Guacamole Box: Over 75% Cost Savings vs. Citrix

Robert Abbott, D.O., First Published 8/22/2022, Revised 10/10/2022

In addition to Guacamole Box’s superior functionality its pricing is a compelling incentive for network operators contemplating a transition away from Citrix. AvoBasic, which can do everything that the fully upgraded Citrix DaaS can--and more--costs $10 per client license per month with no minimum client license purchase number. So how does Citrix compare? The number crunching is below, but I’ll provide answers upfront: a fully upgraded Citrix DaaS network costs $37 per client license per month with a minimum client license purchase number of 500. As a result AvoBasic licensing is more flexible and costs 27% that of the Citrix DaaS. Licensing savings of over 70% should alone be enough to turn CFOs’ and CTOs’ heads across the IT industry. 

Further savings accrue as a result of Guacamole Box’s unique ability to connect thin client networks. Unlike Citrix-enabled clients that incur $3.25 per month for running Windows, Guacamole Box enabled thin clients do not require native operating systems. Infrastructure cost savings are even better. My analysis below produces combined hardware and electricity costs of $9.58 per Citrix-enabled client machine per month, and $1.43 per AvoBasic-enabled thin client machine per month--an 85% cost reduction with Guacamole Box as opposed to Citrix. Combining the licensing and hardware cost analyses yields projected costs of $49.83 per client per month with Citrix, and $11.43 per client per month with Guacamole Box--a total cost reduction of 77%.

Let’s look at the math--we’ll start with licensing costs. A fully upgraded Citrix DaaS network has to employ multiple solutions. Citrix DaaS Premium Plus is advertised at $23 per client license per month. Security add-ons that convert the DaaS into a zero trust network cost an additional $14 per client license per month (the encryption is a magnitude order weaker than that provided by Guacamole Box, and there are no further upgrades available to include in this analysis). This totals to $37 per client license per month--the number provided above. Further costs are incurred by client-side Windows licensing. Thin clients enabled with Guacamole Box and onsite PXE/iPXE servers do not need to run a native operating system, whereas Citrix enabled clients must run Windows at a cost of $38.99 per year per client license, or $3.25 per month.

Now let’s look at hardware costs. Lighter client workstations translate to decreased hardware costs and electricity consumption. Citrix states that clients’ minimum requirements are 1 GB of RAM and CPU with 1.6 GHZ clock speed; for effective operation they concede that 2 GB of RAM and 2 cores of CPU with a total clock speed of 3 GHz are needed. The Dell Wyse Thin Client 5070 from CDW costs $329.99 and meets the suggested requirements for effective operation. It is a reasonable workstation to include in the analysis; for example, it would be an appropriate choice for a hospital workstation. Conversely, Guacamole Box can effectively operate on an embedded device; an effective network could be established with $35 Raspberry Pi 3 B client machines. The aforementioned Dell Wyse workstation consumes 90W of energy, while the Raspberry Pi 3 sips power at a low 15W.

Let’s use a hardware turnover time of 10 years (120 months), an average kilowatt hour price of 10.54 cents, which was the average price across all US states for the year of 2019 according to the US Energy Information Administration, and assume that workstations will be left on 24 hours a day, which is the case for hospital client machines for example.

A Citrix network employing the Dell Wyse Thin Client will incur client hardware costs as follows: $329.99 /120 months = $2.75 per client machine per month. This is in addition to electricity: 90W x 24h/day = 2.16 kWh per day x 30 days/month x $.1054 per kWh = $6.83 in electricity consumption per month. This yields a total projected hardware and electricity cost of $9.58 dollars per client per month.

Repeating this analysis with a Raspberry Pi 3 B yields projected monthly client hardware costs as follows: $35 /120 months = $.29 per client machine per month. This is in addition to electricity: 15W x 24h/day = .360 kWh per day x 30 days/month x $.1054 per kWh = $1.14 in electricity consumption per month. This yields a total projected hardware and electricity cost of $1.43 dollars per client per month. Comparing these monthly hardware costs yields savings of $8.15 per client machine per month in an AvoBasic-enabled network as opposed to Citrix--an 85% reduction in hardware costs.

This is an elementary analysis, but it’s sufficient--it is unassailable that Guacamole Box offers more for less. Nuance could be introduced; if we further incorporated differences in IT labor costs, server hardware needs and electricity consumption, as well as prorated licensing costs (available on AvoBasic orders exceeding 10,000 client licenses), we project savings approaching--and possibly exceeding--80% for large enterprises making the switch from Citrix to AvoBasic. This, along with Guacamole Box’s ease of network setup, superior encryption, speed and frame rate, web-based design, and add-ons providing distributive networking, video streaming, and integrated productivity software, create a value proposition that will change IT forever.