Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) comparison

Citrix and SonicWall are both solutions in the Remote Access category. Citrix is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.7, while SonicWall is ranked #25 with an average rating of 7.0. Citrix holds a 4.7% mindshare in VUS, compared to SonicWall’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about TeamViewer, Microsoft, Citrix and others in Remote Access.

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Buyer's Guide

Remote Access

March 2026

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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

Microsoft Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 8.0%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 4.7%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) is 0.9%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	8.0%
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)	4.7%
SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)	0.9%
Other	86.4%

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24

Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license

The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.

Read full review

Sorin Neacsu

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.

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Kallamuddin Ansari

Cyber Security Consultant at ProTechmanize

Remote access has become more secure and flexible but reporting still needs deeper analytics

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) offers excellent features including Zero Trust Network Access, VPN as a service, and Cloud Access Security Brokers. One of the standout features is Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) for Software as a Service, providing visibility and control over cloud applications employees use, not only regarding whether they can use them but also regarding the actions they perform within those applications. This is especially useful in organizations utilizing many SaaS tools such as Office 365, Salesforce, and cloud storage, where consistent security policy enforcement is required, even from personal devices or remote locations. The secure web gateway feature is critical for modern-day internet security. SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) provides secure web gateway features for users accessing the internet, including URL filtering, domain filtering, blocking malicious websites, preventing phishing or ransomware threats, and enforcing acceptable use policies. SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has had a very positive impact on our organization as our workforce becomes more distributed, with noticeable improvements including easier and more secure remote access. Previously, managing VPN clients and hardware gateways was difficult for new or non-technical users, but with SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), users simply authenticate and get secure access to only the applications they need. There are numerous improvements I notice, such as improved BYOD security, reduced risk of lateral movements, simplified management, lower hardware dependency, and better visibility and compliance reporting. After moving to SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), we saw a 38% reduction in VPN-related tickets. Users are no longer facing client errors, tunnel failures, and certificate issues, which saves nearly 25 hours per month on troubleshooting remote access problems. Onboarding remote users has become 60% faster, now taking only 10 to 15 minutes instead of 30 to 40 minutes. Additionally, there has been a 52% reduction in risky connection attempts primarily from devices with outdated operating systems or disabled antivirus, with zero lateral movement and a 30% drop in failed login anomalies.

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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

"Intune makes our organization more secure and flexible. We can onboard new employees faster and more securely. We are a governmental organization with strict regulations, and Intune helps us comply with those requirements."

"It is a cloud solution, and you can easily scale as your needs grow."

"The most useful features in Microsoft Intune are the policy enforcement and conditional access."

"Intune reduces the load on our on-prem Active Directory by having everything go to one Intune panel, so we can configure group policies, deploy applications, and manage devices, and it has really improved our operations."

"If any user tries to access company data, it directly interacts with the conditional access policy. This helps us protect our data and set the criteria for how data can be accessed and shared."

"Intune is a good product for UEM, which is helpful for Windows 10 management."

"The feature I like the most is that we can perform remote tasks. If we want to retire or wipe out personal data or corporate data from a device, we can use Microsoft Intune remotely, and with the click of a button, data is removed automatically. Nothing needs to be done from the end-user side."

"It is helpful for managing devices anytime and any place without requiring dependency on the local networks."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"XenDesktop has helped our users to work remotely with a better user experience."

"Stable product with straightforward setup."

"Citrix Workspace's standout feature is its flexibility."

"We have used Azure Virtual Desktop and some other solutions as well, but compared to all of them, in terms of the performance, the screen refresh, and security, Citrix is number-one."

"When COVID-19 happened and other companies were faced with sending their workforces home, it was very quickly recognized that organizations, certainly in the city where I live, who weren't using Citrix technologies were really struggling with having their folks work from home, however, it has been widely touted within my organization, when we sent everyone home, there were no disruptions whatsoever."

"Citrix is not a cheap solution as it addresses a lot of the challenges that no one else can."

"It has accelerated the process in which a new employee is given the necessary tools."

"It has improved delivering applications to remote locations with its lower bandwidth utilization."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pros

"After moving to SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), we saw a 38% reduction in VPN-related tickets, saving nearly 25 hours per month on troubleshooting remote access problems, onboarding remote users has become 60% faster, and there has been a 52% reduction in risky connection attempts with zero lateral movement and a 30% drop in failed login anomalies."

