Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) vs SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) comparison

Citrix and SonicWall are both solutions in the Remote Access category. Citrix is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while SonicWall is ranked #25 with an average rating of 7.0. Citrix holds a 4.6% mindshare in VUS, compared to SonicWall’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about TeamViewer, Microsoft, Citrix and others in Remote Access.

To learn more, read our detailed Remote Access Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Remote Access

March 2026

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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

Microsoft Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.2%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 4.6%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	9.2%
Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)	4.6%
SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)	0.7%
Other	85.5%

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24

Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license

The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.

Read full review

Sorin Neacsu

Technical Lead on Virtual Desktop at Orange

Has delivered consistent desktop experiences across remote locations and has supported multimedia workloads efficiently

I have utilized the HDX protocol for compression and audio-video capabilities. When users need to conduct meetings with customers or colleagues, they can use Teams solutions and open a bridge where video and audio are encapsulated within the ICA protocol, which is protected by SSL and certificates for security. This provides secure communication at good quality through the HDX protocol. HDX protocol has improved application performance as it is specifically designed for multimedia applications. If processing audio or video files, such as in telecom where discussions are recorded and then prepared as video or audio, this does not consume excessive bandwidth during the operation compared to a normal remote desktop connection provided by Microsoft. Everything is compressed and provides sufficient bandwidth for multiple people to perform similar tasks without interruption or session disconnection. All multimedia-related activities, such as playing content on YouTube, deliver a better experience with this protocol overall. I use multi-factor authentication for opening sessions to the data center where users access their machines or software. Multi-factor authentication has helped secure applications because users typically have two-way authentication software on their phones. They use a password first and then authenticate themselves through their mobile application to grant access to resources. This approach is effective because if a hacker attacks a user, they need more than just the password and username. They must also possess the device that provides authentication. The device typically has facial recognition, a password, and provides better security overall.

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Kallamuddin Ansari

Cyber Security Consultant at ProTechmanize

Remote access has become more secure and flexible but reporting still needs deeper analytics

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) offers excellent features including Zero Trust Network Access, VPN as a service, and Cloud Access Security Brokers. One of the standout features is Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) for Software as a Service, providing visibility and control over cloud applications employees use, not only regarding whether they can use them but also regarding the actions they perform within those applications. This is especially useful in organizations utilizing many SaaS tools such as Office 365, Salesforce, and cloud storage, where consistent security policy enforcement is required, even from personal devices or remote locations. The secure web gateway feature is critical for modern-day internet security. SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) provides secure web gateway features for users accessing the internet, including URL filtering, domain filtering, blocking malicious websites, preventing phishing or ransomware threats, and enforcing acceptable use policies. SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has had a very positive impact on our organization as our workforce becomes more distributed, with noticeable improvements including easier and more secure remote access. Previously, managing VPN clients and hardware gateways was difficult for new or non-technical users, but with SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), users simply authenticate and get secure access to only the applications they need. There are numerous improvements I notice, such as improved BYOD security, reduced risk of lateral movements, simplified management, lower hardware dependency, and better visibility and compliance reporting. After moving to SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), we saw a 38% reduction in VPN-related tickets. Users are no longer facing client errors, tunnel failures, and certificate issues, which saves nearly 25 hours per month on troubleshooting remote access problems. Onboarding remote users has become 60% faster, now taking only 10 to 15 minutes instead of 30 to 40 minutes. Additionally, there has been a 52% reduction in risky connection attempts primarily from devices with outdated operating systems or disabled antivirus, with zero lateral movement and a 30% drop in failed login anomalies.

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

"Microsoft Intune has definitely reduced management burdens."

"The Autopilot feature is fantastic. It is a Microsoft product, so it deals best with Microsoft operating systems, but it can integrate with iOS, Mac OS, Linux, and Android."

"It is a very stable and scalable cloud-only solution."

"The management control feature is the most valuable."

"There are no complaints about the stability. It works one hundred percent of the time."

"The most valuable includes managing everything from a single console."

"For the price, the features included with Microsoft are appealing."

"Intune's most valuable features are the device, compliance, and configuration policies."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"XenDesktop 5 is lightyears ahead of XenDesktop 4."

"Citrix is a pricey product, but it is the best product for large corporate companies that want to squeeze to the last buck the life of their existing computers."

"The most beneficial feature is seamless remote access, particularly for applications rather than full endpoints. Security features include full data encryption and integrated SSL VPN through NetScaler for secure access."

"XenDesktop VDI is the best in class desktop virtualization solution with the best support for clients."

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

"The most valuable feature is the seamless application edition with the low-level network bandwidth because we have between 10 and 15 sites in France with a low level of communication needs. We need to deploy our main application, the ERP system, and we needed an efficient solution to provide a solution to the remote sites, with very small links between the data center and the remote site."

"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."

"Getting access to the applications for which we otherwise have to be on-site is probably the biggest advantage"

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

"After moving to SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), we saw a 38% reduction in VPN-related tickets, saving nearly 25 hours per month on troubleshooting remote access problems, onboarding remote users has become 60% faster, and there has been a 52% reduction in risky connection attempts with zero lateral movement and a 30% drop in failed login anomalies."

