Feature Matrix: Find the right Citrix subscription for your business

Citrix provides a managed service for running a virtualized infrastructure within a privately managed cloud environment.

This service allows for the virtualization of Windows and Linux applications for centralized deployment and access.

Offers the capability to host multiple user sessions on a single Windows Server or Linux desktop, optimizing resource use.

Enables individual user access to a dedicated session on Windows Server or Linux desktops for a personalized experience.

Provides a private and isolated desktop experience for users on Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems.

Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent for macOS (Citrix VDA for macOS) enables remote HDX access to macOS from any device where the Citrix Workspace app is installed.

*In tech preview

Provide secure remote access to physical PCs and laptops leveraging the full HDX experience without SSL VPNs or the need to migrate desktops to the datacenter. Wake on LAN support allows users to turn off their PCs when not in use to save energy costs and power on automatically when users click the icon to launch a session.

Supports the integration of both native and hybrid Entra ID systems for machine access and identity management.

Citrix manages virtual infrastructure services hosted on public cloud platforms, facilitating scalability and accessibility.

Delivers Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) with the ability to run multiple user sessions on Windows 10 and 11 through Azure.

VDA access without requiring an Active Directory, which leverages managed Active Directory to authenticate the user.

Enhances the management and scalability of Citrix virtual apps and desktops with tailored resource allocation.

Improves the efficiency of CPU and memory resources in virtual environments, reducing overhead and boosting performance.

Reduces network bandwidth requirements through compression and offloading strategies for Citrix HDX traffic.

Streams operating system images to virtual desktops from a centralized location for Citrix-based workloads.

Enhances input/output efficiency for virtual machines across multiple hypervisors like VMware, XenServer, Nutanix, and Hyper-V.

Offers intelligent scaling of resources, including power management and load balancing, to optimize virtual desktop delivery.

Reclaims unused virtual desktop infrastructure resources to improve overall system efficiency.

Provides analytics and insights for resource usage and performance trends to inform scaling decisions.

Enables dynamic expansion of resources into the cloud during peak demand periods.

Supports advanced features like hibernation, I/O optimization, and on-demand provisioning for cloud-based virtual machines.

Optimizes Azure-hosted virtual machines by altering disk types upon shutdown and deallocating resources when VMs are stopped.

Citrix Workspace Environment Management (WEM) optimizes resource usage and enhances user experience on physical Windows endpoints. The Citrix Platform License allows Citrix WEM to be used on an unlimited number of physical endpoints, significantly improving system performance and user experience in environments with large networks of physical endpoints.

XenServer 8 is the most optimized hypervisor for running Citrix workloads with Citrix Provisioning Services. These optimizations deliver faster virtual desktop boot times and faster Machine Catalog Updates and help you get the most scalability out of your existing infrastructure. Features only available with XenServer to optimize Citrix Provisioning Services include PVS Accelerator, Intellicache, and MCS Read Cache. For more information on XenServer, please reference the following link: https://www.xenserver.com/editions.

Citrix's private cloud integrations provide comprehensive support across various environments, including traditional physical machines and major virtualization platforms. It seamlessly integrates with SCVMM/Hyper-V, enabling robust management and deployment on Microsoft's virtualization platform. Citrix also supports VMware/ESX, offering compatibility with one of the leading virtualization solutions. For Nutanix environments, Citrix integrates with Nutanix/AHV, enhancing capabilities in hyper-converged infrastructure. 

Citrix boasts an extensive range of public cloud integrations, enabling hybrid multi-cloud workload hosting with seamless connections to major providers. Its ecosystem includes integrations with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud, as well as comprehensive support for Amazon Web Services (AWS). Further enhancing its capabilities is the provision for Sovereign Cloud Support, which encompasses Google Cloud Platform (GCP), AWS, and Azure, ensuring compliance with country-specific data residency and sovereignty requirements.

Citrix extends its multi-cloud strategy through partnerships with VMware, offering solutions like VMware Cloud on AWS and Azure VMware Solution, along with the Google Cloud VMware Engine. This ensures that clients can leverage their existing VMware investments while benefiting from the scalability and advanced services of public clouds.

