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AWS Direct Connect vs Citrix Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 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

AWS Direct Connect
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
12th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Citrix Gateway
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (1st), SSL VPN (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of AWS Direct Connect is 2.1%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 3.1%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Flavio Gomes Figueira Camacho Junior - PeerSpot reviewer
Establish secure and private connections between on-premise infrastructure and cloud environments
AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure. This is particularly beneficial because it helps me use our infrastructure for databases and testing while leveraging AWS's computing power for production purposes. I also do not need to expose management of our machines to the public internet, enhancing security by using a private connection.
VivekKumar10 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure remote access and load balancing with enhanced protection features
I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet. Key features include load balancing, dual-factor authentication, clientless VPN, and Web Application Firewall (WAF). The product effectively helps me protect the organization's network from potential threats, thereby securing our environment from hackers and ransomware attacks.

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."
"AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure."
"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."
"The platform's most valuable feature for us is its robust network performance."
"Direct Connect provides an improved connection quality and a diversified link, which contributes to high availability and failover capabilities."
"AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet."
"It is a stable solution."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"Most of our customers are using the load balancing feature and also the verification feature is good as well, in my experience."
"Citrix Gateway improved the security of the access of our applications outside the network."
"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."
"If you need to share resources across a corporation, I would recommend this solution."
"It performs quite well."
"The solution is scalable and can go from a very small deployment to handling 10,000 transactions a second."
"Citrix Gateway is stable once I am connected."
"The solution has very flexible configuration."
 

Cons

"There is no room for improvement in Direct Connect right now."
"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."
"Having more locations could improve the convenience of using the service."
"It would be good if we could connect AWS Direct Connect from different networks."
"I would like to see better traffic visibility and higher throughput security, especially for organizations that require more than what the current limit allows."
"It can be difficult to configure compared to cloud-based GUIs."
"AWS Direct Connect is straightforward and performs well for me."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
"The tool must provide better integration and connectivity."
"I would like to see better configuration of repairs and downloading certification."
"The initial setup could be made easier."
"I would like to see improved logging because it doesn't keep much information for the session monitoring or historical sessions."
"The first level support is very poor."
"The initial setup is very complex."
"The initial connection could be faster. That handshake takes a few seconds sometimes. That could be better and improved upon."
"If the solution had a more advanced DNS, it would be an improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."
"It has reasonable pricing in terms of the features offered."
"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"
"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."
"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."
"Citrix is quite expensive."
"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."
"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."
"It is expensive and requires proper planning with strategy."
"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
5%
Educational Organization
39%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
What needs improvement with AWS Direct Connect?
AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) and AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ), for disaster recovery pur...
What is your primary use case for AWS Direct Connect?
I have used AWS Direct Connect ( /products/aws-direct-connect-reviews ) in projects to directly connect artifacts and for setting up a call center service in a customer service project. It is used ...
What do you like most about Citrix Gateway?
We can maintain our systems using the solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?
I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model. It is seen as a premium product compared to competitors like F5, and ...
What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?
In the past, I submitted some support tickets, and while the support did resolve the problems, the time taken was sometimes long. They can perhaps improve the time for solutions in the support tick...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Direct Connect vs. Citrix Gateway and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.