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Horizon 8 vs Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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
7.1
Horizon 8 users experience ROI within 2-3 years through reduced expenses, improved efficiency, and effective virtual desktop management.
Sentiment score
6.5
Users appreciate Microsoft Remote Desktop Services for efficiency and remote work but have concerns about its ROI and cost.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Horizon 8's customer service is responsive and knowledgeable but faces issues with technical expertise and support variability.
Sentiment score
5.1
Users have mixed experiences with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services support, with premier support offering better assistance and response time improvement needed.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Horizon 8 is praised for adaptability and flexibility, supporting diverse needs despite technical challenges and cost concerns for some users.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is scalable and reliable, with positive feedback on auto-scaling, despite hardware and network concerns.
My impression is that most of the solutions, especially today, make sense for large corporations with 2000 seats or more.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Horizon 8 is rated highly for stability and performance, but requires proper configuration and support for integration issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is stable and reliable, performing well with proper setup and hardware, earning high user ratings.
 

Room For Improvement

Horizon 8 struggles with cost, Linux integration, setup, documentation, support, remote management, multimedia, Azure, Teams, and licensing issues.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services struggles with setup, integration, security, pricing, and usability across networks and devices.
We have limited capabilities since we are not using a multi-instance solution, just single instances.
It should be easier to create a template and duplicate users.
 

Setup Cost

Horizon 8 has high costs, but offers long-term value and potential savings through bundled licensing and subscription flexibility.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers flexible, competitive pricing bundled with broader licenses, enhancing value but posing complexity for some users.
I rate the cost-effectiveness of GenApp of Citrix equal to our CMS; it is quite cost-effective.
These licenses are not cheap, as they add up in cost.
 

Valuable Features

Horizon 8 offers centralized management, scalability, enhanced security, and high performance with VMware integration and user-friendly interfaces.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services offers secure, scalable remote access, supporting centralized management, file transfers, and multi-screen capabilities for enhanced productivity.
The solution has data leak prevention features that ensure data is not copied from the base machine to VDI.
A valuable feature of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its native integration with Microsoft platforms.
 

Categories and Ranking

Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
Microsoft Remote Desktop Se...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon 8 is 7.6%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 6.1%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Tim  Abboud - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly, reasonably priced, and simple to install
It can be challenging to assess the stability of Horizon because it relies heavily on the underlying infrastructure, including vCenter, network, and storage performance. It is important to pay attention to these factors when evaluating the stability of the system. We rely on vCenter, network, and storage performance, and any weakness in these areas will affect the performance of Horizon. When discussing this with customers, I always emphasize the importance of these factors. If the foundation is solid, Horizon should not experience any performance issues. If the fundamentals are weak, we will encounter issues with Horizon on a regular basis. However, the product itself, VMware Horizon, is highly stable. While the Horizon product itself is very stable, it is important to be well-informed about any potential side effects from using other related products.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
I've never had an issue with it. I've always thought the pricing for RDS was reasonable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services?
We would like configuration to be automatic and the price to be close to zero, however, that's not realistic. Everyone wants to join some kind of cloud service today. We have decided to keep our ER...
 

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: April 2025.
850,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.