Cons

"The most significant challenge is reporting and monitoring. The reporting accuracy for deploying applications and all aspects of Intune needs to be improved."

"Packages on different identity provider platforms that are not supported present challenges for package installation."

"There could be more wizard-driven policy development or creation. Some of the policies can get quite complex. If they have a wizard that assists the administrators in creating the policy, that will be a great job."

"Improvements can be made by allowing server integrations since it is an area where the product currently has shortcomings."

"No option to do end-to-en macOS management. Slow implementation of policies."

"I, as such, do not have any specific inputs or needs. However, there is always room for improvement when it comes to scalability."

"They can improve their MAM policies a little bit more and make them more granular. They should include more granular group policies. They are there, but they need to be more granular. Its stability should also be improved. It is not very stable. Sometimes, it shows some inconsistencies across tenants."

"I wanted to check if there is any provision at the Intune level to restrict certain things, such as a website, but unfortunately, that feature is available only in Microsoft Defender. Intune has web filtering capabilities, but they are only useful for protection from malicious websites, whereas we would like to be able to restrict a website. For example, YouTube is a clean website. No one would identify it as a malicious website, but if we want to stop the end-users from going to that website, we have to go for another product, such as Microsoft Defender or another third-party proxy solution. It would be great if this capability is included in Intune."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"Compared with the Outlook mobile app, the Citrix mobile app shows some lag in authentication."

"The product has some bugs, making it an area of concern where improvements are required."

"It is slow. When everybody is logged in, it does have a tendency to slow down. You can tell the connectivity slows down a little bit, but it's still a good product."

"We're running into all kinds of speed issues and reliability issues. There are frequent disconnects, and we're not sure whether that's a problem with the product, with the way the product has been deployed, or with server capacity or bandwidth. Our IT department pays attention to that, but we are feeling the impact of that."

"For us, pricing is the most important feature to improve."

"At the moment, if you want better monitoring, you need to buy a third license."

"Users have some trouble adjusting to the Receiver interface, but other than that, everything has been very easy."

"The price is currently high, and having tiered pricing would benefit companies."

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

"SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has some areas for improvement, particularly in reporting and dashboards."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for Microsoft Intune is reasonable. Our clients are satisfied."

"Even if they charge a premium, they aim to provide equal value."

"I have no comment on pricing of the solution."

"We don't pay for Intune because it is bundled with the premium subscription to Office 365. It includes Intune and Defender. I don't have to buy two extra products to manage my enterprise."

"It is cheap, but as compared to Google, it is costly. Google is cheaper, but quality-wise, Microsoft Intune is better."

"The licensing costs we leave up to the customer and these vary from one to another."

"Our enterprise agreement includes Microsoft Intune at no additional cost."

"The price of Intune is included with the license for Office 365, so we don't have to pay anything extra for it."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"The cost of the Citrix software reflects what I would expect a product of that nature, in that market, to be. Understanding the licensing is quite a bit more complicated, because one of the things about Citrix is that you can buy licensing at different levels... Yet I still like the idea because it means that if all you need is a basic load balancing solution, then you don't need to buy an advanced or premium license."

"The price of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is approximately $300 for the new version called Dash and the license is approximately $900 annually."

"We have more than a million seats under management so we get the best price."

"You can buy an on-cloud or on-prem license. You can switch between on-cloud users and on-prem users. Its licensing is cheap. It is from $8 to $15 per user. It is not that expensive when you compare the cost of buying new hardware with the cost of the license. For example, at $15 per user, it costs around $180 for a year, which is cheaper than buying a $600 PC that at a certain stage, you will again have to change because its hardware is not supported. It may also get damaged or stolen. So, you can compare the cost of the actual hardware that you have to buy and the time spent in supporting the clients with the cost of its license."

"It is quite expensive, but so are the competitors on the market."

"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is an expensive solution."

"We are seeing a return on investment with Citrix Workspace."

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Performing Arts

Insurance Company

12%

Security Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	124
Midsize Enterprise	53
Large Enterprise	167

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	69

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

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What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

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How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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What do you like most about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications.

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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.

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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. ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

The setup cost for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) was minimal as most of the investment was in time spent configur...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) has some areas for improvement, particularly in reporting and dashboards. While it ...

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What is your primary use case for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE)?

My main use case for SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) is for remote and hybrid work access, specifically for Zero Tr...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

March 2026

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

March 2026

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

Remote Access

March 2026

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) report

Download SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE) product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

Banyan Security

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

Citrix

Demo not available

SonicWall

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

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

SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), formerly Banyan Security, easy to adopt Security Service Edge (SSE) solution, enabling your workforce to securely access any resource from any device. It delivers simple, secure, zero trust access to private and internet resources for all your employees and third parties, regardless of their network location. To accomplish that, CSE combines the functionality of multiple traditional network appliances – remote access VPN, web proxy, firewall, etc. – into a unified cloud-delivered solution, improving the security posture and user experience for the entire workforce.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval

Redox, Byton, Veeva, BlueVoyant

Find out what your peers are saying about TeamViewer, Microsoft, Citrix and others in Remote Access. Updated: March 2026.

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