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Parallels RAS

Parallels RAS

Overview

What is Parallels RAS?

Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS, formerly 2X RAS), is application virtualization technology, billed as a solution to extend the life of legacy OS (like Windows XP) with its virtual desktop for any device. Maltese company 2X Software developed the technology,…

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.parallels.com/products/ras/…

Offerings

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

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $120 per year per user
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Product Details

What is Parallels 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. The vendor states its 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 RAS Screenshots

Screenshot of the console interface, showing Parallels RAS' support for on-premises, private and public cloud providers, including Azure and AWS.Screenshot of the Parallels Web Client, which is accessible from any HTML5 browser or choose one of the many local clients.Screenshot of Parallels RAS' integration with MSIX app attach for modern, dynamic app delivery.Screenshot of Parallels RAS' support for multiple MFAs for security and flexibility.Screenshot of the integrated Let's Encrypt security certificates, to issue and manage certificates in Parallels RAS.Screenshot of expression-based filtering which makes it easier to set policies in the Parallels RAS.Screenshot of the visual reporting in the Parallels RAS Management Console which is used to monitor and troubleshoot issues.

Parallels RAS Videos

This video shows how to deploy virtual apps and desktops via Parallels RAS in Azure by using Parallels RAS in the Azure Marketplace. This is a fast way to create a proof of concept (POC) or test environment.
This video demonstrates the steps an administrator takes within the Parallels RAS Console to successfully deliver services to end users via Amazon EC2.
Parallels RAS themes allow an organization to transform what the user sees when they access resources delivered via Parallels RAS. For example, custom branding (white labeling) can be applied, a custom URL can be set for the end user, and access can be locked down to specific ...
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MSIX app attach is an Azure Virtual Desktop feature. It provides application modernization, improves application lifecycle management, and reduces hardware footprint and IT management overhead by using fewer templates. Parallels RAS brings MSIX app attach technology to RDSH,...
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Automated certificate management with Let's Encrypt integration.
Parallels RAS includes cloud cost-reduction capabilities, including autoscaling, power management, and automated image optimization. Parallels RAS adds more cost-reduction measures by extending cost-saving capabilities to storage. When the virtual machine (VM) is not running...
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What is Parallels RAS

Parallels RAS Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac, Windows Server 2008R2, 2012/R2, 2016, 2022, Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10, 11
Mobile ApplicationAndroid, Mobile Web, iPadOS
Supported LanguagesEnglish, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean

Frequently Asked Questions

Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS, formerly 2X RAS), is application virtualization technology, billed as a solution to extend the life of legacy OS (like Windows XP) with its virtual desktop for any device. Maltese company 2X Software developed the technology, but was acquired by Parallels (in Seattle, WA) in February, 2015 to extend their cross-platform support solutions.

Parallels RAS starts at $120.

Citrix DaaS, VMware Horizon, and VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure are common alternatives for Parallels RAS.

Reviewers rate Availability and Vendor pre-sale and Vendor post-sale highest, with a score of 9.2.

The most common users of Parallels RAS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(267)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 148)
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels RAS to allow our staff to access school resources from home safely and securely. We replaced our outdated Microsoft Remote Desktop solution with Parallels RAS, which has allowed us to offer remote desktop services to our teachers in the safest way possible, no matter what hardware they are using. Using the built-in MFA functionality, we are able to further secure the solution, affording us a higher level of confidence that our infrastructure is safe.
  • Publishing resources.
  • Multi Factor Authentication.
  • Ease of navigation for users.
  • App stability.
  • nothing really.
Scenarios where time is a factor in having a solution in place and up and running safely and securely. Where there are older devices that ordinarily wouldn't be up to the task of running modern apps and services. Where users need to work away from the network, and security is a concern.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Reducing the number of licenses required for various applications.

