Omnissa Horizon vs Parallels RAS (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Parallels RAS grades higher than Omnissa Horizon: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Parallels RAS grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Omnissa Horizon
Virtual desktops and apps on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid
Paid
Parallels RAS
Virtual apps and desktops across on-premises, hybrid and cloud
Free trial
Which one is for you
Pick Omnissa Horizon if
- Fits if you are an IT team that needs desktops and apps delivered to many users
- Works for firms that want a choice of on-premises or cloud hosting
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an app to reach your own PC, as this is an IT-managed platform
- Watch out: Horizon Term licences run on your own infrastructure, so hosting and management cost extra
- Watch out: Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud are separate products with their own features
- Tight if you want a price up front, as none is published
Pick Parallels RAS if
- Fits if you are an IT administrator who wants one console across on-premises and cloud hosts
- Works for MSPs who need multi-tenancy
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a personal remote-access app, as this is for IT administrators
- Watch out: prices are unpublished and buying goes through the vendor or a partner
- Tight if you have no servers, since you supply hosting on premises or in a cloud
- Not for you if you need more than a 30-day look, as the trial is for evaluation
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAOmnissa HorizonWeak | 2.4GPAParallels RASFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published: the products page sends buyers to Omnissa for Horizon SaaS and Term pricing, so it sits at C. | CNo price is published: licensing is by concurrent users and purchase goes through the vendor or a partner, so it sits at C. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed anywhere on the vendor pages. | CA 30-day trial with no card is offered, and there is no free plan. |
| Features | BFull desktops, published apps, App Volumes, REST APIs and a cloud desktop service are listed, which covers the core of virtual desktop delivery. | BHybrid and multi-cloud hosting, a single console, a bundled gateway and load balancing, and multi-tenancy for MSPs cover the core of the job. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It needs servers or a cloud tenant, images and policies set up by an IT team. | DNo store rating on record. You provide the infrastructure and an administrator sets it up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android are listed, with Teams, Zoom, Nutanix, AWS, NVIDIA and Terraform. No web client is listed. | AWeb, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android clients, with Azure Virtual Desktop, AWS, Hyper-V, Nutanix, ESX, FSLogix and Proxmox. |
| Best for | company virtual desktops and published apps | company apps and desktops from servers you host |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Omnissa Horizon and Parallels RAS. How we grade
Where they differ
- Parallels RAS also covers file sharing.
In commonWindowsmacOSLinuxiOSAndroidWorkflow automationRemote desktop
At a glance
| Omnissa Horizon | Parallels RAS | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Omnissa, LLC | Parallels International GmbH |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Omnissa Horizon
- No prices are published; the products page offers Horizon SaaS and Horizon Term pricing only through the vendor.
- Horizon Term licenses run on your own infrastructure, so hosting and management cost is extra.
- Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud are separate products with their own feature sets.
- It is an IT-managed platform, not an app for reaching your own PC.
Parallels RAS
- Prices are not published; the vendor says licensing is based on concurrent users.
- The 30-day trial is for evaluation, and a purchase goes through the vendor or a partner.
- It is a platform for IT administrators, not a personal remote-access app.
- You supply the hosting infrastructure, whether on-premises or in a cloud.
Key features
Omnissa Horizon
- Full desktops and published apps
- Horizon 8 serves complete virtual desktops or individual applications, with centralized control over performance, policies and infrastructure.
- Deploy where it suits
- Desktops can run on-premises, in private clouds or in public cloud, and the site also lists air-gapped and isolated environments as a use case.
- App Volumes
- Omnissa App Volumes packages and delivers applications on demand, which the vendor says reduces image sprawl and speeds up updates.
- Automation through REST APIs
- Deployment and management tasks can be scripted with REST APIs and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.
- Horizon Cloud DaaS
- Horizon Cloud is a separate cloud-native desktop-as-a-service offering, and the site announces a version that runs on OpenStack.
Parallels RAS
- Hybrid and multi-cloud hosting
- Hosts can run on-premises, in private or public clouds, with support for Azure Virtual Desktop, AVD Hybrid and AWS EC2, and for hypervisors such as Hyper-V, Nutanix and VMware ESX.
- Any-device clients
- The vendor lists clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and the web (HTML5), and its download page also offers a Chrome client.
- Single admin console
- App and desktop management, image handling, reporting, gateway, load balancing and authentication are handled in one console across sites.
- Included gateway and load balancing
- A Secure Gateway and a High Availability Load Balancer come with the product, or you can use a third-party load balancer.
- Multi-tenancy for MSPs
- Built-in multi-tenancy serves managed service providers, software vendors or enterprises that keep resources segregated.
Plans
Omnissa Horizon
Pricing could not be confirmed. See omnissa.com.
Parallels RAS
Pricing could not be confirmed. See parallels.com.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Omnissa Horizon or Parallels RAS?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Omnissa Horizon has no price we could confirm, and Parallels RAS has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Omnissa Horizon or Parallels RAS?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Omnissa Horizon nor Parallels RAS has a free plan. Parallels RAS has a free trial.
Which platforms do Omnissa Horizon and Parallels RAS run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Parallels RAS lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.