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Citrix XenServer vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 XenServer
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Server Virtualization Software (11th)
VMware Workstation
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Virtualization solutions, they serve different purposes. Citrix XenServer is designed for Server Virtualization Software and holds a mindshare of 5.0%, up 4.1% compared to last year.
VMware Workstation, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), holds 17.0% mindshare, up 13.1% since last year.
Server Virtualization Software
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Tonatiuh Torres Zamorano - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers comprehensive solutions for small and medium businesses with a straightforward setup
I find Citrix XenServer valuable for small to medium-sized businesses. It is user-friendly and easy to deploy, making it an attractive option. When included with Citrix virtualization solutions, it provides a comprehensive package with existing licenses. Despite being effective for small to medium infrastructures, it may not be the best hypervisor for larger deployments.
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The compatibility of the solution is its most valuable feature. It's compatible on almost every cloud these days."
"This is a dependable solution for virtualization with a good community for product support."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The continued uptime of our virtual machines is good."
"Scripting can automate procedures."
"I find Citrix XenServer valuable for small to medium-sized businesses."
"Installing Hypervisor is really simple. It's the simplest setup I've ever done before. We used a team to deploy it, and it doesn't take much time, like two or three hours tops."
"Citrix Hypervisor integrates easily and I can manage the infrastructure better. If I need to take a machine down to expand the hard drive, I do not have to physically be here. I do not need to order new equipment or new hard drives. I can shut it down, increase the drive space and bring it back up."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Player is the ability to snapshot with or without memory."
"We are able to simultaneously run multiple operating systems in a single machine and have virtually no performance hit."
"VMware Player helps you to virtualize and install Ubuntu or any other operating system, even on a Windows laptop."
"It is much more mature compared to Nutanix or SimpliVity when it's cross-platform based."
"The product is really easy to use."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"Having ten people working off a single piece of hardware reduces costs."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is an easy-to-use product."
 

Cons

"The interface has to be updated."
"The manageability of the solution needs improvement. It's an extremely bad product to handle."
"The solution is too expensive and people are kind of moving away from Citrix. It's starting to become a problem. It is a primary reason that while we are rebuilding we're going to seek out open-source solutions."
"The solution needs better backup facilities that are available for virtual machines to create servers on."
"It needs to have a more robust backup solution."
"Live migration is something that can be improved."
"The self-service user portal needs to be more granular and be more customizable."
"I am not very sure about how flexible Citrix Hypervisor is with different types of infrastructures. I only know it is flexible with Nutanix, but I am not sure if it is also flexible with others. They can make its integration with other platforms or OEMs easy. They should also make it easy for users to manage their infrastructure. Citrix should make compatibility information related to a hypervisor easily available in a datasheet. Citrix isn't really recognized in this part of the world, and they need to expand their solution and make it more available. There are a lot of customers and companies that are looking for a solution like Citrix, and it should be available in this part of the world. They need to educate people more. Technically, it is good and flexible and has good ability, but it is not as much known as VMware or Microsoft. Their support should also be improved. Currently, if you don't have an updated version, they will not give you the attention."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"The solution can be expensive."
"The dashboard can be improved."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
"The solution freezes sometimes."
"The solution should provide a guide on its installation."
"The product is outdated."
"They could include official support for macOS virtualization within VMware Workstation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We used it only for some desktop licenses, so the pricing is great. We used the free licenses for server virtualization."
"Citrix Hypervisor is expensive."
"Citrix is a good low-cost alternative to VMware, so if budgeting is an issue then I would recommend it."
"The pricing and licensing is so important. Customers do consider the price seriously."
"There is a license required to use this solution. You need a license on every server, but the license is more for support than anything else. The cost is not expensive, it is a fraction of the cost of VMware. When you look at the cost overall and features, Citrix Hypervisor has a very attractive offering."
"While it is free for small networks, the pricing is high if your network grows past a certain size."
"The licensing is straight forward based on usage and features."
"Citrix Hypervisor can be fairly expensive."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
"The product is expensive."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"VMware is expensive. Licensing can be tricky. For example, I recently had a client running VMware vSphere Essentials and wanted to migrate to a more scalable solution. However, they had no choice but to purchase a completely new license and deploy a completely new instance of VMware."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
"The solution's pricing is almost the same as what Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft would charge you."
"VMware Workstation has a high price than competitors in the market."
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Comparison Review

VL
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
53%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Hypervisor?
The core function enables multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical server. This maximizes hardware utilization and efficiency.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Hypervisor?
XenServer is considered cost-effective, as its licensing allows users to utilize the hypervisor as part of Citrix virtual app or desktop licenses. It is cheaper compared to its competitors.
What needs improvement with Citrix Hypervisor?
Citrix needs to improve the hypervisor, specifically in security and performance. Additionally, the response time from customer support has room for improvement, which could enhance the overall use...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Also Known As

Hypervisor
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

U.S. Army Shared Services Center, SoftLayer, Educational Services of America, Independent Bank, and SK Telecom.
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