Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Remote Access
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
241
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
BeyondTrust Privileged Remo...
Ranking in Remote Access
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Privileged Access Management (PAM) (10th)
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...
Ranking in Remote Access
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Application Virtualization (1st), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (3rd), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.6%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is 2.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 4.6%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Remote Access
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Hahn Rolf - PeerSpot reviewer
Securely manage high-privilege remote access with granular configurations
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Better alignment between products would enhance manageability from a single point. Additionally, BeyondTrust should focus on automating the update process to reduce unnecessary ticket creation. Improved quality control for non-English language versions is needed to avoid translation and layout errors.
DavidWood1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible Deployment, reliable performance, and fast transmission speeds
Provisioning Server is a fantastic option for image management in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. It offers excellent performance and reliability. On the other hand, while Machine Creation Services can be scaled easily, they can significantly increase storage consumption. For instance, creating a Windows 10 image in MCS typically requires at least 80 GB of storage, in addition to any separate disks needed. To store changes made by users in Machine Creation Services, the differencing disk must be equal in size to the base disk, leading to significant storage consumption. On the other hand, Provisioning Server uses image versioning, creating a new image version every time it's modified. As a result, virtual machines streamed from the server revert to their original state after a reboot, which is similar to their state during the first boot. Using the provisioning server, I start by configuring a virtual machine with either a 2016 or 2019 server operating system. I install the necessary Citrix client provisioning server target device software, followed by installing the required applications. After that, I capture the entire configuration to a file share. The image is then streamed from the file share to the hypervisor, which can handle multiple machines. In some large-scale deployments, we have used a single image to provision thousands of servers. Once the image is captured and stored on the file share, it is set to read-only mode, and any changes made to it are not accepted until it is put in read-write mode. When a virtual machine is rebooted, it returns to its previous state before the changes were made. This feature can be beneficial in situations like a virus outbreak, where a simple reboot of the virtual machines can remove any malicious code or changes. A provisioning server offers a faster recovery time from a bad change and is generally faster than machine creation services. With the provisioning server, changes are not accepted until the read-write mode is enabled, and if a virus outbreak occurs, rebooting the machines restores them to the previous state. On the other hand, machine creation services' speed is dependent on the storage's speed, and recovery time from a bad change can take longer, especially with a large number of devices. If a bad change is made with machine creation services, the replication process can take a while to revert, whereas, with a provisioning server, all machines can be rebooted quickly. Within thirty minutes, I can restore my system to its previous state using the provisioning server.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Microsoft Intune simplifies device management by replacing the traditional method of installing OS, joining a domain, and configuring everything manually."
"It's normally able to meet 100% expectations of our customers."
"I would say the biggest benefit is the single-pane view. There's no jumping around multiple UI's to do your overall management."
"Intune's most valuable features are its device management capabilities, particularly its centralized integration with other Microsoft stack components."
"This product offers an alternative solution to other UEM (Unified Endpoint Management) solutions."
"The main benefit for us with Microsoft Intune is centralized management of all devices, allowing us to apply one policy across the company from one location."
"The security-related tools are excellent; these features allow us to secure devices, lock them down, and ensure compliance."
"Autopilot is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Intune."
"PRA stands on its own as a full solution. This is important because it reduces the need to maintain a lot of different services. Also, the integration between those services are sometimes not easy to maintain. So, having a solution like BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access reducing our workload gives us enough time to work on our other issues. The system just runs and does what it is supposed to do."
"It is a real fortress. Its security is very strong. Multi-factor came as a feature out-of-the-box, which was big for us. That helps us meet another compliance requirement. It enforces encryption. Nobody can see what we are doing in our remote system if they happen to be listening for unencrypted traffic. That is its biggest strength."
"The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine."
"The security provided by PRA when it comes to access for remote and privileged users has been outstanding. It has met all of our objectives, everything from password rotation to securing and allowing us to clamp down access to the auditing and monitoring features."
"Its initial setup process is straightforward."
"The visibility of the solution's Vault works as it is supposed to: out-of-the-box for domain accounts, endpoints, and local accounts associated with discovery jobs."
"The privileged remote access platform is able to track and record everything that happens within a session."
"The most valuable feature is that this solution can be implemented regardless of the operating system."
"The most valuable feature is how secure the solution is."
"The most valuable feature is connectivity. The remote connection is the reason we are using this solution."
"Because of the solution's ubiquity, it is easier to find answers to problems than with competitive products."
"The remote desktop feature allows employees to work from home."
"Citrix Workspace allows you to work in a remote environment and gives you data security."
"The Provisioning Services are the most valuable feature. We have Premium licensing, so Provisioning Services is huge for us, along with the Virtual Apps and Desktops part. It allows us to have a vDisk for every region, one that can easily be copied between them if we need to, to limit the amount of updates we have to do."
"I use Citrix DaaS to connect to devices."
"The only thing that is really important for me is being able to connect from wherever I am. It is important for me because sometimes I am in places where there are not enough safe conditions to be able to work safely, in terms of security and confidentiality of my data. Being able to access internal resources from a secure platform allows me to work without fearing that my data has been stolen."
 

Cons

"The policies we had in SCCM and AD offered features that are missing from Microsoft Intune."
"They should make it easier to order it, however, that's generally true for everything from Microsoft."
"Lacking in features such as Wi-Fi and network security."
"Sometimes, the process is unsuccessful when we attempt to reset a device and wipe the data using Intune."
"They could also make it easier to use because there are some other products that may be easier to use in terms of the look and feel of the dashboard."
"It's only good for a Microsoft environment."
"Reporting needs to be better. Sometimes, it is way too slow, and it is not even accurate."
