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AWS Systems Manager vs KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
249
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
AWS Systems Manager
Ranking in Configuration Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
KACE Systems Deployment App...
Ranking in Configuration Management
28th
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 10.2%, up from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Systems Manager is 10.7%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Ambe Frankline - PeerSpot reviewer
Tracks every action on AWS accounts in a centralized way
Setting up AWS Systems Manager to monitor and control other services is easy. You need to link the services you want to observe and track. The time it takes to deploy depends on factors like connectivity, latency, and the complexity of the services. For example, setting up a simple application is faster than setting up a more complicated three-tier or multi-tier system. Using the solution for batch updates varies depending on the number of servers involved and the commands needed. Personally, when I do small projects at home, deploying a few servers doesn't take long. But at work, where we handle larger deployments with hundreds of servers, it's faster due to better connectivity and resources.
reviewer1731783 - PeerSpot reviewer
Straightforward to use with good ticketing but accessing inventory needs to be easier
I have heard feedback that the imaging is slow. It takes somewhere around an hour to image one PC. Accessing the inventory piece needs to be improved. We are going to refresh a PC every four years. We need something that can handle that. We're going to keep the EWAs form in there. We want to have the form, some kind of form, where we have the inventory and all we have to do, is just come in and view the EWAs or survey that equipment. Otherwise, you have to go in and check and say to remove it out of the system manually. We want some kind of way to keep track of everything, similar to an assessment management system. They need to have some kind of system whereby, if you have the schedule to deploy, if they missed the deployment, then they can pull back and wait for next time, instead of pushing then waiting as soon as the PC turns on and then just dumps the file to the PC.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"The solution is easy to use and it has good performance."
"The automatic patching is the most valuable feature of Intune."
"It supports end-users who tend to lock their devices quite frequently. Its conditional access policy helps us keep the users logged into their devices."
"It is a cloud-based service. It is easy to use and offers privacy."
"It's not working perfectly, but Microsoft's Autopilot offers great visibility into automated deployment solutions."
"Agile and easy to deploy MDM solution that covers the maximum number of policies. Stable, scalable, and with knowledgeable technical support."
"We are using the mobile feature, and we are also using MDM to lock the devices, to push restrictions, et cetera"
"Has a variety of automation options."
"AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts."
"It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks."
"Systems Manager has a feature where it analyzes the logs and gives us a performance overview in the form of a graph. We know when it's taking up more resources and when there are spikes, so we can predict the usability."
"When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud."
"The solution's ability to scale is good."
"AWS provides Auto Scaling groups."
"The store organizes parameters hierarchically, making it easier to configure and control versions. It also ensures scalability and high availability, automatically scaling to handle increasing workloads and providing reliable access to configuration data across multiple AWS availability zones."
"Its ticketing is pretty good."
 

Cons

"A detailed device diagnostic feature is missing. Also, operating system deployment and imaging are missing."
"Could benefit from user having more control over devices."
"From a new user's perspective, it may be a little overwhelming because there are quite a few things to look at in the console, however, once you are sort of acclimated and are familiar with your core functions, it's fairly simple and straightforward."
"Enhancements for managing MacOS more comprehensively would be beneficial."
"There should be more support for macOS. Even though macOS is supported by Intune and Microsoft is working very hard to get more features into Intune to manage macOS, that's one thing they can give a lot more attention to."
"The technical support by Microsoft is not so good. We have to manage many things by ourselves and do not receive responses in a timely manner."
"Areas for improvement in Intune include expanding support beyond Samsung devices to accommodate other Android manufacturers like Redmi and Motorola."
"The platform is incredibly slow and could be more responsive. Specifically, when making changes to security policies, I would like to see those changes take effect more quickly."
"The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement."
"Additional features can be added as per customer requirements."
"Lacks sufficient integrations."
"The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required."
"One area that could be enhanced is dynamic configuration management. Additionally, improving integration with other AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation would be beneficial."
"The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts."
"AWS does not have EKS cluster backup."
"Every AWS service comes with some associated costs."
"I have heard feedback that the imaging is slow. It takes somewhere around an hour to image one PC."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We spend a lot of money on Intune licensing, and some of our users have to be double licensed just because of how our dev and corporate environments are segmented."
"Our enterprise agreement includes Microsoft Intune at no additional cost."
"Microsoft Intune is moderately priced. There is a monthly license required to use the solution and it is approximately eight dollars per month."
"It comes as a bundle, so you do not really know what the prices are. Microsoft does not break it down to the user cost for us. It is just bundled with our E5 license."
"Microsoft Intune is more expensive than other solutions, but it offers a wider range of features and control."
"The licensing costs we leave up to the customer and these vary from one to another."
"The price of Intune is often included as part of a bundle with other Microsoft licenses, which makes it somewhat cheaper."
"Intune is available as an individual product, but it also comes with Office 365 Premium or an Enterprise license, and the price varies for each version."
"As we were doing a government project so the government got the project at a very nominal cost."
"An AWS cloud engineer can bring down the costs."
"The platform provides excellent value for the capabilities it offers when compared to third-party tools for similar tasks."
"Most of the features are free. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe the pricing is generally very low. Some services that are part of Ops Manager might have associated costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What do you like most about AWS Systems Manager?
With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems m...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Systems Manager?
Every AWS service comes with some associated costs. While using AWS Systems Manager, we continually monitor to optimi...
What needs improvement with AWS Systems Manager?
There isn't anything specific I remember at the moment.
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Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Amazon Elastic Container Registry
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
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Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Configuration Management. Updated: April 2025.
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