Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Parallels Desktop vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) comparison

Citrix and Parallels are both solutions in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category. Citrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4, while Parallels is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0. Citrix holds a 12.8% mindshare in VD, compared to Parallels’s 12.3% 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 127 Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) reviews

8,588 Views
6,613 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Parallels Desktop

Read 2 Parallels Desktop reviews

4,956 Views
4,956 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Parallels Remote Applicatio...

Read 25 Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) reviews

1,577 Views
1,498 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Parallels Desktop

Parallels Remote Applicatio...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service), Parallels Desktop, and Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about VMware, Citrix, Omnissa and others in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

To learn more, read our detailed Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

August 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 12.8%, up from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Desktop is 12.3%, up from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is 2.6%, up from 2.4% 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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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Secure access across devices with cost-effective seamless integration

One valuable feature is the ability to securely use a wide range of devices to access the company's infrastructure. The inclusion of all necessary components, such as load balancer and gateways, in a monthly fee is also beneficial. In terms of Parallels Desktop, the coherence mode that allows Mac and Windows applications to run seamlessly side by side is highly regarded.

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

"The most valuable feature is the gateway to a remote connection, to a physical or a virtual PC. Compared to a normal VPN client and connection, the connection via Citrix is more stable and does not consume as much network bandwidth."

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

"Citrix DaaS’s most valuable feature is the virtualization of applications and desktops."

"Citrix has had the top remote display for the last 20 years, and there is a huge technological gap between Citrix and its competitors."

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

"Centralization and security are the most valuable features of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops."

"The most valuable feature has to be the non-persistent desktop. If one of my users messes something up and blows away their desktop, it goes back to what it was originally, before they had an issue."

"For the most part, overall stability is what you would expect."

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

"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."

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

"We can publish apps and desktops on Terminal Servers and seamlessly share printers. We also combine Parallels with Deepnet Security to get two-factor authentication."

"Thin client management (Windows 10 client) provides an easy way to lock down client connection to the remote infrastructure. Policies are very helpful for preconfiguring client behavior. Finally, client management is easy."

"We use RAS to publish cloud desktops to our clients. The ability to easily publish resources to a subset of users is what we find most valuable."

"Allows us to publish applications accessible by current-generation HTML5 browser or OS-specific client (Windows, Android, iOS), and it supports popular single sign-on and multi-factor authentication protocols."

"It is a stable solution."

"Ease of use in publishing apps and installing the agent. The Interface is fairly intuitive after some tinkering. Although I inherited the app only two-thirds deployed, I was able to complete the deployment and service it over the last year without referring to any documentation."

"The stability is ok - once I finished the setup, the system was quite stable."

"It permits us to control the applications that our users are able to get to, in a seamless manner. We're able to distribute applications to users' desktops, just like those applications are on each user's computer, but they're not."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pros

Cons

"Their customer support can be improved a lot as it lacks a lot of knowledgeable help."

"It would be great if they included VPN features and improved connectivity."

"The user profiles could use some improvement."

"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a complex solution."

"The application is now very complex. We started with Citrix on PCs. Now, to access the same application, we need to have a StoreFront Server, the Delivery Controller, and Citrix License Server. It's now very complex."

"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."

"Citrix has to support all of the hypervisors including KVM and OpenStack KVM."

"There have been many issues with stability."

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."

"The customization of the web interface could possibly use some improvement. Little things, like being able to place a background image instead of just choosing from a palette of colors, would be nice."

"Generally, it is a very good solution. The main thing that I would improve is their presence here in Mexico. They don't have strong local support here in Mexico. They should have a worldwide presence so that we don't have to do everything through the people in the US. The initial setup was a little bit complex because we were migrating from Citrix. For customers who are migrating from another platform like VMware or Citrix, it would be great if they can provide an automated migration solution."

"A potential improvement could be reducing the dependency on Microsoft solutions for Parallels RAS."

"A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server."

"Since I've been here less than a year, I have had to upgrade the system three times. The first time was the major upgrade but they have upgraded twice since, and I think that's too many times in that time span."

"HALB is not stable in our environment. When running two HALBs we have stability problems, so we use an active one and a passive for backup. Also, it would be nice to implement an upgrade of the environment without having to stop the servers. As it is, this must be done during off-hours."

