DaaS Alternative

A Seamless Desktop Experience — Without DaaS Pricing or Lock-In

WebStream gives your users clientless, VPN-free browser access to Windows applications and workspaces — running on your own AWS account or on-premises servers, billed by active use instead of provisioned desktops.

The DaaS promise, kept — minus the per-desktop bill and the hosted dependency.

Desktop-as-a-Service made access easy but moved your workloads onto someone else’s infrastructure at a per-desktop, per-month price. WebStream delivers the same clientless convenience from infrastructure you control — BYOL, your data, your account.

Clientless Access

The user experience DaaS is sold on

Everything users like about hosted desktops, delivered through the browser from your own environment.

Just a browser

Any HTML5 browser on any device — no client software, no VPN, no plug-ins, no agents to deploy or patch on endpoints.

Instant, anywhere access

Users sign in with their corporate identity and their apps are there — from the office, home, or the road.

App or workspace

Deliver the specific application most users need, or a desktop-style workspace when the job genuinely requires one.

Everyday workflows intact

File transfer, clipboard, print/PDF, and session persistence all work — governed by policy, not blocked by it.

Security & Governance

Zero-Trust-aligned by design

Access is granted to identities, not networks — and every session runs inside guardrails you define.

Identity-gated sessions

SSO and MFA through your identity provider. No user ever receives network-level access to the Windows host.

Per-app entitlements

Users reach exactly the applications and workspaces they are entitled to — nothing else is visible or reachable.

Data movement policy

File upload/download, clipboard, and print/PDF behaviour controlled per policy set, per user group.

Full audit trail

Every session is logged and attributable, giving security teams the visibility RDP and VPN access never provided.

Session recording

Record sessions where compliance or accountability requires it, with recordings managed from the admin console.

No exposed RDP

Port 3389 stays closed. Users connect to WebStream over TLS; the Windows host stays off the open network.

Cost Model

Pay for use, not for provisioned desktops

The structural difference between DaaS pricing and WebStream’s SessionHours model.

Area Traditional DaaS WebStream ACP
Billing basisPer desktop / per user month, whether used or notSessionHours — active streaming time only
What is deliveredA full hosted desktop per userThe application (or a workspace when needed)
InfrastructureVendor-hostedYour AWS account or on-premises servers
Windows licensingBundled into vendor pricingBYOL — reuse licences you already own
Idle costFull price for inactive desktopsNo streaming, no SessionHours
Data locationVendor's cloud tenancyStays in your environment
Exit pathMigration project off the hosted serviceYour infrastructure — nothing to migrate off

Model your own workload against WorkSpaces-style per-desktop pricing with the SessionHours pricing calculator.

Provisioning

Scale on your terms, in your account

WebStream runs where you decide and grows with demand — without a hosted service in the middle.

Deploy on AWS EC2

Launch WebStream on EC2 in your own AWS account — including via AWS Marketplace — and add capacity as usage grows.

Or on-premises

Install via MSI on Windows servers you already run. Same control plane, same browser experience, no cloud requirement.

One control plane

Apps, users, entitlements, policies, audit, and recordings managed from a single admin console — with AI-assisted operations via the MCP Server.

Watch the Full WebStream Demo

From a Windows app to browser access

The full end-to-end demo: browser login, launching Notepad and LibreOffice, file workflows, and starting a free WebStream Core trial on AWS.

Full WebStream demo — a DaaS-grade experience delivered from infrastructure you control.

Get Started

Compare WebStream against your DaaS bill

Tell us what you run today and we’ll help you model the SessionHours equivalent. Prefer to give us full detail? Use the full assessment form.

FAQ

Common questions

How is WebStream different from DaaS?

DaaS rents you hosted desktops on someone else’s infrastructure, billed per desktop or per user month. WebStream delivers your Windows applications — and workspaces where needed — from your own AWS account or on-premises servers, billed by SessionHours of active use. You keep control of the data, the hosts, and the licences.

Is the user experience really clientless?

Yes. Users sign in through any modern HTML5 browser over TLS. There is no client software, VPN, plug-in, or agent to install, so the experience matches DaaS convenience without a vendor-hosted dependency.

What does “Zero-Trust-aligned” mean here?

No network access is granted to users. Every session is identity-gated with SSO and MFA, users reach only the applications they are entitled to, and data movement — files, clipboard, print — is governed by policy with a full audit trail. The Windows host is never exposed to the open network.

How does SessionHours pricing compare with per-desktop DaaS pricing?

DaaS typically bills for every provisioned desktop whether or not it is used. WebStream bills SessionHours — active streaming time only — so occasional users, shift patterns, and idle periods do not accumulate cost. Use the pricing calculator to model your workload.

Can WebStream scale like DaaS?

Yes. On AWS you add EC2 capacity as demand grows, and the WebStream control plane manages entitlements, policies, and sessions across hosts. You scale on your terms in your account, rather than a vendor’s hosting tiers.

Get Started

DaaS convenience. Your infrastructure. Your terms.

Start free with WebStream Core — deploy on-premises (MSI) or on AWS — and see the clientless experience with your own applications before any commitment.