Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs Horizon Cloud Service comparison

Citrix and Omnissa are both solutions in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category. Citrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5, while Omnissa is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Citrix holds a 13.7% mindshare in VD, compared to Omnissa’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Omnissa users who would recommend it.

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Read 127 Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) reviews

8,259 Views
6,359 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Horizon Cloud Service

Read 11 Horizon Cloud Service reviews

1,175 Views
999 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citri...

Horizon Cloud Service

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Citrix DaaS and Horizon Cloud Service compete in the Desktop as a Service (DaaS) market. Citrix DaaS leads in simplicity and cost-effectiveness, whereas Horizon Cloud Service excels in feature-rich offerings at higher costs.

Features: Citrix DaaS offers comprehensive scalability and security features, empowering enterprises with extensive control and customization. Horizon Cloud Service emphasizes seamless integration with existing infrastructure and advanced desktop management capabilities, offering features like intuitive management interfaces, extensive virtual desktop customization, and impressive integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Citrix DaaS could enhance its feature-rich offerings to match the robust capabilities of competitors and improve integration flexibility. Horizon Cloud Service could focus on simplifying deployment processes and reducing the dependency on advanced technical expertise. Both solutions could aim for more streamlined management tools to enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix DaaS offers a straightforward deployment process with excellent customer support, enabling quick setups and issue resolutions. Horizon Cloud Service provides flexible deployment models but demands more time and technical expertise. Despite delivering strong customer support, its deployment complexity remains an area for improvement.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix DaaS provides a cost-effective solution with clear ROI, utilizing an efficient licensing model and affordable setup costs, making it suitable for budget-conscious enterprises. Horizon Cloud Service requires a higher initial investment but justifies its long-term ROI with its substantial feature set, appealing to organizations prioritizing advanced capabilities over upfront costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 869,785 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 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

3rd

Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

127

Ranking in other categories

Application Virtualization (1st), Remote Access (4th)

Horizon Cloud Service

Ranking in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

11th

Ranking in Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) category, the mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 13.7%, up from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Horizon Cloud Service is 2.0%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)	13.7%
Horizon Cloud Service	2.0%
Other	84.3%

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.

Read full review

SivaKuppala

Enterprise Architect at Wipro Limited

Centralized management enhances multi-cloud flexibility with cost efficiency improvements

The cost of Horizon Cloud Service is high, however, it could be optimized. The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help. Improvements in application performance, especially for resource-heavy applications like intensive 3D workloads, are needed. More built-in automation for routine tasks like patching and upgrading could reduce administrative effort.

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

"XenDesktop has helped our users to work remotely with a better user experience."

"It has the best remote working features."

"Citrix Virtual Apps is the most valuable feature. Many customers use this feature to publish only applications, and not the full desktop. They can publish the internal resource or allow the end-user to reach a site or an application without having the full desktop. That's why they love this feature. It helps them save on resources."

"My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications."

"The shadow feature is extraordinary and helps a lot when supporting remote users."

"The solution provides everything in one integrated platform. When it comes to monitoring their solution, it is really easy. We have all the information in one place so we can have the right information at the right moment. We can be proactive when it comes to dealing with performance, maintenance, and security issues."

"Troubleshooting Citrix is pretty straightforward."

"The feature that I like is that it is fast."

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

"I honestly liked the application itself because it was just like using a desktop. You could copy and paste, inside and outside, and you could use multiple monitors. You could access it anytime, anywhere, no matter whether you were in the office or out of the office. I could leave the office, go somewhere, go back in, and everything would be there. I could just leave it up and running. I absolutely love this feature in VMware Horizon Cloud."

"Horizon Cloud Service provides deployment flexibility across multiple clouds with a scalable architecture that easily scales virtual desktops and applications up or down based on demand."

"VMware Horizon Cloud is easy to use and the full development cloud is very good. The main features of VMware are included. It's a cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure software that allows you to permit the virtual desktops and applications to any device from the single unified management control. These are managed from the dedicated remote session desktop."

"The interface is much easier to use compared to Microsoft and other VDI vendors that are well known on the market. I like VMware so much more than the others. With Horizon Cloud, you don't need to spend a lot of money upfront to buy the infrastructure. You can use it the on the cloud, so it lowers the barriers to entry. It's easier to test it and get started. Some clients stay in the cloud, but others prefer to go on-premise. It depends on the nature of the client."

"The product allows a VPN connection, adding extra value to its features."

"Horizon Cloud Service provides deployment flexibility across multiple clouds with a scalable architecture that easily scales virtual desktops and applications up or down based on demand."

"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users that are working from outside of the office or from different offices in the country."

"The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon Cloud is all of its capabilities together."

