Azure Virtual Desktop vs. Citrix DaaS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Azure Virtual Desktop
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Azure Virtual Desktops are a comprehensive desktop and app virtualization service running in the cloud.N/A
Citrix DaaS
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, or XenDesktop) is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and application virtualization solution from Citrix.
$375
Pricing
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Virtual Apps
$375
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Best Alternatives
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 7.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Omnissa Horizon
Omnissa Horizon
Score 5.5 out of 10
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 7.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Omnissa Horizon
Omnissa Horizon
Score 5.5 out of 10
VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion
Score 7.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
2.4
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Azure Virtual DesktopCitrix DaaS
Likelihood to Recommend
  1. Users with older machines and when the IT department is facing the crunch in procuring the actual system due to ongoing pandemic.
  2. Users with more computing power can use these machines, which can work at better speeds and give out better results and faster speed.
  3. If the end user internet is not perfect that is it is low speed or ping then it is not recommended to use these systems
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DaaS is ideal in large-scale environments that require centralized, secure management. Remote workforces at large organizations. Highly regulated industries like finance. It allows for easy security and monitoring over one aspect instead of multiple remote machines. DaaS is not ideal for organizations with small budgets due to the pricing and organizations with lousy network connectivity. This would make the end-user experience terrible.
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Pros
  • You can publish as many host pools as you need to accommodate your diverse workloads
  • Brings your own image for production workloads or test from the Azure Gallery
  • Reduces costs with pooled, multi-session resources.
  • With the new Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session capability exclusive to Windows Virtual Desktop and Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) role on Windows Server, you can greatly reduce the number of virtual machines and operating system (OS) overhead while still providing the same resources to your users.
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  • All Management resources can now be installed on a single server. Reducing the overhead required to maintain a citrix environment.
  • Granularity of the Delivery groups allow you to define allowing a remote user to connect to a random XenDesktop VM or individually assigning VMs to users.
  • HDX RealTime Optimization Pack has stabilized some of the issues of utilizing all of the features of Skype for Business in a ZenDesktop VM.
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Cons
  • While it is PaaS it would be nice to have some monitoring insights into some parts of the offering
  • Migrating user sessions from one host to another (to be able to downscale) would be awesome
  • It would be nice to have a more seamless deployment of FSLogix in a AVD Enviroment
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  • A single console to manage the environment.
  • The configuration is a bit complicated and we have hired Citrix administrators. But it's a good solution.
  • User profiles need improvement. They could use more stability and more functionality as well as user profile redirection.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I would of given it a 10 but Citrix tech support is lacking.
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Usability
AVD has performed well for us and allowed us to migrate away from Citrix.
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From an end-user perspective, Citrix DaaS is ideal. No matter the device that the user connects with, the end user's experience is always the same. Desktop icons are there, along with the files. As a big name, Citrix allows for SAML authentication or a local account. End users do not need a beefy laptop to have a good experience in DaaS.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Next to zero downtime
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Performance
No answers on this topic
The performance of XenDesktop is the best in the industry because of the fine-tuned protocol and years of updating. Overall, I don't think there is a better performer on the market. The question is if the added complexity of running XenDesktop is really worth the performance gain. While the latest version of XenDesktop is the easiest to deploy so far, it is still more challenging than the competitors.
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
The support is great when you get an engineer that knows what they are doing but getting that individual sometimes takes a while. Overall, they are professional and polite and competent in their knowledge. Sometimes the cases are open for an extended period of time which becomes very frustrating when dealing with critical issues.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
I was self trained
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
Online training isn't bad just an over view more then anything else.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Take it slow and read the directions each step of the way. If you are not familiar with Citrix products, use a reseller or other experienced engineer to assist you in the setup of your environment
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Alternatives Considered
For us Parallels RAS is still more a "onpremise" solution, with Azure Virtual Desktop we can really leverage the power of the cloud. We can spin up additional hosts if the load is too high and spin down hosts in the night to cut costs. Not being bound to onpremise hardware makes this extremely flexible. Seeing as most of our customers already have a M365 license that includes Azure Virtual Desktop licensing it doesn't cost us additional CAL's for Parallels RAS
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Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops is platform agnostic (we can use any underlying hypervisor technology) and really flexible for any use case. Using a golden image and provisioning it (with Machine Creation Services or Provisioning Services) is powerful and really straightforward, compared to the complexity in Microsoft RDS of maintaining a coherent farm, or the limitation of VMware Horizon to run on VMware Products.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
Easily scalable
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Return on Investment
  • More people can work from home which is a positive contribution to company’s objective of promoting work life balance
  • Reduced building operating costs with more staff working from home
  • At any point in time
  • Significantly reduced loss of data if a
  • user loses or damages a work laptop
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  • Being able to easily add new use cases with minimal "re-work" to existing workspace delivered by the solution has been a great ROI value.
  • The Security features that are built-in have made the solution a go-to for any remote access or vendor access requests the business has needed to continue projects and expedite digital initiatives.
  • While the overall environment stability is excellent there is an increase in support team and end user training required which can "steal" time from admin and engineers.
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ScreenShots