon Cloud Service vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.