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Parallels Access vs ScreenConnect comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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)
Parallels Access
Ranking in Remote Access
23rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ScreenConnect
Ranking in Remote Access
16th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (18th), Remote Visual Support (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 5.4%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 1.7%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ScreenConnect is 3.0%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune5.4%
ScreenConnect3.0%
Parallels Access1.7%
Other89.9%
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.
JP
CEO at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Allows users to access and operate their computers remotely
When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work. I'd have to turn on the Bluetooth a lot of times and transfer it that way on both devices, which was troublesome. However, it would sometimes randomly work. I could go on my iPad, find whatever I wanted to do, click copy, then go over to the computer through Parallels Access, click paste, and it would randomly work. I had to call Parallels many times. They would log in and try something, which would temporarily work, but then it wouldn't. When it worked, it made integration between the two things great. That was a very helpful feature that didn't get polished.
Todd Blake - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Specialist at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Simple to set up, reasonable pricing, and useful remote control capabilities
I'm on the latest version of the solution. I just updated it yesterday. While we have the solution on-premises at this time, we'll likely move to the cloud later this year. They have a trial version that you can try. They have a free version that you can try as well. I use it myself to support my family. I would try the free version or the trial version depending on your business. They can set you up and you can get to see all the features. I would also advocate going to the cloud version. Don't bother with the on-prem. It's just easier to jump to the cloud. I'd rate the solution nine 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

"I appreciate how clear Microsoft Intune is."
"Microsoft Intune has never crashed for me; it always works without fail."
"Microsoft Intune has saved me about 30% of my time through streamlined processes and efficient resource management."
"We have definitely seen a good return on investment, as it has saved a good amount of time in device setup and support, reducing manual effort by around forty to fifty percent and also fewer on-site interventions since most issues are handled remotely."
"We saw approximately forty to fifty percent reduction in manual device setup time with Microsoft Intune as onboarding became fully automated."
"Remote control is the feature I like the most, as I can take control of devices so that we can work hands-on and create access with access restrictions."
"Intune helps the organization manage access to its internal apps, data, and resources."
"Intune significantly simplifies application deployment, mobile application management, and policy enforcement, such as restricting user access to specific applications, thereby enhancing overall environment security."
"It's great that the total deployment can happen completely remotely."
"Parallels Access has flexible licensing policies, which is beneficial for customers who have intermittent usage or users who are on and off the system."
"What seems to be the most valuable from the customer side is the ease of operation, and the overall experience they have."
"Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely."
"The application used to publish for mobile devices is very good and the desktop publishing is very, very good."
"We don't have problems with stability. Everything is good."
"It's got a very easy-to-use interface."
"Extremely user friendly"
"I previously used TeamViewer and Chrome Remote Desktop, and ScreenConnect beats out both as it's easier to use than Windows Remote Desktop (outside of a local network) and it's less expensive than TeamViewer."
"I am able to support our remote users; this has been a great help."
"The flexibility to manage bandwidth and organize connections, and the price, make ConnectWise a really good choice."
"It has been a game-changer for my workflow."
"ScreenConnect is our backup solution for remote access."
"Compared to what's out there the pricing is probably a good value."
"We researched prior to evaluating any remote access solutions and decided that Screenconnect was our first choice; we initiated a trial and have not looked back at any other solutions."
 

Cons

"There are a few security features that are not available in Microsoft Intune, when compared to other products."
"There can be some added features, such as an improved dashboard. Any new feature that could be a benefit to our customers would be good."
"Sometimes, the process is unsuccessful when we attempt to reset a device and wipe the data using Intune."
"If you wish to block any App Store application, there is no way to do so."
"We are facing issues with Apple products. With macOS and iOS, there are some difficulties with the updates because we cannot get full control of Apple products. In the case of Windows, it is fine, but in the case of Apple, we have some difficulties. We cannot control everything through Intune."
"The only drawback or challenge is that it does not support server deployment."
"While Intune works perfectly well, the only potential downside is that the deployment could be a bit complex for some users."
"Automation has room for improvement in Microsoft Intune for fixing some errors."
"They could improve the reporting."
"When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work."
"The solution may not scale well for enterprises."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive."
"The scalability is great for small or medium-sized businesses. However, it may not scale well for enterprise-level entities."
"One challenge we do notice is that the application is limited to Windows servers only. If a customer has a Linux server, things get complicated. They should open it up a bit to be more compatible with different types of servers."
"My immediate supervisor said it was lacking in documentation and had too many words to describe how to use the product when crafting instructions to send to our third party consultant who was going to connect to our system behind our firewall."
"What we need this product to do is to be able to control Windows Updates. LogMeIn Central allowed us remote access but also allowed to push and install Windows Updates, and third-party updates... When we made the switch to ConnectWise we lost the ability to do patching. That forced us, for our larger clients, to move to WSUS. We had to set up a VM on those larger clients to push Windows Updates and patches into the network."
"The only slowdown I've seen is when quality settings are set to high - and this is primarily on Windows 10 machines that show a picture on the lock-screen prior to the password entry screen."
"Setting up permissions and groups in the portal is NOT simple or intuitive by any stretch."
"Support for PAC files on the guest's side and support for proxy on the host's side. Currently, there is no support for guest-side PAC files or for the host-side proxy (which uses authentication)."
"For my company, just installing the software and using it is very easy. But if I need to give one of my customers access to their machines, the process that you have to go through is some 15 to 20 steps. You have to create a group, and then you have to assign a policy. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to set up someone for remote access to their own machine."
"Reporting could definitely use improvement. With LogMeIn Rescue, I used to be able to, for instance, at the end of the month, pull off a report of every session. It was very simple... I could see the name that was typed in, the IP address to the computer that it was connected to, if it was running Windows... It just doesn't seem - there might be but I haven't found it - to be a way of pulling that information out of ConnectWise."
"I would like to see more overlap, meaning, I would like to be able to see what processes are running on a computer, for example, or what services are running."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are partners, so we receive some discount. However, from the customer's perspective, Microsoft Intune's pricing is competitive with non-Microsoft technology, and the price is good compared to other market competitors."
"This cost is approximately $30 USD per user per month."
"Its pricing seems reasonable."
"Intune is included in the Microsoft 365 licensing package that we have."
"The pricing for Microsoft Intune is reasonable. Our clients are satisfied."
"The price is very reasonable."
"Microsoft licenses are costly."
"I have no comment on pricing of the solution."
"The licensing costs are about $100 per user."
"It is priced fairly."
"Their licensing model is good, their pricing model is good, their service is good; bandwidth is excellent. They're consistent."
"We pay $3,000 USD for the service, yearly upfront."
"For the price we pay, we definitely feel it's worth it, but there are some contenders in the market that are coming out now, whose products are as good; they are offering more features and the price is actually less than ConnectWise. All things considered, the biggest thing is the lack of patching in ConnectWise. If they could integrate that into the product, that would be a game changer, if offered at the same price point."
"The cloud version is relatively inexpensive, but the on-premise version is expensive if you do not need three technicians, only one or two for concurrent sessions."
"Pricing is fair for Control and the licensing is simple."
"Make sure you have enough licensing for all the techs that you have."
"Good price and works well."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
11%
University
11%
Transportation Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise186
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
No data available
ConnectWise Control
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Gilt Groupe K.K.
Jon Rosen Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Parallels Access vs. ScreenConnect and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.