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Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
Application Virtualization (1st), Remote Access (5th), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)
Red Hat Enterprise Virtuali...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
16th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 12.8%, up from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops is 1.7%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)12.8%
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops1.7%
Other85.5%
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

SN
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
Has delivered consistent desktop experiences across remote locations and has supported multimedia workloads efficiently
I have utilized the HDX protocol for compression and audio-video capabilities. When users need to conduct meetings with customers or colleagues, they can use Teams solutions and open a bridge where video and audio are encapsulated within the ICA protocol, which is protected by SSL and certificates for security. This provides secure communication at good quality through the HDX protocol. HDX protocol has improved application performance as it is specifically designed for multimedia applications. If processing audio or video files, such as in telecom where discussions are recorded and then prepared as video or audio, this does not consume excessive bandwidth during the operation compared to a normal remote desktop connection provided by Microsoft. Everything is compressed and provides sufficient bandwidth for multiple people to perform similar tasks without interruption or session disconnection. All multimedia-related activities, such as playing content on YouTube, deliver a better experience with this protocol overall. I use multi-factor authentication for opening sessions to the data center where users access their machines or software. Multi-factor authentication has helped secure applications because users typically have two-way authentication software on their phones. They use a password first and then authenticate themselves through their mobile application to grant access to resources. This approach is effective because if a hacker attacks a user, they need more than just the password and username. They must also possess the device that provides authentication. The device typically has facial recognition, a password, and provides better security overall.
RobertThompson 1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Free version available but hard to understand
Personally, I don't think it has any commendable features. The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra work involved with the Red Hat virtualization. It doesn't just work out of the box. You have to read through about six different documents, and everybody's experience is different. So it's kind of annoying. That would be the main thing. If you're not a Linux geek, it's very hard to understand. And it's probably because I came out of the Windows world. I learned this as part of my cross-training, but I just found the way that it happens with VMware and all that stuff to be easier to use.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is a mature infrastructure solution that provides considerable flexibility for corporate environments."
"The scalability of Citrix Workspace is exceptional."
"The solution was perfect for expanding the environment to host more remote access users during the pandemic."
"And our overall IT costs (hardware, software, utilities, etc.) dropped 44 percent over what we were spending in 2008 and certainly over our trajectory."
"Its user-friendliness is most valuable. It was easy to log in and navigate. Some of such solutions are not very user-friendly, but this one was."
"It makes it easy for us to give storage, memory, RAM, or processor resources without anything affecting their day-to-day activity."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it supports team clients, where a user can at one point in time work in a secure environment without internet access and, just by switching the window on the same device, can move to an internet-enabled environment, with the two being mutually exclusive unless authorized for data sharing."
"Having so much flexibility in one solution, especially one that works as well as Citrix, is a huge advantage."
"The most valuable features are automated deployment and transparent movement for virtual machines over all our locations."
"There's lots of good support out there in the community."
"The improvement to our organization is managing all our KVM-based virtual machines in a management environment."
 

Cons

"We had some issue with SCVMM, which is used to manage the Citrix infrastructure."
"Licensing service installation and configuration was the biggest challenge for all Citrix solutions, but now they have fixed a lot of issues."
"If there are connectivity issues, there are stability issues."
"The initial setup is complex."
"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."
"Beware! It is expensive."
"Latency is also a major problem when adopting Citrix for video editing software or 3D editing software, especially editing 4K video or large file size. The Citrix virtualized solution becomes too slow, so we cannot use the VDI."
"Tech support is pretty good. My only complaint is that if you are calling in a ticket, you need to know who is answering the call."
"The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra work involved with Red Hat virtualization."
"The best improvement for oVirt 4.2 is to enable backup features for major backup products of virtual machines."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is a high price and ten is a low price, I rate the tool's price a three."
"The licensing of Citrix Workspace is worth it. However, it is expensive. Citrix is probably more competitive now than VMware, but it is still a costly solution."
"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is an expensive solution."
"My company opts for the yearly subscription model to pay towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The price of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is approximately $300 for the new version called Dash and the license is approximately $900 annually."
"The licensing is $125 USD per user."
"Citrix licensing is expensive."
"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."
"I use the free developer stuff right now."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise69
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Workspace?
Citrix DaaS is considered expensive, especially for companies that do not require multi-cloud. Tiered pricing based on company size would be beneficial.
What needs improvement with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops?
Personally, I don't think it has any commendable features. The biggest thing about it is that, compared to what you can do with VMware and Horizon, it just seems like there's an awful lot of extra ...
What is your primary use case for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops?
I've used it more as a user than as an administrator setting it up. Just mainly getting access to legacy systems and programming that's not Windows 11 compatible.
 

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace
Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

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
Casio, Telef‹nica, British Airways
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
905,601 professionals have used our research since 2012.