For organizations invested in hyper-converged infrastructure, Citrix integrates with Nutanix Xi Cloud, and offers Nutanix Clusters on AWS and Nutanix Cloud Cluster on Azure, providing a consistent and simplified management plane across clouds.

Citrix significantly enhances the Windows 365 Cloud PC experience by providing secure, high-performance virtual desktop experiences. It allows for seamless integration and management within Citrix environments, ensuring a unified, consistent user experience across the platform.

The Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud and Citrix Platform Licenses are entitled to enhance an unlimited number of Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud also includes unlimited instances of Secure Private Access for a Windows 365 host accessing data center applications and uberAgent when running on a Windows 365 host or client.

Citrix DaaS integration with the highly scalable AWS Cloud provides a unified and consistent management experience across the platform, while helping reduce costs, improve security, and optimize user productivity. The Citrix Platform License enables an unlimited number of Amazon WorkSpaces Core virtual desktops to be provisioned, secured, and enhanced, offering scalability and flexibility for businesses of all sizes and use cases.

Citrix supports Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, blending Citrix virtualization with Azure's hyper-converged infrastructure for a scalable, secure, and hybrid environment that optimizes virtual workspace delivery and management.

Citrix's User Experience and Workspace Optimizations boost virtual desktop and app performance across networks with HDX technology for high-definition experiences. It adapts to network conditions for stable connectivity, directly connects to virtual desktops for speed, ensures session persistence, and enables efficient resource use with session sharing. This technology enhances visual performance through adaptive displays and codecs like H.264, H.265, and AV1, supports 3D applications with graphics acceleration, and secures data transmission with Secure HDX and IPV6 compatibility.

Citrix's Access and Application Management technologies provide a unified gateway for accessing applications across devices, centralize endpoint configuration, and ensure software is up-to-date through an App Store and automatic updates. It simplifies application oversight with Client App Management, offers continuity with Follow Me Sessions, integrates local applications with virtual environments, and delivers a tailored and secure access point through an IT-managed StoreFront.

Citrix's Device and Peripheral Support allows for a seamless integration of various devices and accessories into the virtual workspace. It enables multi-touch functionality, local printing, and broad USB device compatibility. The suite supports audio input devices, specialized and Bloomberg keyboards, and FIDO2 security keys. It also facilitates the mapping of client drives for file transfers, integrates scanning services via TWAIN, and redirects pen and ink inputs for signature pads. Additionally, it provides bi-directional content redirection between local and virtual environments.

Citrix's Content and Data Redirection capabilities ensure a streamlined and location-aware browsing experience by redirecting URLs and browser content to optimize network efficiency and security. It provides location-based services accessible via API and geo-location redirection to enhance application relevance and compliance. Additionally, it offers virtual display layout customization for personalized workspace configurations.

Citrix elevates remote collaboration and communication by supporting audio stability on inconsistent networks, webcam integration, and optimizing Microsoft Teams and Windows multimedia experiences. It allows for system audio sharing on Teams, facilitates high-quality video streaming, and through the Citrix Ready program, ensures compatibility and optimization with a wide range of vendor technologies for robust unified communications.

Citrix's Performance and Resource Management capabilities focus on maximizing user performance and system efficiency. It includes the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) for optimizing user density and personalized settings, a Local Host Cache for uninterrupted service during connection losses, and granular power control allowing users to manage their system's energy use effectively.

Citrix Profile Management ensures a seamless and personalized user experience across Citrix and physical endpoints by reducing logon and logoff times, optimizing profiles for faster application launches, and maintaining consistency across different sessions and devices. CPM streames profile components on-demand, provides centralized management with backup and recovery options, enhances productivity, reduces storage costs, and ensures secure, efficient, and centralized management.

Citrix's Deployment and Virtualization Services streamline the rollout and management of virtual applications and desktops. This includes a VDA upgrade service for maintaining the latest virtual agent software, Azure Quick Deploy for rapid provisioning of resources in the cloud, pre-configured VDA images for ease of deployment, and MSIX App Attach for efficient app delivery without altering the underlying operating system. These tools work together to simplify virtualization tasks and enhance deployment efficiency.

