TrustRadius Insights
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, previously known as XenApp and XenDesktop, have been widely adopted by organizations for a variety of …
Citrix DaaSFormerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops / XenDesktop & XenApp
Starting at $375
View PricingOverview
What is Citrix DaaS?
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, or XenDesktop) is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and application virtualization solution from Citrix.
Recent Reviews
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Pricing
Virtual Apps
$375
Cloud
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
Service continuity support for Android devices
YouTube
Service continuity support for browsers (Workspace for Web)
YouTube
Instructional Demo - Steps to cloud migration
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Citrix DaaS?
To meet the needs of an increasingly flexible workforce, organizations are turning to desktop as aservice (DaaS) and VDI solutions to provide high-performing, adaptive workspaces. Citrix DaaS modernizes IT with a secure cloud solution to quickly deliver apps or desktops from any cloud or datacenter worldwide.
With Citrix DaaS, IT can seamlessly deploy and manage hybrid work environments to increase business agility and deliver an enhanced user experience at scale. Built-in Citrix high-definition HDX technologies increase productivity, providing real-time network and performance optimization for even the most demanding 3D, voice, or video applications. Enhanced security and policy controls protect sensitive data to securely deliver vital resources anywhere to any device.
With Citrix DaaS, IT can seamlessly deploy and manage hybrid work environments to increase business agility and deliver an enhanced user experience at scale. Built-in Citrix high-definition HDX technologies increase productivity, providing real-time network and performance optimization for even the most demanding 3D, voice, or video applications. Enhanced security and policy controls protect sensitive data to securely deliver vital resources anywhere to any device.
Citrix DaaS Competitors
Citrix DaaS Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, or XenDesktop) is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and application virtualization solution from Citrix.
Reviewers rate Implementation Rating highest, with a score of 9.
The most common users of Citrix DaaS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(155)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, previously known as XenApp and XenDesktop, have been widely adopted by organizations for a variety of use cases. Users have found that this software provides seamless access to virtualized desktops and applications across multiple satellite locations, enabling teams to work collaboratively and efficiently. It has also been deployed in data centers, supporting various clients and applications including published desktops and development applications.
One of the key benefits of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is its ability to facilitate remote work. Many organizations have relied on this software to provide their employees with secure access to desktops and applications from anywhere, ensuring business continuity even in challenging circumstances such as during the Covid-19 pandemic. Call center agents, testing teams, and general remote workers have leveraged this solution to maintain a strong security posture while enjoying a good user experience. Contractors, consultants, and remote workers have also found secure remote access through Citrix Virtual Apps valuable for their specific needs.
Another noteworthy use case of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is its ability to provide remote desktop access to applications and servers, reducing infrastructure costs and eliminating the need for a dedicated data center. By giving users the flexibility to connect to business applications, utilities, and production servers remotely, the software streamlines IT operations while cutting down on maintenance efforts. Moreover, it has proven beneficial for organizations handling sensitive data or those seeking to provide offshore developers with secure access to internal company resources.
Overall, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops have addressed the diverse needs of businesses across industries. From ensuring seamless collaboration between distributed teams to enabling secure remote access to critical resources, this software has become an integral part of many organizations' IT infrastructure. Its ability to provide fast connections, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance productivity has made it a preferred solution for various use cases within enterprises globally.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-19 of 19)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
July 18, 2022
Good virtual product, easy to use an manage.
I use Citrix desktop for more than 7 years now, from previous company adopted all user PC using Citrix desktop to manage backend IT perspective to now in my current company use it as some of the application + a few virtual desktops for someone who needs to get in the network with their own computer, Citrix has been trouble free easy to use solution for us.
- Mobility, any where, any computer
- easy to use
- not much computer resource required
- file sharing from local PC to the citrix laptop or application
- better mobile app, for iPad users
- Audio and Video optimization can improve
July 13, 2022
Fully reccommend this Great Tool
In our company, we need Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops as a must since a lot of users work remotely and with this great tool, they are able to log in remotely to their desktops and other applications too. Since our company grew fast in the last years we needed such tool to go ahead with our growth. The connection is secure and this was one of the requirements for the software purchase.
