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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Remote Desktop Services

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ARemote Desktop Services from Microsoft is virtual desktop and remote user session technology.N/A

    Zoom Workplace

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AZoom Workplace, Zoom’s open collaboration platform with an AI Companion, empowers teams to be more productive, and strengthen customer relationships throughout the customer lifecycle with Zoom’s Business Services for sales, marketing, and customer experience teams, including Zoom Contact Center.

    $16.99

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Add-On Zoom Translated Captions
    $5
    per month per license
    Pro
    $16.99
    per month per user
    Business
    $21.99
    per month per user
    Add-On - Conference Room Connector
    $499
    per year
    Basic
    Free
    Enterprise
    Custom
    Add-On - Zoom Whiteboard
    starting at $2.49
    per month per user
    Add-On - Large Meetings
    starting at $600
    per year
    Add-On - Cloud Storage
    starting at $120
    per year
    Add-On Audio Conferencing
    starting at $1200
    per year
    Add-On Zoom Phone Power Pack
    Starting at $300
    per year per user
    Add-On - Quality of Service Subscription
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Discount available for annual billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Zoom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    412 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    386 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    437 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    287 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    327 Answers
    Features
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Remote Administration
    Comparison of Remote Administration features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    4.6
    5 Ratings
    53% below category average
    Zoom Workplace
    -
    Ratings
    Screen sharing8.25 Ratings00 Ratings
    File transfer4.65 Ratings00 Ratings
    Instant message1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication6.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access to sleeping/powered-off computers1.12 Ratings00 Ratings
    Over-the-Internet remote session6.85 Ratings00 Ratings
    Initiate remote control from mobile3.64 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remote management of servers & workstations8.24 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remote Active Directory® management8.64 Ratings00 Ratings
    Centralized management dashboard2.23 Ratings00 Ratings
    Session record2.23 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring and Alerts3.13 Ratings00 Ratings
    Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
    Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.5
    1006 Ratings
    1% above category average
    High quality audio00 Ratings8.9998 Ratings
    High quality video00 Ratings8.9998 Ratings
    Screen Sharing
    Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.7
    1006 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Desktop sharing00 Ratings9.31005 Ratings
    Online Meetings / Events
    Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.7
    1012 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Calendar integration00 Ratings9.0923 Ratings
    Meeting initiation00 Ratings9.1986 Ratings
    Record meetings / events00 Ratings9.2961 Ratings
    Online Events Collaboration
    Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.5
    874 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Live chat00 Ratings9.1856 Ratings
    Online Events Security
    Comparison of Online Events Security features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.9
    864 Ratings
    11% above category average
    User authentication00 Ratings8.9755 Ratings
    Participant roles & permissions00 Ratings8.7829 Ratings
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.1
    236 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Hosted PBX00 Ratings8.3112 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)00 Ratings7.8141 Ratings
    Directory of employee names00 Ratings8.3218 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.2
    264 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Answering rules00 Ratings8.5192 Ratings
    Call recording00 Ratings8.7240 Ratings
    Call park00 Ratings7.8147 Ratings
    Call screening00 Ratings8.0165 Ratings
    Message alerts00 Ratings8.2210 Ratings
    Business SMS/External Messaging00 Ratings7.9135 Ratings
    Voicemail Transcription00 Ratings7.9183 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.8
    297 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Mobile app for iOS00 Ratings8.8263 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android00 Ratings8.9181 Ratings
    Unified Communications Platform and Collaboration
    Comparison of Unified Communications Platform and Collaboration features of Remote Desktop Services and Zoom Workplace
    Feature
    Remote Desktop Services
    -
    Ratings
    Zoom Workplace
    8.7
    249 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Centralized communications management00 Ratings8.9199 Ratings
    Team messaging00 Ratings8.9214 Ratings
    Team document sharing00 Ratings8.6193 Ratings
    Call and meeting analytics00 Ratings8.5202 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Small Businesses
    N-able Take Control
    Score7.2 out of 10
    Broadvoice | GoContact
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Remote Desktop Manager
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Webex Calling
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Webex Calling
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.8
    (20 ratings)
    8.8
    (1070 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.4
    (27 ratings)
    Usability
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    9.5
    (46 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (46 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (11 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (13 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.8
    (3 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.2
    (8 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Remote Desktop ServicesZoom Workplace
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    In most cases, and I mean almost all, Zoom is vastly superior to Teams in terms of functionality and ease of use. Case in point: I recently tried to join a Teams meeting in the web browser, and it took me multiple attempts to access it. This NEVER happens with a Zoom link.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    • Audio quality of phone calls is spot on. Calls are clear and crisp.
    • Video quality of video meetings are clear and there aren't any pixelization artifacts that some systems can have.
    • Having AI summaries have been life changing for us. We no longer have to concentrate on note taking, like we did in the past. The summaries are accurate and enable us to put our efforts in the meeting or conversation. Plus, we can save them into our practice management system as required.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    • Love notes - allow insertion of table or grid
    • Allow admin to turn off DND
    • Allow a way to group individual people chats - not channels just individual peeps into groups for ease of finding - like how you can group shared calendars into sections in Outlook
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    We're sticking with Zoom for the foreseeable future--given its compelling feature set, ease of use, and advanced technology, there's just no other competition to be excited about. Plus it's a Gartner-recognized industry leader, so it's a rather easy choice.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    Zoom is made for the non tech office. It has features that can be made to do what you need to run things on a day to day basis. Immediately we we able to get meetings going with remote employees. The ability to be able to add smartphone connected people was a big plus. Zoom met our needs at the time.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    There have been less than a handful of outages during our two years with Zoom, and whenever there was one, an email informing us of the outage went out immediately, and they had the issue resolved shortly thereafter.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Microsoft
    There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    Zoom has among the best performance of any video conference platform, as I've mentioned several times. Besides that, their Chat platform works great, and their back end always runs smooth. It's unfortunate that reporting can now only be done by one month at a time, but nonetheless, it only takes a second to run any kind of Zoom report, whether it's an attendee report, Poll results, a user report, a list of meetings from the past month, etc.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    Because I got a response right away, and was assigned one specific individual to work with me from the beginning to the resolution. I had an actual email address and direct contact with this person without having to start over and over every time I contacted Zoom - this singular individual remained attentive and was well informed on the subject matter and quite able to resolve my needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    If you receive any pushback from higher ups, point to any of the various positive reviews like this one. Or show Zoom's excellent Gartner report, or articles describing Zoom's partnership with Sequoia capital. It's not difficult to show how Zoom is a trustworthy industry leader with best-in-class technology.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    Zoom Workplace is typically on the more expensive end against other options, but it's the industry leader for a reason. It has the most brand credibility by far, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. There are limitations when it comes to technical performance, customization and video/audio quality. I prefer Slack myself for communication apps, but Zoom Workplace is a good alternative.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    The billing and price model is really fair for so many functions that they offer, our remote work requires each of the features that Zoom offers, so accepting payment for a tool like this is the least we can do. I like that billing arrives on time and that they offer opportunities and payment times.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    Because the Basic licenses are completely free, and because it's very easy to configure and install Zoom, and because anyone can join Zoom from a link without needing an account, scaling is a Breeze. There are absolutely no roadblocks. My company keeps adding more Zoom Pro license every week since it's so in demand. We were able to convert users from several different platforms onto Zoom with no trouble at all.
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Zoom
    Zoom is perfect for our business. We use it to video chat with prospective clients. The name recognition alone gives us credibility and it is very easy to screen share and send content out.
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoom
    • We have not lost much productivity in our teamwork during the pandemic because of the ability to have Zoom video calls and keep everyone in touch. This is definitely a positive.
    • We are able to have more people participate in coaching sessions (described earlier) because we don't have room space limitations. This is a big positive.
    • Being able to start a meeting instantly is great when we are doing support and/or training with a client over the phone and need to be able to share a visible
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Zoom Workplace Screenshots