Citrix's Configuration and Optimization Services provide centralized application settings management and cloud-based enhancements to workspace environments. The global app configuration service enables uniform app settings across the enterprise, while Workspace Environment Management (WEM) optimizations in the cloud improve resource allocation and user experience in virtual workspaces. Together, they ensure streamlined management and optimized performance.

Citrix's Integration and Management Services facilitate seamless integration with IT service management platforms and enhance endpoint management. The ITSM Adapter for ServiceNow allows for efficient management of IT services within Citrix environments, and the profile management for physical endpoints ensures user settings are consistently applied across all devices, enhancing the user experience and administrative control.

Provides robust management tools for device identities across platforms, including Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, and Intune. It's equipped to handle identity issues with functions to reset and repair, ensuring devices maintain secure and accurate identity profiles for authentication and access control within the Citrix environment.

Citrix offers advanced image management capabilities, allowing IT administrators to manage versions, perform canary testing, and execute seamless updates and rollbacks. This solution ensures high compatibility and performance across all supported hypervisors, whether on-premises or in the cloud, by automatically optimizing images. Additionally, it provides a catalog for image sharing, which enhances deployment efficiency and reduces redundancy.

This comprehensive management solution is designed to support a diverse array of VDI devices including physical desktops, thin clients, and VMs. Power management controls offer administrators the ability to manage VM states with precision. It also includes persistent and non-persistent VM management, offering flexibility in resource allocation, and VM cloning options for rapid deployment. Storage and host migration tools facilitate the transfer of virtual machines between storage domains or physical hosts, while backup and recovery features ensure data integrity and availability.

Citrix's Provisioning Services (PVS) machine management solutions enhance the deployment process with in-place vDisk upgrades, reducing downtime. It utilizes intelligent caching mechanisms, with options to store cache in both device RAM and on hard disks, to optimize performance. The system can automatically add new VMs to the pool, stream data asynchronously to balance loads, and even support IPv6 streaming. For environments where connectivity may be intermittent, it provides offline database support and compatibility with a range of SQL databases, ensuring that provisioning processes are efficient and reliable.

This set of solutions focuses on personalizing the virtual desktop experience by providing user layers for a tailored application and data environment. Elastic layers allow for dynamic assignment of applications to users on demand, offering flexibility and a personalized user experience. The management tools also include the ability to handle application layer versions and assignments, support roaming user profiles, and script pre-launch operations to prepare the environment before user logon. These features are crucial for maintaining a consistent user experience across various operating systems.

Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) streams a shared disk image to multiple systems, reducing operational and storage costs. Citrix Platform License allows unlimited provisioning of both VDI and non-VDI workloads, simplifying management and allowing rapid delivery of all server roles. 

Security management within Citrix is given high priority with support for instance role-based access in AWS, comprehensive encryption support in Azure, and customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) in GCP. These features ensure that virtual machines and data are protected across cloud platforms, adhering to stringent security protocols and compliance requirements.

Citrix's support tools aim to maximize operational efficiency with a framework for managing and interpreting errors and warnings, as well as tracking and cleaning up resources such as disk space, network interfaces, and virtual machines. REST API and PowerShell support enable automation and advanced diagnostics, allowing for streamlined management and proactive issue resolution within the Citrix infrastructure.

Citrix Provisioning capabilities within the Azure platform include leveraging Azure Spot Instances for cost-effective VM provisioning with potential preemption, utilizing Azure Ephemeral OS Disks for temporary, low-latency storage during sessions, and managing VM images and resources effectively with Azure Compute Gallery. Citrix can also isolate VMs in Azure Dedicated Host Groups for enhanced control and security, select optimal storage solutions with Azure Storage Type Selection, organize resources efficiently with Azure Admin Supplied Resource Groups, and ensure data persistence for optimized, non-persistent VMs through Azure Persist OS Disk & VM for MCSIO.

Citrix Provisioning on AWS offers Dedicated Instances for compliance-focused, single-tenant virtual machine deployment, and Dedicated Hosts that provide exclusive server use for leveraging existing software licenses on EC2 instances.

Citrix Provisioning for GCP includes Sole Tenant capabilities, offering dedicated physical servers to ensure exclusive hosting for VM instances within specific projects, providing isolation and dedicated resources.

