AWS Direct Connect vs Citrix Gateway comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Citrix are both solutions in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #12 with an average rating of 9.1, while Citrix is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.9% mindshare in EIV, compared to Citrix’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Citrix users who would recommend it.

AWS Direct Connect

Read 11 AWS Direct Connect reviews

971 Views
942 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Citrix Gateway

Read 39 Citrix Gateway reviews

2,138 Views
1,732 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

AWS Direct Connect

Citrix Gateway

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Citrix Gateway and AWS Direct Connect are both prominent solutions in their respective domains. AWS Direct Connect has the upper hand with its robust features despite its higher cost.

Features: Citrix Gateway is valued for its secure remote access, comprehensive virtual desktop integration, and user-friendly deployment. AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated network connection, enhanced performance, and advanced network capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Citrix Gateway needs better integration with third-party services, improved scalability, and refined usability. AWS Direct Connect users desire simpler configuration processes, enhanced customer support, and more intuitive deployment steps.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix Gateway offers straightforward deployment with substantial customer support. AWS Direct Connect requires technical expertise for deployment but compensates with effective post-deployment support.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix Gateway is appreciated for its cost-effectiveness, lower setup costs, and maintenance, offering substantial ROI. AWS Direct Connect, although more expensive, is justified by significant performance benefits and positive ROI perceptions.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Direct Connect vs. Citrix Gateway Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Direct Connect vs. Citrix Gateway

December 2025

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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

AWS Direct Connect

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

12th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Citrix Gateway

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Universal Access Gateways (1st), SSL VPN (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of AWS Direct Connect is 1.9%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 3.3%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Citrix Gateway	3.3%
AWS Direct Connect	1.9%
Other	94.8%

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

Featured Reviews

Harendra Sisodia

Business Analyst & Agile Strategist at Charles Schwab

enables seamless hybrid cloud connectivity and ensures secure, low-latency data transfers with robust security features

AWS Direct Connect is very useful for transferring data between on-premise and cloud servers quickly, with minimal latency issues. It is cost-effective for large data transfers and offers excellent network performance, even with low internet quality. Its security features are critical, especially for industries like healthcare and finance, providing secure data transfer without breaches. It supports multi-account and multi-tenant environments, allowing centralized management with a single connectivity.

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Siva Kuppala

Enterprise Architect at Wipro Limited

Strong security and versatile features drive positive experience, but support responsiveness can improve

The main purpose of Citrix Gateway is to enforce the appropriate level of access to the correct user on the proper device under the correct conditions. This is enabled through Citrix Gateway combined with endpoint analysis and optional Citrix analytics for security. Regarding improvements, implementing adaptive access policies on Citrix Gateway could be enhanced, particularly in security posture. Although it enforces real-time contextual access control based on device, user network risk, certain aspects can be improved. Other areas for improvement include BYOD access control and risk-based decision-making. Additionally, there is potential for reducing administrative overhead by applying policies dynamically based on context rather than static rules. Incident response speed is another area that could be enhanced.

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

"AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure."

"The platform's most valuable feature for us is its robust network performance."

"AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure."

"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."

"AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet."

"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."

"It is a highly scalable solution."

"It is a stable solution."

More AWS Direct Connect pros

"What I find most valuable about this solution, is that it runs seamlessly."

"I didn't have any hiccups or issues with it."

"We have users in a remote environment that might require to access the service."

"It adds great security to your outfacing information."

"I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet."

"The solution is scalable."

"The product enables us to collect logs from the systems."

"We haven't received any complaints or performance issues so far."

More Citrix Gateway pros

Cons

"AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure and AWS, for disaster recovery purposes on different cloud platforms."

"Its terminologies are challenging to interpret."

"AWS Direct Connect is straightforward and performs well for me."

"Having more locations could improve the convenience of using the service."

"The platform's stability needs improvement."

"It can be difficult to configure compared to cloud-based GUIs."

"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."

"I would like to see better traffic visibility and higher throughput security, especially for organizations that require more than what the current limit allows."

More AWS Direct Connect cons

"I would like to see better configuration of repairs and downloading certification."

