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Horizon 8 vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Horizon 8 reduces IT costs and boosts productivity, offering hardware savings and efficiency improvements in education and business.
Sentiment score
4.8
Users find Microsoft Remote Desktop Services efficient and valuable for remote work, despite cost concerns and uncertain direct financial returns.
By unlocking a locked situation, I mean we couldn't connect to a server in any other way, so we had to use RDP.
AWS Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Horizon 8's support is knowledgeable and reliable, though some customers report delays and varying service quality.
Sentiment score
3.7
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services support experiences vary, with mixed feedback on response times, quality, and accessibility depending on resources.
The main areas needing improvement are response speed and quality of answers.
Systems Engineer-Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The support team is helpful and offers assistance.
Owner at CoBSS
Our support from VMware expired last December.
Sr. VDI Engineer at Afiniti.com
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Horizon 8 provides high scalability, allowing organizations to easily expand users and devices with flexibility and efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is scalable, suitable for small to medium organizations, with mixed reviews on large-scale implementation.
My impression is that most of the solutions, especially today, make sense for large corporations with 2000 seats or more.
CEO & Owner at Mono AS
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Horizon 8 is stable and reliable, scoring 7-10/10, with minor issues often linked to infrastructure.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Remote Desktop is stable and reliable, occasionally facing connectivity issues, with user ratings from seven to ten.
Especially with the integration of NVIDIA, we experience multiple problems including crashing applications, crashing desktops, spontaneous logoffs, black screens, and systems that no longer respond or cannot reconnect.
Owner at CoBSS
We can scale by adding additional servers and connection servers.
Systems Engineer-Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Horizon 8 needs enhanced usability, cloud integration, security, Linux support, documentation, analytics, and clearer licensing for cost-effective deployment.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services needs faster integration, modern UI, improved security, device compatibility, and better resource management and licensing.
I would like to see improvements in Horizon 8, specifically integration with NVIDIA for graphical performance upgrades because it creates many issues such as crashing and black screen systems, causing users to lose access to their current desktop and work.
Owner at CoBSS
We have limited capabilities since we are not using a multi-instance solution, just single instances.
Sr. VDI Engineer at Afiniti.com
For Horizon 8, it would be beneficial to integrate more monitoring capabilities in advanced editions.
Systems Engineer-Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
On macOS, we sometimes experience keyboard connectivity issues.
AWS Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It should be easier to create a template and duplicate users.
CEO & Owner at Mono AS
The only problem I see is that when I am connected, there is a certain lag because of the network.
Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Horizon 8 is a premium solution with high initial costs, offering cost-effective long-term benefits and flexible licensing options.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services pricing is seen as fair but complex, influenced by CAL types and licensing options.
I rate the cost-effectiveness of GenApp of Citrix equal to our CMS; it is quite cost-effective.
Sr. VDI Engineer at Afiniti.com
After VMware was bought by Broadcom, the pricing was ridiculous, but now that Onmises has VMware Horizon 8, the pricing is back to an acceptable level.
Owner at CoBSS
These licenses are not cheap, as they add up in cost.
Chief Technology Officer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Horizon 8 offers centralized management, virtual machine provisioning, and cost-effective scalability for seamless integration and diverse device support.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers accessibility, security, cost-effective scalability, and seamless integration, enhancing remote work productivity and management.
Centralized management of desktops is one of the main reasons customers choose this solution.
Systems Engineer-Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The solution has data leak prevention features that ensure data is not copied from the base machine to VDI.
Sr. VDI Engineer at Afiniti.com
From a security point of view, security in Horizon 8 is one of the main points in keeping the system resources from the company away from bad actors. You can keep the desktops completely isolated, and you don't need to share your file shares or database with the end-user system.
Owner at CoBSS
The main benefits that Microsoft Remote Desktop Services provide to me include streamlining my working process, ensuring security, and offering flexibility to connect to virtual desktops and apps from multiple devices.
Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Using Microsoft Remote Desktop Services has helped my team save time and improve productivity because we had Microsoft servers that were impossible to connect from our MacBook Pro laptops, and once we started using RDP, we could connect and move forward to deliver the project.
AWS Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services positively impacts my organization because it makes the job and work easier for all.
Software developer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon 8 is 6.9%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.0%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Horizon 86.9%
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services6.0%
Other87.1%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

MB
Owner at CoBSS
Experience with remote access facilitates seamless user management, though improvements in integration and analytics are desired
From the analytical aspects, we used Horizon 8 Advanced Analytics and most companies switched to another product to gain insights because the insight is not as helpful as other products that are built for it. What was missing in Horizon 8 to make it a better tool was in analytics, specifically getting the right information and the drill-down process to find out where the problem is. If a user has an issue, it is crucial to determine what the issue is that the user is having and since when they have the issue. For example, if a user reports back that they had an issue yesterday evening, getting that information and ensuring that you have it was hard to find, especially to pinpoint if the issue lies with the network or the Horizon 8 platform. We utilized the multi-factor authentication, conditional access in Horizon 8, but we are not satisfied with that. It lacks some integration options that make it easy to run with Microsoft Entra, for example, and authenticate using your regular authenticator besides just getting a pop-up that says, 'I'm the one that's trying to log on.' Nowadays, there are many more complex authentication methods, but even a basic confirmation with a number to verify that you are the person connecting is not supported. I would like to see improvements in Horizon 8, specifically integration with NVIDIA for graphical performance upgrades because it creates many issues such as crashing and black screen systems, causing users to lose access to their current desktop and work. This is a real issue at the moment for many customers worldwide.
Terje Romen - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO & Owner at Mono AS
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.
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business61
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise44
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about VMware Horizon 7?
VMware offers a friendly environment, and it's easy to provide the user with the package. It is a bundled solution that is readily deployable. The advantage lies in its simplicity, it requires mini...
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 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?
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could be improved because we have keyboard compatibility issues with some platforms; on macOS, we sometimes experience keyboard connectivity issues, and it can be ...
 

Also Known As

VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
Remote Desktop Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LCMC Health
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon 8 vs. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.