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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs VMware Workstation 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Citrix DaaS offers varied ROI, enhances efficiency, flexibility, data protection, and supports continuity, with unquantified access and productivity benefits.
Sentiment score
1.0
VMware Workstation enhances cost savings, enabling efficient application testing and integration, resulting in improved job performance and satisfaction.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Customer service is praised for responsiveness, but technical support quality varies, especially needing improvement in first-level interactions.
Sentiment score
2.9
VMware Workstation's customer service is mixed, with varying responsiveness and reliance on community resources after HP acquisition.
The best support I have received is from Ireland, Dublin.
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
The first level often wastes time because I usually have to escalate to an engineer for proper support.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Citrix support is better than Microsoft support.
IT Technical Advisor Specialist at Intact
On a scale of one to 10, I would rate their support or customer service a two or three since they never did anything.
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The documents provided for Workstation were not hard to understand.
Owner at Inforex
It's a very special way of working with VMware Workstation.
Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Citrix DaaS enables scalable, adaptable deployments for thousands of users, overcoming diagnostic challenges with strategic planning and regular updates.
Sentiment score
6.7
VMware Workstation is versatile, supporting multiple VMs, though opinions vary on scalability for larger operations and single installations.
The platform can scale to very large numbers.
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
It supports over 100 apps and 20,000 users in our organization, demonstrating impressive scalability.
IT Technical Advisor Specialist at Intact
Citrix DaaS offers vast scalability options as workloads can be deployed across multiple data centers like Azure, Google, or AWS.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
VMware Workstation is scalable enough for larger companies, though it requires some skills.
Owner at Inforex
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Citrix DaaS is reliable and efficient, with improvements enhancing stability and scalability, despite occasional network-related stability issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware Workstation is highly reliable, with improved stability post-v6, though minor virtual network issues may occur in specific scenarios.
The fact that it is scalable makes it easy to adapt to new business directions and adopt other software.
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
Citrix DaaS allows for satisfactory stability by facilitating workload deployment in various data centers including Azure, Google, or AWS.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
We are using the network in a very specific way, and this network adapter causes crashes in the VM.
Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
 

Room For Improvement

Citrix DaaS has configuration complexities, high costs, and integration challenges, with users seeking better performance, usability, and scalability.
VMware Workstation needs performance, usability, and cost improvements, enhanced stability, better documentation, and streamlined integration and scalability.
Creating App-V applications is not an easy task and could take from hours to weeks without success.
IT Technical Advisor Specialist at Intact
Citrix should have different pricing based on company size.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
This makes it challenging to remain with them, and it becomes necessary to explore alternatives to achieve the same performance with less expense.
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
Eventually, we had to get some licenses with Broadcom, and all the costs went up dramatically.
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
We faced challenges with backup due to limitations in the free version, requiring us to switch to a paid version.
Owner at Inforex
We are using the network in a very specific way, and this network adapter causes crashes in the VM.
Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
 

Setup Cost

Citrix DaaS is costly, especially with added Microsoft licensing, though offers comprehensive features and negotiable pricing options.
VMware Workstation is pricey but offers integration benefits with cost-saving opportunities through sales and varies by user needs.
Citrix DaaS is considered expensive, especially for companies that do not require multi-cloud.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Citrix DaaS provides scalable, secure remote access with low bandwidth, centralized management, and multi-device compatibility for seamless user experience.
VMware Workstation offers user-friendly virtualization, multi-OS operation, and superior testing flexibility, outperforming alternatives like Oracle VirtualBox.
The scalability of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is impressive, supporting over 100 apps and a user base of 20,000 within our organization.
IT Technical Advisor Specialist at Intact
With Citrix, all connections are outgoing, minimizing firewall vulnerability.
Pre-Sales at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Multi-factor authentication has helped secure applications because users typically have two-way authentication software on their phones.
Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange
I use it for a test machine for checking emails, so if the email has a virus in it, we can just destroy the machine and create a new one.
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
VMware Workstation works correctly and has more features compared to Oracle VirtualBox.
Owner at Inforex
Simply being able to run several Windows PCs with different development environments has had the largest impact on our operational efficiency.
Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC
 

Categories and Ranking

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
2nd
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 Workstation
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 15.4%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Workstation is 13.4%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware Workstation13.4%
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)15.4%
Other71.2%
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.
GC
Director of IT at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Creating and destroying test machines has simplified our operations and reduced manual recovery time
The Snapshot feature has helped with workflows by allowing us to more easily reconstruct something if we lose it or need it. We've been making Snapshots on a consistent basis, mainly of servers. The VX Rail has worked effectively because we can create machines as we need them. It's helpful for resetting and has helped with our operations because I had set up failover servers on Vertex, but we don't have to do that anymore since VMware will just create a new machine immediately if we have a problem. We're doing our domain servers on there, and we've been very happy with that. We appreciate that we can create machines simply to test things out and then destroy them. I use it for a test machine for checking emails, so if the email has a virus in it, we can just destroy the machine and create a new one. We're slowly moving into the VMware environment, although the pricing with Broadcom has been a disaster.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions are best for your needs.
879,899 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

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. Although it works well on the apps side, the desktop aspect still has room for i...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

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
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. VMware Workstation and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,899 professionals have used our research since 2012.