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Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs VNC Connect 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)
VNC Connect
Ranking in Remote Access
15th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
3
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 VNC Connect is 3.2%, down from 3.3% 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%
VNC Connect3.2%
Other85.6%
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.
Jose Miguel Moya - PeerSpot reviewer
SACTA Architect at MRInformatica
Easy to deploy, but scalability needs improvement
There are no specific challenges I faced while using the product. I haven't used the solution to support any AI-driven projects. In our company, we need to have remote access to our labs because if not, people have to move to the laboratory, and we will spend a lot of time working. I don't know the features of VNC Connect that improved our company's support capabilities. I rate the tool a six 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 ability to (somewhat) manage full Windows 10 computers including EXE-based or MSI-based application deployments using Azure Active Directory as Identity."
"The Autopilot feature is fantastic. It is a Microsoft product, so it deals best with Microsoft operating systems, but it can integrate with iOS, Mac OS, Linux, and Android."
"A valuable feature is user enrollment, where users can enroll their devices in their organizations themselves."
"Microsoft Intune has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially in terms of security and efficiency."
"The product has eased the deployment of Microsoft apps to the devices. We can manage it properly. We can control it and push the updates. Another company helped us with the deployment. However, we can do it internally."
"Overall, Microsoft Intune has been a strong platform for modern endpoint management, especially for organizations supporting hybrid work and cloud-first device management strategies."
"We like Intune's Autopilot functionality, which enables one-touch deployment. Dynamic grouping is another feature we find valuable working in academia. We have people in buckets based on their roles in the university, such as faculty, staff, alum, or grad. Sometimes, they will fit into multiple places, and dynamic grouping helps with that."
"We are a remote company, and the product helps us manage the global endpoints. It helps us natively manage the endpoints in the cloud from anywhere."
"Microsoft Remote Desktop Services is highly stable."
"Overall, it is an excellent tool that works great and I would recommend it."
"We use cloud remote support because we need to assist our customers. It allows them to connect from the web. I"
"It's pretty stable."
"The pricing is great as it's free in the larger Microsoft system."
"The most valuable part of RDS is that it allows you to work from any location and check the server through a VPN connection."
"I would recommend Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, especially for general support."
"I’d recommend the solution to others; it’s solved problems for us and worked well."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its ease of use."
"The product’s ease of use and security are valuable."
"The most valuable features are that it is consistently low profile and consistently works without hiccups or headaches."
 

Cons

"Customer service is not really good. I would give it a six out of ten. The main issue is the time it takes to get someone involved who truly understands what the product does."
"We had an APNS certificate set to expire last week. We tried to renew it two days before it expired. We logged in to the APNS portal but could not find that certificate. We didn't know where it went. All the iOS devices stopped working. We contacted the Apple and Microsoft teams, and each blamed the other. This is something that Microsoft should take care of. Last week, we had so many escalations from high-profile users who couldn't access corporate data on their devices."
"The security features should be improved."
"The support from Microsoft was previously good, but now it is very poor."
"The generic answer to what can be improved is that I hope that the reporting needs to be a bit more interactive."
"There's a significant discrepancy in Intune pricing between tenants."
"It would be great if Intune offered better data protection controls for BYOD Windows PCs."
"Microsoft support was not very responsive, and it took approximately one and a half months to get on a call to clear what the problem was."
"In the next release, I would like to see better performance over slower networks, and integration with Linux, but this is something that we're going to get out of Microsoft in terms of a unified solution."
"We would like configuration to be automatic and the price to be close to zero, however, that's not realistic."
"Sometimes, the updates break the system."
"The product is not very scalable."
"We'd like to see more integration with other vendors."
"We are searching for a product with better remote access and remote sessions."
"Regarding the interface, I would rate it a nine mainly because it still looks like an old application, and if it could be modernized, that would be appreciated."
"The performance depends on connectivity."
"We occasionally have issues with the graphic software of the interface."
"Improvements are required in the area of scalability since it is an aspect of the tool where there are shortcomings."
"Ease of access is a bit of a challenge."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am satisfied with the pricing."
"Its price is quite okay. I wish they provide certain additional features with the same license."
"We work with the subscription rather than a server license. I think it's economical this way because we don't have to have a server license for that, and I think that works in our favor."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis."
"It comes as a bundle, so you do not really know what the prices are. Microsoft does not break it down to the user cost for us. It is just bundled with our E5 license."
"Its pricing seems reasonable."
"Previously the price was $4 per month per user. Now it's $2.25 per user per month."
"Microsoft licenses are costly."
"There is a licensing cost."
"It will probably cost about $500 USD to get the resources set up in the cloud."
"Although not an expensive product, pricing is always something that can be improved."
"The solution has a pretty comparable pricing."
"It's not an expensive product."
"The solution has a perpetual license and it is purchased upfront."
"It's not an expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive. Since things are made to be a bit easier in the solution, the solution's cost is a bit on the higher side."
"I use the tool's free version."
"The tool is not cheap."
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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%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

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
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
Telesat Canada, St. Anthony's School, Pratt and Whitney, City of Sacramento
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs. VNC Connect and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,325 professionals have used our research since 2012.