Citrix's Monitoring and Diagnostics capabilities provide extensive diagnostics into user connectivity and session performance, including end-to-end network traffic analysis, performance indicator trends, management of disconnected sessions, and thorough HDX and Gateway performance evaluations within Citrix Director.

Citrix's Session Management and Recording features include automatic session recording triggered by predefined events and detailed monitoring of the user's final network segment for enhanced troubleshooting.

Citrix's User Experience and Troubleshooting tools provide a granular breakdown of the logon process, utilize synthetic transactions for application and desktop availability checks, and automatically alert administrators to performance issues based on predefined thresholds.

Generates detailed reports for resource usage that can be used for internal billing or chargeback purposes.

Citrix's System Health and APIs include comprehensive monitoring of the Citrix infrastructure stack and OData APIs in Director/Monitor, enabling seamless integration with other systems and custom reporting for enhanced system health management.

An advanced monitoring service designed for Citrix DaaS environments that offers premium features for comprehensive analytics and performance insights.

This feature provides a detailed analysis and reporting tool that helps in identifying cost-saving opportunities for cloud infrastructure providers by optimizing resource usage and reducing waste.

Allows for an integrated search capability across various organizational units (OrgIDs) in a hub and spoke network configuration, as well as the ability to include multiple on-premises sites, facilitating a unified view of resources and performance metrics.

uberAgent enhances IT management and security, providing clear insights into user experience, system performance, and security. It collects important metrics such as startup times and app performance, integrating them with external data for full intelligence. Simplifying troubleshooting, enhancing security through advanced monitoring, and offering essential metrics, uberAgent supports service agreements, software license management, and capacity planning. Citrix platform license allows customers to leverage uberAgent functionality across unlimited endpoints for both Citrix and non-Citrix endpoints.

* Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud Customers are entitled to uberAgent for VDI, which covers Citrix infrastructure and Citrix connected endpoints.

Single Sign-On (SSO) & Federated Identity: Citrix security and access control features include Microsoft Entra ID SSO, which is an Azure Active Directory SSO solution, and Seamless SSO using federated identity systems like Federated Authentication Service (FAS). These technologies facilitate a user-friendly experience by allowing one set of login credentials to access multiple applications.

* Requires seperate purchase of NS entitlements

Citrix supports various user verification methods such as Challenge Response SMS using Radius protocol, User Certificate Authentication via Gateway for browser-based access, Smart Cards like CAC and PIV, Proximity or Contactless Cards, Credential Insertion methods like Fast Connect and Storebrowse, Pass-through Authentication, Biometric Authentication using Touch ID and Face ID, and Multi-factor Authentication solutions by providers like AAD, Ping, OKTA, Google, as well as using SAML 2.0 standard. These methods range from knowledge-based to possession-based and inherence-based factors for identity confirmation.

* Requires seperate purchase of NS entitlements

Citrix technologies leverage secure data transmission protocols, including TLS 1.3 and DTLS 1.2 protocols which are the latest standards for securing network communications, providing strong encryption and integrity checks.

* Requires seperate purchase of NS entitlements

Citrix technologies ensure that security measures adhere to important regulations and standards, including FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards), Credential Guard for protecting login credentials, and Common Criteria certification which is an international standard for computer security certification.

* Requires seperate purchase of NS entitlements

Citrix technologies leverage security-enhancing features such as Session Watermarking to prevent data leaks, On-premises Session Recording for auditing and monitoring, Smart Card Integration for authentication, HDX Proxy for secure remote access, SmartAccess for granular access control policies, and Endpoint Analysis for security checks at the Gateway level. This group is essential for proactive security management and compliance in Citrix environments.

* Requires seperate purchase of NS entitlements

Advanced authentication capabilities for Citrix Workspace login including multi-factor authentication, endpoint analysis, conditional/policy-driven authentication, logon page customization, and contextual access to virtual apps and desktops.

This is a security feature that captures and stores actions taken by users during their session in the cloud. It's used for audit trails, compliance, and troubleshooting purposes, allowing organizations to review user activity on demand.

A security feature built into the Citrix environment that requires administrators to provide multiple forms of verification before gaining access. This could include a combination of passwords, security tokens, biometric verification, or other forms of identification to enhance security.

