# Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Reviews **Vendor:** Corel Corporation **Category:** [Application Server Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/application-server) **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 68 ## About Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is a remote work solution that provides secure virtual access to business applications and desktops on any device or OS—from anywhere. The platform offers an agile, cloud-ready foundation and end-to-end security fueled by a centralized management console with granular policies. Companies can leverage on-premises, hybrid, or public cloud deployments and integrate with existing technology like Microsoft Azure and AWS. Parallels RAS aims to give organizations the flexibility, scalability, and IT agility to adapt to changing business needs. Parallels RAS offers a single, full-featured licensing model that includes 24/7 support and access to product training. Key benefits include: - User experience: work from anywhere, on any device. - Enhanced data security and compliance: centralized management console with granular policies. - IT agility and business readiness: flexible hosting solutions to scale and adapt. - Total cost of ownership: supports BYOD and includes a simple licensing model. - Always-on support: access to 24/7 support and training at no additional cost. ## Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Reviews ### 1. Valuable Security and Control Layer for Remote Desktop Access **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Robert B. | Lead Support Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 05, 2026 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels Remote Application Server adds a valuable layer of security and control on top of standard Windows Remote Desktop. It centralizes access to applications and desktops, allowing tighter policy enforcement, access controls, and session management without relying solely on native RDP configurations. The customization is particularly useful. It allows fine-tuning of how applications are published, how users authenticate, and how sessions behave, which improves both security and user experience. This reduces the need for complex manual configuration across multiple servers. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels Remote Application Server can be slow to integrate with third-party 2FA solutions, which limits flexibility when aligning with existing authentication standards. This can delay deployments or require workarounds when stronger or preferred MFA methods are needed. Mac support is also more limited compared to Windows. Features and updates tend to lag, which creates inconsistencies in user experience and can complicate support in mixed-device environments. Overall, these gaps impact integration flexibility and cross-platform consistency. Improvements in faster 2FA integration and more aligned Mac development would make the platform more balanced. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Parallels Remote Application Server solves the problem of securely delivering applications and desktops without requiring full local installations or complex VPN setups. It centralizes access to internal systems, allowing users to connect through a controlled gateway rather than exposing multiple endpoints. This benefits operations by improving security and simplifying management. Access policies, authentication, and session controls are handled in one place, reducing the need to configure and maintain individual RDP environments across servers. It also addresses scalability and user access challenges. Applications can be published once and accessed by multiple users across different devices, which reduces deployment time and support overhead while maintaining a consistent user experience. Overall, it streamlines remote access, strengthens security, and reduces administrative complexity. ### 2. Parallels Remote Application Application is a descent and Secure software for Remote Access **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Clare D. | SAP B1 Consultant, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 12, 2022 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I use Parallels to remotely access some of our client's servers hosted in the cloud. So far I have not had major issues with it. It works as expected and most importantly it is more secure than other applications for remote access like the windows remote desktop application. I like that Pararells allows for the creation of different user rights. You can create a username and limit the access rights as needed. One of our major clients uses this feature since all the users access the server but with limited rights. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Sometimes the application hangs and you are forced to close it up and open it up again. This can lead to wastage of time. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Parallels, you can have one server that is hosted remotely in the cloud and have everyone access the server directly using parallels. This can lead to proper utilization of resources since you don't need to invest a lot of money in having powerful individual user machines. As long as the server is powerful and high-end, you are good to go. ### 3. RAS is a Great Alternative to the competition **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 05, 2023 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** RAS allows easy management of multiple Virtual desktops and Remote apps in one convenient location. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** RAS doesn't have an easy way to share a physical client with multiple Virtual desktops. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** RAS is our connection broker for our Scale hypervisor. ### 4. Universal remote access with Parallels RAS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stefan Z. | IT Resources Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 10, 2021 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels RAS brings all your IT infrastructure (servers, applications, shared drives, private cloud, printers) in a browser at a fingertip, with excellent user experience, low latency, and high security. It provides the agility complex businesses need. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Although there is a heavy client to access the virtualized items, setup the client in an enterprise environment with serious network security policies in place is complicated, leaving you only the HTML5 access. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Parallels have complex architecture; only IT professionals must set it up. Read thoroughly the installation guide, which is rich and detailed. Start with a basic setup and grow to your expectations progressively. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Parallels RAS server allowed us easy virtualization of applications, remote access to resources isolated in VLANs through very flexible user access policies. Imagine an application running on a server isolated in a VLAN with limited access. The application bound to the server's hardware resources must be accessible to specific user groups, but the server is forbidden to access. Parallels RAS server would solve such a problem. ### 5. Parallels RAS for simple solutions **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 14, 2022 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The RAS system from Parallels (originally was 2x) is extremely easy to get up and running quickly and has a very nice interface. Especially if you compare it to the more involved solutions. I am not using this currently but the pricing structure was also very reasonable at the time. