Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs VMware Fusion Pro comparison

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. VMware Fusion Pro

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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

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

124

Ranking in other categories

Application Virtualization (1st), Remote Access (5th), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)

VMware Fusion Pro

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

4th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

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 VMware Fusion Pro is 26.5%, up from 13.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Featured Reviews

DavidWood1

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

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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Bruce Lundberg

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.

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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 shadow feature is extraordinary and helps a lot when supporting remote users."

"Remote work has been enhanced"

"In terms of scalability, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops have a lot of technologies baked in there that allow an organization to scale up or down, as required. Further, leveraging Azure for scalability has added value to our organization. For example, pre-COVID-19, we had very few resources in Azure. We had some Virtual Desktops and no application servers. When COVID-19 came along, we knew people were going to be home. We knew that we had to ramp up very quickly. We fully leveraged MCS to be able to scale. Being able to take a single image and build 400,000 Virtual Desktops, all within minutes, was second to none in terms of any other technology out there that we could have used. The scalability to be able to do that in Azure, where we really don't have to worry about storage and compute power because Microsoft does that for us, was fantastic. It was almost like giving our environments steroids. It has been amazing in terms of that scalability. Now, as people start coming back to the office, we can just as quickly scale down so the compute and resource costs in Azure aren't so great anymore."

"The remote desktop feature allows employees to work from home."

"The solution provides everything in one integrated platform. When it comes to monitoring their solution, it is really easy. We have all the information in one place so we can have the right information at the right moment. We can be proactive when it comes to dealing with performance, maintenance, and security issues."

"The most valuable feature is how secure the solution is."

"The Provisioning Services are the most valuable feature. We have Premium licensing, so Provisioning Services is huge for us, along with the Virtual Apps and Desktops part. It allows us to have a vDisk for every region, one that can easily be copied between them if we need to, to limit the amount of updates we have to do."

"The tech support is fast, knowledgeable, and customer-friendly."

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

"The whole point of it is to run Windows VMs on a Mac. This is the most valuable feature. There is snapshotting, but we don't really use that. The Pro version allows me to actually attach to the Windows ESXi infrastructure at the backend, and I'm able to create a session that I can attach to the VMware hooks at the backend, so one is running a VM, and the whole operating system is running on the actual Mac. The other one is literally a frontend to the VMs that are running in the infrastructure at the backend. These are the two main features I use."

"VMware Fusion Pro offers simplicity of use and stability."

"The product is easy to use and has a simple user interface."

"It is a highly stable solution."

"The most value that it provides is that it is versatile."

"The most important feature of VMware Fusion is that it helps me rapidly launch a new OS."

"VMware Fusion Pro offers simplicity of use and stability."

"For me, VMware Fusion Pro has been invaluable, allowing me to meet all my needs with a single system."

More VMware Fusion Pro pros

Cons

"I have to re-enter my user password when I am not using the tool for some time around ten minutes. I want to also improve the need to download other Citrix apps."

"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 speed and connectivity of Citrix DaaS could be improved."

"For us, pricing is the most important feature to improve."

"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a complex solution."

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

"When I needed support for a couple of things, three people intervened. Each time, three people gave me a different answer. In the end, they did not manage to give the right answer. At a certain point, they stopped replying."

"The Endpoint Management solution needs improvement when it comes to mobile device management. For example, they are still not supporting Windows 10 and this feature is required by many customers."

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

"VMware Fusion's licensing cost needs improvement."

"Additionally, enhancing the API interactions could improve the ability to manage VS and deploy various kinds of guests."

"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."

"Fusion is not meant to be scalable as it runs on desktops and laptops."

"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."

"Fusion is not meant to be scalable. It runs on desktops and laptops, indicating limitations in scalability."

"I would like to see newer and updated cloud functions."

More VMware Fusion Pro cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You can buy an on-cloud or on-prem license. You can switch between on-cloud users and on-prem users. Its licensing is cheap. It is from $8 to $15 per user. It is not that expensive when you compare the cost of buying new hardware with the cost of the license. For example, at $15 per user, it costs around $180 for a year, which is cheaper than buying a $600 PC that at a certain stage, you will again have to change because its hardware is not supported. It may also get damaged or stolen. So, you can compare the cost of the actual hardware that you have to buy and the time spent in supporting the clients with the cost of its license."

"Citrix is a mid-range cost solution compared to some others out there."

"Citrix is expensive."

"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."

"Based not only on the cost of Citrix, but additional costs like firewalls, IPS, and other solutions, the total cost of switching users from using normal laptops with VPNs to connection via Citrix were so huge that the CEO of our company decided to postpone the deployment process."

"The solution is expensive and I give the cost a four out of ten."

"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."

"We recouped 60 to 70 percent of the hardware costs."

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

"I rate the product's pricing a seven or eight. It is highly-priced."

"Starting with version 12, it is now free on a Mac for personal use. Fusion Pro has a cost."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

University

12%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

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.

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 do you like most about VMware Fusion?

The product is easy to use and has a simple user interface.

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?

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 min...

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

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Product Reports

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

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

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Download VMware Fusion Pro product report

Also Known As

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

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Citrix

VMware

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.

VMware Fusion Pro enables Mac users to efficiently run Windows environments, serving tasks like network support and virtual server management, all while maintaining cross-platform flexibility and robust virtualization capabilities.

Offering a seamless virtualization experience, VMware Fusion Pro supports a wide range of computing needs on Mac systems. It efficiently manages virtual machines, integrates well with Windows ESXi infrastructure, and eases OS deployment. The platform’s functionality includes testing on Apple devices, virtualization with Cisco Modeling Labs, and conducting virtual machine maintenance. Users appreciate its ability to facilitate a flexible, reliable virtual environment with consistent updates and support.

What are the key features of VMware Fusion Pro?

Windows VM on Mac - Run Windows operating systems seamlessly on Mac devices.
ESXi Integration - Provides compatibility and integration with Windows ESXi infrastructure.
Snapshot and Cloning - Simplifies backup and recovery with snapshot and cloning options.
Efficient OS Launch - Quick and effective operating system deployment capabilities.
User-Friendly - Intuitive interface supporting diverse computing tasks.

What benefits and returns can users expect from VMware Fusion Pro?

Versatility - Ideal for leveraging cross-platform compatibility.
Practicality and Reliability - Consistent performance with stable environment management.
Flexible Testing - Simplifies testing processes on Apple laptops.
Improved Backup Processes - Enhanced efficiency in backup management.

VMware Fusion Pro finds applications in industries requiring advanced virtualization such as IT, where it aids network server support and testing environments. Educational institutions employ it for virtual labs and environments, while enterprises use it to manage various OS applications and employee computing needs.

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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. VMware Fusion Pro