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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs N-able Take Control comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
377
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Remote Access
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (2nd)
N-able Take Control
Ranking in Remote Access
25th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.8%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.4%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Take Control is 2.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune4.8%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services6.4%
N-able Take Control2.3%
Other86.5%
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized device management has automated onboarding and improves remote security compliance
One thing I feel Microsoft Intune could improve is troubleshooting visibility. In many cases, when a policy or application deployment fails, the error messages are a bit generic. So, admins still spend time checking logs manually or testing on devices one by one. Compared to the simplicity of deployment, troubleshooting sometimes feels less mature. I also think reporting and real-time monitoring could be stronger. The dashboard gives useful information, but in large environments, many teams still depend on additional tools or scripts for deeper reporting and analytics. If I had to focus on one area first, I would probably choose troubleshooting and reporting. Deployment through Microsoft Intune is generally straightforward, but when something fails, identifying the exact root cause can still take more time than expected. Error messages are sometimes too generic, and admins often have to dig through logs, sync status, or multiple portals to understand what actually happened. I think user experience and policy management could also improve further. Microsoft Intune has become much better over the years, but sometimes the admin portal still feels fragmented because certain configurations open in different sections or redirect to older interfaces. For new admins, especially, it can take time to understand where everything is located. Another thing is policy conflict handling. In larger organizations, multiple device policies, compliance rules, and configuration profiles can overlap. When conflicts happen, the visibility is not always very clear, so admins spend time figuring out which policy actually won or caused the issue.
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.
Brian Hershey - PeerSpot reviewer
Platform Manager at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
It covers you for HIPAA and PCI certification
Take Control is a way to remotely take over the console of a managed machine, but it also gives you other abilities. You can take over the console, access the registry, throw commands at it in the background, and manipulate the file system Take Control enables you to collaborate with end users.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is fully integrated with the Microsoft platform and the Autopilot feature, which is a unique feature."
"It's easy to deploy a configuration or policy to a system, especially when you don't have Azure AD. Now we are talking to all these small and medium-sized customers who don't necessarily have an on-premise Windows Active Directory. If they have invested in Office 365 Premium, this functionality becomes available to them."
"What I like most about Microsoft Intune is that it's agile and easy to deploy, and it covers the maximum number of policies."
"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."
"There are many features in Microsoft Intune. For personal mobile devices, MDM is what I most prefer."
"Microsoft Intune has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially in terms of security and efficiency."
"Using Azure and Intune has helped us resolve most of these issues, as we no longer need a physical infrastructure to manage systems and can push policies remotely while maintaining control over the devices."
"The Mobile Device Management in Intune is a valuable feature."
"It's simple and easy to use."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services has positively impacted my organization by leading to an overall productivity increase because it has simplified what used to be a physical task of going to certain users' machines for validation, allowing for remote management from geographically distributed locations."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is the ability to remote into a system that is not on-premises."
"Good screen draw feature and ability to use two monitors."
"I like that it works; in most cases, it's predictable, and you know what you get."
"The most valuable feature is that it gives me full accessibility to my servers."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is scalable."
"The best features Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers include the ability to work remotely or use a virtual desktop, centralized application hosting, and securing access to a machine for internal service and call center or enterprise environments."
"The most valuable part of N-able Take Control is being able to remotely access your customer's site. You are able to view their network. Once you have it set up, it's always available. N-able Take Control can be used even when other remote access controls have been made."
"N-able Take Control has saved me a lot of time driving back and forth to the customer's site."
"Take Control enables you to collaborate with end users. It's for supporting a workstation where you want the person on the other side to see you moving their mouse, and you can work with them."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful if there was proactive remediation."
"The policies we had in SCCM and AD offered features that are missing from Microsoft Intune."
"Microsoft Intune's app deployment presents challenges for non-MSI and non-store apps, particularly EXEs, requiring the use of a Win32 wrapper tool and adding overhead to the process."
"The product needs to upgrade itself when the server is overloaded."
"A detailed device diagnostic feature is missing. Also, operating system deployment and imaging are missing."
"Although Intune is from the same provider, its integration with other Microsoft products, like Microsoft Defender or Microsoft Purview, could be improved."
"The granular support for other device types in Microsoft Intune could be improved."
"Intune's privilege management feature, while beneficial, is less intuitive than other Intune features, making it challenging to use."
"The stability could be improved."
"I rate Microsoft's customer service support a two out of ten. In general, Microsoft has poor support."
"I think that the Single Sign-On (SSO) could be improved."
"The only problems that you're going to have with the remote desktop are going to be firewall ports, security, and NLA, which is a net network level access control, or TLS transfer layer security or some other SSL-type of security."
"I've sometimes had trouble setting up an RDS connection if I want a specific user to be able to log in with their credentials and have the RDS element retain those settings so that the password isn't required each time."
"The only issue I experienced was with the initialization of the session, which affected the stability of the solution."
"The DB card needs improvement. I have a lot of experience with other competitors and Citrix is better than VMware and Microsoft. Citrix has more extensive features."
"Security in the connection between us and our clients' servers is something that can be improved."
"The dashboards I do not use because there are issues. The solution monitors your antivirus and other programs but it does not seem to work well."
"We've seen some latency problems in AWS environments. Aside from that, it's a pretty solid service."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As a partner, we always look for how we can generate more revenue from a consulting point of view, but I do not see any complaints from the customer side regarding pricing, so they are satisfied with it."
"The E5 license is expensive."
"Its price is quite okay. I wish they provide certain additional features with the same license."
"We don't pay for Intune because it is bundled with the premium subscription to Office 365. It includes Intune and Defender. I don't have to buy two extra products to manage my enterprise."
"It's a part of Microsoft 365 and E5 licenses. Microsoft's strategy of making every feature in Microsoft Intune paid needs optimization. Remote control is one of the basic features, not a luxury feature, yet we must pay for it. I"
"It's affordable. It's cheaper if you have an Office 365, E5, or E3 subscription because everything is there."
"In terms of the product price and licensing costs, my company finds the product to be reasonably priced."
"The price of Intune is often included as part of a bundle with other Microsoft licenses, which makes it somewhat cheaper."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"I am aware that for Azure we do have an extra license because we are leveraging on different tenants."
"It's not an expensive product."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"The pricing could always be improved."
"The solution has a pretty comparable pricing."
"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows."
"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."
"N-able Take Control charges you a monthly fee for every customer that you have booked in, and it used to be inexpensive but it's a little bit more expensive now."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
19%
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise36
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 Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing is based on licensing costs and the setup ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services can be improved in several areas. Currently, it requires a license cost, it has per...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
Our main use case for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is to allow multiple users to remotely access our Windows mac...
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Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Remote Desktop Services
SolarWinds MSP Take Control, SolarWinds MSP Anywhere, SolarWinds Take Control
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Bainbridge Technology Solutions, NKIT Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. N-able Take Control and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.