More Horizon Cloud Service pros

Cons

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

"It is not easy to set up."

"The product is currently not working well in hosting conferencing software like Zoom, Team, and Salon."

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

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

"It takes time to load."

"The cost of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is high and has room for improvement."

"The initial setup is very complex."

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

"In the design phase, sometimes the tools for designing Horizon solutions have issues when they're calculating the number of nodes and platforms needed to support the VDI systems."

"The application remoting features have some room for improvement."

"The product has a lot of bugs."

"It can be very expensive to scale up because each part of scaling up requires you to have new components of the infrastructure."

"Logging into VMware Horizon Cloud could be made easier. Additionally, the VMs could be better in their performance."

"The cost of Horizon Cloud Service is high, however, it could be optimized. The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."

"It is very expensive. Its price needs to be improved. They can do a better job with external resources such as a USB or a hard drive. When I tried to connect using these external resources, it failed a lot of times. I had to do a shared connection with a local laptop and then connect from a network standpoint, rather than through VMware Horizon point. They definitely have weaknesses with external connections. A lot of companies probably don't let people use external connections because it defeats the purpose of having a cloud solution and keeping the data in a secure area. You can copy to an external device, and you can lose the data. A lot of companies may not focus on this feature, but if you are providing it, you should make it work."

"The licensing model is complex, particularly for hybrid deployments, and simplifying it could help."

More Horizon Cloud Service cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"The solution is expensive and I give the cost a four out of ten."

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

"I suggest using the concurrent user licensing scheme."

"A perpetual enterprise license costs approximately $300 USD."

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

"It's costly in the market. But it is not expensive for the company. For the company, it's relatively inexpensive because the core of the work is compensated with the price."

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

"VMware Horizon Cloud is an expensive solution. This solution is approximately 30 percent more than Microsoft Azure Cloud. There can be extra costs."

"For what you get, it is very compelling. You've got to look at the total cost of ownership of this type of piece of software in terms of being able to utilize it as a cloud service. I don't have to run everything on-premises. When you look at the total cost of just being able to use it and then being able to point it to any public or private cloud, it is very compelling. You have one less thing to manage."

"Initially, the product is cheap, but it starts to get expensive when users try to scale out."

"VMware Horizon Cloud is a low-cost solution. The model that they have is consumption-based. However, some features are expensive."

"I rate VMware Horizon Cloud pricing a ten out of ten."

"There is a license required for the use of this solution and there are different tier levels available."

"It is too expensive as compared to other solutions because of which we don't use it that much. We tend to go more for Hyper-V or Azure just because VMware licensing is quite up there. We sway people away from VMware Horizon Cloud. We have some clients who already have it. They stay on it for a little while, and then most of them end up moving off when we provide them a better solution that isn't as license heavy cost-wise."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

869,785 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Performing Arts

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Media Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	43
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	68

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

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 VMware Horizon Cloud?

The tool remains pretty stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Cloud?

The cost is considered normal, not remarkable but not outrageous. In terms of expense, compared to other virtualization products, I would rate it as a six.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Horizon Cloud?

The licensing model needs to be adjusted, as a cloud license is currently required even for on-premises devices. Horizon Cloud Service should continue improving their protocol and work with other h...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Compared 52% of the time

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

Compared 6% of the time

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

Compared 4% of the time

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

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 1% of the time

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

Horizon 8 vs Horizon Cloud Service

Compared 16% of the time

Azure Virtual Desktop vs Horizon Cloud Service

Compared 13% of the time

Amazon Appstream vs Horizon Cloud Service

Compared 11% of the time

VMware Workstation vs Horizon Cloud Service

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Horizon Cloud Service

Compared 9% of the time

More Horizon Cloud Service Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

October 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

Horizon Cloud Service

October 2025

Download Horizon Cloud Service product report

Also Known As

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

VMware Horizon Cloud, VMware Horizon DaaS

Interactive Demo

Citrix

Demo not available

Omnissa

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

The VMware Horizon Cloud Service delivers feature-rich virtual desktops and applications using a purpose-built cloud platform that is scalable across multiple deployment options, including fully managed infrastructure from VMware, public cloud infrastructure from Microsoft Azure, or on-premises hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). The service supports a cloud-scale architecture that makes it easy to deliver virtualized Windows desktops and applications to any device, anytime. And, with a flexible subscription model and turnkey solutions, organizations can easily get up and running and scale quickly.

Omnissa

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

Marriott, Sprint

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service

September 2025

Free Report: Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service

Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

869,785 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs. Horizon Cloud Service report.

See our list of best Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) vendors and best Desktop as a Service (DaaS) vendors.

We monitor all Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 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.