- Give employees freedom to work from anywhere.
- Management of VMs easy and reduces costs.
- Versatile
- Best performance and stability.
- Linux installation.
- Support cases some time take long time to solve.
- Ideal for large companies.
July 07, 2021
Citrix for small business
We've used Citrix Desktop since moving from microsoft terminal services 14 years ago. It's been a relatively solid and secure platform to allow the firm's attorneys to access all systems and network as long as they have an internet connection. We've upgraded over the years and are currently looking at a new build. Administration is not bad but the skill set needed to install and configure is above my knowledge level. My most common end user complaint is from the people that save the world on their desktop; I do not sync with their office machines due to potential software licensing issues.
- Secure - several layers
- Ease of use - just log in to the web portal
- Great support when I do have an issue
- I wanted to expand use for the COVID quarantine and work from home directive, but Citrix refused to allow temporary or short term licenses
- Licenses are very expensive
- Implementation and configuration does require a high end skill set
July 01, 2021
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops enables WFH!
Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops is a great program management tool and is widely adopted across my 25k+ employee company. We use the tool for many reasons. It really solves the problem of being able to access your desktop and applications remotely, as well as organizing programs in a safe and secure manner. It has a very user-friendly interface and logging on is very seamless. In the last year of working completely remote there has only been 1 or 2 issues in accessing the portal and they are normally corrected immediately.
- accessing your work computer on the go
- ease of logging on
- high adoption across multiple users
- bookmarking the landing page could be easier
- better mobile app
- quicker log on speeds
We use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) to deliver virtual apps and desktops to our whole organization. We have a subset of employees who work entirely remotely from our corporate office, and they use the system for all access to our on-premise apps. We have another subset of employees who work at the Corporate office, and they use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) to access a few apps that are only available via virtual access as well as remote access when away from the office. It solves a lot of business issues, including letting us share Apps to older machines, centralizing applications for better management, and allowing users to have common desktops regardless of what device they are using to access our apps.
- Using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) allows you to do a one to many deployments with apps. Whether you stream them to desktops or host them via web protocols, you can install it once and allow many to use.
- If you want to minimize IT resources, you can use this program to produce virtual desktops that can be static or allow users to change as needed. There is no need to go to each desk to fix issues with their desktops when they are all centralized and managed via Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop).
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) has a great protocol (HDX) that minimizes bandwidth needs allowing you to use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) to offices or devices with slower internet connections.
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) has a great management interface that allows granular control over all your apps and desktops.
- Users can bring their own device, whether a mobile or PC type.
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Formerly XenDesktop) does have a bit of a learning curve and can get complex at times.
- Pricing on the system can be a little steep for large deployments considering it is an add on to MS Terminal Services/RDS.
- An issue that is probably not Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) specific, but since these are virtual apps if used on a connection that has high latency or frequent internet drops users can become frustrated. Unlike true web services, users do require a solid internet connection. Slow is ok; latency is not.
December 27, 2019
High Quality VDI Solution
We use this Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for our remote workforce and work from home staff. All departments use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops however some are not fully able to utilize it due to their roles. It is worth mentioning that we also use Citrix ADC to facilitate secure remote access to our Citrix environment.
- It has a really good end-user experience when using desktop features.
- It's easy to use Citrix Storefront.
- Optimization for audio and video is not the best.
- Logging is very weak and makes it hard to troubleshoot issues.
November 26, 2019
Citrix review
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is used in conjunction with our document management application to centralize data for our nationwide (worldwide) insurance division.
- Centralize data.
- Ease of user desktop management.
- Standardization of desktops.
- It's not cheap to operate.
- Complex, there are a lot of moving parts, so it takes some dedication to set up and manage.
- The constant changing of names is annoying (i.e., Virtual Apps and Desktops—formerly XenDesktop).
