VMware Workstation and Horizon 8 compete in virtualization solutions. VMware Workstation appears to have the upper hand in individual and small-scale virtualization due to its diverse OS support and ease of VM management, while Horizon 8 is preferable for enterprise environments due to its central management capabilities.
Features: VMware Workstation offers seamless file sharing between host and guest systems, extensive OS support, and 3D graphics capabilities. It attracts heavy users who require a reliable virtual environment with simple VM management. Horizon 8 is tailored for enterprises, featuring robust central management, excellent scalability, and enhanced security protocols, making it ideal for large organizations.
Room for Improvement: VMware Workstation could improve in reducing resource consumption and better snapshot management. It also needs enhanced support for Linux clients. Horizon 8 faces cost concerns and could benefit from simplified initial setup and better integration with Linux, along with improved security features.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Workstation is flexible in various environments but lacks direct technical support, relying on community resources. Horizon 8 presents a more comprehensive support framework, though it can be complex to set up, especially in hybrid setups, but offers highly rated customer service for enterprise demands.
Pricing and ROI: VMware Workstation is perceived as expensive, offering lifetime licenses but mixed ROI, being cost-effective in certain applications yet costly for frequent upgrades. Horizon 8 has higher pricing compared to alternatives like Citrix, but its extensive feature set offers high ROI potential for enterprises seeking comprehensive virtualization solutions.
The support team is helpful and offers assistance.
Our support from VMware expired last December.
On a scale of one to 10, I would rate their support or customer service a two or three since they never did anything.
The documents provided for Workstation were not hard to understand.
It's a very special way of working with VMware Workstation.
VMware Workstation is scalable enough for larger companies, though it requires some skills.
Especially with the integration of NVIDIA, we experience multiple problems including crashing applications, crashing desktops, spontaneous logoffs, black screens, and systems that no longer respond or cannot reconnect.
The problem we are facing with stability is that the network adapter causes crashes of the VM when we're using it for developing purposes.
I would like to see improvements in Horizon 8, specifically integration with NVIDIA for graphical performance upgrades because it creates many issues such as crashing and black screen systems, causing users to lose access to their current desktop and work.
We have limited capabilities since we are not using a multi-instance solution, just single instances.
Eventually, we had to get some licenses with Broadcom, and all the costs went up dramatically.
We faced challenges with backup due to limitations in the free version, requiring us to switch to a paid version.
The problem we are facing with stability is that the network adapter causes crashes of the VM when we're using it for developing purposes.
After VMware was bought by Broadcom, the pricing was ridiculous, but now that Onmises has VMware Horizon 8, the pricing is back to an acceptable level.
I rate the cost-effectiveness of GenApp of Citrix equal to our CMS; it is quite cost-effective.
From a security point of view, security in Horizon 8 is one of the main points in keeping the system resources from the company away from bad actors. You can keep the desktops completely isolated, and you don't need to share your file shares or database with the end-user system.
The solution has data leak prevention features that ensure data is not copied from the base machine to VDI.
VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem.
VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox.
Simply being able to run several Windows PCs with different development environments has had the largest impact on our operational efficiency.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| VMware Workstation | 14.5% |
| Horizon 8 | 7.5% |
| Other | 78.0% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 60 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 22 |
| Large Enterprise | 44 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 32 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 17 |
VMware Horizon is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution designed to allow users to create secure and scalable virtual desktops and applications that work on any device, from any location. These virtualization capabilities help simplify and speed up application delivery and greatly reduce enterprise costs.
VMware Horizon’s centralized management console provides IT admins with comprehensive control over all of their virtual desktops and applications, making them simple to manage and secure. The solution enables using features such as identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, and encryption, to ensure ultimate data protection.
Some of key the benefits of using VMware Horizon include:
Some of the top features of VMware Horizon include:
Reviews from Real Users
VMware Horizon stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its high performance, flexibility, and powerful virtualization capabilities.
Natnael A., a consultant at IWM Network Solutions, writes, “The app virtualizing is a great feature. The system developers use it to deliver apps to targeted staff. It basically reduces the server infrastructure resource. The solution provides good functionality.”
Rob M., a systems administrator at Saint Tammany Parish Hospital, says, “The solution has provided flexibility by allowing an end user to remote in, log in, and get their VM. VDI session and have all the icons and applications they need to use and retain the same booking view regardless of location.”
VMware Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure that they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.
Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next-generation interface and gives users the ability to seamlessly run several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more, using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.
VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. VMware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent of a standard x86 actual machine. It easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.
VMware Workstation Benefits
VMware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:
Reviews from Real Users
Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC says, “The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop.”
Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB says, “The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support; you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments, which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution.”
“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.” A PeerSpot user who is a Chief Technical Officer at a construction company.
are Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.
Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next generation interface and gives users the ability to run seamlessly several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.
VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. Vmware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent to a standard x86 actual machine.VMware easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.
VMware Workstation Benefits
Vmware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:
Reviews from Real Users
“The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop.” Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
“The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support; you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments, which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution.” Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB
A Chief Technical Officer at a construction company says,“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.”
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