Horizon Cloud
Desktop as a service (DaaS) providers
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$12.50 per user per month
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Energy and utilities
- Banking and insurance
- Public sector and nonprofit organizations
What is Horizon Cloud
Horizon Cloud is a virtual desktop and application delivery platform used to provide end users with centrally managed Windows desktops and published applications. It targets IT teams that need to deliver secure remote access for knowledge workers, contractors, and task workers across on-premises and cloud environments. The product integrates with the Horizon control plane and supports image management, entitlement, and policy-based access for virtual desktops. It is typically deployed as part of an enterprise end-user computing (EUC) stack alongside identity, endpoint, and virtualization components.
Hybrid VDI deployment options
Horizon Cloud supports delivering desktops and apps across cloud-hosted and on-premises resources, which helps organizations standardize on one VDI stack while using multiple infrastructure locations. This is useful for phased migrations, data residency constraints, or latency-sensitive user groups. IT teams can align desktop placement with workload requirements rather than committing to a single hosting model.
Centralized desktop image management
The platform provides tooling for managing golden images and desktop pools at scale, reducing manual effort compared with building and maintaining individual virtual machines. This approach supports consistent patching and configuration across large user populations. It also helps enforce standardization for compliance and operational repeatability.
Enterprise access and policy controls
Horizon Cloud includes role-based administration and integrates with enterprise identity and access patterns commonly used for VDI. Administrators can define entitlements and policies for who can access which desktops or applications. This supports common security and governance requirements for remote access and shared desktop environments.
Complexity for smaller teams
VDI and DaaS deployments typically require careful design across identity, networking, images, and capacity planning, and Horizon Cloud is no exception. Smaller IT teams may find initial setup and ongoing operations more complex than simpler, single-tenant hosted desktop services. Organizations often need specialized EUC skills to run it efficiently.
Licensing and cost variability
Total cost can vary significantly based on licensing choices, infrastructure hosting model, and required add-ons (for example, management, security, or monitoring components). This can make budgeting harder compared with offerings that bundle infrastructure and licensing into a single per-user price. Cost optimization may require ongoing rightsizing and operational discipline.
Cloud dependency and service changes
As a cloud-managed offering, Horizon Cloud depends on vendor-operated control plane services and their release cadence. Changes to supported cloud environments, features, or lifecycle policies can affect long-term planning. Organizations with strict change-control requirements may need additional validation and testing processes.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Universal Subscription | $12.50 per user/month (starting) | Multi-cloud deployment; includes cloud management services (Horizon Control Plane), App Volumes, Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM), Workspace ONE Intelligence; advertised as "starting at $12.50/user/month" in VMware blog. |
| Horizon Enterprise Plus Subscription | Contact sales / Not publicly listed | Advanced desktop and app delivery for single-cloud deployment; includes App Volumes and DEM (VMware lists edition but does not publish public price). |
| Horizon Standard Plus Subscription | Contact sales / Not publicly listed | Premium desktop delivery with cloud management for single-cloud deployment; public pricing not listed. |
| Horizon Apps Universal Subscription | Contact sales / Not publicly listed | RDSH app delivery with full cloud management services; public pricing not listed. |
| Horizon Apps Standard Subscription | Contact sales / Not publicly listed | Simple RDSH app delivery with basic cloud management; public pricing not listed. |
| Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure (Horizon Cloud service) | Pricing: subscription + Azure infrastructure (contact sales for licensing; Azure IaaS billed separately) | DaaS deployment on Microsoft Azure; Azure infrastructure is billed separately (consumption-based). |
Seller details
Omnissa
Palo Alto, California, United States
2024
Private
https://www.omnissa.com/
https://x.com/omnissa
https://www.linkedin.com/company/omnissa/
