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Horizon 8 vs VMware Workstation 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

Horizon 8
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
114
Ranking in other categories
User Virtualization (1st)
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 July 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Horizon 8 is 7.8%, down from 13.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 15.4%, up from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad JunaidJawed - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps ensure data leaks do not occur from the base machine to VDI while multi-instance capabilities remain limited
I have been using Horizon for two years. It provides my DevOps team access to PAM and server through the provider The solution has helped ensure data leaks do not occur from the base machine to VDI, and it saves data through API copyright. The solution has data leak prevention features that…
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

"VMware Horizon is beneficial because it reduces bandwidth consumption when accessing VDI or the virtual infrastructure. It's more secure compared to accessing a Windows desktop using RDP. It enhances security, provides better app utilization, and improves performance using graphic-intensive tools like Photoshop or 3ds Max. Using the Horizon Client makes it easy to work on those tools."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"VMware Horizon 7 has its proprietary Elastic streaming protocol, which is very good for delivering VDI."
"The most valuable feature of this solution has been security."
"The product helped us deploy complex applications."
"It has improved our business because now we can run applications and it's easier for our students to do their exams."
"The solution has enabled us to offer a secure desktop experience to our remote users. This ensures that our personally identifiable information and HIPAA data remain protected, eliminating the risk of being copied to a local, potentially mobile, device. Everything is contained within a centralized structure."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is secure remote access to resources."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
"It is much more mature compared to Nutanix or SimpliVity when it's cross-platform based."
"I appreciate the ease of backup and snapshot creation. The ability to revert to previous versions without losing data is very useful for our team."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"The features are good."
"VMware Workstation allows you to run a virtual machine."
"We are able to simultaneously run multiple operating systems in a single machine and have virtually no performance hit."
 

Cons

"In the future, I would like to see better support for application virtualization."
"It would be beneficial if VMware invested in developing a robust reporting engine, providing insights into user activities, locations, and more."
"VMware Horizon 7 could improve by supporting the active-active data center. At this time we are only deploying it in the production environment. Our customer is considered to deploy the VMware Horizon 7 to a secondary data center, but we found out that it cannot fully support the user in the deployment in the active-active data center. Any improvement on this would be beneficial."
"The support team's technicalities and the pricing of the solution need improvement."
"I would like to see simple load-balancing for smaller environments that lack large solutions like F5, or NSX; it should be redundant or unavailable but in a simple way. Perhaps limited to only two components; if more are required, a paid load balancing solution can be used. Load balancing for simple environments, or simple redundancy, is sorely lacking."
"The product integration on local client machines running Linux needs improvement."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The initial setup may be a little difficult for those with no experience."
"They could include official support for macOS virtualization within VMware Workstation."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
"VMware Workstation could improve the export and import of virtual machines."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"It would be helpful if VMware Workstation included an in-built monitoring tool for monitoring things."
"The dashboard can be improved."
"My experience with Workstation is limited, so I don't know all the functionalities of this tool. Maybe Workstation could add some more compatibility with other vendors."
"VMware Workstation has some network limitations which could improve, it is not as flexible as VMware NSX. Additionally, it could support operating systems better. I only run some Linux versions and Windows at the moment but it would be nice to be able to take whatever operating system you want and run it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"VMware Horizon's costs are high."
"Horizon 7 is cheaper than some competitors, like Citrix, because it includes solutions for the server side, the VDI side, and the hypervisor side."
"I cannot provide a detailed comment on the pricing; however, I can say that it is quite expensive."
"Customers pay a licensing fee."
"I would rate the pricing of VMware Horizon View a five out of ten. The price is average."
"Pricing for Horizon is relatively high, earning a rating of one out of ten."
"The product is extremely expensive."
"It is hard to know for sure. It is definitely in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. It is quite expensive, but you do save money on desktop power, desktop upgrades, etc. You're able to extend the useful life of your previous desktops. Previously, we used to change desktops regularly, and now we just change them when they break."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"You need to pay for a license, but I don't think it costs that much. I think it's a one-time payment."
"VMware Workstation has a high price than competitors in the market."
"It has the best licensing modules."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
"The product is expensive."
"VMware Workstation's costs are lifetime."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 Horizon 7?
VMware offers a friendly environment, and it's easy to provide the user with the package. It is a bundled solution that is readily deployable. The advantage lies in its simplicity, it requires mini...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon 7?
We paid a lot of money for software that is not really fully operational out of the box. We had to have patches from VMware to get it into production. Hence, we lost a lot of time implementing the ...
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

VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, Mware Dynamic Environment Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LCMC Health
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Horizon 8 vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.