Best Cloud Workstations in 2026

I founded Computle in 2020 to solve a problem I kept seeing across architecture, engineering, and VFX firms: they were stuck choosing between overpriced VDI that couldn't handle real workloads, or the nightmare of managing physical workstations scattered across offices and homes.

Six years later, the cloud workstation market has matured significantly. But with that maturity comes confusion—there are now dozens of options, each claiming to be the best. So I've put together this comparison to help you cut through the noise.

What Matters in 2026

Before diving into specific providers, let's establish what you should be evaluating:

1. Dedicated vs Shared Resources: Are you getting your own CPU, GPU, and storage, or sharing with other users? This is the single biggest performance differentiator.
2. Total Cost of Ownership: Monthly price is just the start. Factor in licensing, egress fees, management tools, and hidden costs.
3. Transparency: Can you see pricing online, or do you need to sit through a sales call? If they won't show you the price, there's usually a reason.
4. Management Overhead: How much IT time does deployment and maintenance actually require?
5. Global Reach: Where are the data centres? Latency matters for real-time work.

Computle

Type: Dedicated cloud workstations (1:1 hardware)

We engineer our own blade workstations from scratch—patent-pending hardware designed specifically for single-user, dedicated performance. Each user gets their own CPU, GPU, NVMe storage, and RAM. No sharing, no contention, no performance variability.

Key specs:

• Starting price: £74.17/month (RTX A2000, 8-core Ryzen, 64GB RAM, 2TB NVMe)
• GPU options: RTX A2000 through RTX 5090, including RTX PRO Blackwell series
• CPU options: Intel Core to AMD Threadripper
• Regions: London, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai, Singapore
• Minimum seats: 1 (no minimum order)
• Includes: Windows, DCV remote access, VPN, management portal (Packtle), 24/7 support

3-year TCO (entry-level config): £2,670 per seat

Best for: AEC firms, VFX studios, and engineering teams that need predictable, dedicated performance without IT overhead.

Also includes an optional thin client device built for dual 4k/dual 5k resolutions.

AWS WorkSpaces

Type: Cloud VDI (shared infrastructure)

Amazon's desktop-as-a-service offering. Solid for general office work, but the GPU options are datacentre-class (not workstation-class), and the pricing model can get complex quickly.

Key considerations:

• Hourly or monthly billing (hourly can spike unexpectedly)
• Egress fees add up fast on large files
• Uses datacentre GPUs (T4, etc.), not workstation GPUs (RTX)
• Minimum 200 WorkSpaces per region for Windows 10
• Management tools cost extra

3-year TCO (comparable GPU config): £15,221+ per seat (based on Graphics.g4dn bundle with storage and egress)

Best for: Large enterprises already invested in AWS who need basic office desktops at scale. Less suitable for graphics-intensive AEC/VFX work.

VDIPod / VCDPod (Creative ITC)

Type: Managed VDI / Cloud Workstation

Creative ITC offers two products: VDIPod (shared VDI) and the newer VCDPod (dedicated cloud workstations, launched late 2025). They're AEC-focused and offer fully managed services.

Key considerations:

• VDIPod shares resources across multiple users (contention issues)
• VCDPod uses dedicated Lenovo workstations (single-tenant)
• Pricing not publicly disclosed—requires sales contact
• 24/7/365 AEC-focused support

3-year TCO (VDIPod, 50 seats): Approximately £161.73/month per seat (£97,039 for 50 VDIs based on public documents), totalling ~£5,822 per seat

Best for: Firms wanting fully managed support and willing to engage with sales for custom pricing.

Inevidesk

Type: On-premise pod (shared hardware)

Inevidesk sells hardware pods that you host yourself or co-locate. Each pod is shared among 7 users, meaning you're splitting CPU, GPU, and resources.

"Obviously, Inevidesk costs more than a traditional physical workstation" -Inevidesk, 2025

Key considerations:

• Minimum 7-seat purchase required
• You handle hosting (or pay separately for co-location)
• Windows licences and Parsec remote access not included in base price
• Hardware, service fees, hosting, and software licences add up

What you actually get per seat:

• ~2.3 CPU cores (16-core Threadripper split 7 ways)
• Shared T1000 GPU (benchmark: 7,608)
• 32GB from shared RAM pool
• 500GB SSD

3-year TCO: £3,428 per seat (includes hardware, service fee, hosting, Windows, and Parsec licences)

Compared to Computle's entry tier at £2,670/3 years, Inevidesk costs 28% more while delivering shared resources. Per-seat, Computle offers 3.5x more CPU cores, 3.7x higher CPU benchmark scores, 1.81x higher GPU performance, 2x the RAM (dedicated), and 4x the storage.

Best for: Firms with existing hosting infrastructure who prefer an on-premise approach and don't need dedicated resources per user.

IMSCAD

Type: Workstation/server reseller

 “Around 50% of our proposals get canned because of cost,” says Jull. “You give them a price and you never hear from them again.”

IMSCAD sell Lenovo workstations and other server-based products, but the actual dedicated resources per user aren't specified. They've been in the market for years and target AEC specifically, however they discourage large file usage, which most architects use.

 One company was uploading and downloading big files. We only found that out after live-monitoring the network, and found that people were transferring 20GB of data and wondering why Citrix is slow.”

Key considerations:

• Specifications and pricing not publicly disclosed
• $5,000 fee for 'POC in a Week' trial service
• 'Up to' specifications advertised (actual per-user resources unclear)
• Sales contact required for any pricing information

3-year TCO: Unknown—no public pricing available.

