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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
13th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
11
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 August 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of AWS Direct Connect is 2.1%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 3.3%, up from 2.7% 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

"It is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."
"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."
"AWS Direct Connect is highly secure and much faster compared to normal network infrastructure."
"Direct Connect provides an improved connection quality and a diversified link, which contributes to high availability and failover capabilities."
"The platform's most valuable feature for us is its robust network performance."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure."
"The solution has very flexible configuration."
"It's easy to use. Also, the deployment part is perfect."
"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."
"The solution is scalable."
"The features that we have found most valuable are the web app support and VPN."
"Citrix Gateway is stable once I am connected."
"These days, I find Citrix products to be very stable, and there is no need to struggle with them."
"The most valuable feature is that it is secure."
 

Cons

"Its terminologies are challenging to interpret."
"There is no room for improvement in Direct Connect right now."
"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."
"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."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
"AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure and AWS, for disaster recovery purposes on different cloud platforms."
"AWS Direct Connect is straightforward and performs well for me."
"The load balancing could be improved."
"The dashboard or interface should be more clear in reporting issues. Integration with other applications should be more user-friendly."
"The initial setup could be made easier."
"I would like to see better configuration of repairs and downloading certification."
"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."
"At this time it costs 35% more than other solutions."
"If the solution had a more advanced DNS, it would be an improvement."
"I'd like to see support for reverse proxy and more security features."
 

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"
"Citrix is quite expensive."
"It is expensive and requires proper planning with strategy."
"It costs about 4,000 a year."
"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."
"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 license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."
"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

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?
It is working fine for us as it is. AI is the icon in the future, so they need to provide more information for us. For us, it is a new concept, and we will try to use it for our vertical industry i...
What is your primary use case for AWS Direct Connect?
We are using SAP boxes for the ERP system. We are using VPNs, elastic internet IPs. We have Route 53. We have mail because it is necessary to have mail if we want to publish a domain on the interne...
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: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.