Teams that span multiple continents dont use the same license simultaneously and Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) reduces such costs drasticlly.
  • Manage multiple product licenses
  • Roll out additional servers very easily (for capacity)
  • End user interface friendliness
  • Connection interface could be simpler or a way to hide/skip it (Some non-IT staff don't need to see or known any of the connection details)
  • A way to kill old sessions/open apps, with active directory specifically there's issues with some sub-windows sometime staying open and creating multiple active sessions. (Logging out/disconnecting does not always resolve the issue)
Suited for:
- Reducing required licenses for various apps
- For controlling access to certain apps
- Easier set-up of new accounts within the organization by creating profiles of apps for various business units
- Reducing the need for powerfull hardware given to every employee as application is virtualized on the server itself
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) to optimize our AWS resources. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to use a frontend that is much more user-friendly than the native one provided by AWS itself. Furthermore, Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to optimize the usage time for our users without having to implement these policies in AWS.
  • Native client application
  • Browser usibility
  • AWS as provider
  • Right Management on VDI level
  • Possibility to use multiple AWS Provider in same farm
  • Possibility to use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) in offline mode in non-productive environment
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) can be installed and configured quickly. The documentation is very well described, and the ability to connect to many infrastructures such as Azure, AWS, VMware, and Hyper-V offers great flexibility in choosing one's own favorites. Furthermore, there are good videos and know-how articles available on the internet. So far, we are very satisfied.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it for a group of our users so we can manage a few apps from one server rather than multiple computers. The only issue we really have is when updating apps we sometimes have to set the save folders for each user so it doesn't save it to the profile that updated the apps.
  • Ease of access
  • Great new UI
  • Easy log in
  • Better search in star menu when looking for specific app
  • Dark mode seems a little light
  • Sometimes connect to printers is a little iffy
When using a program that's for an old operating system, it's seems to be PERFECT for that especially when multiple users can then access the one VM for it when accessing certain apps. For any website stuff though I would say it's a no go of course which might be obvious.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We access Windows applications globally without a VPN by utilizing Parallels Client. After discovering that Citrix and Microsoft Remote Desktop Web complicated the user experience, we decided to use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) instead. After three years of use, we are really pleased with the products and have renewed the contract/license for an additional three years.
  • Remote Access
  • Web Access
  • File Transfer
  • Drag and Drop
  • Application User Interface
  • Support for Low Latency
  • Improve File Transfer /Drag and Drop on Low latency
  • Faster File Transfer
Since we cannot have one server on one network, it is best suited for accessing Client / Server Applications with minimal user interface and processing time with users dispersed around the globe. For use in single offices, where all users are centralized and apps may be hosted locally on a server, it is less suitable.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) as the central hub of our business. Our main application resides in our headquarters Datacenter and we have 100+ plants and offices that connect back to headquarters to run the software. The software does not scale out well for multiple users and also has problems working over WAN links. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to copy out from a template and easily replicate the servers to handle our worker capacity (fixing a software issue with virtual hardware). It also handles the WAN link problem by just sending the screen changes across the WAN (which it does very well) while allowing all of the processing to remain locally in our datacenter.