The Citrix Device Posture capabilities provide contextual access to virtual apps and desktop controls based on various checks, such as location, device certificate, device health, and more. It also integrates with third-party solutions like Crowdstrike and Intune.

Designed to safeguard virtualized applications from various types of malware and data exfiltration techniques. It generally includes measures such as anti-keylogging and screen capture protection to enhance the security of applications running in a virtualized environment.

HDX Proxy Cloud Service facilitates secure remote access to virtual desktops and applications. It can be configured with limits on the number of concurrent sessions per user, as well as the ability to pool these limits across a group of users, optimizing resource utilization and maintaining control over the maximum number of sessions that can be active at any given time.

*Initially configured for 5GB, contact your Citrix sales representative for additional capacity.

Allows administrators to record and replay user activities in Citrix VDI environments, capturing both screen and sound. This tool aids in security, compliance, and troubleshooting by providing detailed audits and insights into user interactions, making it essential for environments with stringent security and compliance requirements. Recorded sessions are securely stored for authorized review and analysis.

App Protection for endpoints is a security feature that protects sensitive applications from keylogging and screen capturing malware. Ideal for remote workforces, it secures confidential data on endpoints against external threats, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality in unsecured networks or environments.

Citrix's Device Posture capabilities provide contextual access to virtual apps and desktops based on different checks (for example, device certificate, location, device health, and more). This feature integrates Endpoint Analysis (EPA) with solutions like Crowdstrike and Intune.

Citrix's Enterprise Browser is a locally installed browser, fully managed for both managed and BYO (Bring Your Own) devices, ensuring a secure and controlled browsing experience for accessing web and SaaS applications. It features the Citrix Enterprise Browser for last-mile control, which encrypts browser cache to safeguard sensitive data, applies enhanced security controls on websites, and more.

The Remote Browser Isolation service prevents the movement of sensitive and malicious content, ensuring that browser-based threats do not reach the user's device by creating an air gap between the browser and device. It enables enhanced security controls on websites and discards sessions once the user is finished, providing additional protection against web threats or attackers.

Citrix technologies enable direct access to internal web and TCP/UDP applications using HTTP/s protocols, eliminating the need for VPN connectivity and simplifying the access process.

Comprehensive tools for efficient administration and seamless integration that includes REST API support for easy configuration and policy management, a unified StoreFront Portal for accessing diverse applications, and extensive auditing and logging for administrative oversight across SaaS, Web, and TCP/UDP apps. These technologies also support IT-managed on-prem deployment using Citrix CVAD components and provides a Citrix-managed cloud service (SaaS) for organizations seeking cloud-based solutions.

Citrix's Identity and Device Posture capabilities provide enhanced security for web, SaaS, and TCP/UDP apps through contextual authentication and access controls based on user roles, location, and device health. This feature integrates Endpoint Analysis (EPA) with solutions like Crowdstrike and Intune, and supports Single Sign-On (SSO) using various protocols including SAML2.0, Basic/NTLM, Forms, and Kerberos, streamlining user access while maintaining robust security.

Citrix's Mobile Endpoint Management technologies offer comprehensive management for iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS devices, including control over device settings and operations through Mobile Device Management (MDM). It also allows for centralized configuration of settings across various device types and operating systems, ensuring consistency and streamlined management in a diverse device environment.

Citrix provides robust management solutions for mobile applications across platforms like Android Enterprise and Intune, using Mobile Application Management (MAM). It enhances the security of mobile email and browser applications with MAM controls and offers MAM-based management for BYOD or non-corporate devices, allowing for effective application oversight without the necessity of full Mobile Device Management.

Includes a Micro-VPN for secure access to internal resources on iOS, Android, and Microsoft Edge mobile, Mobile Single Sign-On (SSO) for easy access to all managed apps, and Microsoft EMS/Intune integration for streamlined Office 365 management on mobile devices. These tools collectively enhance secure connectivity and simplify application management in a mobile environment.

