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Omnissa Horizon Cloud
Another broker upgrade weekend. Your VDI team spends more time on servers than on desktops — Omnissa Horizon Cloud is desktop-as-a-service with an Omnissa-hosted control plane: brokering, images and power management in one console, desktops on your Azure, WorkSpaces Core, vSphere or OpenStack capacity — from $9 a user a month on Azure Standard.
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Same software. Better outcome — at a lower cost.
How it’s rated
Full scoreboard ↓Quick answer
The Omnissa platform family
This page covers Omnissa Horizon Cloud — with the announced Omnissa Cloud PC and Horizon Delegate folded in. The rest:
Quick facts
30-second orientation- Product
- DaaS run from the Omnissa-hosted Horizon Control Plane: unified brokering, image and power management, monitoring, APIs
- Maker
- Omnissa, the ex-VMware end-user unit Broadcom sold to KKR in July 2024; led by Amit Singh since 28 Sep 2026
- Capacity
- Microsoft Azure, Amazon WorkSpaces Core, VMware vSphere on-premises or OpenStack, each linked by one Edge Gateway
- Editions
- SaaS matrix, June 2026: Apps Universal, Cloud on Azure Standard, Universal and Platinum
- List price
- Horizon Cloud on Azure Standard is $9 per user per month, with a concurrent-user option; other editions are quoted
- Compute
- Paid to Azure, AWS or for your own hardware, outside the Omnissa fee; the announced Cloud PC will bundle it
- Folded in
- Omnissa Cloud PC (turnkey DaaS, AWS first) and the Horizon Delegate in-VM agent, both announced 29 Sep 2026
- Analysts
- Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service, Aug 2026, a run that includes VMware’s 2023 placement
- India
- Desktops can run in Indian regions; VM Hub and a data shard list India instances, the console and broker do not
- In India via
- TechBag — edition fit, Azure or AWS sizing, the $9 tier against quoted editions, INR quote with GST
Understand desktop-as-a-service before you buy it
Most product pages skip this. We start here — so you buy a capability, not a buzzword.
What is Horizon Cloud?
Desktop-as-a-service where Omnissa runs the control plane and your desktops run on capacity you choose.
Self-run VDI pods vs Omnissa Horizon Cloud — the honest table
What consolidation actually replaces, dimension by dimension.
| Dimension | Self-run VDI pods | Omnissa Horizon Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Broker servers | Patched and upgraded by you | Run and kept current by Omnissa as SaaS |
| Each new site | A pod of servers per location | One Edge Gateway per capacity site |
| Idle desktops | Running all night on the meter | Powered down on demand-based schedules |
| Several clouds | A console for every platform | Azure, WorkSpaces Core, vSphere, OpenStack in one |
| Golden images | Rebuilt site by site | Managed centrally, pushed to every site |
| What it is NOT | — | Compute in the fee (bar Cloud PC), or India-hosted end to end |
The cheapest test is one Edge Gateway in one Azure region with a pilot group: compare the Omnissa fee plus Azure compute with what your desktops cost today.
The four pieces of the platform
Vendors love diagrams; buyers need to know what they’re actually operating. Here’s the whole platform, demystified.
Control plane
One hosted console for every deployment: unified brokering, the image management service, dynamic power management, monitoring and public APIs, kept current by Omnissa.
Edge Gateway
A single Edge Gateway per capacity location replaces the older pod of servers, connecting the control plane to Azure, WorkSpaces Core, vSphere or OpenStack resources.
Capacity
Session VMs live in your Azure subscription, your AWS account via WorkSpaces Core, or your own vSphere or OpenStack; that provider bills the compute, not Omnissa.
Access and apps
Unified Access Gateway gives token-based remote access without a VPN, App Volumes attaches apps, DEM keeps settings, and Omnissa Intelligence reports on experience.
Omnissa hosts the control plane, one Edge Gateway links each site, and the desktops run on your Azure, AWS, vSphere or OpenStack capacity — the console and broker are listed outside India.
Nine capabilities. Broker, automate, govern.
Horizon Cloud hands the broker and image service to Omnissa, while your desktops keep running on capacity you choose and pay for.