"There were several bugs with stability."
"There is no connectivity to the appliance side. There is no API, and it is just difficult for me to capture what version the device is on without going in and doing screenshots. It is a little too secure in that regard, where they don't even trust their product owner. Since a lot of hacks come from the inside, they are probably doing what they need to do out of necessity. It is just that I have to work pretty hard to produce compliance data on the box."
"The price is pretty expensive."
"It would be very nice if it has an enterprise vault. Currently, it can interact with Password Safe, which is a separate solution and equivalent to Thycotic Secret Server. Instead of having Password Safe as a separate entity, they should combine it with BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access. They have done it in some way, but it is not an enterprise tech solution."
"The integration of the solution with many platforms is a difficult area to manage and needs to be made easy."
"Customer support used to be faster with chat options available. However, support now requires opening a ServiceNow ticket, which can be time-consuming."
"One of our gaps or pain points is having multi-factor authentication at the endpoint and using the PRA password injection from BeyondTrust, which does not work in our environment. We can only have MFA at the login of BeyondTrust to check out the password. Therefore, we can't meet our security requirements of having it on the endpoint."
"When doing protocol panel jumps, the tool does not restrict what is recorded on the user's computer."
"Some of the capabilities in the solution were not as available or not as outstanding as CyberArk. We had to manage whatever little was available for us, especially its recording capabilities, logs, and a number of things."
"My only issue with Citrix is that they frequently rebrand their products. I'm using the app and everything is fine but after a couple of years, it's entirely different. There were an enormous number of Citrix tools readily available. My immediate concern was selecting the correct ones."
"The product should expand its capabilities for integrating with other environments."
"As an end-to-end solution for implementing Zero Trust principles I would rate it a six or a seven out of 10, because it doesn't cover all aspects of Zero Trust. There are quite a few aspects you need to cover."
"There is room for slight improvement in performance optimization and interface refinement."
"I think they can improve the troubleshooting to make it easier for users to solve problems on their own. For example, it could provide an error code and some instructions on how to reconnect to the database or do something proactive to fix the issue with the system."
"If there are connectivity issues, there are stability issues."
"We had an issue when we were using the Citrix server. We needed to install the Citrix Runtime in the server where the application was hosted."
"Where improvement could be driven is in terms of clarity as to the functionality of some of the solutions. If you go back to the older Citrix Xen products that we had, we understood those really well. As we've come into the new workstation premium suite, there is a lot of additional functionality that we perhaps have not yet fully exploited. It is not because we can't, but simply because we don't yet understand the depth of functionality that's offered."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license needed for this solution and it is either included in one of the enterprise license agreements. Microsoft licensing is a mathematical institute, it could be quite complex. We tend to ask specialized organizations to research what the most profitable way it would be for us to use licenses in the organizations."
"We spend a lot of money on Intune licensing, and some of our users have to be double licensed just because of how our dev and corporate environments are segmented."
"Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."
"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"I liked the tool's pricing until P2 came into effect. I am unsure about the current value versus the cost of the new licensing model."
"It is expensive. The cost depends on the license that we choose."
"It is reasonable for the features it has."
"The E5 license is expensive."
"PRA was one of the cheapest solutions that we evaluated."
"I wasn't directly involved in the licensing and pricing, but I can say that PRA is licensed per endpoint added to the Vault. I would advise users to take frequent exports of their license usage package; it's a simple feature that provides a spreadsheet of every machine in the Vault. This helps to cut down on duplicate licenses, which can happen by adding the same endpoint using an IP address and a fully qualified domain name, for instance. The implementation is an additional cost, and they offer several tiers, so the price varies. There are also some optional add-ons, so I would advise people to research the product well and find out precisely what they need regarding features. The Advanced Web Access add-on provides some required functionality when interfacing with websites; that's one to consider."
"Don't get into a situation where you are licensing per desktop or per person until you fully understand the licensing."
"My client found the solution a bit expensive but considering their use case and requirements, they didn't have any other choice. As far as I know, implementation and licensing are the only costs."
"Though the solution was a bit expensive, the overall pricing was average."
"Its price is pretty good for the features and services that it provides. It is not outrageous. I'm not aware of any additional charges or anything like that."
"PRA's pricing is competitive."
"I rate the product's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is high, and ten is low. It is an expensive product."
"The licensing, in general, is expensive. A lot of customers battle to pay the amount. It's very difficult to ensure that your solution provides the business value that the customer is after."
"If you look at cost, then you must look at the number of users that you are covering. If you are only using it for some users, then it is very expensive. However, if you have a massive amount of users, then it begins to be interesting to use Citrix. Because once you are managing thousands of servers with one guy, your maintenance costs decrease per user."
"It is quite expensive, but so are the competitors on the market."
"The solution is expensive and I give the cost a four out of ten."
"Citrix licensing is expensive."
"It's my understanding that the solution license fee for each user is around $300 US. If we buy a personal laptop for each employee every five years, then the total cost is five times $300 US, or $1,500 USD. So we could buy 100 personal laptops instead of the Citrix solution."
"The licenses are affordable, but the support is a bit expensive, though worth the value.​"
"I think it is a little high priced."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Remote Access solutions are best for your needs.
841,302 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What do you like most about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine.
What needs improvement with BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Bette...
What is your primary use case for BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
We use the tool for vendor access, providing secure vendor access to manage systems. Most of our use cases involve se...
What do you like most about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
I have found that Citrix DaaS is still a complex product, especially on the desktop side, which affects scalability. ...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Bomgar Privileged Access
XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Horizon Beverage, Air Liquide, Gateway Bank of Florida
Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval
Find out what your peers are saying about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
841,302 professionals have used our research since 2012.