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Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop

Overview

What is Parallels Desktop?

Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 14 features
  • File transfer (23)
    9.8
    98%
  • Screen sharing (9)
    9.0
    90%
  • Access to sleeping/powered-off computers (10)
    8.7
    87%
  • Centralized management dashboard (11)
    8.5
    85%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Parallels Desktop 16

$49.99

On Premise
per license

Parallels Desktop Pro Edition

$49.99

On Premise
per license/per year

Parallels Desktop

$79.99

On Premise
per license

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac - VM Explorer Demo

YouTube
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Features

Remote Administration

Remote administration software is used to control a computer from a remote location.

8.2
Avg 8.2
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Product Details

What is Parallels Desktop?

Parallels Desktop Video

How to Run Windows on Mac : Parallels Desktop for Mac

Parallels Desktop Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.

Reviewers rate File transfer highest, with a score of 9.8.

The most common users of Parallels Desktop are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(85)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 30)
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Eduardo Ponce de León | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Parallels Desktop to access Windows on my Mac. There are eLearning and local government design applications that require the exclusive use of the Windows OS and this has helped me to not need to have two computers, but work on one machine with access to both operating systems. Additionally, on occasions there are colleagues who require support on their computers and I can replicate the problem they may have on the operating system they are running in a friendly and very fast way.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Parallels Desktop to run applications on windows. There have been only a few times that Parallels has stopped and I have had to restart it, otherwise I can say that it has good performance and meets my needs for using Windows-based applications like Microsoft project.I liked the experience with Parallels.
Joshua O'Hazza | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels solution simplifies the process of getting windows 11 on my Macbook pro! I have recently joined the Microsoft ISV program but to run windows 11 i needed to find a way to use windows 11 on my Macbook pro. I search online and i found Parallels, I was a skeptic at first but then i did some reach and attempted to download it by myself on other reddit user knowledge and NOTHING worked. I went back to Parallels & pulled the trigger. Needless to say I dont even use safari anymore! Microsofts edge provides coupons for every website i visit and if i want to switch back to Mac i just click on the bottom right of the screen to go back to Mac. Its like having two computers on 1 now thanks to Parallels. along with the platform the staff are great additions to their solution! they are extremely supportive as well as knowledgeable in not just their platform but the overall market in the software development industry! I highly recommend their solutions and their employees. I RARELY give 10 thumbs up but i'll give it to this team!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are an all Apple environment, but still, we have plenty of applications that require us to run Windows. In some cases, we have entire departments that have this need, and in other instances, it’s a single user. Prior to implementing Parallels Desktop, we had some people who were lugging around an old Dell laptop in addition to a MacBook Pro for a single application. The IT department also uses to easily spin up virtual machines for testing and training on our machines.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In our team, we prefer using MacBooks for the vast majority of our work. However, there are a few things here and there that require us to work within a Windows environment. In these specific cases, we use Parallels Desktop to access a virtual Windows installation and use the software we need to get our work done efficiently all on one machine.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Desktop is used in our organization to allow Mac users to run Windows-only applications.

To support Internet Explorer 11 websites, we need to take into consideration the development and testing/validation of how our websites behave to customers when they have an Internet Explorer browser. This is the main use case that we use.

The other use case is to support some old Asp.net applications that needs certain versions of Windows, and with a majority of developers being Mac users, is the only option to do that.

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels are used to run VMs locally on MacBook developer machines - most commonly to run Windows applications or to check bugs and code pertaining to Windows from the standard-issued MacBooks. This is important as, while development productivity is highest using MacBooks, our customers are more often using the UI tools on Windows for authoring tasks.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I love my Mac, but there are a few programs where a PC is a must. A friend told me about Parallels Desktop and I am so thankful that he did! For mere pocket change I have a PC on my Mac and WAY BETTER than the old Boot Camp. It requires next to no setup or configuration. A few clicks and I have a PC to use when I need it and it is not even high overhead.
Jose Almiñana | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels desktop is installed for selected individuals using Mac computers and who also need to have access to software that is only developed for Windows OS (or in some instances that the Windows version is much more powerful than the Mac OS version).

Primarily these users are running SAP software in the Parallels partition, using the rest of their software in the Mac OS.