Citrix XenDesktop is utilized at our Datacenter to provide our third-party offshore developers access to internal company resources while maintaining a good security standing. XenDesktop prevents customer data and/or proprietary code from being downloaded external to the company and leaked to competitors or our customer's competitors.
- All Management resources can now be installed on a single server. Reducing the overhead required to maintain a citrix environment.
- Granularity of the Delivery groups allow you to define allowing a remote user to connect to a random XenDesktop VM or individually assigning VMs to users.
- HDX RealTime Optimization Pack has stabilized some of the issues of utilizing all of the features of Skype for Business in a ZenDesktop VM.
- Product documentation is bloated with information and lacks documentation on assisting with first time setup.
- Customer service offers very little assistance when it comes to using your support contract.
- Default Policy, out of the box, allows Clipboard, File Share, Printer Sharing, Drive redirection, and others security risks that should be disabled by default.
- Screenshots are not prevented, other products blank a screenshot or sniping tool image. Watermarks are the only security citrix offers and are disabled by default.
- Renewal cost of support contract is 80% of initial purchase price. Other companies renewal cost is significantly less.
- End users who do not properly log off can leave a hung connection, and requires manual deletion of the connection for users to re-connect.
January 19, 2019
Farming with Citrix will save you time and money
XenApp is being used at the Cranston location. We use XenApp to connect to our ERP system SAP.
- Good tech support.
- Install/upgrade process is easy to follow.
- Citrix Studio is excellent for managing everything from machine catalogs, licensing, controller, etc... one stop shop.
- Policies are sometimes too confusing to understand.
- I would like to be able to clean up user profiles form Citrix Studio.
- Add printer setup and configuration to Citrix Studio.
March 23, 2017
Citrix XenApp works for us.
Right now XenApp is being used by our department, but it will soon be rolled out to other departments within the organization. It addresses the problems of working remotely and securely.
- Centralize control and reduce application management costs.
- Deliver Windows and other business apps to workers on any device.
- Workers are able to use devices they already own (BYOD), which cuts costs of buying new hardware.
- Cost - Licensing costs are not cheap.
- Local printing is not installed by default. It took some time getting printing set up for each individual user.
- Application compatibility is an issue when Citrix XenApp is updated, we were forced into purchasing not only an update, but also new office software.
February 28, 2017
Citrix VDI
We use XenDesktop for the whole organization. The business problem it address is that we are in the process of using XenDesktop for remote access with NetScaler Access Gateway so we can shutdown our VPN. The reason [for this] is so we don't have to open a hole into our network with a VPN. Since XenDesktop is just a screen refresh it solves the security issue on that front. We also use XenDesktop for fast roll out since upgrading and patching is done on one master image. On the client side we use Wyse Zero client. Using all these technologies helps streamline IT as a whole to cut costs in the long run. We can focus on backend projects instead of fixing physical computer issues.
- Remote access. Even with high latency, HDX helps with working no not so ideal situations
- PVS server lower IOPS and faster image management
- USB redirection is a nice for remote users
- Technical support is lacking.
- Flash or HTML Videos lag with Zero clients.
- Support cost is expensive when their support is really poor.
May 24, 2016
Still the king.
XenApp is used in organization wide to deliver a consistent application experience across multiple platforms. We use XenApp to publish full blown desktop applications to mobile devices and for delivery to physical and virtual desktops (XenDesktop).
- As previously mentioned, XenApp allows us to provide a consistent user experience no matter what device they are on. This can be their workstation on their desk, their own BYOD laptop regardless of OS, and mobile device.
- By delivering our XenApp servers with Citrix Provisioning Services, XenApp empowers our IT staff by giving them centralized management and version control of applications "out on the floor".
- The ICA protocol allows our users to have the best possible experience when they are on the go.
- NS Insight also gives us visibility into all of the important metrics to troubleshoot and/or optimize policies to fine tune the user experience.
- From an administrators point of view, XenApp requires that an engineer "know the full stack". There are competitors out there that are trending towards moving the management and infrastructure layers into AaS (As a Service) models.
- Multi-Site support has recently been addressed with FMA, but previous to the current (bleeding edge version) this was a major pain point that was supported in previous (6.5) versions.
