VMware Horizon vs. VMware Workstation Player

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
VMware Horizon
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
A VDI solution used for the secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps from on-premises to the cloud. It is used to deploy, manage, monitor and scale desktops and apps across private, hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure using a cloud-based console and SaaS management services.
$4.67
per month per user
VMware Workstation Player
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
VMware Workstation 17 Player is a platform for running a single virtual machine on a Windows or Linux PC to deliver managed corporate desktops. Organizations can use Workstation Player to deliver managed corporate desktops, while students and educators use it for learning and training.N/A
Pricing
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Editions & Modules
Horizon Apps Standard
$4.67
per month per user
Horizon Standard Plus
$5.79
per month per user
Horizon Apps Universal
$6.00
per month per user
Horizon Enterprise Plus
$10.71
per month per user
Horizon Universal
$12.50
per month per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Considered Both Products
VMware Horizon

No answer on this topic

VMware Workstation Player
Chose VMware Workstation Player
Most of this is apples to oranges. VMware Horizon View allows for a cloud-based virtualization solution, whereas VMware Player is better suited for educational purposes (basic, local, etc.). VMware Fusion is nice, but I prefer Parallels when it comes to local virtualization on …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Small Businesses
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Likelihood to Recommend
7.2
(35 ratings)
6.9
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(4 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(10 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.7
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
VMware HorizonVMware Workstation Player
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware by Broadcom
VMware is well suited to a business where there will be many remote users needing to connect to the companies desktop. The installation on a remote computer is simple and is easy to use remotely but can be complicated to set up on the back end on the office system. It may not be worth the effort for a company that has few people who need remote access.
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VMware by Broadcom
VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:
  • Testing windows updates on a system
  • Testing a new software or a new software version
  • Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS
  • Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them
You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.
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Pros
VMware by Broadcom
  • It provides a robust, secure, rich desktop environment that is able to access all internal network resources.
  • Addresses security and compliance concerns as all data resides within the internal network. All data accessed stays within the internal network and does not need to traverse a VPN to the local desktop where it may be cached, etc.
  • The connection is thin client that does not require large amount of bandwidth.
  • Client application is available for all common devices and O/S’s.
  • No need to install, configure and maintain applications on local desktop.
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VMware by Broadcom
  • VMware Player is easy to use.
  • VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems.
  • Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM.
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Cons
VMware by Broadcom
  • Move away from Adobe Flash version in UI, currently on the path but they need to hurry up
  • Speed up the boot process of the environment when servers need maintenance
  • Provide clear steps on what should be upgrade path in terms of components, the order
  • price! A bit too much
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VMware by Broadcom
  • Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them.
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Likelihood to Renew
VMware by Broadcom
We are committed to VMware Horizon and we plan to stick with it for the future unless something drastically changes.
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VMware by Broadcom
I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.
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Usability
VMware by Broadcom
VMware Horizon is very easy to use. It is very easy and quick to log in remotely. It is very easy to install remotely. It is usable easily on many different operating systems. It is easy to set up which tools are available to each remote user so that each user has just what they need to perform their work without any extra tools cluttering up their space or bogging down the system.
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VMware by Broadcom
Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).
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Performance
VMware by Broadcom
Performance is excellent of you provide the needed hardware to support the sessions/connections. Pages load very quickly at the client end as the thin client application does a very good job and requires very little bandwidth. All applications function well, as they are running on a session on an internal server that is accessing data directly on the network
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VMware by Broadcom
Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.
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Support Rating
VMware by Broadcom
It is surely way better than Citrix, but it could improve a bit. Usually, they send us the solution without saying what was the root cause so we can avoid breaking something in the future. Besides that, VMWare support answers in an OK time-frame and even speaks our language (Portuguese).
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VMware by Broadcom
VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.
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Implementation Rating
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
VMware by Broadcom
Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.
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Alternatives Considered
VMware by Broadcom
Although I really prefer Microsoft Remote Desktop for accessing Windows servers (from Windows machines especially), and this can be done from off-site with a VPN, this entails much more effort, namely getting everyone's Active Directory in the correct group to have access. VMWare Horizon is a much simpler solution in terms of granting access. Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer are really not viable solutions for remotely accessing servers in business settings, although they work alright for home servers and such, especially from off-site.
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VMware by Broadcom
Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.
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Return on Investment
VMware by Broadcom
  • Saved money on PC purchases.
  • Save a lot of man hours by not having to image new PCs. We just create one Template VM and clone the others from that.
  • Bit of a learning curve to get the deployment right for the environment.
  • Ability to make sure VMs always turn back on once they are shutdown. This speeds up load times for users.
  • Less management for our PCs. If one gets a virus or something corrupts we just refresh it and within 5 minutes the user is back to work.
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VMware by Broadcom
  • A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use.
  • Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support.
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