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Parallels Desktop vs Workspace ONE UEM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

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

Parallels Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Workspace ONE UEM
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (6th), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (11th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Parallels Desktop is 6.3%, down from 15.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workspace ONE UEM is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Workspace ONE UEM2.5%
Parallels Desktop6.3%
Other91.2%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

MH
Payments Architect at Self Employed
A great platform to develop interoperable code on
The decision to transition away from Intel chips to their silicon. They are processing, and there are many examples. Instead of not having a product to use for a while, they have just released it now. However, if you're seeking a product that is industry-ready regularly or has plans to make it so, considering the upcoming changes, I recommend trying out Parallels Desktop in beta. When you're only dealing with Windows, we do much in the Windows version, but it is not improving the Windows operating system. If you're hosting a Windows platform or another version of the machine, the code will have limitations. Windows is not a walled garden, with no significant volatility or instability. Windows is quite versatile. I never encountered intrusive ads or unused features, which is quite good. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Vishal Bhatia - PeerSpot reviewer
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Effective product tracking and monitoring enhances daily operations despite needing documentation improvement
The documentation part of Workspace ONE UEM can be confusing. The documentation is not comprehensive compared to other VMware solutions or Microsoft documentation. Most people struggle to connect the dots when looking at the documentation. Even the training material and PowerPoint slide decks that trainers use are sometimes too confusing or overwhelming, with too much content but not enough clarity. The support side has recently become weaker compared to what it used to be with VMware. This is another area that needs improvement. Since working with Workspace ONE UEM from when it was AirWatch, it has improved significantly over the last five years. However, there are still some gray areas and scope for improvement, especially in documentation and workflow between different aspects of the solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like how, with Parallels, you can either boot into Mac or Windows to get better control over the resources of the laptops since you're sharing the resources in dual mode."
"Parallels Desktop integrates seamlessly with macOS. It works better than VMware on Apple operating systems."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"We've found the solution to be easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Workspace ONE is its reliability."
"It's all about centralizing your data and making sure that your data is centralized and secure."
"We find it to be reliable."
"App delivery and management platform that's user-friendly, with a good interface. Easy to scale, easy to set up, with good stability."
"The product enables us to access our internal applications from anywhere in the world."
"The bigger vendors like VMware, Insight, and MobileIron can assign engineers to customers. You can work with them to develop the right competency to use the product."
 

Cons

"There may have been some issues with device drivers on my Mac. Similarly, there are some issues with transferring data from Parallels to the Mac."
"The biggest challenge is compatibility between VMware and Parallels because the two systems are incompatible. It can be challenging if you are switching between Windows and Mac. I recommend sticking with one product because there isn't good compatibility between the different products."
"Its performance is quite good on Apple phones or even mid-range phones. If you install an AirWatch on a phone that is not too powerful, you will have performance issues. That's only because the phone is not too powerful, and there is not enough memory, etc. They could do a lighter version for a less powerful phone. It would also be useful for very small companies that don't want to spend money on expensive phones. Having said that, I don't think that is their target market. If their target market is enterprise, all enterprises perhaps have an agreement with Google or Apple, and they would get a phone that has already been tested, and they know that AirWatch will work on that phone."
"The SaaS environment is not very responsive at times, so the performance can be improved in that regard."
"Sometimes, we have challenges with remote patching and remote version upgrades."
"I'd like to see more integration capabilities in future releases."
"VMware Workspace ONE can improve in virtual reality. Customers are now looking toward virtual reality devices. Though it supports virtual reality, it's treated as an Android device. Customers want to deal with VR devices, they want a specific VR tool. Not an Android device VR tool."
"The solution is too complicated. A lot of end customers don't know how to start when they go into the console."
"I would like to have better support for multi-cloud sessions."
"vIDM could be improved with the multi-tenant capabilities that VMware tends to offer—features like customization branding and the integration of the app catalog based on the branding. Since the integration has been at top-level OGs, you were not able to then do rebranding if you were required to use specific user groups to highlight specific applications. At the time, I was personally opening feature requests for these things. I haven't worked with the latest release, so I don't know if these features were already deployed or not."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The tool is expensive."
"It's definitely a bit on the expensive side. It is more for smaller organizations and not large, massive enterprises. I am not sure about any additional costs. As far as we could tell, the billing was what the billing was."
"The solution can be costly when the customer is dealing with multiple platforms. If a customer is only dealing with iOS, Windows, and Android then Intune is the better choice because there are free licenses."
"You should take out a dedicated license agreement of your MDM fleet and invest heavily in innovating in this space."
"The pricing and licensing are affordable. They are not too high."
"There is a licensing fee for the users, and we pay a low amount for our support costs."
"The license is paid annually."
"We pay approximately thirty to thirty-five euros per device per month for the complete suite, and this is a fixed cost with one, three, or five-year licensing in advance. I would rate the pricing a four out of ten, making it affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
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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 Workspace ONE?
The platform provides a stable environment for operations and quickly creates new environments. Additionally, it offers efficient flexibility.
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Workspace ONE, VMware AirWatch, Workspace ONE Assist, VMware Identity Manager, Workspace ONE Access, VMware Horizon Air
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lytro, University of Washington, Slalom, Veeva Systems, Oklahoma Christian University
Australian Sports Commission, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Lomond School, Merck, United Bank, Medical College of Wisconsin, Latymer Upper School, 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Dowling Aaron Inc., Trillium Lakelands District School Board, Harrogate Grammar School, Duke University Football, Delta Air Lines, Adventist Health System, Giochi Preziosi, Cramlington Learning Village, Intermountain Healthcare, Safexpress, TAG Aviation
Find out what your peers are saying about Parallels Desktop vs. Workspace ONE UEM and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.