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It has its limitations, for example if you have a lot of applications and limitations on who it's published to, it can be very cranky. In the case I was most recently involved in the applications were published to multiple organiations with specialized differences for each organization using it. That ended up with a significant number of published applications with 4-8 being shared per client. At a point the application stopped properly serving clients and would start denying incoming connections. After a significant number of attempts at correcting the issue we ended up needing to use another solution. I don't mean 10-15, this was a significant number of applications published which is probably a very rare situation for non-hosting companies. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our original reason for using RAS was its simplicity and easy pricing. There is very little to touch once its up and running and the interface was the easiest to use. It can definitely be scaled up and can do some pretty complex things now but at its core its a really nice product and doesn't need tons of consulting hours to get off the ground. ### 6. Amazing Application if you need to be at two places at the same time **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Albert O. | Associate/partner, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 19, 2021 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The best part is ints deep integration into the system so that the application runs very smoothly and without any problems. It works really fast and it is easily adapted to the Mac system which means it opening within several seconds. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I don't like that we have to decide the percentage of the utilization by the application at the very beginning and it is hard to change it when the application is already installed. It means that you once have to decide how many GB you will dedicate to the application and then no matter how hard and intensive the activity can get, there is no way to change it around. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Dedicate more GB space at the begining. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've solved the problems of having easy access to Windows remotely which helps a lot at the workstation. ### 7. I work online **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zayral Z. | Financial System Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2022 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Simultaneous work in different places, perfect for saving time and consulting pre-configured applications. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I have no problems with my current system. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use applications remotely, perfect for using remote devices. ### 8. Parallels RAS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mun Q. | Biostatistician, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 12, 2022 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I like that it is easy to access another desktop for school work. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I do not have any problems with this software at all. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it to access datasets and other apps, such as Python, R, and SAS for school assignments. ### 9. So simple and easy to use!! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2018 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** What I love the most with Parallels is that when I’m not connected directly to the company’s server I can remote into any of the applications that I need to with if not at the office. So it’s great when I’m off sick or at home when a problem arises, I can pull out my computer and remote directly to all my work data. When the server is down at airport and we cannot check in I still have my laptop that we can remote in to get any check in data needed. It also has a really good mobile app too which is a really good plus. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** There’s not much that I don’t dislike with Parallels, at first it seemed a bit confusing but now it’s so easy. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Some business problems that I am solving with Parallels would be any work related issues that arises when I’m not in the office such as reservations systems issues that need to be solved so I can connect remotely and fix anything that needs to be fixed. The benefits of having Parallels when my works network is down is amazing. I can continue working with ease by connecting to the airports wifi and using Parallels ### 10. for us an indispensable tool for many year **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Matthias R. | Software Developer, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The feature set, performance and quality increased over the years. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** the licensing changed some time ago and after Parallels purchased RAS from 2X the price unfortunately increased extremely and the german support office was closed. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** If you need to access and use Windows applications and data from any device then Parallels RAS is for you. Parallels RAS extends the server integrated RDP services outstandingly. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Since 2006 we are using RAS to connect a remote office with 6 workers and several remote workers at home or while travelling over VPN to our companie´s network. They use our local ERP system, MS Office and our unified messaging system with their RAS clients on Windows, OS X and even some with their iPad Pro. ### 11. Parallels Systems **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** As a graduate student and researcher, I have enjoyed using Parallel2x over the last 2 years.I access Parallel2x 2-4x a day for both work to log into our private computer and also to access the various software programs that I need for school and work. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The one thing that I noticed about Parallel2x is that after a period of inactivity, or toggling windows between the Parallels system and my own Macbook Air, is that the Parallels environment will freeze, as in when I click areas where I can type text like to log back onto my remote computer, I cannot type anything. Usually, I log out of Parallels and then log back onto it, as this will resolve the problem. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** I highly recommend Parallels and I have greatly enjoyed using it. I probably don't understand the full capabilities of the software, but in terms of remotely logging onto my desktop at work and the software programs there, I think it is an appropriate software to use. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Business-wise, we use Parallels to remotely access our computers in the workplace so that we can use various softwares, such as ArcGIS and SAS. ### 12. Too slow, inefficient for fast-paced environment **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Practice | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It allows offices with iOS to access and utilize programs that are PC-exclusive. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Start-up was extremely slow, so much so that it almost wasn't worth it to use the software. You also are required to create an account to use the product. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were able to expand the types of programs, software and file types used by the office which made handling day-to-day business easier. ### 13. Parallels **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Roxie K. | Photographer, Design, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 09, 2017 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I enjoy having a PC & Mac all in one computer **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Some features do not work well/have glitches (example: sometimes the CD drive & USB drives will not work on the platform that I need) **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** About 4 years ago we began incorporating Mac computers into our office. I was not familiar with Mac and many of my programs were PC based. Our IT department installed Parallels so I could have both. This has made the transition very easy for me. ### 14. Well featured parallel OS program **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** So far it's run very smoothly and haven't had hiccups when doing deployement testing **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I can't say there's much to dislike, Parallels seems to keep their product updated, which is something I always appreciate. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Parallels for software testing ### 15. Best Solution for seamless integration of Windows Products on Mac **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Avraham R. | Special Project Manager, Higher Education, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 06, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Coherence - Beautiful integration but not without glitches. Can run Windows programs seamlessly. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** When Windows goes into sleep mode, or your mac goes into sleep mode, any of the connected network drives will automatically get disconnected. Also, when you freeze a state, if you haven't shut down certain programs they will cause problems when you try to unfreeze the state exactly as before. Overall, these are small glitches with easy workarounds when you know to expect them. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** If you have only one or two programs that you need Windows for or you are developing for multiple platforms then Parallels is an awesome solution. If, however, you do a large portion of your work on Windows then having a dedicated Windows computer will probably be more efficient even though their service is seamless. It's still a bit slower (especially in graphic intensive programs like AutoCad) **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** There are still a few programs out there that haven't been ported to the Mac and it is those that I need. Also, I use a right-to-left language on the Office Suite, which has only recently been implemented (this year) in Mac. Slowly, but surely, all the major programs are porting over to Mac. However, Microsoft Access is not yet here. As well as a few other programs. ### 16. Best app to experience Windows in Mac **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Siva G. | Freelance Web Developer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Easy of use to setup and run windows os in Mac. Support for Windows out of the box. Running both Mac and Windows on Parallels is faster and not memory hogging like VirtualBox **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Express installation doesn't work. Have to use manual step to install Windows 10. Free upgrades could help very helpful for those who bought it in the last six months of purchase. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Easy to use Virtualisation software compared to other apps. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I had to install Windows OS to use Visual Studio 2015 and looked at different software VirtualBox, VMWare, Bootcamp and Parallels. I finally decided to use Parallels because of easy of use and run smoothly along Mac. ### 17. Mosaic Power Parallels **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Renewables & Environment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 24, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I like that I can access tools from a central desktop. I personally use a Mac but we require Internet Explorer for a few of our applications. I am able to access tools that are only operable on IE. I also like that everybody on my work team can access the tools from the same desktop. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I find that the appearance is a likely grainy. I am not sure why. Also, I get a 'snapshot' message all the time when I personally have not uploaded anything. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** I think it can be difficult to use in that the appearance is grainy. Also, when I try to download programs to my Mac, the default is to download to the Parallels environment, and that gets confusing. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use a Mac and I'm able to use products and services that are only operable on Internet Explorer. ### 18. Parallels Desktop **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Robert K. | Designer, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 25, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The best thing is that I can run windows while I'm using my OSX. I like how well is it integrated to the main system, like copying files, open files from OSX with programs on the virtual windows. It just makes my workflow much simplier. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The only problem I can find is when the cursors stuck in the parallels windows. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Best option if you want to use OSX without compromises. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I basically use it to run CAD modelling programs. This was the only field where I couln't find any alternative to use in OSX. But the Parallels Desktop just solved this problem. ### 19. Great product, but requires yearly upgrade **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nate D. | Front-End Web Developer, Office of Mediated Education, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 28, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It's easy to use; It works really well for running Windows inside Mac OS; it runs fairly fast, I have even been able to play some games through Steam pretty well inside it; it offers some nice Mac OS integration features; it will run a Mac Boot Camp partition inside Mac OS as a VM **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** They release a new version every year that you have to buy if you also want to upgrade to the newest version of Mac OS every year; to add to the problem of having to upgrade every year, it's a fairly expensive piece of software **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** I chose Parallels Desktop because it had the best performance of any similar software at running Windows within Mac OS. The price is fairly high, and it will require a yearly upgrade fee. If you want the best performance and compatibility for running a Windows VM and the cost is not important, then I do highly recommend Parallels Desktop. If you just need a simple VM solution for Windows, you don't need Boot Camp support, and performance is not an option or if you just need to run a Linux VM, then there are a few other cheaper solutions available. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Parallels Desktop on my Mac primarily to test websites in Windows web browsers. It has also been very helpful when I need some Windows-specific piece of software or feature, such as reading and writing to an NTFS partitioned disk. ### 20. Parallels on Mac for Data Analysis Software **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2017 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I can switch between my mac desktop and PC desktop with ease. I don't have to restart my computer everytime I need to use my windows software. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Some software is not compatible with parallels **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Being able to use a PC on a mac without having to buy a separate computer. I can do PC work remotely on my laptop and I don't have to carry a second laptop or have a desktop elsewhere. ### 21. Great for MacBook to Split Test Windows **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I have a MacBook so I love that Parallels is non-invasive on memory and I do not need to always reboot my computer in order to see how something looks like on Windows operating system. This allows me to seamlessly switch between even Windows 7, Windows 10, and more to see how our website looks on other platforms, and other operating systems. