Desktop-as-a-Service is a stack of four layers
Most DaaS evaluations compare platforms — and miss that the platform is only one of four architectural decisions. This overview makes the layers visible and compares six platforms and five management tools line by line.
Four layers, one architecture
A DaaS solution is never just “AVD or Citrix”. It is a stack of four technical decision layers, embedded in a wider frame: the first question is which user groups exist at all — a shift worker needs something different from a CAD engineer or an external contractor. Strategy, technology and operations follow after that.
Where the user sits — and which device they use to reach the virtual desktop.
How the pixel travels from the data centre to the endpoint — the protocol defines the user experience.
Where Windows runs — Cloud PC, multi-session, on-premises or hybrid. This is where the six platforms sit.
Who may do what, how user profiles are stored, how patching happens — the invisible layer decides security and scale.
The six platforms at a glance
Every platform has a clear identity — and an ideal field of use. The short form here; the feature analysis goes deeper.
Azure Virtual Desktop
Each episode shows in a few minutes what stays with you and what the provider runs: licence, identity, management and infrastructure.
Windows 365 Enterprise
Each episode shows in a few minutes what stays with you and what the provider runs: licence, identity, management and infrastructure.
Windows 365 Flex
Each episode shows in a few minutes what stays with you and what the provider runs: licence, identity, management and infrastructure.
Citrix DaaS
Each episode shows in a few minutes what stays with you and what the provider runs: licence, identity, management and infrastructure.
Omnissa Horizon Cloud
Each episode shows in a few minutes what stays with you and what the provider runs: licence, identity, management and infrastructure.
oneclick
Each episode shows a platform before and after: what you run yourself today, what the provider takes over afterwards and what stays with you.
The full comparison matrix
For a deeper technical comparison, the per-platform analysis with an interactive configurator goes further.
Method
How this overview comes together — sources, update cycle and the limits of what it can show.
A vendor-neutral comparison matrix for Desktop-as-a-Service in the DACH region. Six routes to a virtual workplace are compared — in their cloud variants only. Editions running in your own data centre are out of scope.
No recommendations driven by sales interest. Strengths and weaknesses are shown with equal weight.
Based on official vendor documentation, release notes and verifiable technical whitepapers.
Last reviewed 20 October 2026. The overview is revised whenever a relevant product change occurs — pointers to new developments are welcome.
More than ten years of enterprise workplace experience have gone into this, without any client-specific detail.
This page looks at the technical architecture in four layers. Strategy and operating model are deliberately handled separately: for identifying user groups see Persona clustering, for the strategic level TOGAF in practice, and for market developments the Vision Modern Workplace.
Seven questions this overview answers
- What can the platform do on its own? What all six provide, and where they differ.
- Is the platform enough on its own? Whether the built-in tools suffice, whether a management layer on top makes a difference, and whether a bundled console replaces it.
- What does the surrounding ecosystem contribute? What has to be governed around the desktop — and where the ecosystem makes the desktop unnecessary.
- Who needs what? Which user group needs which kind of workplace, including mixed operation.
- Does a claimed unique feature hold up? Where a vendor presents a capability as unique: do the others reach the same result by another route?
- Where does a capability come from? From the vendor itself, from the cloud platform underneath, or only with an additional product.
- Where does a vendor go beyond the platform? What it adds on top of what the underlying cloud already provides.
The first four questions shape the tabs. The last three sit in every single cell.
Which DaaS combination fits your organisation?
I regularly share assessments on workplace architecture, DaaS strategy and Microsoft licensing on LinkedIn — with an individual TCO perspective.