Nerdio vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) comparison

Nerdio vs. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

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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

Nerdio

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

10th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Parallels Remote Applicatio...

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

13th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Virtualization (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Nerdio is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is 3.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Nerdio	2.0%
Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)	3.1%
Other	94.9%

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Featured Reviews

Maarten Bruijnesteijn

IT Infrastucture Engineer at PPG

Automation capabilities enhance cost-saving and scaling efforts

The auto-heal functionality needs improvement. Currently, the feature is limited because it only allows one heal condition and doesn't support multiple triggers. The capability to use different conditions, like the presence of online users during a failed installation, is missing. The current state makes it less useful, but I have even submitted a feature request for a better solution.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Secure access across devices with cost-effective seamless integration

One valuable feature is the ability to securely use a wide range of devices to access the company's infrastructure. The inclusion of all necessary components, such as load balancer and gateways, in a monthly fee is also beneficial. In terms of Parallels Desktop, the coherence mode that allows Mac and Windows applications to run seamlessly side by side is highly regarded.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The customer service from Nerdio is excellent, and I even know the CEO personally and have a positive experience, rating it nine out of ten."

"Nerdio is completely an automation platform offering auto-scaling and flexibility."

"The most valuable features of Nerdio are its automation capabilities, specifically the autoscale and auto-heal functionalities."

"The solution is one hundred percent stable and very much straightforward."

"We use Cloudpaging to package and deploy the vast majority of our applications to our standard Windows 10 desktops. With the use of Parallels integration into Software2 AppsAnywhere hub, this means we can use the same packages to deliver Windows applications to almost any device - Windows, mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux, Xbox One, PS4 - just by ticking a box."

"We can publish apps and desktops on Terminal Servers and seamlessly share printers. We also combine Parallels with Deepnet Security to get two-factor authentication."

"The solution is powerful, and it has good speed and performance."

"Ease of use in publishing apps and installing the agent. The Interface is fairly intuitive after some tinkering. Although I inherited the app only two-thirds deployed, I was able to complete the deployment and service it over the last year without referring to any documentation."

"It provides flexible access to Windows applications from many types of devices."

"Thin client management (Windows 10 client) provides an easy way to lock down client connection to the remote infrastructure. Policies are very helpful for preconfiguring client behavior. Finally, client management is easy."

"The management capability from the RAS portal provides greater control than using pure MS inbuilt into RDS capabilities."

"Parallels Desktop allows me to run both Mac and Windows operating systems on a single machine, eliminating the need for separate Windows hardware."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pros

Cons

"The auto-heal functionality needs improvement."

"They should start providing the certifications on Nerdio for training and enhancements, mainly for the open community of IT."

"The auto-heal functionality needs improvement. Currently, the feature is limited because it only allows one heal condition and doesn't support multiple triggers."

"A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server."

"We use several gateways because access to our secret zone requires two-factor user authentication. It is a lot of hassle differentiating among users with or without two-factor. Of course, we could use two farms, but that would mean more management too."

"It needs Windows scaling on Android/iOS devices. At present, the concept of delivering apps to Android and iOS devices is appealing, but the reality is the screen size on these devices is so small that, unless there is some scaling option, it is not really usable."

"Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."

"Currently in the RD Session Hosts – Sessions section, I can see what server a user is logged into but not what app he is using. Being able to do so would be immensely helpful when a non-technical user is complaining of issues, but I can’t tell which app he is using, and he is actually logged into multiple servers since they serve multiple apps."

"Since I've been here less than a year, I have had to upgrade the system three times. The first time was the major upgrade but they have upgraded twice since, and I think that's too many times in that time span."

"The main issue we have with all of our users is printing. Randomly, a printer will disconnect or someone won't connect to it and I will have to reset the print service and then nobody can print. That's the big headache we've had over the course of the five years."

