External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Apache Guacamole serves as our alternative to Citrix CVAD, and we use it as an open source software to develop our own in-house solution that we provide to customers who cannot afford Citrix CVAD.
We have used Apache Guacamole to publish apps and desktops for our customers. Because it is open source, we change the theme of the software to make it appear as our own in-house solution. We add our company logo, colors, and theme so it looks like a full-fledged professional solution.
Apache Guacamole has impacted my organization positively by providing us with a cheap alternative that is very customizable, which we can offer to customers that previously we had to decline because they could not afford Citrix. Now we have something else to propose when they do not have a high enough budget to buy Citrix. We maintain customers even with low budgets, and we primarily deploy it on AWS.
During the year, we have approximately 10 Apache Guacamole deals or projects. These represent 10 customers that we could have lost because they cannot afford Citrix, yet they still work with us and purchase the cheaper alternative which is Apache Guacamole.
The best features Apache Guacamole offers are the fact that it is open source and provides the main features of remote access for applications. You can publish applications and desktop sessions through it. Although other advanced features like those in Citrix are not available, the main features that are good enough for small to medium-sized customers are present, allowing us to price it at a much cheaper price point than Citrix because there is no licensing involved. The profit margin is much larger when we use our own in-house built solution.
The features of Apache Guacamole help our customers on a daily basis. We have customers that are small companies where their employees want to work remotely and cannot afford Citrix. We deploy Apache Guacamole for them in a secure way so they can publish it through the internet, allowing their users to access their applications remotely without having to be onsite.
Apache Guacamole is FIPS enabled, so it is built to be secure even though it is open source. The customization aspect is very open since it is open source, and you have many options.
Apache Guacamole can be improved by making it more secure or advertising its security features and capabilities more prominently. The highest concern from every customer we have proposed Apache Guacamole to is how we can guarantee that, because it is open source, it is as secure as other enterprise solutions such as Citrix. It needs to be advertised and discussed more regarding how secure it is, how frequent the updates and patches are, and other security-related aspects.
I have been using Apache Guacamole for five years.
Apache Guacamole is very stable.
Apache Guacamole's scalability is very good. You can deploy multiple Apache Guacamole gateways and have one as a manager for your multiple nodes. You can have a multi-node deployment for high availability and to cover multiple sites.
There is no customer support available as far as I know; we use it as an open source solution.
Previously, I used Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.
I have seen a return on investment because we have 10 customers that were refusing to buy Citrix who purchased Apache Guacamole from us. In terms of profit, it is pure profit because the solution itself costs zero. We only deduct from the price that the customer is paying what we are paying for the hosting on AWS.
There is no licensing or setup cost involved. It is a VM on AWS that we pay for, and Apache Guacamole is a free open source solution that costs zero. After we developed it as our own in-house solution, we put our own licensing terms, subscription terms, and pricing depending on the customer's budget, and we are free to do that as we see fit.
Apache Guacamole is a great option and a great solution to use if you do not have the budget to pay for an expensive enterprise solution and you want to experience the features of having remote desktop and remote apps. You can use Apache Guacamole as an introduction to that, and then if you decide that you want more features, you can switch to an enterprise solution.
Apache Guacamole is deployed in my organization on a public cloud. The cloud provider I use is Amazon Web Services (AWS). I did not purchase Apache Guacamole through the AWS Marketplace because it is open source; I deploy it on a Linux machine.
I would rate Apache Guacamole a nine on a scale of one to ten. I gave it a nine because some very advanced features such as session recording and clipboard functionality are still not available on Apache Guacamole, though they are available on Citrix. This is an open source solution, so compared to an enterprise solution, it will understandably lack some advanced features that are very nice for large companies and enterprises that want that type of luxury and advanced functionality. However, it is a very solid and reliable solution for small to mid-sized customers, which is the intended target of this solution anyway.
My main use case for Apache Guacamole is remote server access and for provisioning systems to employees through a secure system.
Primarily, these are the two use cases I focus on, but ever since I started using Apache Guacamole, I have become extremely partial towards it compared to any other remote access software or remote desktop protocols. Apache Guacamole thus far has been both open source, simple to use, easy to set up, quick, and it makes it easy for me to provision systems as well. So thus far, it is honestly the best option out there.
The best feature Apache Guacamole offers is user provisioning, which is quick, easy to set up, and I can have a new employee up and running with their system in 15 minutes or less. I absolutely enjoy that. Setting it up for the first time was honestly a breeze, so the hosting as well as provisioning are what really stand out.
Whatever you would be paying thousands of dollars or millions of dollars to another company for, you can get all of that with Apache Guacamole itself. Due to its open source nature, I was even able to make company-specific adjustments to it without needing to rely on third parties.
I have seen a return on investment because we no longer had to worry about buying new systems or laptops for each person since we needed to specifically provision it. Instead, we set up a remote system, got Apache Guacamole, and provided access using user credentials specific to each employee. Onboarding a new employee for infrastructure became a 20-minute task rather than a one-week round trip.
