{"id":15097,"date":"2020-01-23T17:26:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T17:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/?p=15097"},"modified":"2025-11-13T16:00:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:00:32","slug":"rds-vs-citrix-xendesktop-5-things-to-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/rds-vs-citrix-xendesktop-5-things-to-consider\/","title":{"rendered":"RDS vs Citrix XenDesktop: 5 things to consider"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With businesses increasingly seeking virtualization, many\nget confused with the array of virtualization choices available. Today we will\ndiscuss, and also compare, the two popular desktop virtualization solutions &#8211;\nthe familiar old boy the <strong>Remote Desktop Services (RDS)<\/strong> and comparatively\nnew entrant, the <strong>Citrix XenDesktop<\/strong>. This will help you to understand\nwhich one would be the best fit for your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, let\u2019s get a glimpse of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RDS, developed by Microsoft (originally known as <strong>Terminal\nServices<\/strong>) is a virtualization service. Here your entire desktop running\nRDS, along with the Windows software can be accessed by any remote\nclient-machine supporting the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). The remote users\nthus get a secure, mobile and remote access to desktops and applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Citrix XenDesktop (XD)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/citrix-xen-desktop\/\">Citrix Virtual\nDesktop<\/a> is a multi-session virtualization software developed by Citrix. It\nmay be considered as the latest successor of desktop virtualization that\ncentralizes desktop management in a data center, and allows a user to run\nvirtual desktops from anywhere with advanced data security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both have many similarities at the core, yet lots of\nfeature-divergences make them different altogether. While choosing one over the\nother, this is where discretion is required, based on the output requirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s approach their features head-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RDS vs\nXenDesktop Comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Performance<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)<\/strong> is the core of any\nvirtualization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Microsoft uses RDP, Citrix uses HDX and the major\ndifference starts from here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With RDS, every user interacts directly with RDP on the\nserver. Could be a single server or a cluster at a time, but this means every\nuser shares a fixed amount of resources (RAM, CPU). Naturally, the scalability\nissue arises-more the users online, slower the user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/top-use-cases-for-citrix-xendesktop\">Citrix\nXenDesktop<\/a> uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/citrix-hdx-improves-cloud-desktop-performance\"><strong>High\nDefinition Experience (HDX)<\/strong><\/a> protocol built on Citrix ICA (Independent\nComputing Architecture) to give high-performance user experience along with\nsuperb scalability, faster deliverance (even of the most demanding\napplications), anywhere accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The HDX protocol works on principles like active\ncompression, redirection and faster rendering by acting as a buffer between the\nservers and the users. The user gets seamless experience irrespective of device\nor bandwidth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Scalability<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As seen already, RDS doesn&#8217;t scale well. Meaning, new users\nwill not be able to log in if the server reaches its capacity. The worst\nscenario, some of the existing users could be logged out without any prior\nwarning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Same is not the case with Citrix.&nbsp; Here, with increased users, all you need is\nto request for more resources without any spooling up, configuring or patching\na new server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Usability<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With RDS you will often need to use some third-party generic\napplications to access it on some devices say tablets or mobiles. You may have\nto close some Windows-features to get RDS work. Not a very exciting experience;\nthis makes RDS a better choice for app virtualization instead of a full-desktop\nvirtualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RDS is based on server operating system (OS) and low data\ntransfer makes it more suitable for application virtualization for remote\nworkers with minimum internet speed (works even with low strength mobile data\nconnections).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As against, the HDX protocol that Citrix uses works on\n3-levels of user experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a) <strong>Device level<\/strong> where users can work on any device\nand pause\/stop any virtual desktop\/app and restart from a different device\nexactly from the left-off point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>b) <strong>Network level<\/strong> ensuring best performance over any\nnetwork, low bandwidth and high-latency WAN environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>c) <strong>Datacenter level<\/strong> using the processing power and\nscalability of servers to give high outputs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Reliability<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>RDS needs an uninterrupted internet connection. If you have\nfluctuating internet, your session will disconnect without giving any warning\nor chance to save your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Session Reliability<\/strong> feature of Citrix XenDesktop\ngives continuous output even under patchy internet situations without any fear\nof losing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Cost<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the situation where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/citrix-xen-desktop\/\">Citrix XenDesktop pricing<\/a>\nmay lose out against RDS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With all its standout features, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/citrix-xen-desktop\/\">Citrix Xendesktop cost<\/a>\nis more. Because, it&#8217;s basically a desktop virtualization solution in a true\nsense, giving you far better user-experience and greater control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, though RDS has lower upfront expenses, it\nhas hidden costs due to its increased downtime and loss of productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now the question, which one would be your best bet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In case if you are not looking for a complete desktop\nvirtualization solution, don\u2019t need heavy applications to run like\ngraphics-intensive designing or CAD, have limited users to access with decent\ninternet connectivity, you can get away with RDS. Otherwise, XenDesktop is an\nunmatched solution for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having said everything, here are a few last sentences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>XenDesktop though comes with more possibilities and\npromises, its correct installation could be painfully difficult and complex to\ntroubleshoot, should anything go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With App4Rent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/citrix-xen-desktop\/\">hosted Citrix VDI<\/a>\nhowever, you can have all your requirements met, minus the pains. Besides, the\nno-contract, pay-as-you-use model, along with no minimum-user limitation and\nflexible scalability will be very cost-effective for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With more\nthan 18 years of virtualization experience having served over 10,000 business\nin 90 countries worldwide, the tech-experts of Apps4Rent would be happy to\nguide you to the right kind of desktop solution as per your requirement.&nbsp; Contact\nthe 24\/7&nbsp;available sales team to discuss your requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With businesses increasingly seeking virtualization, many get confused with the array of virtualization choices available. Today we will discuss, and also compare, the two popular desktop virtualization solutions &#8211; the familiar old boy the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and comparatively new entrant, the Citrix XenDesktop. This will help you to understand which one would be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-citrix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17005,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15097\/revisions\/17005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}