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It is a little slower because you are essentially splitting up your RAM. You can't necessarily do too much either because lower processing power. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Do bootcamp AND get Parallels. If you need something intensive, then bootcamp and hop on that partition. If otherwise, you can just use Parallels. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Greatly increases efficiency and allows our team to be versatile. We greatly enjoyed Apple products and so Parallels was a perfect product for us and allowed us to not have to invest in a new computer for example. ### 22. 2-years experience on Parallels **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Guan-Jhih (Neil) H. | Postdoctoral Researcher, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 17, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels Desktop supports Mac users running all windows softwares on Mac. It is quite useful because I needs Parallels Desktop when I am doing data analysis under windows system and writing assays under Mac at the same time. It could help connect two systems and it works well. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels Desktop is very pricey but I have to keep upgrading Parallels Desktop and buying it every one or two years because old version Parallels Desktop do not support the new IO system. It is quite annoying for me, so I have to ignore the new IO to fit the old Parallels Desktop. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** When I do analysis of the physic data, I can only use the softwate, Origin, under Windows but I have to run other simulation softwares under Mac. The only way is using Mac to run Parallels Desktop, ### 23. Windows on Mac **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francesco M. | Owner and BI/Data Architect, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Windows starts in seconds, seamless integration, fast, quick and no need to renounce to Windows application when using a Mac. The interface is really simple to use, advanced settings are easily available but they are normally invisible. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Sometimes you need to open two different Windows machines on your Mac which already has quite a lot of applications open. This can slow down or even block everything. Usually a solution is to kill other applications that use a lot of memory, like Google Chrome **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Give it a try, you won't go back. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Mac for everything here, but we are forced to use Windows for our BI suite, Parallel is the best shot to have a virtual machine with Windows on Mac. ### 24. Great if you need different versions of OS **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zhou Z. | Software Engineer / Senior Innovation Fellow, Education Management, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** You can install many types and versions of OS on a single machine (I use Mac) in order to use different software that is not available on your main OS or test for cross platform compatibility. You can switch easily between different instances of those OS. The UI is beautiful and dummy-proof. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The speed to launch Windows is a little slow. But Windows launches slowly by itself. Sometimes Parallels quits itself unexpectedly. Sometimes I like the feature of launching a Windows application in its own window instead of in the Windows desktop. But other times I find it's annoying because I sometimes mistakenly launch Windows apps from the spotlight, and it takes a while to quit Parallel which is launching. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Parallel isn't free, and they release new versions frequently. Unfortunately you can't upgrade your purchased Parallel for free. Its main competitor, VirtualBox, is free. But in my opinion Parallel is easier to use than VirtualBox. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** To use different software that is not available on your main OS or test for cross platform compatibility ### 25. Best Visualization tool for MAC users. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Diego P. | Lead Developer and Code Reviewer, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 03, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It is highly recommended this application if you are a developer or even if you just need to make virtual machines in you MAC. It is very fast and the virtualization in windows is very very smooth. It share desktops between your host and the guest. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It is only for MAC and they take su much time making updates when Apple releases a new operating system. I had a lot of problems when Apple update to Yosemite, **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** If you want to create virtual machines in iMacs, this is the best option for you. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I had the need to work on a virtual machine in my IMac. So, I decided to use parallels instead of another virtualization manager. Because the compatibility of the hardware from the host to the guest was better than other virtualization managers. ### 26. Great Software, had no problems! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Louisa N. | Senior Interactive Designer, Education Management, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 15, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I had no issues using the software at all. I used it to run more Mac servers on my machine and it never crashed any of the instances or the host machine itself. It was very reliable. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** When running for extended periods of time it did have a tendency to slow down the host machine, but that is expected. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** See if the price is right for you when considering the cost of the software plus the operating systems you want to operate. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I needed more servers at different ip addresses on the network really fast to run a web application. This allowed me to do so. It also allowed me to run different operating systems for testing. ### 27. Control other OS with a single Software **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Drago H. | Web Designer, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallel Desktop is a single software where you can use and control other OS on Mac. You can use it for Windows, Linux, and even other OS. You can customize parallel desktop setting such as binding keys. That's for ctrl key on windows to be cmd key on Mac. You can even start multiple window at a time. The best part is that you don't need to restart your mac to run the other OS, not like mac virtual harddrive where you have to restart Mac to load the windows. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Although Parallel Desktop is a great software to work with multiple OS on Mac. Some issues on it makes the user need time to make it fully functional, in short, it need time to be studied. and sometimes there's even a bug where mouse freeze and the key binding sometimes not recorded well. and it require a big space. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** I recommend anyone who like to use multiple desktop and multiple OS at once. Although you need time to use this, this is a great software where in the future will help you and your work. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Parallel Desktop let you install other OS on your Mac. so basically it solve problem where some software didn't have any Mac version. You can easily use Parallel Desktop to use Windows and use windows software that you need. Although there are some software that have both version, sometime, the Windows one are more updated. ### 28. Ultimate experience with windows platform on top of OsX **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Irfan R. | Full Stack Developer, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The flexibility mainly offered by this product helps me to decide on each and every feature of my remote machine. Starting from ram, storage space to key combination. I even can change the shortcuts of copy paste from ctrl+c+v to cmd+c+v using this. Thus it gives me complete environment to work on windows while leveraging the power of mac. It also allows running a windows app directly inside mac osx. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Sometime it crashes or didn't respond as per setting/configuration. Specially the graphics related setting somehow gets disturbed. I remember when setting resolution of remote (window) machine to a particular resolution (don't remember the exact but I guess its 1600 x something), the mouse stops working. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Anyone who are somehow bounded to windows or any other os can use this software to run multiple os without restarting the system. I specifically use it on my mac which gives tight integration on mac and every app of my remote machine behaves like its installed on my mac only. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I do all my .NET development projects using this virtual machine only. This enables me to leverage the power of mac and allows me to use the windows platform without restarting my system. I haven't tried installing any os other than windows but I am sure that it would offer proper isolation for all the os. I found that allmy window apps are running in a way that it has been installed on mac itself. So being a developer practically I can run visual studio on my mac. ### 29. Great for Mac **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ryan W. | Senior Front End Developer, Research, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 03, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I enjoy being able to use Windows on my Mac. It allows me to work on projects that require Visual Studio without the need to use a VM on Azure. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The only thing I dislike is the amount of resources running Windows tends to use. I have a MacBook Pro Retina 15" w/16 GB of RAM and it runs high. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Solve issues with high CPU usage on MacBook Pros. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mainly that I can work on code in Windows while still being able to use my Mac. Half of the team is on Mac and the other half is on Windows, but we all still need to work in the same environment. ### 30. Best way to Run windows on a Mac **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James D. | IT Infrastructure Engineer, Oil & Energy, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Coherence Mode is fantastic, the fact that I can run Windows and Mac applications side by side is a great experience. The power saving features in parallels mean that my Macbook battery is not really effected by running windows in a VM. The windows installation is great, installs quickly and requires little know how, anyone could do it! **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I have few dislikes with Parallels desktop, it has frozen up on me once or twice although a recent update seems to have solved this. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Well worth buying! **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I bought a MacBook as I needed a ultra portable laptop with great battery life, the 2015 MacBook was perfect but I did need to run Windows applications. Parallels desktop fitted the bill perfectly and it is now used daily. ### 31. Parallels review **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Corey B. | Creative Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 09, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I could run both windows & osx on my local machine, it allowed much more flexibility when browser testing websites & using apps that did not have an apple build. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Well I upgraded my OSX and its no longer compatible, so that was a huge bummer, I'd have to pay to use a newer compatible version. I feel like this should have been a free upgrade. Other than that, it was a resource hog for sure, really bogged down my machine **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** If you need to dual boot, this is a great application, just plan ahead if you are upgrading your versioning of OSX and see if it will still be compatible. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It gave our company the ability to run both windows & apple applications. Primarily we used it to download, multiple versions of web browsers so we could test our applications. ### 32. A test environment, when you cannot afford a test environment **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David G. | Network Engineer, Government Administration, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 05, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** As a systems person I appreciate how quickly I can mock up a test environment. It's a test environment totally self contained on my mac. It works great for testing upgrades, major changes, and evaluating products. It has also done a great job providing me a windows desktop. The integration, like shared home folders, has made it very simple to operate in a hybrid environment. I use a three year old, dual core macbook pro, and I have plenty of power to run a few guests OS's, though it will run through battery pretty quickly. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The way they force an upgrade, when the new mac OS version is released. Because of this I anticipate needing to upgrade at least once every couple of years. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** It's a quality product that requires very little hassle. It doesn't have a lot of configurability, but can provide all the customary virtual settings, for example running networking in bridging mode, or sharing host IP. It's not free, but it's a quality product for a small price. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** 1. Continue using windows only applications, while owning a mac. 2. Deploy test VM's in an isolated environment, separate from our production VMWare infrastructure. ### 33. A very good solution to run windows on MAC **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 04, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I've been using Parallels for the last three years. I moved to Parallels from Oracle Virtual Box which was a very basic solution. Parallels works perfectly for running Microsoft Windows on your Mac. The beauty is the convergence of Mac and Windows Apps, i.e the ability to open a file in a Windows based application from within the Mac and switch back and forth. Though I haven't used the coherence mode much, the Coherence mode makes the experience seamless. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The only thing I dislike about Parallels is, they compel you to upgrade to the latest version of Parallels which would cost around 50$ to upgrade to the latest version of Windows. We are currently stuck with Windows 7 and unable to upgrade to Windows 10, because of some device driver incompatibility of Parallels v10. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have applications such as SAP MDM, etc, for which there are no Mac clients as well as time to time we have to use Visio which is available only in Windows. Running windows on Mac helps overcome these problems. On a lighter note, Parallels makes the Macbook, the best Windows Laptop :) ### 34. The best virtualization software for Mac OS X **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rafael A. | Web Developer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 21, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels is the best virtualization software for Mac users. It has a great interface, very easy to use and very user friendly. It has a great feature that is download the ISO for some operating systems, that's great for new users who don't know where to download the operating system. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The lack of drag and drop functionality for files is what I dislike the most. Also, sometimes and in some operating systems, it's hard to install Parallels Tools. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Download the trial version first so you can be sure that Parallels Desktop is the right product for you. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm using Parallels Desktop to test different operating systems and to use Windows applications only on my Mac. ### 35. Heavy parallels desktop user -- I love the experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I love the ability to use windows programs on my mac, while being able to seamlessly switch between the Mac OS and Windows OS. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** At times, the program is buggy and I need to restart. This is a rare occurrence, however. I am overall very pleased with the product. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Installation at times can be tricky. When I had issues, I tried performing google searches to figure out what was wrong. I spent hours trying to troubleshoot the issue. I ultimately called Parallels tech support and they were so helpful. I would recommend that people just go ahead and call if they have issues. Also, some of the shortcuts are not set up great in the Windows environment (for example, it makes more sense for the command button to act as the control key). I would recommend that users make modifications to the shortcuts early on to what feels right to them, instead of just accepting the defaults. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I love Apple products, I consider my self an "Apple guy." However, I am also a business guy and the fact of the matter is Microsoft Office (and other business applications) are much better suited for the Windows operating systems. By being able to run Windows OS on my Mac, I get the best of both worlds, at the same time. I love it. ### 36. Very useful but expensive and frequent upgrades **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stefan B. | sr. BIM Manager, Information Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 26, 2014 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It does what it needs to do: runs Windows on your Mac, without rebooting. It supports virtual hard disks, but also Boot camp (dual partition). It takes a fast Mac to make it usable. Since I upgraded my machine (retina Macbook Pro) it shines again. I mainly use it for 3D intensive software, which is quite demanding, but it is usable. Very complete OSX integration, including native Mac shortcuts that are translated, access to file system, mapping of document folders, networking (e.g. I run Rhinoceros with Network license in Parallels, even from home, through a VPN connection). **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** With OS updates, you often are required to buy an upgrade that is almost as expensive as a new license. I bought it already a few times with deals to have it a but cheaper. E.g. free OS Mavericks requires €40 upgrade for Parallels… Integration into OSX generates countless "windows apps" that start cluttering my Spotlight searches and native filetype associations. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** It is one of the best ways to run Windows-native apps in OSX, with complete integration. Support for complex 3D applications is quite good. But cost of upgrades can be considerable. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Running the last few Windows-only programs on my Mac that I still need: Rhinoceros 5 with Grasshopper, Autodesk Revit and Tekla Bimsight, alongside Microsoft Visual Studio. Even though I can boot in Boot camp, it is often more convenient to run Parallels. Since moving to a faster i7 with SSD and the upgrade to Windows 10, the speed of launching Windows and running a Windows-only application has become very bearable. In most cases, I don't boot in Windows anymore. Only for extensive sessions of the more heavy BIM software with larger models, I makes sense to fully launch Windows and use all available hardware resources. ### 37. Easy-to-use virtual machine software with good performance and configuration options **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alexander R. | Principal Co-Founder, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 31, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** * Very easy to use software in general, with good user interface * Good performance – as long as there's not too much going on on my host machine (MacBook Pro 2013), the Windows virtual machine runs almost just like it were installed on the actual machine * Options for configuration (keyboard, mouse, network, external devices, etc.) are extensive – how they interact with host and guest systems can be controlled to suit pretty much any environments * Excellent integration with Mac – things like shared folders & drives, shared applications, and "coherence" mode can make the experience with virtual machines very fluid * Regular updates to fix bugs, enhance performance, and other improvements * Support for wide range of guest OS's – good performance on all * Good online support for all sorts of issues – email, phone, and remote desktop **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** * Complex key bindings (translations) sometimes to not get translated well – this has been my experience with Windows guest OS's at least * It sometimes takes a fair amount of effort and several days to get support issues escalated to the appropriate level/team **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Parallels Desktop definitely has advantages in integration, performance, and user support over free virtual machines. If you need virtual machine software for Mac, and are happy to pay, then Parallels is probably the best choice. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Parallels to run Windows 10 (and previously Windows 7) for various applications and for cross-testing software. Parallels has made this is a very straightforward task. ### 38. Excellent tool to use multiple platforms via virtual machine **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kate O. | Senior Sales Negotiator, Real Estate, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Being able to use Windows based software on a Macbook Pro without any requirement to reboot my mac into 'windows'. This is a fantastic feature as I can alternate work between both mac osx and windows via Parallels Desktop. Highly recommended **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The only thing I guess is something that could be improved on is the amount of free systems available to test on. There is quite a few varied platforms from Mordern IE on windows to Android. I guess if a user was requiring to test different versions of IE, it would be a little easier to do so via a quick download. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** As previously mentioned: Ability to swipe between different platforms - makes working on different platforms simultaneously a much easier task than having to 'boot' into a different operating system that other virtual machines can make you do. System resources don't seem to be hit anywhere near as hard compared to other software. The cost is very low for what you can get out of Parallels Desktop, so it is well recommended. Using it on a daily basis to access Windows is a breeze. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Being able to use Windows based software on a Mac platform without any issues. You can even scroll sideways to flick between Mac and Windows or any other platforms you are using Parallels Desktop for. A fantastic piece of kit that is well worth it's low cost! ### 39. Parallels Desktop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Phillip M. | Controller, Financial Services, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels lets me use all of my Mac, while still working from various platforms i.e. with Windows, etc. without having to mess around with having a dozen physicals or VM's on remote sites (e.g. Azure, Amazon). Once of the nicest features of Parallels is the Coherence mode; which lets me run another operating system / instance on my Mac with full copy/paste ability. I can use software that has to be running on Windows without having the pain of rebooting, working from another machine or feeling like I'm going from one user experience to another; everything is seamless and that's the beauty of Parallels. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Only issue I have is that sometimes it appears to run slowly when working in Coherence. If you can improve this then I see no issues. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helps us run our Windows based programs on our Mac Laptops. This enables us to avoid the need to purchase new software or spend hours developing new software. ### 40. Parallels for the Mac User **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Melinda N. | Certified Paralegal, Law Practice, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It allows us to have the best of both worlds - Mac and Windows, on one computer **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It can be quite cumbersome and slow if you are using large files on the Windows side **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Make sure that you get enough licenses otherwise you get page "freezing" and bad conversions of files **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows us to use old Microsoft letters/forms and convert them to Mac compatible use ### 41. Hey Corona, Where's Siri? **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nurman Z. | Web Designer, Computer & Network Security, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallel desktop can run multiple OS simultaneously which is good if your Mac want to run for Windows and Linux simultaneously. it also allows us run Mac OS features within other environment **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Paralles can't run the standard Windows OS installer. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** even it's 80-100 dollar per year, it worth to buy/subscribe **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Parallel Desktops help me if my clients have difficulty to operate MacOs which is difficult for some people. By installing Parallel Desktops I can easily switch OS between Maverick and Windows ### 42. Excellent to use Windows on a Mac osx machine **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adam B. | Co-Founder, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 09, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Not only can you use Parallels desktop to run windows on your Mac machine, but you can actually download test environments which makes it easier to test things on the fly rather than installing a windows version from scratch **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Sometimes my mac slows in performance speed, but this is after a while of running both so you cannot really fault it! **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Easy to use, straight out of the box. It's pretty cheap which makes this software very cost effective for a user or business to easily access windows on a mac machine. It's fantastic to be able to not have to reboot the mac to use windows and you can seamlessly use both operating systems side by side. A brilliant piece of software that I fully recommend to anyone who requires something similar to my requirements. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Parallels Desktop to give us access as a business to use windows software, in particular, BT IP Office manager. Using parallels means as a business we can modify our phone system with great ease of use. ### 43. Windows on a Mac! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I like that I can run multiple operating systems under my mac. Works well with Docker as well. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I don't like the annoying ads that come up when they have a new version. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Turn off the annoying ads and only upgrade when you need to. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** This allows me as a developer to test different operating systems and browsers. . ### 44. Incredible way to run virtual machines on a mac. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 05, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It's integration with the Mac. Sharing directories, copy and paste etc. Is automatic and requires no knowledge or configuring. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** It is consuming lots of resources from my old (2008) macbook which males it slow to run at some ocasions. I have found little or no information on how to optimize. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I run all my company applications on a mac environment, nut the process management / document control system (R2Docuo) runs only on a windos environment. Paralles allows me to run it. ### 45. Using Parallels to test application deployments between platforms **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alex F. | Application Engineer, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 02, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Parallels does a fantastic job at taking advantage of the Mac platform. Translating things like multitouch gestures, key mapping and ostensive HFS mounting within other operating systems. These are all nice-to-haves that you eventually come to appreciate and uses daily. I've found Parallels to do a fantastic job with 3d acceleration and adaptive speed performance. Some of the 'other guys' have been around a lot longer and that is what drew me to those products initially, but the Parallels team knows Apple and how to make use of the platform to make a better virtualization experience. Quite possibly my favorite feature is the creation and administration of machines through the command line. This makes starting/stopping machines easily scriptable. Starting machines in a headless mode keeps Parallels from disturbing my workflow. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The defaults for creating a new Windows machine usually leave me mildly annoyed. It doesn't fit my use case to have Modality and Coherence enabled. That said, they're easy to disable and only really an issue if you only intend to install the VM once. Parallels updates. Like... a lot. This is usually a good thing. This is a fast-innovating company that's interested in being on top but the frequency of major releases often leaves you in the dust. While they generally offer upgrade pricing, if one's company isn't footing the bill, the price for the software grow as the versions pass. Most recently, I tried to use Docker Machine to automate some deployment practices but had to install Virtualbox instead because the docker-machine driver for parallels only worked on the latest version of Parallels. I pay for Parallels out of my own pocket when using it for personal use feeling left behind so frequently can get frustrating. