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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops 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

Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd)
Red Hat Enterprise Virtuali...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
14th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.2%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services6.2%
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops0.8%
Other93.0%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
RobertThompson 1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Free version available but hard to understand
Personally, I don't think it has any commendable features. The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra work involved with the Red Hat virtualization. It doesn't just work out of the box. You have to read through about six different documents, and everybody's experience is different. So it's kind of annoying. That would be the main thing. If you're not a Linux geek, it's very hard to understand. And it's probably because I came out of the Windows world. I learned this as part of my cross-training, but I just found the way that it happens with VMware and all that stuff to be easier to use.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is performance."
"The solution is user-friendly and has a good user experience."
"The most valuable features are the desktop session and desktop virtualization."
"The solution has very smooth connectivity and is very user friendly."
"The performance meets our requirements and the stability is good."
"The most valuable feature of this solution at the moment is the HTML5 web client. You get a browser experience, not just the terminal sort of client, and the integration with Azure multi-factor application."
"The most valuable features are availability and security."
"The solution is easy to deploy and there are many features available that you can turn on or off depending on your budget."
"The most valuable features are automated deployment and transparent movement for virtual machines over all our locations."
"There's lots of good support out there in the community."
"The improvement to our organization is managing all our KVM-based virtual machines in a management environment."
 

Cons

"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."
"I would like to be able to leverage it on other operating systems."
"The solution is unsuitable for direct external internet connections. You must set up a VPN and password handling to use it."
"We are searching for a product with better remote access and remote sessions."
"We encounter challenges with portability, especially for users of iOS devices."
"I rate Microsoft's customer service support a two out of ten. In general, Microsoft has poor support."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services needs to improve its security."
"We find the services are not as transparent as we would like for our integration with Citrix."
"The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra work involved with Red Hat virtualization."
"The best improvement for oVirt 4.2 is to enable backup features for major backup products of virtual machines."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I recall that you don't need to pay for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services because that's included in Windows."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"It's not an expensive product."
"The pricing is moderate."
"Although not an expensive product, pricing is always something that can be improved."
"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows."
"The solution is overly expensive."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"I use the free developer stuff right now."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
22%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise30
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 version for enterprise requires RDS ( /products/amazon-rds-reviews ) CALs, or c...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
The only problem I see is that when I am connected, there is a certain lag because of the network.
What needs improvement with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops?
Personally, I don't think it has any commendable features. The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra ...
What is your primary use case for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops?
I've used it more as a user than as an administrator setting it up. Just mainly getting access to legacy systems and programming that's not Windows 11 compatible.
 

Also Known As

Remote Desktop Services
Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Casio, Telef‹nica, British Airways
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.