Another problem Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to solve is what to do about remote workers. We do not open up our network to VPN clients, so we allow our users to connect into the office through Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) to remotely access those apps when outside the office. In point of fact, our users are also accessing many of our applications from within the company via Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) as well. The user experience remains consistent and the maintenance for upgrades and patching is greatly simplified as all of the software is maintained on our servers rather than across the breadth of our user PCs and laptops.
  • Remote Access
  • Scaling of resources
  • Ease of use
  • Software is quick and responsive
  • Easy to manage
  • Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) continually improves the product but has broken some features recently. For example the web management portal lost the ability to manage user sessions after a major update. That issue was fixed in a later release
  • Multi-monitor support beyond 4 monitors (It does handle up to 4 -1080 monitors well)
  • More options around connection security and MFA. current options are sufficient but limited
  • We've noticed some performance issues with Windows Server 2019 and 2022. I'd like to see more robust support for remote applications running from those platforms.
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) has worked very well for our company in our distributed user environment. We have 300 people in the system daily, and the system typically just hums along. We also use the Parallels Remote PC feature for remote access into specfic machines which has greatly improved our remote access experience from an IT support perspective.
Freddy Garcia | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) has been something we have used for at least 5 years, but I think probably more than that. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows for us to publish Windows desktop applications as if they are web applications without many of our users knowing this.The simplicity of setup and the speed at which the system runs for the end user.
  • Printer integration makes easy
  • Solid connection that does not drop unexpectedly like other
  • Easy to publish appls
  • Easy to troubleshoot issues
  • Configuration
  • Set it up
  • Troubleshooting
Cross Platform Management and Resource Control is a huge beneficial factor to us in this department of our organization.
Dany Briard | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Published remotely applications for manufacturing purpose is always a challenge. By providing latest update (functionalities, security patch,...) quickly to all users at once. With other plateforme it requires strong IT skills to manage the "behind the scene" engine. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) solved all that.
  • ease of management with Central plateform
  • Simple licensing offer
  • Strong support and availability
  • Listen client enhancements
  • Improve performance of scheduled update over night
Deploy quickly Fix-update-patch to enduser solution quickly all at once. Doing it for remote manufacturing facilities
June 27, 2024