"Currently in the RD Session Hosts – Sessions section, I can see what server a user is logged into but not what app he is using. Being able to do so would be immensely helpful when a non-technical user is complaining of issues, but I can’t tell which app he is using, and he is actually logged into multiple servers since they serve multiple apps."

"Improvement is needed in performance monitoring of the client's endpoint, and automatic re-connection of the client in the event of circuit disruptions (this works well generally but can present challenges)."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As for the cost, it is neither cheap nor expensive. Personally, I find it quite expensive, especially if you want to add more features. The security features we use include App Protect and Endpoint Protection."

"You can buy an on-cloud or on-prem license. You can switch between on-cloud users and on-prem users. Its licensing is cheap. It is from $8 to $15 per user. It is not that expensive when you compare the cost of buying new hardware with the cost of the license. For example, at $15 per user, it costs around $180 for a year, which is cheaper than buying a $600 PC that at a certain stage, you will again have to change because its hardware is not supported. It may also get damaged or stolen. So, you can compare the cost of the actual hardware that you have to buy and the time spent in supporting the clients with the cost of its license."

"The solution is affordable."

"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."

"We have more than a million seats under management so we get the best price."

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

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

"It is a bit costly, but enterprise class features come with a cost."

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

Information not available

"I think the new pricing is a little bit high. If the price was lower, we could use it for many more customers. If there was one improvement to be made to this product, it would be a small-business version, at a much lower price point."

"It is inexpensive compared to one of its competitors."

"It is very affordable."

"It justifies the price. In terms of licensing, initially when we got the product it was an unlimited licensing strategy. We knew would grow in the coming years. So initially, we took a plan which had no limit. After a year or so the strategy changed and we were being limited to 105 licenses, that was the minimum... If there was flexibility for increasing the number of licenses that would be great because you never know how much you are going to grow in the next year."

"The pricing has always been competitive, and the new SPLA licensing model works great for our business and clients."

"Just compare it to Citrix and you will see the value in it."

"The product is not expensive. I rate its pricing a three or four out of ten."

"I don't like the subscription model because it feels like I have to pay every month. If Parallels could go back to the professional license, it would be much better."

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

13%

University

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare 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. ...

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 l...

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 co...

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 dat...

See all answers

What do you like most about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

The solution is powerful, and it has good speed and performance.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

The pricing for Parallels RAS is straightforward with a monthly fee for a minimum of 15 licenses. For Parallels Deskt...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)?

A potential improvement could be reducing the dependency on Microsoft solutions for Parallels RAS. As for Parallels D...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Compared 47% of the time

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

Compared 7% of the time

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

Compared 6% of the time

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

Compared 4% of the time

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

Compared 3% of the time

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

VMware Fusion Pro vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 73% of the time

VMware Workstation vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 15% of the time

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Parallels Desktop

Compared 3% 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

More Parallels Desktop Competitors

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 21% of the time

Horizon 8 vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon WorkSpaces vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 9% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 7% of the time

VMware Workstation vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Compared 6% of the time

More Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

August 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

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

August 2025

Download Parallels Desktop product report

Buyer's Guide

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

August 2025

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) report

Download Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) product report

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

No data available

Parallels RAS

Interactive Demo

Citrix

Demo not available

Parallels

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

ApplicationServer delivers applications, data and virtual desktops from a central location, providing continuous availability, resource-based load-balancing and complete network transparency.

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

Arsari Group _ PT Netmarks Indonesia, Izhevsk Elektromekhanicheskiy Zavod (IEMZ) _ Kupol, Abilene Diagnostic Clinic, Fylde Borough Council, YARSTROYREZE LLC, VSK Insurance House, Melenkovsky District of Vladimirskaya Oblast, Sofrigam SA, Antenna International, KingsGate Community Church, Norwegian American Hospital, Island Hotels Group, Medway Council, Medway Council, Voices of September 11th, MacDonald Training Center, Kansas Childrenês Service League, Scope,Next Generation Clubs, WTC Communications, Opera Australia, HSE Integrated, Danier, Bridgwater College, Kern County Mental Health, Tony Tiendas, Spears Manufacturing, Managed Insurance Services Inc., Intuitive Medical Software, M.J. Soffe, Mazda Motors, Israel Military Industries (IMI), Telfair, Upic Solutions, Teleflora, Fisher & Company

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

August 2025

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