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** Get to know the CLI. It's very powerful **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Building web applications requires a lot of testing. Multiple OSes, multiple browsers. Parallels makes it easy for power users to automate and utilize its feature in a was that developers will find efficient. At the same time, Parallels is simple enough for a novice to start up and start getting their hands dirty. The novice will also be unaware of the power user's features unless they dig for them; this is a good thing. Great design. It's a similar stance the OS X team takes. "If a normal user finds Terminal.app, we've failed; if a power-user can't find Terminal.app, we've failed" ### 46. Parallels is a Developer's Best Friend **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shabbir H. | ServiceWorks Automation Consultant, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 30, 2015 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I love the fact that Parallels lets me use all the goodness that is my Mac, while developing for various platforms - without having to mess around with having a dozen physicals or VM's on remote sites (e.g. Azure, Amazon). Once of the nicest features of Parallels is the Coherence mode - which lets me have - say a Visual Studio IDE, or another IDE instance running withing my Mac - with full copy/paste ability. I can use tools that I need to running on Windows or Linux - without having the pain of rebooting or feeling like I'm going from one user experience to another - everything is seamless - and that's the beauty of Parallels - it lets me forget about it and focus on what is important - my work. Another key feature is that Parallels supports vagrant out of the box and without having to pay an extra fee (as is the case with VMWare Fusion or Workstation if you want to use it with Vagrant - you need the VMWare plugin - which costs). The Parallels Vagrant plugin started life as an open source project, and remains that way - though under the direct custodianship of Parallels themselves. Vagrant allows me to tear up VMs on demand for when I'm working on applications that require me to do that, it also allows me to prep-up my Docker containers ready for deployment remotely. There is a lot more I could write about Parallels - and I've been an avid user since I moved from Windows to Mac over 5 years ago now - it let my transition be smooth and pain-free, and it has been a regular feature in my Applications folder, politely letting me forget about it, while allowing me to utilize all of its amazing goodness - letting me get the most from my Mac. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Whats do dislike - nothing as far as I can see, apart from perhaps as one of my colleagues had said - why isn't there a Windows or Linux version of Parallels - why is it only a Mac product? I couldn't answer that - but since I used a Mac - arguably I didn't care. However - that would be a major plus, if Parallels Desktop could be ported to Windows and Linux - that way, the Linux users wouldn't have to use Virtualbox and the Windows users Hyper-V or VMWare. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** If you're not sure about Parallels - then take advantage of the free trials on offer, I'm sure that once you've started using it - you will not begrudge paying the subscription and becoming a true licensed user. The beauty of Parallels is that once its installed and configured, you can totally forget about it. In my opinion, when a piece of software can be forgotten about while providing the services it providers - that's when it has moved to perfection. Don't take my word for it, don't believe the marketing hype, TRY it - take advantage of the free trial. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** A key business problem would be when users don't want to use Windows machines - for many reasons. This allows the work to proceed, within Windows - while the user can continue to use their Macs. For a development house - this helps massively as it allows developers to continue building Mac and iOS apps on their macs - while having the ability to do the same - via Parallels - for Windows Phone (Windows), Android (Linux)* *I'm aware that Android apps can be developed directly on a Mac, but some people choose to not do things that way - Parallels allows us to have that flexibility. Another issue that was resolved was the ability to use Parallels with Vagrant to prep provisioning scripts ensure they are perfect, before pushing them out to Amazon, Azure or another cloud provider. ### 47. Nice and easy to use. Much better than RDC on Windows. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tony W. | Founder, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 10, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I like that it's faster and easier to use than RDC. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Perhaps the overall UI and setting things up. **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** I would recommend it due to the performance. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it for personal use. ### 48. Allows for Seamless Interaction Between Windows and iOS **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Elisabeth G. | Licensed Health & Life Insurance Professional, Insurance, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 10, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** Seamless interface and run time in iOS. It mimics the Windows environment very well. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The amount of hard drive space it takes up is egregious. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** My CRM software only runs in Explorer in a Window run time environment. This software allows me to use my MacBook on the road. ### 49. LifeSaver for Macs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Courtney F. | IT Help Desk Manager, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** How easily it is to get a VM up on a Mac and the versatility with deploying a variety of operating systems. **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** The integration with Windows 8 in coherence mode sometimes is wonky and it is hard to get an application to come to the forefront. **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** Many of our Macs won't run enterprise system software such as DameWare, and some macros that microsoft office applications need to use. ### 50. Multi computer ?, Done **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Salvador R. | Project manager transportation designer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 18, 2016 **What do you like best about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I like to be able to work with a custom machine and work with any program on any platform **What do you dislike about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?** I don´t like the need to install any plugin when I configure virtual machine for the first time **Recommendations to others considering Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS):** It´s easy to use and easy to setup **What problems is Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** If i need any program I don´t have the problem of looking up if it work on IOS or Windows ## Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Discussions - [Why Parallels RAS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-parallels-ras) - 1 comment - [View Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/parallels-remote-application-server-ras/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-03+15%3A12%3A25+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=ce86d3e2-e8cd-415e-addf-4446bf96b22d&secure%5Btoken%5D=84fb71cbdcbbb4dddaf91ed5fb1ec080fb6d441c0d694b73e3cc4070f99bab40&format=llm_user) ## Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Features **Data Management** - Data Redundancy - Server Management - Version and Profile Support - Web-based frameworks - Data exchange **User Features** - Centralized offering - Security updates - Real-time visibility **Modernization** - Cloud deployment - Microservices development - On-premises support - Modular architecture **AI Performance Improvement - Application Server** - AI Application Scaling - AI Error Prediction - Intelligent Resource Forecasting - AI Anomaly Detection - AI Intrusion Detection **Agentic AI - Application Server** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance - Decision Making ## Top Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Alternatives - [Plesk](https://www.g2.com/products/plesk/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (247 reviews) - [F5 NGINX](https://www.g2.com/products/f5-nginx/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (106 reviews) - [Apache HTTP Server Project](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-http-server-project/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (137 reviews)