Great Product

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Mostly to easily configure and control access to Azure Virtual Desktop. The business problems it addresses is reducing backend management and providing secure access to our main line of business app. We have 550 licenses.
  • Good web browser based access to resources
  • flexible configuration on a per group or per user basis
  • much easier configuration and management of Azure Virtual Desktop
  • Local desktop management
  • kiosk mode
  • policies
Suited for secure Cloud or centralised datacentre based access, not quite as useful if you run mostly on premise.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are in the process of moving users to Parallels in order to replace our VPN. With Parallels we can control what the users have access to better than we could with our VPN or remote gateway. We liked it due to the ability to publish specific applications for users that don't have an assigned computer. This enables them to still be able to remote in as needed.
  • Remote application publishing.
  • Easy to install client app.
  • Remote desktop works surprisingly well.
  • Customer Service is responsive
  • Remote server install a little complicated.
  • Getting remote drives to work is a chore.
  • Setting up remote applications can be complicated.
  • MFA implementation
Parallels is good for when you need to have a one-stop place for your people to remote into company resources no matter the platform they are using. It's not so good if you have special use cases as it doesn't usually fit in those particular instances. Application publishing is where parallels really shines. Being able to integrate it with Active Directory so all you need to do is assign the user to an application security group and it shows up in their Parallels dashboard.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We are using the Parallels Remote Application Server to distribute an application that was decades old and we contribute to maintaining the application cause of the legacy nature. The Parallels Remote Application Server helps in situations where end-user support requirements are critical to the IT organization. We see the value of having ease of access to end users and applications at the same time
  • Application distribution
  • Support
  • Ease of access
  • Reporting
  • Integration with AD groups
  • User level permission setup
Considering the unique situation we were in, the Parallels Remote Application Server came as an alternative to the Citrix server. If there could be more features that cover the gap between Citrix and Parallels that would be making you a great server product ever. There are many things that we could see as advantages but this will be something I prefer to see in Parallels Remote Application Server
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
When protecting organisational data and information you need a solution to allow users access without restricting their ability to perform there work.
  • Easy of adding and taking away users when they are employed and when they move on from a project to their next assignment
  • Protect organisation information
  • Ease of scaling infrastructure
  • Multifactor Authentication
  • Integration with other applications
  • Alludo's acquisition of Awingu will enable a lot more features and fucntionality that has been missing
Any VDI scenario would be great for especially for Application data protection
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have a large number of old legacy application (client server). We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) installed as IAAS on GCP cloud platform to provide application usage to a large number of users (1500). The connection is allowed in office or remote user. Security is guaranteed through the use of MFA to access. We also use it on our mobile handled device in the warehouses.
  • application access
  • file share
  • printing
  • stability
  • reports
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is well suited for access to legacy application (client / server). Is cheaper respect to Citrix and have a lot of features that the simple microsoft RAS do not have. This is a very well fit for us. also VDI is a great use of the application. Less appropriate in my opinion on web based applications
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We provided hosted solutions to our customers, primarily moving their on-prem environments to the cloud.
  • Simple User GUI
  • easy to support
  • quick to deploy
  • support turn around could be quicker
virtualizing on-prem servers and providing access to them once migrated to the cloud.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have been using Parallels Remote Application Server on a small scale for a number of years to allow partner organizations securely access resources. With Covid-19, we had dozen of requests per day for remote work and since we had Parallels already, all we had to do was to expand Parallels Remote Application Server capacity and everything worked smoothly.
  • Force specific browser
  • VDI management
  • supports a variety of Operating systems
  • Shadow of remote sessions
  • Health Check on client OS - allow only supported OS if above certain patch level
It's great at forcing specific browser use for certain apps. We have some apps that only work in IE - for example. It can create and spin up desktops from an image - replacing a VDI solution completely. it is great at printing - never had issues with drivers or devices
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) to easily connect from internal or external to our server farm. We had to make a decision because of the corona crisis and we had to look for a easy solution for home office activities. So we decided to work with Parallels RAS because it has a good pricing and it is easy to configure.
  • secure connection
  • multiscreen
  • connect policies for different departments
  • configuring multi factor authentication for third party products was a little bit difficult
  • teams integration
  • redirection of camera and microphone from applications
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is well suited for companies who wants to have a good priced solution for remote connections or home office activities which is also easy to configure. There is no difficult licensing like on other brands you have on this market When you by a Parallels RAS license, you can use all included features.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use parallels to provide virtual desktop infrastructure to our users. This enables them to be more flexible when working. Set up and administration of parallels is pretty straightforward and support is generally pretty responsive if you have any issues. Parallels will also allow your users to connect to other company resources such as terminal apps.
  • Connection broker
  • Remote app server
  • Administration
  • Better thin client support
  • Improvements to "shell" mode
  • Ease of use for users
I would recommend parallels to anyone that has virtual desktop infrastructure, remote applications, or a hyper converge infrastructure. This could be extra beneficial for a call center as they only bill per active user, so if the call center has any shift changes the business only pays for users that are active.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) for remote access to LOB applications for our customers. We found that it's simple enough to easily deploy/manage, but has enough options to provide for a quick/seamless remote experience for our customers. We manage systems with typically under 50 users each. We moved to Parallels Remote Application Server from Citrix and have never looked back.
  • ease of deployment
  • ease of management
  • simple client/install for users
  • responsive
  • We had one instance of the Parallels Remote Application Server server corrupting without any clear indication as to why, but a simple restore of the RAS server resolved the issue
I think it's well suited to someone smaller environments (sub 100 users). May work well with larger deployments but we have only used it with smaller businesses and it has served us well. In my opinion, it's probably not well suited for a very small environment simply due to the cost.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it to host our in house developed primary LoB applications as remote apps for our users. This allows us to centrally manage and control access, configurations, and usage of these applications. Parallels RAS has really developed over the 7-8 years I have been using it across several versions and a couple of re-deployments/migrations. It is a solid product for our needs.
  • Ease of application publishing
  • Secure remote gateway and integrations
  • Robust and redundancy can be built in
  • Wide range of platform support and use cases
  • Product support has been good when needed
  • Licensing, our perpetual license was forcefully removed from us after 8 years without warning, causing a doubling of the price, after providing a signed sales quote for renewal through our VAR. Parallels sales team did not seem to care, and was willing to throw away a customer who used their services for nearly a decade, and throw our VAR under the bus.
  • continued addition of new features for existing platforms, not just a focus on the hot new cloud offerings.
Parallels RAS can be used in many scenarios, It can be a VDI platform for desktop replacement and a move to a more central virtualized infrastructure. It can allow you to publish a cloud app that can be accessed from anywhere on nearly any device avoiding the need to install anything on device. I can see its value in Retail, Remote services, Manufacturing, schools, etc. anywhere with an internet connection. It adds a secure layer in front of RDP services. It can be used to allow secure access to desktops or laptops from outside the office if this is something you need to do.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We exclusively use it to allow team members to use quickbooks from home. QB over vpn is not supported but using vpn to access RAS and QB as a published app is an extremely efficient way to manage QB deployment and updates and allows QB to run fast no matter what devices are accessing it.
  • Streamlines connectivity to published apps
  • Simple setup
  • Simple licensing
  • Integration with Okta for SSO
  • Wish it didn't require the use of Active Directory for certain features
  • Lower the minimum user count for licensing
Works perfect where you need multiple people to access software remotely and the software has a centralized database or file that is stored on the RAS server and vpn is not an option because of performance / reliability reasons. Also eliminates the need to install the same software on multiple user devices and have to deal with managing updates constantly.
August 21, 2023