- Deeper Linux support!
May 06, 2016
Xenapp review
We have an application that is a fat client app that needs to be delivered to our clients. Citrix's Xenapp is the perfect delivery method as it provides a secure easy method for those deliverables. It addresses the problems of having to deploy new releases to multiple users by deploying to a set of load balanced servers.
- Load balancing servers
- Ease of deployment of applications to end users
- Centralized application management
- Better user logging without using Edgesight would be nice
- Better legacy app support
- Better application streaming support
We use XenDesktop (XenApp) in published desktop mode to facilitate users at remote rehabilitation clinics to perform their clinical work with patients on wireless laptops and desktops at the clinics. Typically the clinic will only have a T1 WAN connectivity back to the datacenter on a MPLS network and bandwidth is a real concern. It is also used for remote workers and as a work from home method.
- XenDesktop 7 provides two effective methods of managing session host updates and keeping them consistent within a machine group. In prior versions of XenApp/Metaframe, each host had to be updated individually resulting in inconsistencies across the resource pool.
- XenDesktop 7 provides several efficient methods to maximizing session performance while minimizing bandwidth utilization. We can effectively facilitate an average of 8-10 clinicians at a remote site across a 1.5MB WAN link, working in multiple applications, printing, scanning and streaming video.
- XenDesktop 7 enables user mobility by using a common interface across multiple platforms - Windows/Linux/IOS and OS X.
- Monitoring and troubleshooting tools are lacking. Unless you can afford the costly step up to Platinum licensing, there is little native visibility into the Inner workings of the system, or into the ICA tunnel protocols. there are third party tools available, but because ICA is licensed by Citrix, there are only a few vendors who have the ability to really see what is occurring under the covers.
- Profile management is very sloppy. Once again, a third party tool is required to effectively manage roaming profiles and keep login times down to a manageable level. UPM allows profiles to grow dramatically and requires careful monitoring and frequent intervention.
- The Citrix Receiver client (Windows) is quirky and often causes end user performance and UX issues. Installing and upgrading the client is not straightforward or easy, although Citrix has been improving this weakness in recent releases.
October 09, 2015
XenDesktop - The answer to most of your end user problems.
We've used XenDesktop across the whole organization to solve a few challenges. Initially it has been set up as a solution for the remote offices to address the latency issue. Later it has expanded as a disaster recovery solution when deployed with Citrix Access Gateway, which later has been replaced by the NetScaler product.
- Great for remote office deployments as it usually resides in the same data center as the servers and provides much quicker access to the resources avoiding high latency that is common on the intercontinental connections
- Good choice for the DR as it can be migrated between the data centers if needed.
- Good solution for remote access providing extra security over a VPN connection.
- Using XenDesktop on a non computer device is a bit cumbersome.
- Not ideal for traveling users, who would need to work offline and carry a laptop with them to be able to use the XenDesktop.
October 09, 2015
XenDesktop for increasing productivity and simplification of infrastructure management
XenDesktop is used to manage internet bandwidth at our remote locations as well as creating a standard set of applications, which are centrally managed and maintained. Our remote locations generally have T-1 or less connections, so bandwidth has to be carefully used. By keeping their applications and desktops on our data center end, it has lowered the amount of bandwidth used at the locations.
- XenDesktop does a very great job at load balancing our applications and desktops across servers. It uses a load evaluator index to gauge the load on the server and sends new connections to the server in the group with the lowers LEI.
- The integration into our VMware environment has been critical. Using Machine Creation Services, I am able to create an image and all machines created from that image are reset to it upon reboot. No more worrying about a user corrupting one server and having to rebuild it or deploy again from a VMware template. Creating a new server in a group is easy and fast.
- Management of user sessions within XenDesktop's Director is simple and straight forward. Finding and managing a user's session is without complication.
- The Director leaves a lot to be desired. I have had to resort to scripts and a custom page to get the information I need to properly manage our environment. The previous EdgeSight had detailed information that this just seems to leave out. There is no way to customize views, add or remove content, or otherwise customize for our brand.
