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Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Horizon Cloud Service comparison

Citrix and Omnissa are both solutions in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category. Citrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while Omnissa is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Citrix holds a 8.0% mindshare in VD, compared to Omnissa’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Omnissa users who would recommend it.
Horizon Cloud Service
Read 9 Horizon Cloud Service reviews
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90% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Citrix DaaS and Horizon Cloud Service compete in the Desktop as a Service (DaaS) market. Citrix DaaS leads in simplicity and cost-effectiveness, whereas Horizon Cloud Service excels in feature-rich offerings at higher costs.

Features: Citrix DaaS offers comprehensive scalability and security features, empowering enterprises with extensive control and customization. Horizon Cloud Service emphasizes seamless integration with existing infrastructure and advanced desktop management capabilities, offering features like intuitive management interfaces, extensive virtual desktop customization, and impressive integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Citrix DaaS could enhance its feature-rich offerings to match the robust capabilities of competitors and improve integration flexibility. Horizon Cloud Service could focus on simplifying deployment processes and reducing the dependency on advanced technical expertise. Both solutions could aim for more streamlined management tools to enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix DaaS offers a straightforward deployment process with excellent customer support, enabling quick setups and issue resolutions. Horizon Cloud Service provides flexible deployment models but demands more time and technical expertise. Despite delivering strong customer support, its deployment complexity remains an area for improvement.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix DaaS provides a cost-effective solution with clear ROI, utilizing an efficient licensing model and affordable setup costs, making it suitable for budget-conscious enterprises. Horizon Cloud Service requires a higher initial investment but justifies its long-term ROI with its substantial feature set, appealing to organizations prioritizing advanced capabilities over upfront costs.

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To learn more, read our detailed Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service Report (Updated: January 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service
January 2025
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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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Application Virtualization (1st), Remote Access (5th)
Horizon Cloud Service
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
11th
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 8.0%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 1.5%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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Vaisakh Natesh M - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, stable, and scalable
VMware Horizon Cloud is easy to use and the full development cloud is very good. The main features of VMware are included. It's a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure software that allows you to permit the virtual desktops and applications to any device from the single unified management control. These are managed from the dedicated remote session desktop. It is a multiple cloud deployment that provides flexibility. You can choose cloud capacity management by VMware or infrastructure management with Microsoft Azure. Advanced user configuration management through dynamic environment management is available. There are many self-serve options.
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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tech support is fast, knowledgeable, and customer-friendly."
"Ability to connect remotely."
"It virtualizes the application on your desktop."
"It is a lightweight application that incorporates multi-factor authentication."
"Citrix has had the top remote display for the last 20 years, and there is a huge technological gap between Citrix and its competitors."
"The remote desktop feature allows employees to work from home."
"It is a stable solution. We don't usually have problems with the platform...It is a very scalable solution."
"Citrix is one of the companies that is delivering virtual apps and desktops in a big way. They are mature enough to understand the level of stability required and deliver it."
More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pros
"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."
"The tool remains pretty stable."
"The product’s on-premise version has the ability to create an image of any updates or changes in the system."
"Its advanced management features are the most valuable, especially power management. One of the really important things was to be able to have power management in a consumption world. This means that unlike a Microsoft environment, you could actually turn off virtual desktops or have them start up and shut down. If you're consuming resources in the public cloud, you want to be able to do that because when you're not using those, such as at the weekend, you want to be able to turn them off. So, the advanced options for managing the BDIs are very important."
"The interface is much easier to use compared to Microsoft and other VDI vendors that are well known on the market. I like VMware so much more than the others. With Horizon Cloud, you don't need to spend a lot of money upfront to buy the infrastructure. You can use it the on the cloud, so it lowers the barriers to entry. It's easier to test it and get started. Some clients stay in the cloud, but others prefer to go on-premise. It depends on the nature of the client."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is easy to use and the full development cloud is very good. The main features of VMware are included. It's a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure software that allows you to permit the virtual desktops and applications to any device from the single unified management control. These are managed from the dedicated remote session desktop."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users that are working from outside of the office or from different offices in the country."
More Horizon Cloud Service pros
 

