VMware or Citrix: A comparative analysis of VDI solutions

Nowadays, businesses increasingly rely on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions to streamline their operations and enhance productivity. They offer numerous benefits that can significantly transform the way businesses operate. 

By allowing remote access, VDI solutions empower employees to work from any location, fostering flexibility and continuity. Enhanced security measures protect sensitive data by keeping it within the company’s secure environment rather than on individual devices. Moreover, VDI solutions can lead to substantial cost savings by reducing the need for extensive hardware investments and minimizing IT management overheads.

VMware and Citrix are industry leaders in virtualization:

• VMware, especially when powered by an infrastructure like Liquid Web’s, offers a robust, flexible, and secure VDI platform.
• Citrix, known for its strong remote access capabilities with HDX technology, supports multi-cloud deployments and offers a comprehensive suite of tools for VDI, app virtualization, and secure remote access.

This article provides a detailed comparison of VMware and Citrix VDI solutions, focusing on key areas like architecture, hypervisor support, scalability, and security. Use this analysis to choose the best solution for your organization’s needs.

VMware vs. Citrix: Unveiling the best VDI solutions for your business

While VMware Horizon and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops are similar, they cater to different use cases and industries.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop and XenApp) is widely adopted by medium-to-large enterprises with over 500 employees. Its strong remote access capabilities, powered by proprietary HDX technology, make it ideal for organizations with large distributed workforces.

Take the following examples of industries and how they use Citrix:

• Healthcare providers use Citrix for secure, HIPAA-compliant access to patient data and applications.
• Educational institutions leverage it for remote access to virtual desktops and applications for students and faculty.
• Manufacturing and retail companies rely on Citrix to centrally manage and deploy applications and desktops across locations, streamlining IT operations and reducing costs.

VMware Horizon, however, is designed to cater to organizations of all sizes, offering a more flexible and scalable VDI solution. Consider the following applications of VMware Horizon:

• Educational institutions use Horizon to deliver standardized virtual desktops and applications to students and staff.
• Healthcare providers trust Horizon for secure, HIPAA-compliant access to clinical applications and patient data.
• R&D teams use it to provision specific desktop configurations for software development and testing.
• Creative industries depend on Horizon to deliver high-performance virtual desktops for graphics-intensive workloads.

Both Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and VMware Horizon offer a range of features to support various needs.

Citrix is known for its remote access technologies and support for multi-cloud deployments, making it a strong choice for large enterprises with complex IT infrastructures.

However, VMware Horizon stands out more with its smooth and customizable user experience, tight integration with the VMware ecosystem, and advanced management capabilities. These features make it the better choice for most companies seeking a comprehensive VDI solution.

Comparing key technical features of VMware and Citrix VDIs

The next step in evaluating VMware and Citrix’s VDI offerings is comparing how they perform in a few key areas:

Hypervisor support

The choice of hypervisor directly impacts the performance, scalability, and manageability of the VDI environment.

VMware Horizon uses VMware ESXi as its primary hypervisor. Its deep integration with VMware’s flagship virtualization platform allows for optimized performance, simplified management, and lifecycle automation for virtual desktops.

The tight coupling between Horizon and ESXi also allows you to leverage the advanced features and capabilities of the VMware ecosystem, ensuring a robust VDI deployment.

Additionally, VMware offers certified support for other hypervisors like Microsoft Hyper-V, providing some flexibility for organizations with heterogeneous environments.

On the other hand, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops supports multiple hypervisors, including XenServer (previously Citrix Hypervisor), VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Nutanix AHV. This broad compatibility means you can choose your preferred option or leverage your existing investments, helping you avoid vendor lock-in and maintain flexibility.

You should carefully evaluate your existing infrastructure, skill sets, and long-term goals when deciding between the focused integration of VMware Horizon with ESXi or the flexibility offered by Citrix’s multi-hypervisor support.