One broker, four platforms
Unified brokering hands users desktops from Azure, WorkSpaces Core, vSphere or OpenStack through one entitlement model and one console.
One Edge Gateway per site
A single gateway replaces the cluster of servers that each location used to need, so adding a new capacity site is lighter work.
Omnissa Cloud PC, announced
A turnkey service with compute, UEM and DEX included, run by Omnissa on AWS first; no price, region list or GA date has been given.
Image management service
Golden images are built once and pushed from the control plane to every linked capacity site, instead of being kept per site by hand.
Desktops off when idle
Dynamic power management follows demand; Omnissa says its power modes can cut Azure compute and storage costs by up to 70%.
App Volumes, Apps on Demand
Apps are attached when a user needs them rather than baked into the image, and DEM keeps each user’s settings between sessions.
Conditional access and SSO
Omnissa Access with Pass Basic comes in every SaaS edition, and Okta or other IdPs can gate desktops with SSO and context rules.
Capture and keylogger blocks
SaaS editions include screen-capture blocking and anti-keylogging on Windows and Mac clients, over encrypted, token-based links.
Horizon Delegate agent
An announced agent inside the Horizon VM that acts for the user with their approved identity and permissions, even after they disconnect.
Watch Horizon Cloud and Omnissa Cloud PC
Three videos from Omnissa’s official channel, all from 2026: a Horizon Cloud demo, an admin walkthrough, and the September announcement of Omnissa Cloud PC.
Deliver Desktops-as-a-Service with Horizon Cloud | Demo
A 1:15 demo from January 2026 of delivering desktops as a service from the Horizon Cloud console.
Using Omnissa Horizon Cloud | Omnissa
A 3:17 walkthrough, from September 2026, of day-to-day administration in Horizon Cloud.
Introducing Omnissa Cloud PC: Desktop-as-a-service, reimagined
A 1:23 announcement of Omnissa Cloud PC, the compute-included service that is not yet priced or generally available.
Want a live, India-context walkthrough for your environment?
Book a guided demo →Most VDI teams spend their week on brokers. Horizon Cloud hands the broker to Omnissa.
Here’s what genuinely sets it apart — and exactly where it stops.
Omnissa runs the hardest layer
Brokering, image management and power scheduling live in the Horizon Control Plane, a service Omnissa hosts and keeps current. Each capacity site needs one Edge Gateway rather than a pod of servers, so your team spends its time on images, apps and capacity instead of upgrading brokers.
Four capacity platforms, one console
Desktops can run on Microsoft Azure, Amazon WorkSpaces Core, VMware vSphere on-premises or OpenStack, the newest addition, and Windows 365 is supported too. Universal and Platinum let one estate mix them, so branch desktops can stay on your own vSphere while seasonal staff land on Azure.
A number to start the business case
Horizon Cloud on Azure Standard lists at $9 per user per month, with a concurrent-user option, and carries the control plane, App Volumes, Apps on Demand and Omnissa Intelligence. It is Azure-only, Windows-only and cannot be combined with other SaaS editions, but finance gets a figure on day one.
Where it stops
Only the Azure Standard tier has a public price; Universal and Platinum are quoted. Compute is still billed by Azure, AWS or your own hardware. The Universal Console, portal broker and Edge Hub are listed in the US, Ireland and Japan, not India. Omnissa Cloud PC is announced only, with no price, region list or GA date.
The numbers behind the platform
What your Omnissa Horizon Cloud rollout looks like
Choose the capacity
Decide where desktops will live: Azure, Amazon WorkSpaces Core, vSphere or OpenStack, and which Indian regions or sites to use.
Match the edition
Weigh the $9 Azure Standard tier against Universal or Platinum, and get in writing what the control plane holds outside India.
Connect one site
Deploy one Edge Gateway, link it to the control plane, publish an image and give a pilot group desktops with App Volumes apps.
Tune cost and access
Set power schedules, wire up Omnissa Access or Okta for conditional sign-in, then compare the compute bill with your estimate.
Scale and sign
Add the remaining users and sites, decide whether Horizon Accelerator is worth adding, and settle the INR quote with GST.
