Remote Desktop Services vs. N-able Take Control

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Remote Desktop Services
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Remote Desktop Services from Microsoft is virtual desktop and remote user session technology.N/A
N-able Take Control
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
N-able™ Take Control (formerly Solarwinds Take Control) and Take Control Plus are cloud-based remote control solutions built for MSPs and IT service businesses that need to securely access and troubleshoot end devices. With support for Windows®, Mac®, and Linux® machines, MSPs can work from those platforms or their iOS® or Android® devices with the N-able native app. With N-able Take Control, users can assign techs or whole departments to specific customers or individuals so that…
$19
per month
Pricing
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Take Control
$19
per month
Take Control Plus
$45
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo credit card required. Login info sent directly to your email. Access technical support during your trial.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Considered Both Products
Remote Desktop Services

No answer on this topic

N-able Take Control
Chose N-able Take Control
Take Control can be accessed through a browser whereas Windows Remote Desktop requires settings on the PC and device to remote into the end device. Installing the end devices application has mostly been a flawless install with limited setting configurations. GoToMyPC has …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
8.9
3 Ratings
8% above category average
N-able Take Control
8.2
13 Ratings
1% below category average
Screen sharing9.33 Ratings8.712 Ratings
File transfer9.33 Ratings8.513 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication8.01 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers8.01 Ratings2.04 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session8.73 Ratings8.612 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile10.02 Ratings10.07 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations9.02 Ratings8.512 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management9.02 Ratings8.54 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard9.02 Ratings8.310 Ratings
Session record9.52 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts8.02 Ratings8.310 Ratings
Instant message00 Ratings8.311 Ratings
Annotations00 Ratings8.64 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control00 Ratings8.910 Ratings
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Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
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Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.7 out of 10
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Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
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BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
Score 9.1 out of 10
Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop Services
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(17 ratings)
8.5
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Remote Desktop ServicesN-able Take Control
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Remote Desktop services are well suited for people looking to connect to Local computers/Servers after connecting to VPN or Local Area Network. It is easy to use and performs superbly without any issues. However, it does not have support for connecting to Non-Windows-based Devices and Applications like Teamviewer beat RDP when it comes to connecting to machines outside one's network.
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N-able
I have used a number of remote access systems over my IT/MSP career, and Take Control stands out as the best I have ever used. If you are using the N-Able RMM I highly recommend, Take Control over the other options that can be integrated into the platform
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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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N-able
  • Take Control is really good at accessing a device with no end-user involvement. The user doesn't have to click on permissions or visit a particular site. We simply can take control of their device from the RMM dashboard.
  • If Microsoft issues a patch/update, I can schedule a release of a mass install to all client sites at the click of a mouse from within my office.
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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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N-able
  • Performance on low-end machines.
  • Verbosity when changing stream quality.
  • File manager needs improving, dragging files causes graphical issues.
  • Connection time needs to be reduced.
  • Ability to adjust re-connection time.
  • Integration with more password-storage applications.
  • Screen blanking is buggy in some instances and makes the session unusable.
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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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N-able
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.
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N-able
No answers on this topic
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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N-able
No answers on this topic
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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N-able
We were primarily a team-viewer customer before this point but the continued increases on cost, feature issues as well as core functionality and load issues we were beginning to see on the host machines we started looking for other options. As we were already a solar-winds customer utilizing the SAAS and Take Control for our Managed customers it was a no-brainer to look into Take Control. After a short review and the fact that we are already very familiar with the system via our management dashboard, it was an easy yes
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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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N-able
  • We we're able to bundle Take Control into our RMM pricing removing the need to pay for a separate system and maintain its intergration
  • Remote access is only a click away saving our techs time
  • Reliable connection mean issues are resolved without having to 'fix' the remote access first
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ScreenShots

N-able Take Control Screenshots

Screenshot of N-able Take Control DashboardScreenshot of Take Control - home