    Screenshot of an example collaboration feature. These are used to:
Transcribe, summarize, and capture action items with AI Companion from your in-person meetings.
Improve visibility and alignment by sharing emails to chats
Elevate a chat to a meeting or phone call to get to resolution faster. 
Continue meeting conversations and easily access shared information in Team Chat.Screenshot of an example of Zoom's productivity features. These features are used to:
Improve productivity across teams, locations, and time zones.
Organize project deliverables and assets in a centralized, collaborative doc.
Collaborate and map out projects visually on a whiteboard.
Jumpstart brainstorming sessions using AI and templates.
Gather valuable team input for well-informed decision-making with surveys and polls.
Stay on top of action items surfaced from across Zoom Workplace.Screenshot of some additional collaboration features. These are used to:
Optimize office experiences and in-person time.
Make sure remote participants feel connected with what is going on in the room.
Collaborate across remote and in-person teams on a virtual whiteboard.
Easily know and identify who is in the room and who is speaking in a Zoom Room with smart name tags and smart speaker tags.Screenshot of an example of Zoom's AI companion. This feature is used to streamline communications, improve productivity, increase employee engagement, and optimize flexible work.Screenshot of additional AI Companion features. The tools is also used to:
Launch internal campaigns.
Deliver visually rich updates with live streams, billboards, and videos.
Ensure critical comms are never missed with read receipts.
Send updates to deskless workers with Workvivo TV and Chat.