The review scoreboard
Modelled on Gartner Peer Insights structure. *Counts and breakdowns are illustrative pending verified review collection.
Quick poll — what’s driving your evaluation?
Talk to an advisor“We stopped patching broker servers. The control plane updates itself, and our two-person team spends that time on images now.”
“The $9 Azure tier gave finance a number on day one. The Azure compute bill was the bigger line, so model the two together.”
“Power schedules shut idle desktops at night across our contact centres, and the Azure bill fell noticeably within two months.”
“Store desktops stay on our own vSphere and seasonal staff land on Azure, all from one console, which is exactly what we wanted.”
“Desktops run in an Indian Azure region, but the console and broker are hosted abroad, and our legal team took weeks to accept it.”
“With App Volumes in the cloud tier we keep one Windows image for six departments instead of building a separate one per team.”
Where everyone sits — the grids
Analyst firms bury this view behind paywalls, and review-site grids score satisfaction, not fit for your estate. So here’s TechBag’s synthesis of the desktop-as-a-service market — tap any vendor to see why it sits where it does.
TechBag DaaS Grid
Execution strength vs product vision — the classic market map, minus the paywall.
Gartner DaaS MQ Leader, Aug 2026; Azure Standard tier $9 a user.
Operated for You × Platform Choice
The grid nobody publishes — how much of the desktop service the vendor operates for you vs how many places the desktops can actually run.
Omnissa-run control plane; four capacity platforms, one console.
Positions are TechBag’s illustrative synthesis of public review-platform data and vendor documentation — not a reproduction of any analyst graphic. Verify before relying on it.
Omnissa Horizon Cloud vs the DaaS field
Against Citrix DaaS, Windows 365, Amazon WorkSpaces, Nerdio Manager for Enterprise and Dizzion Frame — on who runs what, platforms, automation, apps, price, compute and India placement.
| Dimension | Omnissa Horizon Cloud | Citrix DaaS | Windows 365 | Amazon WorkSpaces | Nerdio Manager for Enterprise | Dizzion Frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted-control DaaS | Cloud or Local VDI | Per-user Cloud PC | AWS DaaS | AVD management tool | Browser-first DaaS |
| Who runs what | Shared duty | Citrix Cloud + you | All Microsoft | AWS hosts it | You run everything | Managed or self-run |
| Capacity platforms | Azure, AWS, on-prem | Any cloud or on-prem | Microsoft cloud only | AWS Regions | Azure only | AWS, Azure, GCP, more |
| Desktops and OS | Windows and Linux | Win, Linux, macOS | Windows only | Windows and Linux | Whatever AVD runs | Windows and Linux |
| Image and power automation | Built into the plane | Autoscale, MCS images | Microsoft-managed | AutoStop hours | Autoscaling engine | Managed option |
| App delivery | App Volumes included | Apps plus App Layering | Intune deployment | Baked into images | Unified App Management | Sandbox, then publish |
| Access and security | Access, SSO, blocks | Anti-capture, recording | Entra ID P1 + Intune | Your VPC rules | Inside your tenant | Browser plus compliance |
| Endpoint management link | Workspace ONE UEM | Endpoint Mgmt in UHMC | Managed in Intune | Separate console | AVD, W365, Intune | Not documented |
| Pricing model | Per user or CCU | Bundled subscription | Fixed per user | Monthly or hourly | Licence + Azure | Flex Credits |
| Published entry price | $9/user/month | Not published | $36/user/month | $44 Oregon example | On request | Credit-based |
| Compute in the price | Compute extra | Your capacity | Compute included | Bundle includes it | Not included | Managed option |
| India placement | Desktops yes, console no | Sessions only | India Central | Mumbai, 3 AZs | Your Azure region | Own account only |
| Lock-in and exit | Re-home capacity | New agents to leave | Microsoft-bound | AWS-only | Native AVD underneath | Several clouds |
| Best fit | Hybrid, hosted broker | Citrix estates | Fixed-price Windows PCs | AWS-centred estates | AVD teams, automated | Browser-first desktops |
Which approach fits you?
