Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Microsoft App-V comparison

Citrix and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Virtualization category. Citrix is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.3. Citrix holds a 27.5% mindshare in AV, compared to Microsoft’s 22.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 77% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Read 126 Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) reviews

932 Views
670 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Microsoft App-V

Read 8 Microsoft App-V reviews

1,568 Views
627 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Microsoft App-V

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Citrix DaaS and Microsoft App-V are contenders in the virtualization space. Citrix DaaS tends to have an advantage with its advanced capabilities and integration with diverse operating systems.

Features: Citrix DaaS provides comprehensive virtualization with advanced customization, scalability, and seamless integration across platforms. In contrast, Microsoft App-V stands out for its straightforward application packaging, ease of deployment, and efficient management.

Room for Improvement: Citrix DaaS could improve its resource demands during deployment, enhance ease of use for small-scale implementations, and provide more cost-effective solutions for businesses with simple needs. Microsoft App-V might expand its feature set to include broader virtualization capabilities, enhance support systems, and integrate with a wider array of third-party tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix DaaS is well-equipped with a robust support network and integration capabilities that ease deployment in complex settings, albeit requiring significant resources. Microsoft App-V offers a simpler deployment process suitable for basic application delivery, with a less comprehensive support network.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix DaaS involves higher initial costs due to its extensive features but provides a substantial ROI for complex virtualization needs. Microsoft App-V is cost-effective for enterprises focusing on essential application delivery, owing to lower setup costs and simpler services.

To learn more, read our detailed Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Ranking in Application Virtualization

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

126

Ranking in other categories

Remote Access (4th), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (3rd), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)

Microsoft App-V

Ranking in Application Virtualization

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Virtualization category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 27.5%, up from 26.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft App-V is 22.7%, down from 24.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Virtualization

Featured Reviews

Grant Waddell

Head of IT Architecture & Operations Support at Lyntia

User-friendly and easily accessible, but cost could be made cheaper

We use Citrix Workspace on Citrix Cloud. We have all of our servers on the AWS public cloud. There are a number of tools that we can implement that would save us costs. However, we've stuck to Citrix for convenience. If the prices keep increasing, we will have to consider other solutions. Users need to understand the tool's limitations correctly and what they require from a usability perspective. They should also understand the configuration of security policies. In some cases, people are unable to download or upload files onto their PCs, which is necessary for them to do their work. Users should understand the limitations of the product or the configuration options. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Read full review

Francois Gotti

Senior Global Infrastructure Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Streaming has impressed but integration and support require improvement

The problem with Microsoft App-V is that there is no choice since Microsoft has decided to stop it, and we are searching for alternatives. Microsoft App-V needs to evolve, possibly with better integration with other solutions, particularly since we use Citrix and want to integrate App-V packages more efficiently. The management of packages should be easier, possibly through a web console for visibility in versioning, and options to convert packages when changing technologies. Many companies avoid using tools like Admin Studio due to high costs. Additionally, Microsoft App-V has been slow, and users experience delays when launching applications, which presents significant challenges.

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

"It has very good performance in delivering 3D applications over WAN."

"It allows us to mute users who adhere to a policy of not allowing direct VPN access for security reasons. It is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Citrix Workspace is its security."

"I found the ease of deployment, scalability, and security to be to our benefit when supplying virtual applications to our clients."

"XenApp is a fast, secure and reliable solution for remote connections that is completely different than and superior to older Windows solutions."

"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."

"The tech support is fast, knowledgeable, and customer-friendly."

"The installation and maintenance are good."

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

"It is very easy to use from an administration point of view."

"We can deploy applications incredibly fast."

"It is easy to scale. You can quickly deploy additional instances. Rollbacks are easy because there is an automatic backup every hour. Deploying the application is straightforward and efficient."

"I would recommend Microsoft App-V for its simplicity and efficiency."

"From my experience with Microsoft App-V, the feature I liked the most is the streaming."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft App-V that I found is the possibility to bring old software back to life and publish it for users to do their jobs using those applications."

