Remote Desktop Services vs. Microsoft Teams

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Remote Desktop Services
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Remote Desktop Services from Microsoft is virtual desktop and remote user session technology.N/A
Microsoft Teams
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing software with team collaboration tools. The communications platform allows MS Office users to conduct conference calls and share files via SharePoint, and join or initiate a group chat.
$4.80
per month per user
Pricing
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Microsoft Teams Essentials
$4.80
per month per user
Microsoft Teams Enterprise
$5.25
per month (paid yearly) per user
Microsoft Teams Enterprise
$5.25
per month per user
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$7.20
per month per user
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$15
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts are available for non profit organizations.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Features
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
4.5
5 Ratings
55% below category average
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
Screen sharing7.85 Ratings00 Ratings
File transfer4.45 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant message1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication6.12 Ratings00 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers1.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session6.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile3.44 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations7.74 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management8.24 Ratings00 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard2.63 Ratings00 Ratings
Session record2.63 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts3.43 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
-
Ratings
Microsoft Teams
7.9
235 Ratings
2% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.9174 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings7.791 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings8.0202 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.1121 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings8.1223 Ratings
Search00 Ratings7.4206 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings8.4138 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
-
Ratings
Microsoft Teams
8.0
244 Ratings
0% below category average
Chat00 Ratings9.0243 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings8.3242 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings8.6229 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.1140 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings8.5152 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings6.547 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings5.743 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings9.1155 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
-
Ratings
Microsoft Teams
8.1
229 Ratings
1% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings8.4161 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings8.3196 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.6195 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.8209 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.5191 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.4151 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings5.353 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings8.5165 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Small Businesses
Getscreen.me
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Score 9.6 out of 10
Stackby
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Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.5 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Likelihood to Recommend
7.6
(19 ratings)
8.4
(281 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.0
(1 ratings)
3.7
(9 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(4 ratings)
8.7
(67 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
3.0
(1 ratings)
8.3
(113 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
6.3
(7 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(7 ratings)
User Testimonials
Remote Desktop ServicesMicrosoft Teams
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
This is well-suited if you need to log in to a remote machine on occasion to make updates or change configurations. It is also good for a production environment or for environments where people need to log in to use common applications, so you don't need to install the application on each individual client.
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Microsoft
It's amazing as a daily driver for team communication, and document search/store. Also, if you're doing a lot of LONG meetings and have trouble remembering details, the AI summarization is amazing and convenient. It just works. I'm not saying I always do this, of course, but if I need to 'skim' instead of really digging into every detail from a meeting, the AI-generated summary is generally good enough that I can get away with it.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • When you connect with RDS, everything looks and feels (and is) exactly like you're sitting at that desktop. This is great for us and for users.
  • You can sign in with RDS and the desktop will be the same as when you left it (if you choose to set it up that way).
  • Although they take some setup, RemoteApps are a very handy way to let users access a program without requiring them to actually connect to a remote desktop on the server.
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Microsoft
  • All in one communication for Teams.
  • High quality and reliable both audio and video meetings.
  • Well organized and clear instant chat.
  • Excellent security features.
  • Beautiful integration with 3rd party tools and systems.
  • Perfect compatibility with windows ,android and iOS.
  • Allow meetings recordings for later us or sharing with teams that missed the live.
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Remote Desktop Services currently does not support multiple monitors on the terminal server. Unlike other applications such as Teamviewer, there's no feature to toggle between multiple screens even if they were connected to the terminal server.
  • Remote Desktop Services should provide an option to scale up or down the screen size after a connection is established. Currently you can only adjust the screen size prior to a connection is established. So you'll have to take a best guess at what display screen resolution will fit best on your screen.
  • Remote Desktop Services should offer some kind of menu to send special key strokes like Ctrl+Alt+Del to the terminal server. Currently the substitute for that particular combination is Ctrl+Alt+End. But I have yet to discover a replacement for other combination keystrokes such as Alt+PrintScrn.