Apache Guacamole can be improved in two areas: hosting, which requires a deeper understanding of the system to really set things up, and a definitive guide for setting it up neatly and cleanly, which should be updated regularly. Also, a manual for the rest of the features would help new users walk through it, ensuring better adoption. Additionally, while it is a really useful software, many dismiss it just because it is an Apache product and the UI looks outdated.
I would give Apache Guacamole an eight out of ten because there have been moments where I faced some networking issues with it, where connections were a problem, and sometimes the login and logout processes were issues as well. I chose an eight because there are odd moments where Apache Guacamole tends to fail. Sometimes the login or logout systems would not work as well, or even after resetting the password, it would not have accepted it, making me redo the reset. Also, it can get overloaded without any warning, requiring me to debug it myself. It is good, just missing a few quality of life features that would have made it a ten.
I have been using Apache Guacamole for two and a half years.
Apache Guacamole is stable.
Regarding Apache Guacamole's scalability, creating a new system and setting it up for an employee takes just 20 minutes, so it is very scalable.
Apache Guacamole's customer support is pretty active, but if you want priority support, you would need a third party. In my case, it was not a concern because I was adept at reading GitHub issues, manuals, Stack Overflow, and documentation to fix issues myself. Overall, if you want to manage it yourself, it has a slight learning curve but is nearly hassle-free.
Positive
Before using Apache Guacamole, we considered renting laptops for each employee, which would take a few hours to a few days. Once we set up a bare-metal server and realized we had enough RAM and everything, we could share the same system. It turned out that of all the options in the market, Apache Guacamole was the best choice: open source, free, and I did not have to pay anyone for the service again.
Setting it up for the first time was honestly a breeze, so the hosting as well as provisioning are what really stand out.
I self-hosted Apache Guacamole. I downloaded it, set it up, and provisioned it for my organization, thus avoiding dealing with any third parties.
I have seen a return on investment because we no longer had to worry about buying new systems or laptops for each person since we needed to specifically provision it. Instead, we set up a remote system, got Apache Guacamole, and provided access using user credentials specific to each employee. Onboarding a new employee for infrastructure became a 20-minute task rather than a one-week round trip.
Before choosing Apache Guacamole, I evaluated a few options such as RustDesk, Zoho Assist, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, Chrome's Remote Desktop, and Microsoft's standard RDP manager. Out of all of them, Apache Guacamole turned out to be perfect.
If anyone is purchasing Apache Guacamole, they really need to rethink what they are doing in the first place.
My advice for others looking into using Apache Guacamole is to self-host it. Please do not buy it from anybody; get a bare-metal server, put it on, and share the system with your employees.
More organizations should be using Apache Guacamole. I would rate Apache Guacamole an eight out of ten overall.
I am provisioning virtual machines for educational institutions such as schools and colleges. The access to these virtual machines is provided via Apache Guacamole.
Apache Guacamole is really easy to use. If I have ten virtual machines provisioned under my name, I can access them with a single login for each virtual machine with their respective credentials. Security concerns are addressed with separate logins for each virtual machine, ensuring complete security.
There should be good documentation regarding GUI customization. Even though I can try customizing the GUI, the documentation is not comprehensive.
I have been using Apache Guacamole for approximately two years.
It is stable enough. The only requirement is to have good internet connectivity for stable access.
Its scalability depends on the cloud. If the cloud is scalable, the virtual machines are scalable as well. In case of failures, the system can autoscale to other virtual machines.
Apache has community support. Since I did not face significant issues, I haven't needed to reach out to them.
Positive
The setup was easy and would take just about half an hour to complete the deployment.
It is completely free of charge as it is an open-source solution.
For those considering using Apache Guacamole, I wholeheartedly support its users since it's a free open-source software that is easy to download and use with no significant issues.
Overall, I rate Apache Guacamole a nine out of ten.
I'm using Apache Guacamole as a gateway.
The solution's USB redirection could be improved. If the machine has a USB port, I'm not able to redirect it.
The solution should include FX protocol instead of RDP.
I have been using Apache Guacamole for five to six years.
Apache Guacamole is a pretty stable solution.
Around 25 to 30 users are using Apache Guacamole in our organization.
We previously used Citrix and decided to switch to Apache Guacamole because it's a free, open-source solution.
We are using the latest version of Apache Guacamole. Only one administrator is required to manage the solution.
Overall, I rate Apache Guacamole eight and a half out of ten.
I recently encountered an issue with the Guacamole Bastion Host.
I contacted the netCubed support team and provided them with the relevant details and after a few emails my issue was resolved all in under 2 hours.
Thank you netCubed Support.
I have previously set up Guacamole for a project at work where we provide access to a number of Windows desktops. The initial POC involved dynamically generating a database script to automatically create connections and users. I wanted something easier to deploy once we moved our project to EC2, and I found GuAWS.
This AMI is super-easy to deploy, and the auto-discovery feature is a nice enhancement that saves me some twiddling in the database. I have some more fine-grained controls that I would like to see, but this is a very workable starting point for me!
Highly recommended