Best for: Firms willing to invest significant time in the sales process and pay for proof-of-concept.

BOXX Cloud

Type: Workstation hardware for data centres.

BOXX is known for high-performance physical workstations and has expanded into cloud. They emphasise overclocked CPUs for single-threaded application performance (good for Revit).

Key considerations:

• Focus on Autodesk application optimisation
• Uses PCoIP (Teradici) for remote access
• Pricing requires sales contact
• US-focused (data centre locations not widely published)

3-year TCO: Not publicly available

Best for: US-based firms heavily invested in Autodesk who prioritise single-threaded CPU performance.

Cloudalize

Type: GPU-powered virtual workstations

Belgian company offering GPU cloud workstations. Won a Data Quadrant Gold Medal for DaaS in 2023. They support a wide range of applications including Revit, Rhino, Lumion, and Adobe suite.

Key considerations:

• Good reputation in AEC space
• Pricing not publicly disclosed
• European-focused (may have latency issues for other regions)

3-year TCO: Not publicly available

Best for: European firms wanting an established provider with AEC expertise.

Head-to-Head: The Numbers

Here's where things get interesting. When you compare entry-level configurations, the differences become clear:

*For Windows 10.

The Computle vs Inevidesk comparison is worth highlighting: 22% lower cost, 3x the performance. That's what dedicated hardware delivers.

Performance: Dedicated vs Shared

This is the elephant in the room that most providers don't want to talk about. When you share hardware, you share problems.

Take Inevidesk as an example. Their entry-level pod uses a 16-core Threadripper Pro 5955WX—impressive on paper. But split across 7 users, each seat gets roughly 2.3 cores and a fraction of the GPU. Compare that to Computle's entry tier where each user gets a full 8-core Ryzen 7-5700X and a dedicated RTX A2000.

The benchmark numbers tell the story:

• CPU cores: 8 dedicated vs ~2.3 shared
• CPU benchmark: 26,700 vs 7,150 per seat (3.7x higher)
• GPU benchmark: 13,772 vs 7,608 (1.81x higher)
• RAM: 64GB dedicated vs 32GB shared pool
• Storage: 2TB NVMe (~2Gbps) vs 500GB SSD (~400Mbps)

For real-world work—opening large Revit models, rendering in Lumion, running simulations—dedicated resources mean consistent, predictable performance. No more wondering why your workstation is crawling because a colleague started a render.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

When evaluating any cloud workstation, look beyond the headline monthly price:

Licensing

Many providers quote hardware costs but exclude Windows licences, remote access software (Parsec, Teradici), and CAD application licences. Computle includes Windows and DCV remote access in every plan. Others charge separately—Inevidesk's TCO includes an estimated £1,277 for Windows and £1,651 for Parsec over three years on top of the hardware cost.

Management Tools

VMware Horizon, Citrix, and similar management platforms can cost £1,500+ annually per organisation. AWS charges extra for centralised management features. Computle's Packtle platform—covering imaging, patching, and provisioning—is included at no extra cost.

Egress Fees

Cloud providers love egress fees. Moving large CAD files or project archives in and out of AWS can add significant costs that aren't obvious upfront. With Computle, bandwidth is unlimited with no egress fees.

Hosting

With on-premise solutions like Inevidesk, you either need server room space or pay for co-location (around £165/month per pod). That's £5,940 over three years that's easy to overlook.

Trial and POC Costs

IMSCAD charges $5,000 for a proof-of-concept. Most providers require lengthy sales processes before you see pricing. Computle offers free trials with full access—no credit card, no sales call required.

Making the Right Choice for Your Firm

There's no one-size-fits-all answer. Here's my honest assessment:

Choose Computle if: You need dedicated, consistent performance without IT overhead. You want transparent pricing and the ability to start with a single seat. You're in AEC, VFX, or engineering and need certified hardware for professional applications.

Choose AWS WorkSpaces if: You're a large enterprise already heavily invested in AWS infrastructure. You need hundreds of basic office desktops (not graphics-intensive work). You have internal teams to manage the complexity.

Choose VDIPod/VCDPod if: You want fully managed support and prefer working with a sales team for custom solutions. You're willing to engage in longer procurement cycles.

Choose Inevidesk if: You have existing hosting infrastructure, prefer on-premise hardware, and your workloads can tolerate shared resources. The 7-seat minimum works for your team size.

Choose BOXX or Cloudalize if: You're comfortable with sales-driven pricing and prefer established enterprise providers (US or Europe respectively).

The Bottom Line

The cloud workstation market in 2026 offers genuine choice, but that choice requires careful evaluation. Don't be swayed by impressive-sounding specifications without understanding whether you're getting dedicated or shared resources.

If a provider won't show you pricing online, ask yourself why. If they can't tell you exactly what hardware each user gets, there's probably a reason.

At Computle, we built our entire platform around transparency and dedicated performance because we believe that's what professional users deserve. Our pricing is online. Our hardware specs are public. And every user gets their own workstation—not a fraction of a shared server.

Ready to see the difference dedicated makes? Configure your workstation at computle.com/pricing or start a free trial—no sales call required.

Disclaimer: All pricing and specifications are based on publicly available information as of January 2026. Inevidesk comparison based on June 2024 published data. Competitor pricing that is not publicly disclosed is noted as 'Sales only' or 'Unknown'. TCO calculations include hardware, software, licensing, and operational costs over a 3-year period. Actual costs may vary based on configuration, usage patterns, and negotiated pricing. Computle pricing starts at £74.17/month with all specifications published at computle.com/pricing. Images and trademarks belong to their respective owners.