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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs VMware Workstation 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:
 

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)
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is 5.9%, down from 12.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 17.2%, up from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation an eight out of ten.

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 of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is its security and simple configuration."
"Microsoft is very reasonable in its approach to cost."
"The most valuable features are availability and security."
"Everything is really good and it works well."
"The technical support is good."
"The most valuable feature is the remote application access."
"I've had good experiences with Microsoft customer support."
"The initial setup is not that difficult. I have gone through the RDS initialization steps, which only seem easy."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Player is the ability to snapshot with or without memory."
"The solution's customer service is good."
"We initially intended to work with Hyper-V because we are selling a virtual appliance and thought our customers would want to run that on Hyper-V."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support, you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
"I have found this product excellent for test/dev environments. This is 90% of what I use this product for."
"VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services could improve by having graphical acceleration."
"The administrative functionality is not enough for me."
"The stability must be improved."
"I rate Microsoft's customer service support a two out of ten. In general, Microsoft has poor support."
"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."
"In the past, my company had faced some issues related to the stability of the product. The product's stability can be improved."
"The biggest reason we don't use the solution for our company's clients is the solution's prices."
"Remote Desktop Services doesn't scale well."
"The solution freezes sometimes."
"The product could provide the features available in Microsoft Hyper-V."
"I would want to see features included that make deployment easier."
"They could bring in many different features from VMware vSphere to Workstation."
"It would be better if software updates occur automatically."
"VMware Workstation’s scalability could be improved."
"VMware Player isn't downgradable, so if you have a later set of VMs, you need to upgrade it or figure out a workaround."
"The price of VMware Workstation could improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is less expensive than some other solutions on the market."
"The tool's pricing is high in the Slovenian market. I rate it a nine out of ten."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows."
"The cost is fair."
"Although not an expensive product, pricing is always something that can be improved."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services comes free as part of Microsoft Windows."
"The pricing could always be improved."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
"The solution's pricing is almost the same as what Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft would charge you."
"VMware Workstation has a high price than competitors in the market."
"It is an expensive solution."
"It has the best licensing modules."
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"The product is expensive."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
I think it does what it does well, so there is nothing that needs improvement. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is very utilitarian and suits my use cases perfectly.
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

Remote Desktop Services
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.