Architecture and components

The architecture and components of a VDI solution directly impact its ability to scale, integrate with existing infrastructure, and provide a smooth end-user experience while simplifying management and maintenance for IT teams.

VMware Horizon is built around the Horizon Control Plane, which provides centralized management for deploying, managing, and scaling virtual desktops and applications across hybrid cloud environments. Its main components include the Horizon Client for accessing virtual desktops and applications, Horizon Agent installed on each virtual machine, Connection Server for brokering connections, Composer for image management, and Unified Access Gateway for secure remote access.

VMware’s Instant Clones technology allows for rapid provisioning of virtual desktops by creating clones from a master image, reducing deployment time and storage requirements.

Additionally, App Volumes and Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) provide application layering and user environment management capabilities, respectively.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops uses the FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA). This unified architecture allows multiple versions of Citrix Virtual Apps or Desktops to be run from a single site and integrates provisioning services.

Its key components include the Delivery Controllers for managing the infrastructure, Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) installed on each machine to deliver applications or desktops, Citrix StoreFront for user authentication and access management, Citrix Workspace for secure self-service access, Citrix Studio for configuration and management, and Citrix Director for monitoring and troubleshooting.

Citrix’s VDA works single and multi-session Windows, as well as Linux, providing flexibility in deployment options. StoreFront and Workspace work together to provide users with streamlined and secure access to their virtual resources.

Speed, reliability, and resource consumption

VMware Horizon delivers high performance, especially with its support for GPU virtualization and hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, both beneficial for graphics-intensive applications.

In fact, VMware scored second highest in the 2023 Gartner Critical Capabilities for DaaS report across all four defined use cases:

• Remote workers.
• High security.
• High performance.
• Custom enterprise architectures.

VMware Horizon also includes the VMware OS Optimization Tool (OSOT), which enhances virtual desktop performance by optimizing OS settings. It does this by reducing CPU, memory, and disk usage, allowing each host to support a larger number of virtual desktops.

The platform is known for its reliable performance, with features like Instant Clones and App Volumes that enhance the stability and manageability of virtual desktops.

VMware Horizon’s integration with VMware vSphere and Virtual SAN (vSAN) provides a scalable and resilient infrastructure capable of handling large-scale deployments.

VMware Horizon’s performance under load is well-documented, with benchmarks showing that it can handle high user densities effectively.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is notable for its high performance in enterprise environments. Its proprietary HDX technology ensures a smooth and responsive user experience even over low-bandwidth connections.

Citrix also offers various optimization tools, such as Citrix Profile Management and Workspace Environment Management, which help in reducing login times and improving overall system performance.

It’s designed to be resource-efficient, with features like Machine Creation Services (MCS) and Citrix Provisioning (PVS) that optimize the use of storage and compute resources.

It can also support a high number of users per server, as demonstrated in various scalability tests. However, achieving this density might require specific hardware configurations compared to VMware Horizon’s well-documented performance under load, which you can achieve with more standard hardware.

Cloud integration and scalability

Tight integration with multiple cloud platforms lets you scale your VDI deployments up or down rapidly, optimizing resource utilization and costs while maintaining consistent performance across varying workloads.

VMware Horizon supports cloud deployments primarily through VMware Cloud on AWS, Azure VMware Solution, Google Cloud VMware Engine, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, and Alibaba Cloud VMware Service.

These integrations allow you to extend your on-prem VMware infrastructure to the cloud, providing a consistent management experience. However, Horizon is more limited in terms of native cloud integrations than Citrix.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops offers extensive cloud integration with support for Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. It also provides native integrations and allows for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments, giving you the flexibility to choose the best cloud services for your needs.

Even with its wide support for major cloud platforms, however, Citrix’s integrations might not be as tightly coupled as VMware Horizon is with VMware Cloud on various public cloud platforms, potentially impacting performance and management.

Security features and policies

VMware Horizon integrates with VMware NSX for security and network virtualization, as well as FIPS 140-2 compliance. Workspace ONE Access establishes and verifies end-user identity with multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops provides a range of security features, including adaptive authentication, application protection against malware, and comprehensive security analytics.

