Remote Desktop Services vs. SimpleHelp

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Remote Desktop Services
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Remote Desktop Services from Microsoft is virtual desktop and remote user session technology.N/A
SimpleHelp
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
N/A
$450
one-time fee
Pricing
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Basic
$450
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Considered Both Products
Remote Desktop Services
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Because it is a built-in, free solution for a small set of managed computers. No extra licenses required. No budget. Setup and configuration is instanteneous.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
TeamViewer and Splashtop
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Same functionality but RDP is already installed on Windows so no client to install and it's cheaper.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
All remote desktop or desktop virtualization services are quite costly and very complicated to set up. Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services has the advantage of being very available for many years, meaning practically any device can be used as a workstation. Tablets, …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop is great for onsite or point-to-point connections without having to have a mediator type server.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
We used RDS on-site primarily because of how easy it is for users to transition from their own desktop to a remote desktop. However, from off-site, there are VPN and other security considerations to take into account, and the process gets a little more complex. In this …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Solutions can be expensive and often offer more options than you need/want. Paying those extra dollars is tough when you have a budget. RDS in many cases works well and is cost effective.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
I use Remote Desktop Services only and have never used other services to replace it.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Since Remote Desktop Services comes with the Windows OS, there's no need to install any additional software or agent for it to function. Even on the Mac, there's a client that can be installed for this to run properly. Unfortunately, unlike TeamViewer or Ultra VNC, Remote …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Among all the reasons I've previously listed the main reason for choosing RDS is for the reliability and fast connection.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop Services is an initiation from Microsoft in my view. The rest all are adapters for this and have a considerably inovated feature base.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
We have reviewed Citrix Xen Desktop and VMware's VDI solutions. For the cost, when compared to what Remote Desktop Services can provide us there was no contest. Remote Desktop Services can provide us all the features we require with little to no cost since we are an EA customer …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
I also used 2x Client and Citrix in the past. Both worked nice. Citrix is a little more complex and once with Windows updates damaged a Citrix installation causing all ICA traffic to not accept connections. 2x Client was simple and free for 3 connections (or used to be). Both …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
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 …
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Mainly licensing optimization, as Remote Desktop Services CALs are needed anyway for other products.
Chose Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop Services is close to free, it is native and performs far better from a user experience point of view with almost no lag and excellent integration to the normal desktop environment. Even if another product is used Remote Desktop Services still forms part of the …
SimpleHelp
Chose SimpleHelp
It was the productd of choice for us for last few years based on what it gives us and price point.
Features
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
Remote Desktop Services
8.9
Ratings
9% above category average
SimpleHelp
8.5
Ratings
5% above category average
Screen sharing9.30 Ratings10.00 Ratings
File transfer9.30 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication8.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session8.60 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations9.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management9.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Session record9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Instant message00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Annotations00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Small Businesses
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.7 out of 10
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.6
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Remote Desktop ServicesSimpleHelp
Likelihood to Recommend
Remote Desktop Services provides access to work environments from any device. This allows us to ensure business continuity in case of disaster. It provides admins more control over access and security. Remote Desktop Services simplifies software updates and compliance management by reducing the need to act on end users devices.
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It's a great product that allows us simple easy to use access to all of our endpoints. I really don't see where its less appropriate other than I would always like the price to be less.
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Pros
  • Relative ease of setup: in comparison to some of the other solutions on the market (Citrix, etc.), Remote Desktop Services is rather easy to set up and get configured in your environment.
  • Feature set: Microsoft offers a good deal of the same features many competitors offer in the same space including a mobile app and the ability to have a "native" app feel for a remote application.
  • Inexpensive Licensing: in comparison to other solutions on the market Remote Desktop Services is inexpensive.
  • Move LOB applications closer to their server counterparts: this goes for all remote solutions, but if you have a line of business application that makes a great deal of calls across the network to your data center, your remote office users will likely benefit from the performance and stability side by moving those client side applications into the data center.
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  • Easy access to pc's and servers
  • one pane of glass to our endpoints
  • simple to use
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Cons
  • Advanced configuration is required.
  • Off-site access from a different network is very insecure unless a VPN can be used.
  • It's complicated and relatively costly for multi-user environments, as each user or device requires a CAL on top of the server licensing.
  • Incredibly complicated licensing strategy from Microsoft.
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  • easier reporting
  • more seemless access to our pc's
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Usability
Once set up it works well and is extremely easy for users. Getting it right can be difficult, it is easy to setup insecurely. Maintenance can be difficult with only a single broker and with manual switchover required for redundant gateways. Troubleshooting access issues can also be difficult
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very easy to use and does what it needs to do for us which is ease of use to get to all of our endpoints.
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Performance
There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We used RDS on-site primarily because of how easy it is for users to transition from their own desktop to a remote desktop. However, from off-site, there are VPN and other security considerations to take into account, and the process gets a little more complex. In this situation, especially if you're trying to support a user who is outside the local network, it can be easier to use something like Chrome Remote Desktop or TeamViewer. However, the Windows functionality of RDS is totally unmatched.
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It was the productd of choice for us for last few years based on what it gives us and price point.
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Return on Investment
  • Remote Desktop Services has had a major positive ROI impact at our firm. There were a number of times when our staff was traveling abroad to business meetings with a laptop that had missing presentations. But once they had internet access, a Remote Desktop Services connection is established, and presentation data can now be shown directly from their laptops as if theyr'e sitting in our office.
  • Remote Desktop Services has made it possible for Mac staff users to use their computing devices to access our network system to run Windows applications and access all our network data.
  • Remote Desktop Services has made it possible for our staff to successfully work remotely from outside the office. There were many occasions when emergencies came up which prevented staff from coming into the office to work. But as long as they have a computer with an internet connection, they used Remote Desktop Services to connect to our terminal server and successfully ran the programs to modify data files on the network without losing a beat.
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  • easy to use
  • one pane of glass dashboard
  • reporting could be better
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ScreenShots