Positive Experience

Bryan Tavares | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Parallels Remote Application Server across the whole company and for quicker remote connections from China. The problem that I was experiencing was that when our employees in China tried to RDP into our servers in the USA, the screen would paint line by line. It was possible but it was slow. After hearing about Parallels 2X, I thought I would try. The user experience is much smoother and our users are very satisfied.
  • Just much faster than standard Microsoft RDP
  • Screen stopped freezing
  • I don't see any for our usage
We just use it specifically for remote desktop from China to USA.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are an MSP Provider, we use Parallels Remote Application Server in our own Workload but also provide it to customers. Ranging from small use cases up to 200+ user deployments. The main reason we switched to Parallels Remote Application Server coming from its competitor was its ease of deployment and its security options. Especially when SAML MFA came into the picture we increased our deployments.
  • SAML Integration
  • Customization
  • High Availability
  • We had a bug present for many months before a fix was implemented
  • Better integration with Azure functionality would be a plus
In our company when a customer has an out-of-date Citrix installation we always recommend switching to Parallels Remote Application Server, cheaper in-licensing and cheaper in infrastructure needs. It's also a lot easier to implement and maintain. When using Azure Virtual Desktop we currently don't see the need to augment it with Parallels Remote Application Server.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Parallels Remote Application Server is an application and desktop solution that allows users to access their applications / data from any device. The Cost is lower than some other offerings available. Enabled us to transition to home working during the pandemic allowing for both windows and mac users to connect with centralized application management, reducing the overhead to manage it
  • Central Management
  • Secure
  • Low Cost
  • Initial Setup is complex
  • Slow to support new vcenters
  • Reporting
Well suited for a Distributed workforce specifically as more company's transition into a hybrid way of working. Good for Organizations that deal with sensitive data and need to ensure compliance with security regulations with MFA being supported. Scales very well and does not require large vdi farms to support it
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Parallels RAS allows us to work from home efficiently and effectively through remote desktops that are completely secured and with great speed which enables our employees to work at their greatest potential. This helps our organization to expand IT infrastructure and provide and restrict access of proprietary softwares at any time.
  • Remote desktops
  • Virtual connection
  • Occasionally lags due to fluctuation in internet connection
We are able to setup virtual desktops with Parallels RAS. It's quick, easy to setup, swift deployment and good to use for remotely accessing desktop.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have used it for the team as virtualization product we used to connect client devices via RDP protocol plus SSL encryption
  • Drag n drop publish windows apps to any OS
  • Digital work spaces
  • Load balancing
  • Remote App publishing
  • Performance
  • Security
  • Ease of use
Easy to use. Remote App publishing
Simplified VDI managing
Real time monitoring
WVD integration
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