Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Citrix XenServer vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 XenServer
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Server Virtualization Software (11th)
VMware Workstation
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Virtualization solutions, they serve different purposes. Citrix XenServer is designed for Server Virtualization Software and holds a mindshare of 5.0%, up 4.2% compared to last year.
VMware Workstation, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), holds 17.0% mindshare, up 13.2% since last year.
Server Virtualization Software
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Tonatiuh Torres Zamorano - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers comprehensive solutions for small and medium businesses with a straightforward setup
I find Citrix XenServer valuable for small to medium-sized businesses. It is user-friendly and easy to deploy, making it an attractive option. When included with Citrix virtualization solutions, it provides a comprehensive package with existing licenses. Despite being effective for small to medium infrastructures, it may not be the best hypervisor for larger deployments.
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I've found the following features to be the most valuable: user personalization layer, app layering, provisioning, and notification services for integration between different domains."
"The price is the solution's most valuable feature."
"This is a dependable solution for virtualization with a good community for product support."
"This solution allows the end users to clone, start, stop, or remotely control their VMs."
"The initial setup is easy."
"Citrix Hypervisor does a great job overall, such as the virtualization of the host. It's very easy to manage the virtual machine, to create, and configure high availability."
"The onboarding process is pretty straightforward."
"It is quite flexible and rugged. It is also easy to understand and user-friendly. It is not as complicated as some of the other solutions. It has its technicalities, but it is easy to understand. You can easily pick up in a short period of time and understand how to manage the infrastructure."
"The technical support is good."
"Because the setup is so easy, this is a solution that can be used at a moment's notice."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the speed of access and quality of upgrade. Those are the more important and pertinent aspects as far as we were concerned. Functionality and features were relevant for the customers. What a customer chose, we had to make sure that it operated."
"The most valuable features of the VMware Workstation solutions are the ESXi and vCenter."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Player is the ability to snapshot with or without memory."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
 

Cons

"Live migration is something that can be improved."
"It would be very helpful if I could browse the data store directly in the GUI, similar to VMware and Hyper-V. This feature would be particularly useful when something goes wrong with a virtual machine or virtual disk."
"The self-service user portal needs to be more granular and be more customizable."
"There are several areas that need improvement including the stability of the networking stack and networking management."
"It needs improvement with the security features."
"You need a licensed account to look up technical support."
"The solution should be more flexible and allow for greater customization."
"The main problem with Citrix Hypervisor is getting readily available backup solutions for it. It would be wonderful if Hypervisor were better integrated with third-party backup solutions."
"It would be better if software updates occur automatically."
"For some virtual machine configurations, you have to go to the text editor and make the configuration changes, which could be improved."
"They could include official support for macOS virtualization within VMware Workstation."
"The price should be reduced."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
"The price of VMware Workstation could improve."
"The network configuration was not as easy as it could be and could take less time. We faced challenges with backup due to limitations in the free version, requiring us to switch to a paid version."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am fine with their license support. What we have right now is permanent, so I don't have a problem with their license."
"While it is free for small networks, the pricing is high if your network grows past a certain size."
"Citrix Hypervisor is expensive."
"The most valuable feature is the cost; it is a free product."
"There are three editions available and I believe they are perpetual licenses."
"The pricing and licensing is so important. Customers do consider the price seriously."
"Citrix Hypervisor can be fairly expensive."
"To subscribe to the paid version with support, it is approximately $6,000 per year."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
"You need to pay for a license, but I don't think it costs that much. I think it's a one-time payment."
"VMware Workstation's costs are lifetime."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive tool. I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low or good price."
"It is an expensive solution."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Virtualization Software solutions are best for your needs.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VL
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
47%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Hypervisor?
The core function enables multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical server. This maximizes hardware utilization and efficiency.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Hypervisor?
XenServer is considered cost-effective, as its licensing allows users to utilize the hypervisor as part of Citrix virtual app or desktop licenses. It is cheaper compared to its competitors.
What needs improvement with Citrix Hypervisor?
Citrix needs to improve the hypervisor, specifically in security and performance. Additionally, the response time from customer support has room for improvement, which could enhance the overall use...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

Hypervisor
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

U.S. Army Shared Services Center, SoftLayer, Educational Services of America, Independent Bank, and SK Telecom.
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Proxmox, VMware, Microsoft and others in Server Virtualization Software. Updated: March 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.