Amazon WorkSpaces is a managed, secure cloud desktop service. Amazon WorkSpaces removes the complexity in managing hardware inventory, OS versions and patches, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
$21
per month
Citrix Workspace (discontinued)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Citrix Workspace is a workspace solution that delivers secure access to all apps and files from a single interface. Based on the former Scalextreme product, it will not receive future updates from Citrix.
For our use case, we found Amazon WorkSpaces well suited to remote work and other "work from home" and "work on the road" situations where the end user did not need to consume HD media (notably 4K) and did not need to produce any multimedia (audio, video, etc), but rather needed to perform more typical tasks such as web-browsing our corporate intranet and internal online apps, accessing files and using them through office productivity suites (Office - both online and desktop, and LibreOffice are under testing), etc.
Citrix Workspace is well suited as a dashboard for the variety of software and applications that relate to the various functions of our department. It seems secure and simple to navigate, which I appreciate as someone who handles sensitive information.
I find it particularly difficult to easily save to anything other than my file database, such as my regular desktop files. The series of folder paths is very confusing in my opinion.
I cannot save pdfs to my remote system and must save them locally.
We find Citrix Workspace an easy to use, reliable and secure remote access tool. We never have issues accessing either environments (workstations, servers and virtual machines) not using deployed applications.
For its Primary purpose in our organization, providing developers and testers a clean, isolated and configurable environments which saves hours. The usability is nearly perfect. Usability is only suffering when user is into more intensive task like any kind of graphic works. At that time user is not experiencing the smoothness like a local machine
Access to the workspace is simple and quick, using username and password and a second factor authentication. Once logged in, you can see all the environments (servers, virtual machines, etc) and applications that are available based on the permission granted to your user. With a couple of clicks you can easily access to your remote desktop or to one of the applications.
AWS support in general is pretty good, and WorkSpaces is no exception. We haven't had too much need for support but on the occasion we have, they've been quick to respond and helpful. Our issues have been resolved rapidly.
WorkSpaces (VDI) is a much more robust solution that competitor offerings when considering scalability and security. Amazon WorkSpaces has a substantial free tier to explore if this is the right solution for your project without purchasing other solutions. Considering this, AWS is a great solution to explore Virtual Desktop experiences and workstations for any growing remote business.
The primary reason to choose Citrix Workspace was that it's cost-effective. Citrix Workspace also has majorly involved in this business, other alternates are one of the other products for parent companies which makes it more focused on its intent. Citrix Workspace comes with a rich set of features and provides better security and ease of use. Citrix Workspace is a market leader for this purpose.
During the pandemic, Citrix Workspace was vital in allowing me to continue operations by working from home. Without Citrix Workspace, I think that our company would have had a lot of trouble with all of the WFH operations.
