Citrix DaaS vs. VMware Horizon

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Citrix DaaS
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, or XenDesktop) is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and application virtualization solution from Citrix.
$375
VMware Horizon
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
A VDI solution used for the secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps from on-premises to the cloud. It is used to deploy, manage, monitor and scale desktops and apps across private, hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure using a cloud-based console and SaaS management services.
$4.67
per month per user
Pricing
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Editions & Modules
Virtual Apps
$375
Horizon Apps Standard
$4.67
per month per user
Horizon Standard Plus
$5.79
per month per user
Horizon Apps Universal
$6.00
per month per user
Horizon Enterprise Plus
$10.71
per month per user
Horizon Universal
$12.50
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Considered Both Products
Citrix DaaS
Chose Citrix DaaS
We briefly looked at VMware Horizon View and its integration into our current VMware environment, but experience with XenDesktop and common usage overcame any potential savings with Horizon View.
Chose Citrix DaaS
Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops is platform agnostic (we can use any underlying hypervisor technology) and really flexible for any use case. Using a golden image and provisioning it (with Machine Creation Services or Provisioning Services) is powerful and really straightforward, …
Chose Citrix DaaS
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops was our pick because of the low infrastructure requirements. With Vmware, you need compatible hardware to run ESXi and then a machine to run the vCenter Server and free other machines to run horizon view, app, policies, etc which can get …
Chose Citrix DaaS
XenDesktop is a much more mature product. Better suite of products to support various workflows.
Chose Citrix DaaS
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) allows for the use of any hypervisor or cloud platform which ensures flexibility in decisions that are made across a IT organization while others are typically tied to a single or highly controlled cloud selection. Additionally the …
Chose Citrix DaaS
Our company is focused and trained for the use of Citrix. We're still in the process of exploring the other options.
Chose Citrix DaaS
Other products were more cost efficient, offered a better support contract, were much simpler to configure, and had better documentation.

We chose Citrix over the alternatives, because one of our customers required the use of Citrix for the connection of third-party vendors.
Chose Citrix DaaS
We needed our application vendor to support our solution and Citrix was their main choice. The other choice was Microsoft RDS/RDP but we wanted the higher management functionality that Citrix brought.
Chose Citrix DaaS
XenDesktop is the best because Citrix says so! But really it depends on a lot of factors that vary from one organization to the next that require detailed analysis with a trusted consulting partner or an in-house EUC architect.
Chose Citrix DaaS
XenDesktop is much faster to provision and to update machines. XenDesktop also has a much more robust suite of profile management and user controls.
Chose Citrix DaaS
XenDesktop includes features above and beyond the competition, and you really do get what you pay for. Provisioning Services makes single image management an absolute dream. Anyone who has ever had to recompose 100+ desktops in View knows the pain of waiting for composer to do …
VMware Horizon
Chose VMware Horizon
Far more cost effective.
Chose VMware Horizon
At least in our company, Citrix only worked allied with a physical authentication token, which was a Smart Card written and provided by the company. The software randomly froze and came back as nothing ever happened and the Citrix support couldn't care less about this. We grew …
Chose VMware Horizon
Citrix vid setup was very difficult and initially hard to set up. I believe this has changed somewhat now, but there are still multiple servers that need to be set up before it can be used. Vmware VDI was fairly easy to set up and was immediately working and up and running, …
Chose VMware Horizon
Some of the platforms are designed for smaller or standalone environments and do not allow for large-scale centrally controlled deployments. in the case of Citrix, there was better Chrome OS support but the lack of PCoIP UDP optimizations made is slower and less desirable by …
Chose VMware Horizon
I suppose I'm prejudiced but I don't think either of those products is in the same league. I know XenDesktop has made some strides I just think VMware has the superior product.
Chose VMware Horizon
When we were considering a VDI solution, I reviewed Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop as alternative solutions to Horizon View. It seemed like Horizon View was a more mature solution and had the best integration to our existing Vmware vSphere environment. The systems …
Chose VMware Horizon
Citrix XenDesktop is another big player in the VDI market, but the product simply isn't as mature or powerful as Horizon. Xen still struggles with Windows 10, whereas Horizon has accomodated every OS we throw at it with ease. XenDesktop is a great product overall, performance …
Chose VMware Horizon

Did not do a full evaluation on Citrix XenDesktop as VMware Horizon View integrates nicely with the VMware vSphere environment that we had currently set up.

We were using PanoLogic for about 6 months before we scrapped it and moved onto VMware Horizon View. Horizon View gave us …

