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Azure Virtual Desktop vs VMware Workstation comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Virtual Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Azure Virtual Desktop is 6.2%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 9.1%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Workstation9.1%
Azure Virtual Desktop6.2%
Other84.7%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

RC
Senior Advisor at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enhanced collaboration and security with seamless remote access has transformed work efficiency
We can integrate anything with Azure Virtual Desktop from an application perspective. The App-V has evolved into MSIX. To deliver an application to Azure Virtual Desktop, MSIX can be used by expanding it as a virtual hard disk and attaching it to the virtual machine. When this is done, users who need the application will have immediate access through Active Directory group assignment. One challenge with Virtual Desktop infrastructure is application delivery. From an infrastructure perspective, it's beneficial as we can have a fallback point - if one machine is down, we can have a disaster recovery site for redirection. The delivery of applications is a tedious process. Microsoft is working on building new products for efficient application installation. This feature might be included in upcoming releases. Currently, it's burdensome for IT administrators to create applications compatible with Virtual Desktop infrastructure, unlike traditional machines where direct installation is possible.
GC
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Creating and destroying test machines has simplified our operations and reduced manual recovery time
The Snapshot feature has helped with workflows by allowing us to more easily reconstruct something if we lose it or need it. We've been making Snapshots on a consistent basis, mainly of servers. The VX Rail has worked effectively because we can create machines as we need them. It's helpful for resetting and has helped with our operations because I had set up failover servers on Vertex, but we don't have to do that anymore since VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem. We're doing our domain servers on there, and we've been very happy with that. We appreciate that we can create machines simply to test things out and then destroy them. I use it for a test machine for checking emails, so if the email has a virus in it, we can just destroy the machine and create a new one. We're slowly moving into the VMware environment, although the pricing with Broadcom has been a disaster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The auto-scaling option allows provisioning additional virtual desktops based on user demand, making it scalable and flexible."
"Azure pricing is quite cheap due to licensing benefits with Microsoft."
"This integration enhances productivity 100%, as it makes it much easier for us to give access to external third parties to work with us for collaboration."
"I rate the overall solution nine out of ten."
"The integration of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams within Azure Virtual Desktop helps customers enhance collaboration because it works seamlessly."
"Azure Virtual Desktop is stable and provides a 100% stable experience."
"Azure Virtual Desktop provides users the ability to do remote work in a secure environment that is easy to manage."
"Azure Virtual Desktop enables anyone connecting to Microsoft to use MFA (multi-factor authentication), totally secured to connect and has end-to-end encryption through tunnel encryption."
"VMware Workstation keeps working and it makes my day every time I have to use it because it starts, it runs, and it makes my life easier."
"We can undo some changes using the snapshot feature."
"The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"Instead of relying on dual-boot operating systems, I can utilize open-source tools within my infrastructure. This approach allows me to create an in-house cloud platform suitable for testing. VMware Workstation enables me to perform tasks across various operating systems using a single device. It has helped me save time."
"The solution's technical support team is excellent."
"The initial setup is simple and takes only five minutes to complete."
"The Snapshot feature has helped with workflows by allowing us to more easily reconstruct something if we lose it or need it."
 

Cons

"The main issue is the response time, which needs improvement to be faster."
"I see areas for improvement in Azure Virtual Desktop, specifically regarding cost, as it is a little bit expensive."
"The costs are a bit difficult to predict upfront. When I am trying to sell it to a customer as a consultant, it is hard to give them a fixed price."
"There are challenges when upgrading the OS from Windows 10 to Windows 11, such as facing a black screen during testing. It is essential for Microsoft to ensure better testing and smoother transitions when decommissioning previous versions."
"The primary area for improvement is around the scalability of Azure, specifically on the desktop side."
"The costs are a bit difficult to predict upfront."
"The delivery of applications is a tedious process."
"Azure could improve its uptime and the scaling aspect, as it lacks intelligent scaling."
"It would be great if VMware Workstation had more networking options and compatibility, that would be great. I would like to deploy virtual switches and play around with networking a bit more. Otherwise, I have to deploy ESXi Virtual Edition and emulate it, which is painful and clunky."
"The price should be reduced."
"I think that performance could be improved by making it more effective and less resource consuming."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"The product is outdated."
"The solution freezes sometimes."
"It takes too much time to load all the plug-ins and software."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The cost differs depending on the customer's requirement."
"The price of the solution per workstation is approximately 200 Francs annually. We pay a total of 800 francs. Everything is included in the price such as the support."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
"It is an expensive solution."
"With all its support and ease of use, VMware Player's pricing is fair."
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"VMware is expensive. Licensing can be tricky. For example, I recently had a client running VMware vSphere Essentials and wanted to migrate to a more scalable solution. However, they had no choice but to purchase a completely new license and deploy a completely new instance of VMware."
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917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Media Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Virtual Desktop?
The usual amount customers pay for this tool varies. I have seen large deployments catering to 500 or 700 users. Enterprises do use it, and they pay quite a bit for this.
What needs improvement with Azure Virtual Desktop?
I see areas for improvement in Azure Virtual Desktop, specifically regarding cost, as it is a little bit expensive. However, when you account for replacing dedicated hardware and the maintenance it...
What is your primary use case for Azure Virtual Desktop?
We use RDP with Azure and have some virtual desktops. A major use case for Azure Virtual Desktop is that we give access to external consultants so they can access our information and interact with ...
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 needs improvement with VMware Player?
Here's what happened with us regarding the prices for VMware Workstation: we purchased everything through Dell, and as is common, we got busy and didn't get everything activated. By the time we tri...
What is your primary use case for VMware Player?
I have a bunch of VMware servers set up, including our domain servers, our data servers, and some test machines on VMware. We're not really using VMware Workstation as workstations. We've got a cou...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Virtual Desktop vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.