Cons

"Citrix's functionality depends on you having access to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft offers a broad range of features and solutions. Overall, it may make sense for some users to move all their services to Microsoft services."
"Using the app layering feature can be quite difficult and cumbersome."
"They can simplify the process of printers. Printers were quite a difficult issue. It took us a long time to iron this issue out. We have the most simple use case where people connect from home to either a virtual machine or their physical desktop. We tried more complex solutions like Machine Creation Services, and they were more overhead than they were worth for us. I found them difficult to work with and confusing, and they were not worth the work for us."
"The lag when using Skype or Screen Sharing with multiple users needs to improve, as it makes it difficult for us to continue when we have to restart the system."
"Direct connection of USB devices on the terminals to be used by streamed applications is very important for printing and the usage of token authentication, but the current version does not support this one hundred percent."
"Citrix has undergone significant changes, primarily due to its acquisition. This acquisition impacted Citrix's value because of increased licensing costs under the new model. As a result, many customers are now considering alternatives to Citrix."
"I think improvement around the Analytics piece is super important. There has been a lot of maturity over the last year in that area, though a lot more needs to be done. Also, a lot more of the value of those Analytics needs to be sold to end users. Citrix is working on a lot of things that are ahead of the curve and a lot of organizations aren't quite there yet with implementing those technologies and capabilities."
"Citrix duplicates multiple processes."
More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) cons
"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."
"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."
"The product has a lot of bugs."
"In the design phase, sometimes the tools for designing Horizon solutions have issues when they're calculating the number of nodes and platforms needed to support the VDI systems."
"The application remoting features have some room for improvement."
"There should be more emphasis on the Workspace One access part of the solution. This is essentially identity management provided with Horizon. There needs to be some kind of integration because you are able to have all of these desktops on any device, but you have to have this other component to make it easier from a single sign-on perspective. That's why there should be an emphasis on Workspace One access. It actually comes free with the product, but people don't really know how powerful it can be."
"It is very expensive. Its price needs to be improved. They can do a better job with external resources such as a USB or a hard drive. When I tried to connect using these external resources, it failed a lot of times. I had to do a shared connection with a local laptop and then connect from a network standpoint, rather than through VMware Horizon point. They definitely have weaknesses with external connections. A lot of companies probably don't let people use external connections because it defeats the purpose of having a cloud solution and keeping the data in a secure area. You can copy to an external device, and you can lose the data. A lot of companies may not focus on this feature, but if you are providing it, you should make it work."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the Citrix software reflects what I would expect a product of that nature, in that market, to be. Understanding the licensing is quite a bit more complicated, because one of the things about Citrix is that you can buy licensing at different levels... Yet I still like the idea because it means that if all you need is a basic load balancing solution, then you don't need to buy an advanced or premium license."
"Citrix is expensive."
"The product, XenServer, is free to use, and XenApp has a one month free license."
"The purchase price was around $300,000 USD and then the maintenance fees were 20%. There are no other additional fees."
"Where Citrix really needs to improve is in their support and in the way that they manage their licenses. Everything else comes second because if I'm not in a position where I can get proper support or manage my own licenses in an easy way, then it is pointless. Today, I am at a point where I may not be able to use Citrix anymore because they want to take away some of the licenses that I bought, pretending they are not valid anymore. That is frankly unacceptable. If they don't solve this, everything comes second because I cannot use my product."
"As for the cost, it is neither cheap nor expensive. Personally, I find it quite expensive, especially if you want to add more features. The security features we use include App Protect and Endpoint Protection."
"Their licensing model used to be on a per-year basis, where you would negotiate the cost per user for a year. For instance, if you had 25,000 users, you could negotiate the cost accordingly. However, they are transitioning to a subscription-based model where the cost is incurred monthly."
"The solution is expensive and I give the cost a four out of ten."
More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pricing and cost advice
"It is too expensive as compared to other solutions because of which we don't use it that much. We tend to go more for Hyper-V or Azure just because VMware licensing is quite up there. We sway people away from VMware Horizon Cloud. We have some clients who already have it. They stay on it for a little while, and then most of them end up moving off when we provide them a better solution that isn't as license heavy cost-wise."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."
"For what you get, it is very compelling. You've got to look at the total cost of ownership of this type of piece of software in terms of being able to utilize it as a cloud service. I don't have to run everything on-premises. When you look at the total cost of just being able to use it and then being able to point it to any public or private cloud, it is very compelling. You have one less thing to manage."
"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."
"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."
"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."
"VMware Horizon Cloud is an expensive solution. This solution is approximately 30 percent more than Microsoft Azure Cloud. There can be extra costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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. Although it works well on the apps side, the desktop aspect still has room for i...
See all answers
What do you like most about VMware Horizon Cloud?
The tool remains pretty stable.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Cloud?
Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out. Though I find Citrix to be an expensive product compared to VMware Horizon Cloud because of all the feat...
See all answers
What needs improvement with VMware Horizon Cloud?
VMware Horizon Cloud's VDI stacks are being sold off. Considering VMware Horizon Cloud's VDI stacks complexity, even before its sell out, I feel Citrix can do a couple of pieces of infrastructure t...
See all answers
 

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Compared 8% of the time
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Compared 28% of the time
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Compared 21% of the time
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Compared 17% of the time
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Compared 7% of the time
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Compared 7% of the time
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)
January 2025
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) reportDownload Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) product report
Buyer's Guide
Horizon Cloud Service
January 2025
Horizon Cloud Service reportDownload Horizon Cloud Service product report
 

Also Known As

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace
VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS
 

Learn More

Citrix
Omnissa
 

Interactive Demo

Citrix
Demo not available
Omnissa
 

Overview

Enable secure, flexible work with the leader in virtual apps and desktops

Deliver desktop as a service (DaaS) from any cloud or datacenter

Get started with Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) in minutes to provide a familiar, high-performance digital workspace experience to your users. We’ll manage the infrastructure and security. You focus on your business.

The VMware Horizon Cloud Service delivers feature-rich virtual desktops and applications using a purpose-built cloud platform that is scalable across multiple deployment options, including fully managed infrastructure from VMware, public cloud infrastructure from Microsoft Azure, or on-premises hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). The service supports a cloud-scale architecture that makes it easy to deliver virtualized Windows desktops and applications to any device, anytime. And, with a flexible subscription model and turnkey solutions, organizations can easily get up and running and scale quickly.

 

Sample Customers

Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval
Marriott, Sprint
Buyer's Guide
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service
January 2025
Free Report: Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service
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