Honest fit signals — because the fastest way to lose your trust is to pretend one product wins every scenario.
Choose Omnissa Horizon Cloud if…
- ✓You want desktops on your own Azure, AWS or vSphere capacity but would rather Omnissa ran the brokers and the image service
- ✓You run Horizon today and want a hosted control plane while keeping Blast, App Volumes and DEM
- ✓A published starting point helps your case: the Azure Standard tier is $9 per user per month
Compare alternatives if…
- ✓You want compute inside the price — Windows 365 Business includes the PC from $36 a user a month
- ✓Your workloads already live in AWS — Amazon WorkSpaces in Mumbai avoids adding another vendor
- ✓You want the management layer inside your own tenant — Nerdio runs that way for Azure Virtual Desktop
Do not expect…
- ✓Compute in the subscription, unless you wait for Omnissa Cloud PC
- ✓A control plane hosted end to end in India
- ✓Omnissa Cloud PC to be orderable today — it was announced in September 2026 with no price or GA date
TechBag has no desktop as a service guide yet, so Omnissa Horizon Cloud sits outside the category guides. Browse all products to compare it with the rest of the catalogue. →
What does running your own VDI control plane cost you?
Drag the sliders (virtual desktops you run; IT-hour cost). Estimates model the IT time spent upgrading brokers, rebuilding images per site and leaving idle desktops running, at an assumed 3 hours per desktop a year, with 40% of it removed by a hosted control plane, central images and power schedules. Both figures are assumptions, and cloud compute is not counted. Illustrative.
Loaded cost = salary + overheads per productive hour. Illustrative only — your TechBag quote models your actual environment and modules.
Three ways to consume it
One published price. Horizon Cloud on Azure Standard lists at $9 per user per month, with a concurrent-user option (Omnissa, February 2025, updated January 2026); it is Azure-only, Windows-only and cannot be mixed with other SaaS editions. Apps Universal, Universal and Platinum are quoted per named or concurrent user. Compute is billed separately by Azure, AWS or your own hardware. Omnissa Cloud PC has no price yet. TechBag quotes in INR with GST.
Horizon Cloud on Azure Standard
Best for Windows desktops on Azure alone
- $9 per user per month list
- Control plane, App Volumes, Intelligence
- Azure compute billed separately
+ Platform add-ons
Best for a broader rollout
- Scoped to your estate
- Add-on modules as needed
- Phased, right-sized deployment
Universal or Platinum
Best for hybrid and multi-cloud estates
- Quoted per named or concurrent user
- Linux VDI, recording, on-prem hosts
- Platinum adds Assist and DEX for Horizon
Buy it for less — TechBag pricing beats list
Whatever the list prices above, TechBag negotiates a significantly better deal — with GST-compliant INR invoicing and local support. Ask us for your discounted quote.
Get an India-ready quote
Tell us your requirements and current tools — we’ll model it against what you spend today.
The 8 questions to ask every vendor
Take this into your next vendor call — including ours.
Is the $9 Azure Standard tier enough, given it is Azure-only, Windows-only and cannot be mixed with other SaaS editions?
What will the Azure, AWS or hardware bill be at our usage, on top of the Omnissa subscription? Model the two together.
What data do the console, broker and Edge Hub hold outside India? Get it in writing and record it in the DPDP register.
Which Indian Azure or AWS regions will host the desktops, and will our tenant use the India instance of VM Hub?
Named or concurrent users: does the concurrent option on the $9 tier lower the total for shift-based teams like ours?
If Omnissa Cloud PC appeals, when will it be generally available, at what price, and will an Indian AWS region be offered?
Where do session and admin logs live, and can we export 180 days of them for CERT-In from the hosted control plane?
Omnissa names no Indian Horizon Cloud customer; ask for a reference already running desktops in an Indian region.
Questions buyers ask
Ready to evaluate Omnissa Horizon Cloud?
Tell us where your desktops should run and how many users share them, or let a TechBag advisor price the $9 Azure tier against Universal, model the compute and get the India control-plane answers in writing.
Stats, ratings, review counts and pricing are illustrative and sourced from public materials; verify before purchase.