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Parallels to run various operating systems on my MacBook Pro. This includes Windows, Windows Server, Linux, and more. There are many programs only written for Windows such as MS Project which works well as I recently had a project plan with over 12,000 lines in it for a major construction effort and MS Project worked as well on my Parallels enabled MacBook Pro M3 as on other native Windows systems. You can also use applications written for Linux that can help with DevOps use cases and helped with some MLOps use cases.
Dave Cowell | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Most of my work is on Apple only software but I have some software that is only available on Windows. Parallels allows me to have the best of both worlds.

I also love the fact I can sandbox an Apple OS and have multiple Windows installations including XP for some very dated serial software that doesn’t work after that.
Will Goad | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Desktop is used in my organization and with our customers to support Windows Apps when there is no Mac Application or the Mac Application is not fully featured.
We have a legacy application where only administrative functions can be performed in a Windows App. For some of our customers, all users are Mac users. Parallels and their Coherence Mode provide a near-seamless virtual machine/desktop experience for these users. Coherence Mode means they don't have to deal with a windows environment and can work side by side with our app and their other Mac apps (Adobe Creative Cloud apps, for example).
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I'm using Parallels Desktop for to have multiple operating systems all in one device. I can set the CPU, RAM, and Harddisk according to how many sources I need. Also, this app works really stable and supports almost all operating systems. Also possible to sync files between the local device and virtual machine.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Desktop allows our organization to virtualize Windows and Linux as well as MacOS on the company Mac computers. While not all departments use it, the Systems Department and Schooling Management teams do make use of it every day. We are able to test software and capabilities as well as run Windows programs that are not compatible natively with the Mac. State school system still use legacy software for accessing student data and Windows is sadly still a requirement. The Systems team uses a lot of Linux VM's to experiment with security testing and to create secure labs and Parallels Desktop becomes critical.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels are primarily used by Apple/Mac users who need to access PC-only software or need to troubleshoot PC-based issues. It is often helpful in creating Windows-based screencast/tech tutorials
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We run our business using Mac computers. However, the design department (3 staff) use occasionally CAD software that only runs on Windows. Parallels was the preferred solution to make allow MacOS and Windows operation from the same computer.
Jonah Dempcy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Parallels to run older versions of Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro for the purposes of testing apps on older versions of Mac OS. Parallels does this job perfectly, by allowing me to easily boot up older versions of the OS at leisure. I also run Windows 10 in Parallels so I can use PC-only apps that are not available on OS X.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Desktop is primarily used for testing Microsoft Windows browsers within macOS. Running Microsoft Windows 10 within Parallels allows us to test both the Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge browsers for front-end development. It can also be used to run Windows-specific software that will not work in macOS, as well as add support for writing to NTFS drive partitions.
Jason White | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
About half of our Mac users have Parallels installed on their systems, both for the purposes of coding for two different systems, as well as for testing purposes. There are many different departments that use Parallels, for software development, support and QA testing purposes. It allows them to use a single machine for all their needs, instead of having to connect to a remote VM or use two machines.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As my department continues to have designers and developers migrate off of Windows operating systems and onto Macs, we needed a solution for those users to access legacy business applications that work only with Macs. As a result, Parallels was our solution of choice, as it offered simple Windows virtualization on the Mac without a need for centralized VM management (though we have that too).
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels Desktop in our organization for users who use Mac platform. Many products for which we provide consulting services such as Oracle EBS and some integration software for Oracle Cloud do not work on Mac. Parallels Desktop allows us to use these software with ease and efficiency without having dedicated separate machines.
Damien Dolan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels is being used right now by users who want/requested Macs and also need a Windows machine to do certain business functions. It is being used across the whole organization in various departments. A business problem Parallels helps solve is that some users have needs that are better met with Macs, but want Windows as well due to the fact of us being a Windows shop.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a person whose job it is to test and troubleshoot audio video equipment with a variety of equipment attached, and as a Mac user that relies on a variety of Windows software tools to accomplish my job, I spend most of my work day in virtual operating environments. When I first started using Parallels, I tested it against other options such as VirtualBox and VMWare. I have tested those options since then and every time, Parallels stands out as the most stable and most efficient option.

When it comes to the virtual environment configuration customization and USB compatibility with non-standard devices, Parallels consistently stands at the top of the list.
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