Horizon’s basic security features aren’t as comprehensive as those in Citrix, but the latter might require additional configuration and management overhead. This makes it less ideal if you’re looking for a straight path to security.

User experience and ease of management

User ratings tend to favor VMware Horizon, indicating a smoother user experience with Horizon. Moreover, Citrix is known to have a steeper learning curve for administrators, which can impact onboarding and initial deployment time. Consider the following areas to determine which VDI is easier to adopt and use:

Protocols

Regarding performance protocols, VMware Horizon uses Blast Extreme, PCoIP, and RDP. Blast Extreme offers good performance but limited device and OS support compared to Citrix HDX.

Citrix’s HDX technology supports many devices and operating systems, ensuring smooth performance even with low bandwidth.

Monitoring tools

VMware Horizon includes the Horizon Help Desk Tool for basic troubleshooting and DEM for user environment management, integrated with vSphere for a unified experience.

Citrix offers tools like Citrix Studio for configuration and Citrix Director for monitoring and troubleshooting, along with Workspace Environment Management (WEM) for optimizing user experience and resource usage.

Image and application management

VMware Horizon excels with Instant Clones for rapid desktop deployment and App Volumes for application layering, ensuring swift provisioning.

Citrix, meanwhile, offers robust options like MCS, PVS, and App Layering, streamlining image and application management for easier updates and maintenance.

While Horizon lacks a network-based solution like Citrix PVS, VMware’s Instant Clones are ideal for prioritizing rapid deployment.

Cost analysis: Licensing and long-term expenditures

After examining their capabilities, let’s shift to the cost comparison, analyzing the licensing models and long-term financial implications of VMware Horizon and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

VMware Horizon’s fixed licensing costs may be higher upfront but can simplify budgeting. This is especially true for organizations already using VMware’s virtualization stack, as Horizon licenses are often bundled with vSphere.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, in contrast, provides flexible, subscription-based licensing that can be tailored to specific usage needs. While this allows for cost management based on actual usage, Citrix’s licensing can be more complex. Also, the need for separate licenses for different components can result in higher overall costs compared to VMware’s more straightforward licensing structure.

Expert recommendations: Which VDI solution is right for you?

This comparative analysis has explored the key aspects of VMware Horizon and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

It’s been a close race so far, but VMware’s integration with Liquid Web’s infrastructure elevates it to the next level. It offers distinct advantages for organizations across various industries. Here’s how:

• Fully managed infrastructure: Liquid Web manages hardware, dedicated server virtualization, and VM operating systems, allowing businesses to focus on applications.
• Predictable pricing: No per-VM fees and resource-based pricing make costs more predictable than Citrix’s complex licensing.
• High availability: Everything is built on redundant enterprise-grade hardware with automated failover for high uptime.
• Enhanced security: Each single-tenant private cloud has a dedicated firewall, load balancer, and virtual data center that isolates infrastructure and data.
• Performance and scalability: High-performance hardware and storage deliver maximum scalability and reliability for VMs, outperforming Citrix deployments.
• Flexibility and compatibility: VMware supports a wide range of operating systems and applications, offering more flexibility than Citrix’s proprietary protocols.
• Simplified migration: Liquid Web assists with migrating existing systems to the VMware private cloud, making the transition easier than Citrix’s retraining requirements.

While Citrix delivers strong VDI capabilities, Liquid Web’s fully managed VMware private cloud stands out as a more comprehensive, secure, and scalable solution. With predictable pricing and simplified management, it becomes the ideal choice for businesses looking to host their workloads.

Liquid Web’s VMware solution is well-suited for various industries, including education, healthcare, and creative sectors. This wide applicability ensures that organizations of all types can rely on VMware’s VDI solutions to meet their specific needs.

As you weigh your VDI options, consider how combining VMware and Liquid Web can help you surpass your requirements.