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Microsoft
  • The webinars feature has some missing functionally such as the ability for all users to use the Q&A feature (only those with a Microsoft Teams account can use it now), the ability to upload documents for attendees to easily access and download, and the ability for presenters and organizers to easily chat amongst themselves throughout the webinar.
  • The "Channels" organization hierarchy could be more clear. If you have several channels set up, it can get clunky and hard to find the specific channel you are looking for.
  • The MS Planner tool lacks functionality and organization. You cannot assign more than one person to a task and it's confusing when you try to share tasks with people - it would be nice if they were automatically added to someone's calendar.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft Teams is included with our Office 365 subscription and we have no intention of migrating off of Office 365 and Microsoft products. Since Microsoft Teams is included for free with our Office 365 subscription, and since we enjoy all the features, benefits, and functionality, there is no question that our team will continue to use the product
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Usability
Microsoft
The initial setup for Remote Desktop Services is complex, and licensing is costly. Each user connects to their virtual desktop hosted by a single server or group of servers, so a change or issue with servers quickly impacts every single user at the same time. Aside from that, users appreciate seeing their same personal desktop from any device or geographical location.
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Microsoft
If you have the full Microsoft Office suite, it works really well because it's integrated well within its ecosystem, but if not, it can be annoying because it tries to open a shared file in the web versions of the file equivalents. The web version is also a bit slow, and the login is very difficult to handle if you have multiple Microsoft or Outlook accounts.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Rare, but outages do happen
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Performance
Microsoft
There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.
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Microsoft
Sometimes about once a week I get a message that says "Sorry, there seems to be something wrong". But it goes away in a few minutes.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
As with any Microsoft Server product, support for Remote Desktop Services requires a paid support package. These are license-based and very costly, on top of the already costly product licensing. Microsoft's licensing is complicated to begin with, so setting up licensing alone essentially requires a licensing expert's counsel. There is community documentation and support available on Microsoft websites, as well as community websites.
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Microsoft
The overall support provided by Microsoft for Microsoft Teams has been quite good but there is still some room for improvements. Microsoft needs to proactively work on fixing the open bugs in order to provide a seamless experience to the users. But over the service and experience provided by the Microsoft team have been quite satisfactory.
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I find everything I need for my day-to-day work.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
We selected Remote Desktop Services based upon price alone. Other solutions on the market are significantly more expensive, but if your company can foot the bill you should seriously consider products that have been on the market for longer. The lack of an ability to easily upgrade farm servers has been a challenge for us - although it is still faster than updating an application on 2000+ machines. The lack of a centralized management console in 2008 R2 is also challenging, but you get by with the tools available to you. If you don't have the money to spend on Citrix or VMWare Horizon, Remote Desktop Services is a decent replacement.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Teams offers a much more integrated experience between their chat and video call function compared to Google Chat and Slack. Both other tools are much better for internal communications are they have simpler UI without other features. Whereas Microsoft Teams can be used for more critical conversations, particularly between external companies, and has been very useful in sales conversations which is what we chose it for when speaking to companies that work exclusively through Microsoft.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Honestly, this tool is worth every penny. Yes, it's not free and you pay for the quality of services and the license. But the ROI and the benefits are all there. Also, the renewal, negotiation, and contract terms are all very well explained by our Microsoft account manager, and she's a charm.
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Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It does not appear to have a limit to how many teams and employees we can have using it
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Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I used Skype for Business to take calls, hold conferences, and provide remote assistance to users. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is superior to Skype for Business in my opinion. My job entails a lot of screen sharing.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Allowed remote users access from home
  • Shared file access for multipolar users from a centralized location
  • Cost to add additional users when maxed out
  • Purchase multiple licenses for programs to run in virtual machines. Or unable to run on a virtual machine
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Microsoft
  • Personally, I would say that by using Microsoft Teams, it upped my collaboration with my colleagues by around 50% or around more than half of what I usually did prior to using it.
  • I had 100% show rate and attendance on all of my meetings in the past 6 months.
  • If I may add, I also have been chattier & collaborative towards my colleagues in past 3 months particularly the month of December when we had huge traffic at work. I would estimate this behavior to have been increased by around 60% than what I usually incur during normal operating days.
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ScreenShots