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Amazon WorkSpaces vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) 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

Amazon WorkSpaces
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
8th
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...
Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
3rd
Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
126
Ranking in other categories
Application Virtualization (1st), Remote Access (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Amazon WorkSpaces is 0.7%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 10.0%, down from 14.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Bhaskar Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Management console is very easy to use, readily available infrastructure and easy to scale
It's very stable. There is a big difference between traditional physical servers and cloud servers. With physical servers, we need to plan for purchasing, procurement, capacity, storage, get quotations, and then procure them. That took some time. Maybe it would take more than one month or maybe two months to procure and then install. With AWS, it is readily available. Just pay and immediately create the VPC, network, and everything. It is very easy. Within two or three hours, we can implement any server or launch any application. Within five minutes, we can just spin up and publish our servers on the Internet.
Mohd Abdul Aziz Shah Sulaiman - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivers secure and unified access to apps, desktops, and content for enhanced productivity
Citrix Workforce is good, but it needs improvement in diagnosing network issues. When errors occur, it is difficult to determine if they're due to network issues, Workspace issues, or environment issues. The error messages are too vague, just stating "connection error" without specifying if it's an IP address issue, connectivity problem, or something else related to the network. This lack of detail makes troubleshooting difficult. We often have to reinstall everything in Workspace, without knowing the root cause. Even after engaging with Citrix and sending logs, the feedback is often unsatisfactory, not meeting my expectations. This trial-and-error approach isn't effective problem-solving. While these issues aren't everyday occurrences, when they do happen, they can be catastrophic for our operations team.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best feature is that it operates very quickly. It depends on the regional location. If we choose a nearby location, nearby servers, it will be best for users to use."
"The tool has low latency and multimedia support. For instance, running Zoom calls on Amazon WorkSpaces seamlessly supports local microphones, speakers, and web cameras. This feature is transparent for applications, allowing me to use the Zoom application without requiring exceptional support for remote web cameras or microphones. Amazon WorkSpaces provides this functionality at the operating system level, enabling effortless video conferencing. To my knowledge, Microsoft Remote Desktop does not offer the same support."
"The experience is seamless and there is no delay. The performance is very good. Initial startup times is a little bit of wait time, but it is bearable."
"We can work remotely using the solution."
"Amazon WorkSpaces is very fast."
"The infrastructure is readily available, with minimal latency, which each user can benefit from."
"It has good speed and connects well with computers."
"The product is easy to access. You can access the solution from anywhere at any time."
"Remote work has been enhanced"
"It is a stable solution."
"In terms of Citrix Workforce features, the most valuable for managing our remote workforce is security, especially AppProtect. Users cannot simply copy and paste data to their local devices. This prevents data breaches, as data can't be copied to OneDrive or Google Drive. Screenshots from local PCs are also blocked, though data can still be manually copied using a phone."
"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."
"I found the ease of deployment, scalability, and security to be to our benefit when supplying virtual applications to our clients."
"The most beneficial feature is seamless remote access, particularly for applications rather than full endpoints. Security features include full data encryption and integrated SSL VPN through NetScaler for secure access."
"Stable product with straightforward setup."
"The most valuable feature is connectivity. The remote connection is the reason we are using this solution."
 

Cons

"The speed and performance are not always the greatest. It can be improved."
"Its features for the hardware version could work faster."
"Configuration was a bit complicated at first but manageable."
"There is always scope of improvement in the stability."
"You cannot install external applications without doing some additional configurations inside the solution as opposed to your normal desktop or laptop."
"Amazon WorkSpaces needs to improve on releasing the most number of patches immediately as quickly as possible. And they need to enable more USB options to connect a mobile phone to that particular workspace."
"I would say that it is a little complex to configure."
"The agent sometimes has connectivity issues, but otherwise, it's good."
"If there are connectivity issues, there are stability issues."
"For us, pricing is the most important feature to improve."
"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a complex solution."
"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."
"As an end-to-end solution for implementing Zero Trust principles I would rate it a six or a seven out of 10, because it doesn't cover all aspects of Zero Trust. There are quite a few aspects you need to cover."
"Tech support can be slow if you do not receive help from the US representatives."
"We encounter compatibility issues related to hardware, scanners, and other devices."
"Performance could be better if there was a low latency improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing depends on company turnover and the organization's relationship with Amazon. I rate it a six out of ten."
"The pricing is based on consumption. You pay for each process based on the transactions you make."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a two."
"There are several different options available, but it can range anywhere from $85 to $150 a month per machine."
"They have hourly and monthly pricing, and because our use case is, more of a sporadic use, so I go for hourly pricing. Again, the details of the pricing is handled by the procurement. From an end user perspective, pay as you use hourly is suitable"
"The solution is not very cheap and it is not too pricey."
"We need to spend some amount for the support. Without money, they won't respond."
"It is very expensive."
"Citrix is expensive."
"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."
"We spent nearly 1,50,000 Euros for 250 licenses."
"Citrix is a mid-range cost solution compared to some others out there."
"The solution is affordable."
"The licensing is $125 USD per user."
"It is a bit costly, but enterprise class features come with a cost."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon WorkSpaces?
Performance and scalability are valuable features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon WorkSpaces?
The pricing is based on consumption. You pay for each process based on the transactions you make. The investment is almost the same as having your own on-premises solution, with the added costs of ...
What needs improvement with Amazon WorkSpaces?
There is always scope of improvement in the stability.
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...
 

Also Known As

WorkSpaces
XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GrubHub, Endemol Shine Nederland, CMC Property Services
Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon WorkSpaces vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.