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

Citrix and Parallels are both solutions in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category. Citrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while Parallels is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0. Citrix holds a 12.1% mindshare in VD, compared to Parallels’s 13.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Parallels users who would recommend it.

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

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

8,832 Views
6,801 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Parallels Desktop

Read 2 Parallels Desktop reviews

4,925 Views
4,925 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Parallels Desktop

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Citrix DaaS and Parallels Desktop are competing in the virtual desktop and application delivery market. Citrix DaaS has an advantage in scalability and support, while Parallels Desktop is noted for its feature set and overall value.

Features: Citrix DaaS offers robust enterprise-level capabilities, providing extensive scalability and integration with various IT environments. Key features include scalability, enterprise-level security, and integration with different IT ecosystems. Parallels Desktop delivers flexibility for seamless integration with macOS and Windows, making it ideal for high-performance application access on Mac devices. Key features include cross-platform compatibility, high-speed performance, and ease of use for both personal and professional tasks.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix DaaS supports complex enterprise needs with a sophisticated deployment process, backed by comprehensive customer service. Parallels Desktop provides a straightforward setup process, beneficial for individual and small business users seeking quick, efficient deployment, and is supported by accessible customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix DaaS generally incurs a higher setup cost due to its extensive capabilities, promising significant ROI for large enterprises over time. Parallels Desktop offers a cost-effective solution with quicker ROI, appealing to smaller businesses or individuals. Citrix focuses on long-term value for large-scale operations, while Parallels emphasizes immediate cost efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Parallels Desktop Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

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

July 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

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

126

Ranking in other categories

Application Virtualization (2nd), Remote Access (4th), Desktop as a Service (DaaS) (1st)

Parallels Desktop

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

6th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 12.1%, up from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Desktop is 13.4%, up from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

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.

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Grant-Donald

Information Security Consultant at Excellenta

It integrates seamlessly with macOS, but it's not compatible with VMware

Parallels Desktop does the same thing as VMware but for Apple users Parallels Desktop integrates seamlessly with macOS. It works better than VMware on Apple operating systems. The biggest challenge is compatibility between VMware and Parallels because the two systems are incompatible. It can be…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it supports team clients."

"We've been able to scale the environment quite nicely by using the Citrix Remote PC. I can't say enough about that. And because that relies on utilizing your existing hardware resources, and making those available as a part of your Citrix farm — with a second level of authentication and security pieces around it — we added some 4,000 workstations without an additional overhead or cost."

"The Provisioning Services are the most valuable feature. We have Premium licensing, so Provisioning Services is huge for us, along with the Virtual Apps and Desktops part. It allows us to have a vDisk for every region, one that can easily be copied between them if we need to, to limit the amount of updates we have to do."

"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."

"The architecture I built had a robust failover mechanism for the endpoints, and the interface was user-friendly."

"Remote work has been enhanced"

"The most valuable feature of Citrix Workspace is the virtual desktop that we can use anywhere, at any time, and without taking our laptop."

"It is a very scalable solution."

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

"Parallels Desktop integrates seamlessly with macOS. It works better than VMware on Apple operating systems."

"I like how, with Parallels, you can either boot into Mac or Windows to get better control over the resources of the laptops since you're sharing the resources in dual mode."

Cons

"Pricing can be lower and roaming profiles need to be fixed to work consistently."

"Pricing and technical support need improvement."

"Where improvement could be driven is in terms of clarity as to the functionality of some of the solutions. If you go back to the older Citrix Xen products that we had, we understood those really well. As we've come into the new workstation premium suite, there is a lot of additional functionality that we perhaps have not yet fully exploited. It is not because we can't, but simply because we don't yet understand the depth of functionality that's offered."

"The support offered by Citrix's partner needs to improve. The partner support platform should aim to provide more technical information to users."

"The solution's cost has almost doubled this year, and it could be made cheaper."

"The lag when using Skype or Screen Sharing with multiple users needs to improve, as it makes it difficult for us to continue when we have to restart the system."

"My only issue with Citrix is that they frequently rebrand their products. I'm using the app and everything is fine but after a couple of years, it's entirely different. There were an enormous number of Citrix tools readily available. My immediate concern was selecting the correct ones."

"I've recently tried to use Citrix on Ubuntu, and I don't know if this is an Ubuntu issue or a vendor issue, but you can't use Citrix right now on Ubuntu 20.04."

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

"The biggest challenge is compatibility between VMware and Parallels because the two systems are incompatible. It can be challenging if you are switching between Windows and Mac. I recommend sticking with one product because there isn't good compatibility between the different products."

"There may have been some issues with device drivers on my Mac. Similarly, there are some issues with transferring data from Parallels to the Mac."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is expensive."

"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."

"We don't have a lot to compare it to, but we certainly think whatever we pay is worthwhile at this point in time. It's very reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution. I rate its pricing a nine out of ten."

"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is an expensive solution."

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

"The cost of the Citrix software reflects what I would expect a product of that nature, in that market, to be. Understanding the licensing is quite a bit more complicated, because one of the things about Citrix is that you can buy licensing at different levels... Yet I still like the idea because it means that if all you need is a basic load balancing solution, then you don't need to buy an advanced or premium license."

"The purchase price was around $300,000 USD and then the maintenance fees were 20%. There are no other additional fees."

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

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Comms Service Provider

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

University

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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 do you like most about Parallels Desktop?

I like how, with Parallels, you can either boot into Mac or Windows to get better control over the resources of the laptops since you're sharing the resources in dual mode.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Parallels Desktop?

If you want the standard version, it is more expensive but more advanced. You get what you pay for. These products cost money, and the company has to make a profit.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Parallels Desktop?

There may have been some issues with device drivers on my Mac. Similarly, there are some issues with transferring data from Parallels to the Mac.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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

Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 77% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 2% of the time

Horizon 8 vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 2% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

July 2025

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

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Buyer's Guide

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

June 2025

Download Parallels Desktop product report

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

No data available

Interactive Demo

Citrix

Demo not available

Parallels

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

Parallels Desktop is a virtualization software for Mac that allows users to run Windows, Linux, and other operating systems alongside macOS without rebooting. It provides a seamless experience for users who need access to different operating systems on a single machine.

As a powerful cross-platform solution, Parallels Desktop is designed for developers, testers, and users who require flexibility in operating multiple systems concurrently. It efficiently manages resources, offering significant advantages for those who need Windows applications on a Mac without compromising on performance. Its intuitive setup and strong integration with macOS make it highly appealing to technical teams looking for productivity enhancements.

What features stand out in Parallels Desktop?

Coherence Mode: Integrates Windows applications with macOS for a unified user experience.
Resource Allocation: Allows users to fine-tune resources dedicated to each virtual machine for optimal performance.
Cross-Platform Data Transfer: Enables easy sharing of files and data between operating systems.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Increased Productivity: Seamless access to Windows applications on Mac can enhance workflow efficiency.
Cost-Effective Solution: Reduces the need for multiple devices, saving on hardware costs.
Improved Flexibility: Offers the ability to run testing environments on a single device, increasing operational flexibility.

In industries like software development and design, Parallels Desktop is often implemented to streamline operations, allowing professionals to simultaneously utilize macOS and Windows tools. This adaptability proves essential in environments that demand the use of diverse software applications, ensuring continuity and productivity.

Parallels

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

Lytro, University of Washington, Slalom, Veeva Systems, Oklahoma Christian University

Buyer's Guide

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

July 2025

Free Report: Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Parallels Desktop

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