"Technical support could be improved."

"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."

"When it comes to the VDA environment, making it additionally stable is important."

"If the solution had a more advanced DNS, it would be an improvement."

"The tool must provide better integration and connectivity."

"The first level support is very poor."

"The initial setup is not straightforward."

More Citrix Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."

"It has reasonable pricing in terms of the features offered."

"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."

"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."

"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."

"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."

"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."

"There are two or three different models, but you can actually have a CapEx where you purchase the unit outright and then there's a yearly maintenance cost on top for years two and three, and four, or you can actually do a subscription purchase through Citrix cloud and you pay on a monthly basis, or you can have a three-year subscription contract as well. I give the solution a six out of ten for its cost."

"It costs about 4,000 a year."

"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"

More Citrix Gateway pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

12%

University

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	16

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Direct Connect?

AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet.

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Direct Connect?

We encountered issues with the connection. The VPN was not connecting on multiple occasions.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for AWS Direct Connect?

I'm not an end user of any of those SAP products. I wanted to have a comparison between different solutions for process mining and process modeling, but I'm not an end user of any. I have Microsoft...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?

The price is one aspect, but technically it is complete. Technically, it is really complete.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?

It's difficult to say that because Citrix Gateway is changing all the time. It is improving all the time, and I think that it is periodically giving us patches. Anything that I can think to be impr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Citrix Gateway?

I participate in integrator projects over the last year or two. Citrix Gateway is used in both my company and my customer's companies.

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS PrivateLink vs AWS Direct Connect

Compared 22% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs AWS Direct Connect

Compared 21% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs AWS Direct Connect

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs AWS Direct Connect

Compared 10% of the time

SonicWall Connect Tunnel vs AWS Direct Connect

Compared 8% of the time

More AWS Direct Connect Competitors

OpenVPN Access Server vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 9% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 7% of the time

More Citrix Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

January 2026

Download AWS Direct Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway

January 2026

Download Citrix Gateway product report

Also Known As

No data available

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway

Overview

AWS Direct Connect offers low-latency, reliable connectivity with secure data transfers between on-premise infrastructures and AWS environments. It ensures high availability and cost-effectiveness for large data transfers, integrating seamlessly with existing systems.

AWS Direct Connect is recognized for its robust network and security, providing minimal latency and reliable connectivity. It seamlessly integrates with on-premise infrastructure, enabling secure and fast data transfers. Users benefit from its high availability and low maintenance, making it cost-effective for large data transfers. Multi-account environment support is a key feature. Despite a complex configuration process compared to cloud GUIs, it enhances security by avoiding public internet exposure. Room for improvement includes the setup of credentials and terminology, upgrade process, BGP configuration, multi-network connections, traffic visibility, stability, and throughput security. Expanding data center locations and cross-cloud connections can be advantageous. Promotion is necessary for awareness. Some report VPN connection issues while some are content with its performance.

What are the key features of AWS Direct Connect?

Secure Connectivity: Enhances security by avoiding public internet exposure
Low Latency: Provides minimal latency for fast data transfers
High Availability: Ensures continuous connectivity with low maintenance
Cost-Effective: Reduces costs for large data transfers and multi-account environments
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with on-premise infrastructure

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Reliability: Sturdy and consistent connectivity minimizes downtime
Efficient Data Transfers: Cost reduction and efficiency for large data volumes
Security: Avoids exposure to the public internet, enhancing data protection
Resource Integration: Facilitates hybrid cloud environments by integrating on-premises and cloud resources

In industries like finance, healthcare, and media, AWS Direct Connect is implemented to ensure secure and efficient connectivity between on-premises data centers and AWS environments. It supports operations like database management and application deployment, facilitating data and application migration while enabling hybrid cloud connectivity.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Citrix Gateway is a customer-managed solution that can be deployed on premises or on any public cloud, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Citrix Gateway provides users with secure access and single sign-on to all the virtual, SaaS and web applications they need to be productive.

Citrix

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders

Buyer's Guide

AWS Direct Connect vs. Citrix Gateway

December 2025

Free Report: AWS Direct Connect vs. Citrix Gateway

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