"I appreciate the process of being able to change or review my answers."

"The most interesting and powerful feature for us is the fact that we can upgrade any kind of app instantly."

Cons

"Direct connection of USB devices on the terminals to be used by streamed applications is very important for printing and the usage of token authentication, but the current version does not support this one hundred percent."

"They can simplify the process of printers. Printers were quite a difficult issue. It took us a long time to iron this issue out. We have the most simple use case where people connect from home to either a virtual machine or their physical desktop. We tried more complex solutions like Machine Creation Services, and they were more overhead than they were worth for us. I found them difficult to work with and confusing, and they were not worth the work for us."

"Citrix's functionality depends on you having access to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft offers a broad range of features and solutions. Overall, it may make sense for some users to move all their services to Microsoft services."

"When I needed support for a couple of things, three people intervened. Each time, three people gave me a different answer. In the end, they did not manage to give the right answer. At a certain point, they stopped replying."

"The solution's technical support is not so good."

"For us, pricing is the most important feature to improve."

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

"The speed and connectivity of Citrix DaaS could be improved."

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

"The process was streamlined but didn't make our work simple. We encountered an issue with the person responsible for designing the website."

"There is definitely room for improvement with Microsoft App-V, especially in terms of enhancing troubleshooting resources and user guidance."

"The reporting features could be improved."

"Microsoft App-V has been slow, and users experience delays when launching applications, which presents significant challenges."

"If it were possible to integrate App-V with a cybersecurity solution then we could implement a documentation registry, which would be useful."

"Microsoft App-V is more suited for legacy software usage, and trying to make it work in that context usually feels tricky and unreliable."

"The downside is that Microsoft bought this product and they are going to discontinue it in 2026. This is worrisome for us."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Implementing Citrix DaaS with thin clients, rather than physical laptops, has resulted in savings of 27% to 29%. Additionally, moving 1,000 users from physical laptops to thin clients and VDI solutions can save around 40,000 kilograms of carbon emissions, benefiting both the environment and the company's economy, provided thin clients are used."

"Citrix licensing is expensive."

"Citrix is a mid-range cost solution compared to some others out there."

"If you look at cost, then you must look at the number of users that you are covering. If you are only using it for some users, then it is very expensive. However, if you have a massive amount of users, then it begins to be interesting to use Citrix. Because once you are managing thousands of servers with one guy, your maintenance costs decrease per user."

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

"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."

"The Citrix license model has changed. It costs around $240 per user for a single username, but a concurrent license costs double."

"We spent nearly 1,50,000 Euros for 250 licenses."

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

"The pricing of this product is competitive."

"Clients do not pay licensing fees."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Virtualization solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare 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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft App-V?

Regarding pricing, I believe flexibility would help retain customers. Costs could be more adaptable to meet varying budgets.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft App-V?

I would like more server hardware in the cloud. Deploying more into the Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) architecture would be beneficial, and maintaining support for legacy applications...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft App-V?

I use Microsoft App-V ( /products/microsoft-app-v-reviews ) to deploy applications onto Windows platforms and environments. Instead of installing software on each user's PC or laptop, we associate ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 45% of the time

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

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 7% of the time

Rocket Exceed TurboX vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 5% of the time

VMware Workstation vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 2% of the time

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

Numecent Cloudpager vs Microsoft App-V

Compared 63% of the time

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) vs Microsoft App-V

Compared 10% of the time

More Microsoft App-V Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

June 2025

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Application Virtualization

May 2025

Download Microsoft App-V product report

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

App-V, MS App-V

Interactive Demo

Citrix

Demo not available

Microsoft

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.

Citrix

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) enables you to make applications available to end users without installing the applications directly on end user computers. App-V transforms applications into centrally managed services that are never installed and don't conflict with other applications.

Microsoft

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

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), GDDKiA, P&V, Etisalat Lanka, Hellenic Petroleum

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V

June 2025

Free Report: Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V

Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Microsoft App-V report.

See our list of best Application Virtualization vendors.

We monitor all Application Virtualization reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.