Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) comparison

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

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Categories and Ranking

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Ranking in Remote Access

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Virtualization (1st), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (4th), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ranking in Remote Access

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (16th), Network Access Control (NAC) (6th), SSL VPN (4th), Access Management (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 3.2%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 2.1%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access

Unique Categories:

Application Virtualization

14.4%

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

0.7%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

0.4%

Network Access Control (NAC)

1.2%

Featured Reviews

reviewer1312587

Delivery Head - Major Incident at Wipro Limited

Feb 13, 2024

Enables secure delivery of applications and data, features exceptional stability over the Internet and handles demanding tasks like video playback, AutoCAD, and 3D image rendering smoothly

I would like to see simplification in the management of the on-prem infrastructure component of Citrix DaaS, particularly in the studio tool used to manage the DaaS infrastructure. This simplification should make it easier for admins to understand and execute their tasks, possibly through an overview of operations and the availability of helpful articles or resources. Making the studio tool more user-friendly would not only ease the administration of the Citrix infrastructure but also ensure it is configured correctly. I'm also interested in a feature that would allow end users to hide their screens. For instance, when launching a Citrix VDI on my laptop, as soon as I start sharing my screen, the VDI should lock out, preventing the person I'm sharing my screen with from seeing anything on that VDI. However, there are scenarios where an end user might want to share the VDI screen as well. Currently, whether this is possible or not is not controlled by the end user. Introducing a feature that provides end users the ability to share their screen along with the VDI would be beneficial.

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Ashish Kumar Rai

Associate Network Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

Mar 18, 2024

Offers remote access control, good GUI and easy to configure

The use case depends entirely on the client's specific requirements. We configure the APM accordingly. For instance, in some scenarios, we've used F5 for VPN purposes. In others, we've deployed F5 BIG-IP primarily as a load balancer. The choice depends on the enterprise's needs. They might want…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are many features that I like, but the stability over the Internet is exceptional. Even if there's bandwidth fluctuation or network jitter, it performs well, offering a seamless experience to end-users without noticeable disruptions."

"I use Citrix DaaS to connect to devices."

"Stable product with straightforward setup."

"The most valuable feature has to be the non-persistent desktop. If one of my users messes something up and blows away their desktop, it goes back to what it was originally, before they had an issue."

"The App is the most valuable feature."

"It has the best remote working features."

"The most valuable feature is the watermark because most of the time our employees connect from a remote location. In case they photograph the DDA or some data, the watermark will show which user did so and from which IP they connected. That makes it more secure."

"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."

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

"Our customers have never complained about the stability"

"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."

"This is a product that is easy to install and integrate, and it is simple to use."

"The tool is reliable and easy to configure."

"F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use."

"In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work."

"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."

"The performance of the solution is valuable."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) pros

Cons

"The only thing we have found to be detrimental is when we have tried to find training. I realize that we're looking at it at the worst time possible, with a pandemic going on, but it seems that most of the training offered is learn-by-yourself online."

"Dependency on server virtualization after v7.x is an issue which I encountered in small environments."

"The visibility the solution provides across SaaS, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, for user and application traffic, is also limited if you do not enable all the services and is based on which services you are utilising. Citrix provides end-to-end visibility based on their services you are utilising."

"In the bank, a major part of all our applications is Microsoft App-V. If App-V is at end of life, then we need a new technology to replace it. As of today, I haven't seen in Citrix Studio that there is a new technology embedded directly in it to replace App-V."

"It would help if it were a little simpler. It's a bit complicated and we have hired Citrix administrators. But it's a good solution."

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

"Citrix should consolidate the multiple tools currently required into a single platform."

"The video conferencing feature needs to be improved."

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

"I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal."

"We do not have knowledgeable support teams locally."

"The technical support’s response time must be improved."

"The operational deployment is not great."

"The price of this product can be improved."

"The solution is quite costly."

"Cloud services are something that F5 Access Policy Manager could do better"

"Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A perpetual enterprise license costs approximately $300 USD."

"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."

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

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

"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 purchase price was around $300,000 USD and then the maintenance fees were 20%. There are no other additional fees."

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

"I suggest using the concurrent user licensing scheme."

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

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

"The product is very expensive."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

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787,817 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

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?

The Citrix DaaS application is a bit heavy when it comes to mobile access, and it should function more smoothly. For example, the Citrix mobile app takes a long time to log in and should work even ...

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

The tool is a little bit expensive. I rate the pricing a six out of ten.

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal. In the AP...

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Product Reports

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

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

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

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Download F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) product report

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Also Known As

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

F5 Access Policy Manager

Learn More

Citrix

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.

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access.

BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.

BIG-IP APM Benefits:

Ease of use
Flexibility
Ability to integrate with other systems
Security features
Granular access control
Responsive and helpful support team

BIG-IP APM Features:

Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
Integration with third-party MFA solutions
DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
SAML 2.0 identity federation support
Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
AAA server authentication and high-availability
Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.

Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."

Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

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

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)