- One thing left out from this version that was in previous versions, was the ability deploy applications from all servers, not just those in a delivery group. As it is set up now, you can only deploy an app to a specific set of servers in a delivery group. If I have Group A running SAP and Group B running Office, only Group B can host Office for the users, even if Group A has Office installed. It would make better use of my servers if I could have on application run from both groups and still load balance properly. It is possible to have it run from both delivery groups, but the load balancing functionality appears to not work correctly.
- A new functionality in the Feature Packs (1 and 2) was session recording. The functionality is useful, but is still clunky and uses a large amount of storage space. I have yet to see a way to auto purge old recordings without manually deleting them. Storage may be cheap now, but it still needs to be managed and used wisely. Being able to purge old recordings would go a long way.
October 08, 2015
Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 Rocks!!!
XenDesktop is primarily being used by our IT, operations and off source resources. We are looking to expand it to other business units in coming months. XenDesktop facilitates us to deliver the same desktop environment from any device, anywhere over any type of network. It provides secure access to our enterprise desktop offerings whether it is VDI or RemotePC.
- Key strength lies in Citrix's proprietary protocol ICA/HDX. It can handle traffic over high latency network very well.
- New FMA (Flexible Management Architecture) is a unified platform to deliver virtual desktops, application & physical PC access.
- XenDesktop is Hypervisor agnostic. We can run it on VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer or Microsoft Hyper-V.
- Support for webcam & softphone.
- Definitely want to see improvement & bug fixes in RemotePC access.
- Offline VDI & application access to offset threat from Microsoft's Direct Access technology.
October 06, 2015
Real Life Citrix Experience from a Citrix Service Provider
We are a Citrix service provider and with Citrix, we deliver a hosted virtual desktop to our clients. Citrix XenDesktop allows us and our clients to seamlessly work from any location, with any device. We have several Citrix farms (sites), and utilize most, if not all, of the Citrix features.
- Delivery of a virtual desktop across a high latency/high packet loss connection: When Citrix introduced Framehawk, we were excited to get it into production. The feature seems to work pretty well, but even the base implementation, when correctly configured, works well across the WAN.
- Access Interface: When users access the Web front-end or Receiver interface, it is a visually pleasing experience and invites users to connect to "Work".
- Scalability: Citrix allows us to scale our deployments in a quick and easy way with Machine Creation Services (MCS), or Provisioning Services (PVS). We have many small clients with dedicated images and with MCS we can give them the benefit of a fresh "Golden Image" without the added cost of additional servers.
- File accessibility: Currently, Citrix offers the ability to transfer files to and from their virtual desktop via client mapped drives. This works ok, but can be clunky and a little slow at times. ShareFile is a good segueway, but can be a little cumbersome to set up in a Hosted-Shared environment.
- Offline access: With XenClient, users can run offline instances of virtual machines and still get the benefit of the virtual machine managed from the datacenter. The process isn't very seamless and could be more integrated into XenDesktop. If a XenDesktop virtual desktop could be delivered to a users local machine and then cached, that would be a great solution.
September 28, 2015
DoD deployment works well.
XenApp is deployed in a data center supporting Department of Defense clients. It supports multiple clients with a broad use base. The environment consists of developmental (sandbox), production, and test. Some clients are leveraging XenApp exclusively for published desktops and others are hosting workhorse development applications for SQL development. The goal is to allow effective consolidation of resources for multiple customers by leveraging shared resources.
- Application hosting: Citrix has been doing this for a long time, and they overcome the complaints and issues in the previous release with the return of XenApp in this newest version.
- Resource monitoring and load balancing.
- Administration: Application management is greatly improved in XenApp 7.6. Everything is consolidated into a single console and deploying groups of applications to users has continued to improve.
- More intuitive installation instructions, better documentation.
- Adding additional Delivery Controllers post initial configuration is a bear. It requires a complex series of steps to add each additional Controller if they are not configured during initial setup.
- Name changes to known products continues to be a problem for Citrix.