NetScaler functions as a gateway to provide a single, externally available log-in portal to allow different levels of user access to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (on-premises) and Citrix DaaS (cloud). You can use the same log-in portal to identify and provide network-level access to corporate devices using device certificates. And you can allow third parties external to your organization to access sanctioned applications. NetScaler Gateway combines multi-factor authentication, policy control, and single sign-on with SAML 2.0 for streamlined user access. It also provides clientless SSL VPN access, supports Microsoft Intune integration, and offers a customizable web portal. Additionally, NetScaler Gateway includes specialized proxies for ICA and RDP traffic to ensure secure and stateless connections, along with traffic monitoring.

NetScaler includes advanced Layer 4-7 traffic management for optimal network performance and reliability. NetScaler Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) distributes traffic across geographic locations, resulting in improved application responsiveness and reduced latency. Clustering capabilities allow for scalability and high availability. NetScaler connection multiplexing reuses connections to avoid the overhead on a server when establishing new connections for each request, ensuring that server connections are efficiently reused. This results in dramatically reduced SSL/TLS load on backend servers.

NetScaler optimizes application performance of applications by leveraging TCP optimization, which fine-tunes the TCP stack to enhance data flow efficiency over the network. This optimization reduces latency, minimizes packet loss, and improves the speed of content delivery, ensuring a faster and more reliable application end-user experience. By optimizing the TCP protocol, which is fundamental for most internet communication, NetScaler ensures that applications are not only accelerated but also consistently available and responsive to user requests. Additionally, NetScaler load balances TCP- and UDP-based ingress traffic for Kubernetes deployments.

Only NetScaler uses a one-pass architecture to process security and other application delivery controller (ADC) functions in a single pass to reduce latency and provide optimal CPU utilization for super-fast application performance. NetScaler comes with advanced security features including an industry-leading web application firewall (WAF), bot mitigation, API protection and discovery, SSL encryption/decryption, and more. NetScaler WAF protects applications and APIs from both known and unknown attacks. This is complemented by an IP Reputation Service that proactively blocks threats. NetScaler Bot Mitigation detects, blocks, and mitigates bad bot traffic while offering control over good bot access to applications and APIs by using geolocation, IP address, bot signatures and device fingerprinting. Additionally, NetScaler seamlessly integrates with Citrix Endpoint Management (MDM) for mobile device security.

NetScaler SmartControl allows you to define granular policies to configure and enforce user environment attributes for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops when using NetScaler Gateway. SmartControl enables you to manage policies from a single location rather than at each application delivery controller (ADC) instance for every server. NetScaler SmartAccess allows you to provide differentiated access to your users based on their needs. SmartAccess knows the user's identify, location, device, and authentication mechanism and uses this information to give you control over the user's actions, such as disabling access and preventing downloading, printing, and screen capturing.

NetScaler Console offers rich insights and analytics that help you get visibility into and troubleshoot application health, performance, and security across NetScaler deployments. Web Insight enables visibility into enterprise web applications. HDX Insight provides end-to end visibility for ICA traffic passing through NetScaler. Gateway Insight provides visibility into the failures encountered by users at the time of logging on to NetScaler Gateway. Security Insight provides a single-pane solution to help you assess your application security status. "Application insights and Observability" refers to application level analytics in NetScaler Console.

The NetScaler Console service, previously NetScaler ADM service, is a cloud-based SaaS solution for managing, monitoring, troubleshooting, and gaining visibility into global NetScaler application delivery infrastructure from a centralized console. It offers setup, deployment, management, and analytics for application health, performance, and security across NetScaler deployments. "NetScaler Console service storage" refers to the allocated storage provided with each license package.

*Unlimited - This package provides a total capacity of 50GB. For additional capacity, please reach out to your Citrix sales representative.

* Unlimited instances - This package includes 999 NetScaler software instances each of NetScaler VPX/CPX/BLX, NetScaler MPX, NetScaler SDX, NetScaler VPX FIPS. For additional instances, please reach out to your Citrix sales representative.

** Unlimited total capacity - This package provides a total capacity of 10,000 Gbps. For additional capacity, please reach out to your Citrix sales representative.

A flexible licensing model that gives businesses unlimited access across their entire organization. With this model, there's no need to assign licenses to specific users, allowing for easy resource allocation and scaling. This approach simplifies operations and enhances the value for businesses aiming for growth and efficiency.