Chose VMware Horizon
We did not deploy in-house testing, though we did review another company's deployment. At the time we liked what we saw in Horizon, though I have no doubts that XenDesktop could deliver just as well and still does for the other company that presented it to us. What tipped the …
Chose VMware Horizon
XenDesktop is a good product and has its advantages. It comes down to where you want the processing to take place (the server in the data center or the client endpoint). Regarding cost, the infrastructure needed to deploy the Citrix solution is more expensive than VMware's …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Small Businesses
VMware Fusion
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Score 8.4 out of 10
VMware Fusion
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Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
VMware Fusion
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Score 8.4 out of 10
VMware Fusion
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Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 8.4 out of 10
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User Ratings
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(54 ratings)
7.2
(35 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(4 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(6 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
8.4
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.4
(4 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
7.9
(8 ratings)
8.1
(10 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.4
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
2.4
(4 ratings)
8.7
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.2
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Citrix DaaSVMware Horizon
Likelihood to Recommend
Citrix
Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops is best in class for offering a great user experience in VDI, server-based sessions, or published apps. Using additional GPU allows uses like rich video, 3D apps, and great modern uses (MS Teams, Office 365, Zoom, etc.). Citrix products are very well integrated (Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops used with Citrix ADC is the best way to secure access and monitor everything).
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
VMware is well suited to a business where there will be many remote users needing to connect to the companies desktop. The installation on a remote computer is simple and is easy to use remotely but can be complicated to set up on the back end on the office system. It may not be worth the effort for a company that has few people who need remote access.
Read full review
Pros
Citrix
  • Enables remote access anywhere, to any device which eliminates managing the endpoints how traditional VPN would require.
  • Integrates well with modern applications to offer optimized user experiences similar to native applications which increases user acceptance.
  • Extremely flexible in how policies are applied to different use cases to ensure the appropriate security mitigations are in place with minimal effort.
  • Easy to maintain and expand environments to fit business needs.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
  • It provides a robust, secure, rich desktop environment that is able to access all internal network resources.
  • Addresses security and compliance concerns as all data resides within the internal network. All data accessed stays within the internal network and does not need to traverse a VPN to the local desktop where it may be cached, etc.
  • The connection is thin client that does not require large amount of bandwidth.
  • Client application is available for all common devices and O/S’s.
  • No need to install, configure and maintain applications on local desktop.
Read full review
Cons
Citrix
  • A single console to manage the environment.
  • The configuration is a bit complicated and we have hired Citrix administrators. But it's a good solution.
  • User profiles need improvement. They could use more stability and more functionality as well as user profile redirection.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
  • Move away from Adobe Flash version in UI, currently on the path but they need to hurry up
  • Speed up the boot process of the environment when servers need maintenance
  • Provide clear steps on what should be upgrade path in terms of components, the order
  • price! A bit too much
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Likelihood to Renew
Citrix
Because it has been a mainstay of our business for many years.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
We are committed to VMware Horizon and we plan to stick with it for the future unless something drastically changes.
Read full review
Usability
Citrix
Getting the environment setup took me three months of off and on work, with 3 complete rebuilds of the environment. Utilizing the WebUI to access the environment had presented so many random issues that we had to require end users to use the Citrix Reciever App. As it was the only stable solution. Aside from that, it hasn't required much admin intervention since the stand-up was completed.
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VMware by Broadcom
VMware Horizon is very easy to use. It is very easy and quick to log in remotely. It is very easy to install remotely. It is usable easily on many different operating systems. It is easy to set up which tools are available to each remote user so that each user has just what they need to perform their work without any extra tools cluttering up their space or bogging down the system.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Citrix
Xendesktop did a great job with HA of all the components.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
Performance
Citrix
The performance of XenDesktop is the best in the industry because of the fine-tuned protocol and years of updating. Overall, I don't think there is a better performer on the market. The question is if the added complexity of running XenDesktop is really worth the performance gain. While the latest version of XenDesktop is the easiest to deploy so far, it is still more challenging than the competitors.
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VMware by Broadcom
Performance is excellent of you provide the needed hardware to support the sessions/connections. Pages load very quickly at the client end as the thin client application does a very good job and requires very little bandwidth. All applications function well, as they are running on a session on an internal server that is accessing data directly on the network
Read full review
Support Rating
Citrix
The support is great when you get an engineer that knows what they are doing but getting that individual sometimes takes a while. Overall, they are professional and polite and competent in their knowledge. Sometimes the cases are open for an extended period of time which becomes very frustrating when dealing with critical issues.
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VMware by Broadcom
It is surely way better than Citrix, but it could improve a bit. Usually, they send us the solution without saying what was the root cause so we can avoid breaking something in the future. Besides that, VMWare support answers in an OK time-frame and even speaks our language (Portuguese).
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In-Person Training
Citrix
I was self trained
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VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Citrix
Easy to understand and learn at my own pace
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Citrix
Take it slow and read the directions each step of the way. If you are not familiar with Citrix products, use a reseller or other experienced engineer to assist you in the setup of your environment
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Citrix
I never had the chance to test other products like these since whenever I read and searched online during the first phase it was only popping up Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.... so we got in touch with the sales department and the rest is history. After the technical consultation, it was more obvious that the implementation would have been very easy and the security layers are very well for my company.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
Although I really prefer Microsoft Remote Desktop for accessing Windows servers (from Windows machines especially), and this can be done from off-site with a VPN, this entails much more effort, namely getting everyone's Active Directory in the correct group to have access. VMWare Horizon is a much simpler solution in terms of granting access. Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer are really not viable solutions for remotely accessing servers in business settings, although they work alright for home servers and such, especially from off-site.
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Scalability
Citrix
Easily scalable
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VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Citrix
  • XenApp has allowed us to continue support of legacy applications and all access of those applications to users across the globe with any device.
  • XenApp can also manage software licenses by restricting number of users, number of concurrent sessions, or combination of both to required specification.
  • While initial investment in XenApp can be costly, continuing support and upgrade are very cost effective and product stability is excellent.
  • While there are competing products from Microsoft and VMware, when it comes to remote application access, XenApp is the best of breed.
Read full review
VMware by Broadcom
  • Saved money on PC purchases.
  • Save a lot of man hours by not having to image new PCs. We just create one Template VM and clone the others from that.
  • Bit of a learning curve to get the deployment right for the environment.
  • Ability to make sure VMs always turn back on once they are shutdown. This speeds up load times for users.
  • Less management for our PCs. If one gets a virus or something corrupts we just refresh it and within 5 minutes the user is back to work.
Read full review
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