"We have had significant, ongoing issues with printing. It would be great to have a best practice for dealing with printing that we can offer to our customers."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"We currently use Parallels side-by-side with an Azure cloud-hosted solution. This may be from a lack of product knowledge on my part, but we still need to work out the most effective way to shut down servers outside of hours, thereby reduce hosting costs. I am not entirely convinced Parallels does this well yet."

"It is inexpensive compared to one of its competitors."

"It justifies the price. In terms of licensing, initially when we got the product it was an unlimited licensing strategy. We knew would grow in the coming years. So initially, we took a plan which had no limit. After a year or so the strategy changed and we were being limited to 105 licenses, that was the minimum... If there was flexibility for increasing the number of licenses that would be great because you never know how much you are going to grow in the next year."

"Just compare it to Citrix and you will see the value in it."

"I recommend testing Parallels and comparing it to your needs. Compare the prices against what you are able to do with the product and its alternatives. Parallels is not a cheap product."

"The product is not expensive. I rate its pricing a three or four out of ten."

"I don't like the subscription model because it feels like I have to pay every month. If Parallels could go back to the professional license, it would be much better."

"It is not that high. It is in the medium range. Of course, it could be lower, but the price is not the issue."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nerdio?

It is competitively priced in the market.

What needs improvement with Nerdio?

They should start providing the certifications on Nerdio for training and enhancements, mainly for the open community of IT. It should not be restricted to partners only, yet available to everyone.

What is your primary use case for Nerdio?

During the implementation and management stage, I use Nerdio Manager for enterprise for deploying and quickly rolling out virtual desktops to end users. Once I complete the production rollout, I st...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

The pricing for Parallels RAS is straightforward with a monthly fee for a minimum of 15 licenses. For Parallels Desktop, it is a yearly cost of a couple of hundred euros. No additional fees for mai...

What needs improvement with Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

A potential improvement could be reducing the dependency on Microsoft solutions for Parallels RAS. As for Parallels Desktop, there is nothing specific that needs improvement.

What is your primary use case for Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

The primary use case of Parallels is to offer it to customers as a hosted service. I help them to migrate from other solutions like VMware to Parallels RAS. I recommend it to companies that prefer ...

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Nerdio

Comparisons

Horizon 8 vs Nerdio

Compared 19% of the time

Compared 18% of the time

Horizon Cloud Service vs Nerdio

Compared 17% of the time

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Nerdio

Compared 11% of the time

Parallels Desktop vs Nerdio

Compared 3% of the time

More Nerdio Competitors

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 15% of the time

Parallels Desktop vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon WorkSpaces vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 7% of the time

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Competitors

Product Reports

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Download Nerdio product report

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Download Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) product report

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) report

Also Known As

No data available

Parallels RAS

Overview

Nerdio is the definitive solution for Microsoft Azure deployment, packaging, pricing, management, and optimization.

Nerdio for Azure empowers MSPs to build successful cloud practices in Azure, and we will do whatever it takes to help them succeed.

Nerdio

ApplicationServer delivers applications, data and virtual desktops from a central location, providing continuous availability, resource-based load-balancing and complete network transparency.

Parallels

Sample Customers

BeMo, Northstar Technologies

Arsari Group _ PT Netmarks Indonesia, Izhevsk Elektromekhanicheskiy Zavod (IEMZ) _ Kupol, Abilene Diagnostic Clinic, Fylde Borough Council, YARSTROYREZE LLC, VSK Insurance House, Melenkovsky District of Vladimirskaya Oblast, Sofrigam SA, Antenna International, KingsGate Community Church, Norwegian American Hospital, Island Hotels Group, Medway Council, Medway Council, Voices of September 11th, MacDonald Training Center, Kansas Childrenês Service League, Scope,Next Generation Clubs, WTC Communications, Opera Australia, HSE Integrated, Danier, Bridgwater College, Kern County Mental Health, Tony Tiendas, Spears Manufacturing, Managed Insurance Services Inc., Intuitive Medical Software, M.J. Soffe, Mazda Motors, Israel Military Industries (IMI), Telfair, Upic Solutions, Teleflora, Fisher & Company

Nerdio vs. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)