Cons

"The solution requires Mac support."

"I am not involved in the day-to-day with Intune, but we have gone with a different product for updating mobile device software. We do not integrate many of our mobile devices that are not Microsoft-based devices, such as Dell laptops, with Intune."

"It would be better if Microsoft can reduce the cost of the license, as we know the Intune device subscription is licensed per device at a cost of $2 a month, but for the best enhanced security and features we must add an add-on license or buy or upgrade to a bundling license such as M365E5."

"The current Intune reporting functionality could benefit from some improvements."

"Microsoft Intune can be improved by making it even more seamless for users to download their certificates."

"The interface is easy, but it is not user-friendly when evaluating the overall user experience of Microsoft Intune."

"There could be more wizard-driven policy development or creation. Some of the policies can get quite complex. If they have a wizard that assists the administrators in creating the policy, that will be a great job."

"In an upcoming release, I would like to see some kind of analytics report."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"The Citrix technical support is not as easy as other vendors like F5 or VMware. Obtaining technical support is a little bit tough and it should be improved."

"The user profiles could use some improvement. They could use more stability and more functionality as well as user profile redirection."

"The product's technical support services need improvement."

"There are many latency and slowness issues, which are things looked after by Citrix."

"Costs for one, we settled on VMware hypervisor with Citrix Xendesktop running underneath, additional costs were incurred because of this hybrid solution, another consideration would be the significant disk space required for what is called "write cache"."

"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."

"The ITSM adapters need to be enhanced."

"Tech support can be slow if you do not receive help from the US representatives."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) cons

"SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has some areas for improvement, particularly in reporting and dashboards."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The clients pay for a license and each can have a different type of license, such as an E3 or E5."

"The cost is handled through our Office 365 license, so I have yet to be able to compare it directly with other tools in its class."

"Microsoft Intune is available for individual purchase at a low per-device cost."

"Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."

"Generally, we get favorable discounts, so it's not too bad. Obviously, we're looking at decreasing those wherever we can to bring value back to the public purse because it's all charity based. It's all publicly funded."

"The product is offered as part of a Microsoft standard bundle. The pricing can be competitive to Airwatch, and Maas360."

"The tool is cheaper than our company's other MDM tools."

"Microsoft licenses are costly."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"Citrix licensing is expensive."

"We are seeing a return on investment with Citrix Workspace."

"We have more than a million seats under management so we get the best price."

"We are just now approaching the end of our initial purchase, which was an excellent price for us as an academic institution. We got a very good deal to get us on board. That license is up for renewal in about a year, and we are nervously waiting to see what the pricing will be."

"It is quite expensive, but so are the competitors on the market."

"It is a bit costly, but enterprise class features come with a cost."

"The tool is expensive."

"Citrix solutions cost a lot in comparison with competitors, like Azure Virtual Desktop or VMware Horizon. Those solutions cost around 50 to 60 percent less, per month per user, than Citrix."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Insurance Company

12%

Security Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	126
Midsize Enterprise	55
Large Enterprise	168

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	69

No data available

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 ...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications.

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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. ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

The setup cost for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) was minimal as most of the investment was in time spent configur...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has some areas for improvement, particularly in reporting and dashboards. While it ...

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What is your primary use case for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

My main use case for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) is for remote and hybrid work access, specifically for Zero Tr...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

March 2026

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

April 2026

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) report

Download Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) product report

Buyer's Guide

Remote Access

March 2026

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) report

Download SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

Banyan Security

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

Citrix

Demo not available

SonicWall

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

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.

Citrix

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), formerly Banyan Security, easy to adopt Security Service Edge (SSE) solution, enabling your workforce to securely access any resource from any device. It delivers simple, secure, zero trust access to private and internet resources for all your employees and third parties, regardless of their network location. To accomplish that, CSE combines the functionality of multiple traditional network appliances – remote access VPN, web proxy, firewall, etc. – into a unified cloud-delivered solution, improving the security posture and user experience for the entire workforce.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval

Redox, Byton, Veeva, BlueVoyant

Find out what your peers are saying about TeamViewer, Microsoft, Citrix and others in Remote Access. Updated: March 2026.

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