Citrix DaaS vs Omnissa Horizon (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Omnissa Horizon grades higher than Citrix DaaS: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Omnissa Horizon grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Omnissa Horizon
Virtual desktops and apps on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid
Paid
Which one is for you
Pick Citrix DaaS if
- Fits if you are an IT team delivering desktops and apps to many staff
- Makes sense if you already buy Citrix and want the cloud-hosted option
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want quick access to your own PC, as it is made for IT-run setups
- Watch out: no prices are published and buying goes through partners or sales
- Watch out: the cloud-hosted and local editions differ in features
- Tight if you want to try it first, as no free plan or trial is listed
Pick Omnissa Horizon if
- Fits if you are an IT team that needs desktops and apps delivered to many users
- Works for firms that want a choice of on-premises or cloud hosting
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an app to reach your own PC, as this is an IT-managed platform
- Watch out: Horizon Term licences run on your own infrastructure, so hosting and management cost extra
- Watch out: Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud are separate products with their own features
- Tight if you want a price up front, as none is published
How we grade them
| 1.6GPACitrix DaaSWeak | 1.8GPAOmnissa HorizonWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published: Citrix sends buyers to partners and sales, so value can't be judged against the category and sits at C. Licensing is per user inside bundles. | CNo price is published: the products page sends buyers to Omnissa for Horizon SaaS and Term pricing, so it sits at C. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free is listed: no free plan and no trial. | FNo free plan and no trial is listed anywhere on the vendor pages. |
| Features | CHDX optimisation, security controls and two delivery models are listed, but the licensing page says cloud and on-premises features may not match. | BFull desktops, published apps, App Volumes, REST APIs and a cloud desktop service are listed, which covers the core of virtual desktop delivery. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It is an IT-run deployment that needs planning, hosting links and policies before anyone uses it. | DNo store rating on record. It needs servers or a cloud tenant, images and policies set up by an IT team. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Windows, Mac, Linux and Android clients are listed, with Azure, Google Cloud, AWS and Windows 365 support. No iPhone client is listed. | BWindows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android are listed, with Teams, Zoom, Nutanix, AWS, NVIDIA and Terraform. No web client is listed. |
| Best for | company-run virtual desktops and apps | company virtual desktops and published apps |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Citrix DaaS and Omnissa Horizon. How we grade
Where they differ
In commonWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidWorkflow automationRemote desktop
At a glance
| Citrix DaaS | Omnissa Horizon | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Cloud Software Group, Inc. | Omnissa, LLC |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Citrix DaaS
- No prices are published; Citrix directs buyers to partners and sales.
- The licensing page lists the product inside the Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud and Platform bundles, counted per user.
- The cloud-hosted and local editions differ in features, and the licensing page says on-premises and cloud features may not match.
- It is built for IT-run deployments, not for individuals wanting quick access to their own PC.
Omnissa Horizon
- No prices are published; the products page offers Horizon SaaS and Horizon Term pricing only through the vendor.
- Horizon Term licenses run on your own infrastructure, so hosting and management cost is extra.
- Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud are separate products with their own feature sets.
- It is an IT-managed platform, not an app for reaching your own PC.
Key features
Citrix DaaS
- Cloud, on-premises or hybrid
- Workloads can sit in Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or AWS and be managed alongside on-premises resources.
- HDX optimization
- Citrix describes HDX as tuning the experience for low bandwidth, unified communications tools and graphics-heavy applications.
- Security controls
- Features named on the product page include protection for unmanaged endpoints, granular controls and session recording.
- Two delivery models
- DaaS Cloud is managed by Citrix, while DaaS Local is the former Virtual Apps and Desktops software run on a customer's own infrastructure.
- Workspace app clients
- The Citrix download page lists Workspace app builds for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, ChromeOS and HTML5.
Omnissa Horizon
- Full desktops and published apps
- Horizon 8 serves complete virtual desktops or individual applications, with centralized control over performance, policies and infrastructure.
- Deploy where it suits
- Desktops can run on-premises, in private clouds or in public cloud, and the site also lists air-gapped and isolated environments as a use case.
- App Volumes
- Omnissa App Volumes packages and delivers applications on demand, which the vendor says reduces image sprawl and speeds up updates.
- Automation through REST APIs
- Deployment and management tasks can be scripted with REST APIs and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.
- Horizon Cloud DaaS
- Horizon Cloud is a separate cloud-native desktop-as-a-service offering, and the site announces a version that runs on OpenStack.
Plans
Citrix DaaS
Pricing could not be confirmed. See citrix.com.
Omnissa Horizon
Pricing could not be confirmed. See omnissa.com.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Citrix DaaS or Omnissa Horizon?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Citrix DaaS has no price we could confirm, and Omnissa Horizon has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Citrix DaaS or Omnissa Horizon?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Citrix DaaS nor Omnissa Horizon has a free plan.
Which platforms do Citrix DaaS and Omnissa Horizon run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Citrix DaaS lists a web app and only Omnissa Horizon lists an iOS app. Both list macOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.