No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs VMware Fusion Pro 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 (4th), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)
VMware Fusion Pro
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 13.6%, up from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Fusion Pro is 8.6%, down from 25.0% 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)13.6%
VMware Fusion Pro8.6%
Other77.8%
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.
Bruce Lundberg - PeerSpot reviewer
Linux HPC Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Create custom virtual environments quickly with minor macOS integration issues
The primary advantage of VMware Fusion Pro is its simplicity in creating custom virtual machines. It allows quick construction and provides connectivity to full VMware server systems, enabling remote management. It facilitates downloading images from main VMware servers for local testing. The ability to construct a virtual environment on my laptop meets my needs, even ones I wasn't aware of.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Security is a shining point of the Citrix Workspace. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a very robust solution when security is a concern. Furthermore, the content collaboration data-hosting that Citrix integrates with Virtual Apps and Desktops is among the best there is."
"XenMobile is a good, stable product, but make sure you investigate what features you are looking to roll out and decide whether XenMobile isn’t overkill."
"The most valuable feature is the gateway to a remote connection, to a physical or a virtual PC. Compared to a normal VPN client and connection, the connection via Citrix is more stable and does not consume as much network bandwidth."
"There has been a lot of improvement in the application, and we use the application for so many different things and areas of security; it is incredible what we can do with Citrix."
"It helps the company or the environment to centralize all its resources and allows all users from all the branches to reach those resources without needing them in every branch."
"Citrix XenDesktop is a great solution for VDI or virtual desktop environments."
"The app protection feature is one of the most valuable because it provides good security, as nobody is going to be able to look into your screen while you are sharing the screen. And if someone has installed a keylogger in your system, your keystrokes will be jumbled up and they would not make any sense to the keylogger. App protection is one of the coolest security features that I have encountered on any platform."
"The Citrix Workspace is a little easier compared to Citrix Receiver."
"VMware Fusion Pro offers simplicity of use and stability."
"The most value that it provides is that it is versatile."
"The product is easy to use and has a simple user interface."
"It is a highly stable solution."
"For me, VMware Fusion Pro has been invaluable, allowing me to meet all my needs with a single system."
"Veeam Backup and Replication is the common product for backing up virtual machines."
"The most value that it provides is that it is versatile."
"My advice right now would be to download it for free and use that instead of a VirtualBox or some of the other free stuff because it is more flexible than other solutions."
 

Cons

"Templating the deployment process could use improvement. When you start, there are a large number of details that are quite client-specific, although they do share common themes. To get somebody up and running in a day is very difficult to do. They should streamline by use case."
"The solution's cost has almost doubled this year, and it could be made cheaper."
"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 studio is very slow."
"The support offered by Citrix's partner needs to improve. The partner support platform should aim to provide more technical information to users."
"If anything could be improved, it might be some of the Director functionality, and some of the dashboard customization, or the overall Director customization."
"For us, pricing is the most important feature to improve."
"There are a lot of shortfalls with supporting printing over XenApp."
"The only issue I've experienced with VMware Fusion Pro is that it doesn't register correctly with the main macOS system, causing repeated notifications about background installations. This is a minor inconvenience."
"Its installation process could be simpler."
"The way they handle snapshotting can be improved. One time, I moved a machine from one to another, and I tried to pull it up on the second machine, but it didn't work. This was because I had not cleaned up the snapshot before I deleted it and moved it across. So, when I tried to pull it up, it wouldn't let me bring it up. The backups for the VMs themselves can also be improved. I pretty much have to rely on Windows backups and not something on VMware. That's where it needs improvement. I am able to upload from my Fusion into the ESXi easily. I'm able to spin something up on Fusion and push it into the big arena, but the reverse is not as easy, that is, trying to pull something down from that. I would love to have a functionality where I could pull something from the VMware infrastructure into Fusion, but I'm not sure if I can take something from ESXi and pull it into Fusion."
"The backups for the VMs themselves can also be improved. I pretty much have to rely on Windows backups and not something on VMware."
"Additionally, enhancing the API interactions could improve the ability to manage VS and deploy various kinds of guests."
"VMware Fusion's licensing cost needs improvement."
"Fusion is not meant to be scalable as it runs on desktops and laptops."
"I would like to see newer and updated cloud functions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are seeing a return on investment with Citrix Workspace."
"The price of the solution could be less expensive. There are different versions to their solution and the price keeps increasing."
"I suggest using the concurrent user licensing scheme."
"My company opts for the yearly subscription model to pay towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The product, XenServer, is free to use, and XenApp has a one month free license."
"In terms of pricing with the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, I think it has gotten better over the years. Citrix has found more dynamic ways to be able to revive licensing models that fit many different scenarios that organizations have. We have been able to evolve our own licensing over the years to accommodate our situations between concurrent versus user device licenses. Now, when we move into the Citrix Workspace realm, we definitely have some awesome options there."
"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."
"They offer licensing per user. From time to time, they give discounts. Because it's a hybrid model, you can deploy some portion of it on cloud and some portion your on-prem."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven or eight. It is highly-priced."
"The cost varies depending on the season and whether it is scaled up or scaled down, but I would guess that it's approximately $1,000 per month."
"Starting with version 12, it is now free on a Mac for personal use. Fusion Pro has a cost."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions are best for your needs.
896,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Comms Service Provider
17%
University
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

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. Although it works well on the apps side, the desktop aspect still has room for i...
What is your primary use case for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
The entire development environment is accessed only through the virtual desktop setup using Citrix DaaS.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Fusion?
The pricing of VMware Fusion Pro is reasonable. The licensing covers all minor version updates, while major updates require payment every three years. Buying it once can sustain you for years witho...
What needs improvement with VMware Fusion?
In future updates of VMware Fusion Pro, I think there should be another community to input features. It is an infrastructure tool that may need embedding some AI to help or catching up with the new...
What is your primary use case for VMware Fusion?
My specialty is about IBM AS/400 applications, so I got to be in contact with several packages, including LX, which is why I had this research on your website.I'm mostly interested in ERP packages;...
 

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace
No data available
 

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
NetApp
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. VMware Fusion Pro and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.