AWS Systems Manager vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

The compared Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Quest Software solutions aren't in the same category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #6 in CM , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 10.5% mindshare in the category. Quest Software is ranked #13 in RMM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 27, 2024

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance and AWS Systems Manager are prominent competitors in endpoint and infrastructure management solutions. Based on the features and user feedback, AWS Systems Manager often gains the upper hand in automation capabilities, making it a preferred choice for AWS ecosystem users.

Features: Quest KACE offers seamless integration with tools like Bomgar, comprehensive endpoint management features such as scripting, and efficient software distribution allowing centralized control over machines with features like imaging and patch management. AWS Systems Manager is recognized for its automation, infrastructure management, and integration with AWS services like Auto Scaling and CloudWatch, enhancing operational efficiency.

Room for Improvement: Quest KACE can improve its scalability and ease of automation to enhance application update processes and patch management. AWS Systems Manager could benefit from UI intuitiveness, expanding support for different operating systems in its patch management, and adopting an agentless approach to reduce overhead and improve flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Quest KACE is mainly deployed in on-premises or hybrid environments, with users praising its responsive support, though sometimes slow on complex issues. AWS Systems Manager, built for the public cloud, offers streamlined deployment within the AWS infrastructure. Though generally appreciated, its support can be improved, especially in multi-account management.

Pricing and ROI: Quest KACE is seen as cost-effective for large deployments, providing substantial ROI through its pricing flexibility and operational cost reduction. AWS Systems Manager is cost-efficient within the AWS ecosystem, with many included features on EC2 instances, although increased usage can raise costs, prompting calls for better cost alert systems. Quest KACE might involve higher initial investments compared to the seamless AWS integration.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

January 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

Configuration Management

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi

Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

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Ambe Frankline

Cloud/DevOps Engineer at Innovative Technology Systems

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.

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Scott Tweed

Windows Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Low maintenance, reliable, and easy to create packages

I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it. The deployment process for both deploying and creating a package is straightforward. I believe the inventory in KACE is superior to SCCM's. I know with SCCM I could do things like remote console into machines via the agent's remote console, but that is not a feature that is provided in KACE. I know that at least in the Systems Management Appliance, I can't get to it. I'm not sure how distribution works, with distribution points. I'm not sure if KACE has that feature. You could use an SCCM to set up distribution points at remote sites so that they don't have to download patches or software from across the country. If you have a DP or something similar, they could pull it down.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can implement a MAM policy in this Intune and protect the device through mobile application development without touching it. The interface is easy to use and understand."

"Intune's feature that I have found most valuable is its auto-pilot feature."

"I like Intune's ability to manage roles, maintenance tasks, compliance settings, and patch development for all endpoints."

"The main advantage is that Intune performs its intended functions effectively."

"Microsoft integrated BitLocker and Active Directory into Intune, simplifying management."

"We can securely manage both company-owned devices and personal devices enrolled in our BYOD program."

"I like the group policy management feature, which performs application monitoring and device enrollment."

"The conditional access policies that we set up are very useful."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The solution is user-friendly"

"AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts"

"The solution's most valuable feature is the change management option. It tracks every action on my AWS accounts in a centralized way, acting like a control tool for me. This is especially useful when working with Kubernetes and AWS ECS services. Additionally, my colleagues and clients often use the application management tools for configuration, parameters, and installations."

"I use AWS Systems Manager primarily for infrastructure management and automation. One of its key benefits is managing patches and updates for our EC2 instances, including both Windows and Linux workloads. It can perform compliance checks on all managed workloads, identifying which systems aren't compliant or haven't been patched."

"The solution's ability to scale is good."

"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."

"AWS provides Auto Scaling groups."

"It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks."

More AWS Systems Manager pros

"This product made the job easy to do without having to go put hands on the machines."

"KACE automatically tracks this information and saves it for me, allowing me to call it up on the dashboard. For example, if I need to find Juliano's computer in the system, I don't need to search through endless spreadsheets. I just search for "Juliano" in KACE. KACE also lists other details like the last login user."

"It is excellent in terms of updating and configuring everything the way we need. For anything more complex, we do professional service engagements, and they're exceptional. For anything less complex, we just need to ask questions. Their support division is extremely good too."

"There is ease of use, and its pricing was a driving factor."

"KACE’s knowledge-based articles are very good."

"Asset management is most valuable. It is essential for all customers. The other features are also useful, but asset management is most important."

"The ability to push an image to a machine, wake that image up, and just blast a new image to a computer without even having to touch it, and then push the software to that machine. This just made things so much more convenient for us and so much more efficient."

"Pretty much all of the features are valuable. The inventory is very helpful to be able to keep track of our devices. The deployments make it easy to deploy new software packages or upgrade packages. The help desk is also a great tool for tracking problems and problem tickets."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pros

Cons

"Intune is not the most user-friendly mobile device management platform available."

"Microsoft Intune could enhance its patch management for various devices, ensuring regular updates and tracking of device privileges."

"In an upcoming release, I would like to see some kind of analytics report."

"One issue that Inutune can improve is password integration with the BitLocker key option. Another issue is assigning licenses. We can assign the licenses for some users on the BPM side, and our BPS users work on Outlook 365 but cannot access it there. A BPS person can go to the company portal and download Outlook 2016. They could improve the NDIS part to assign a license directly to the BPS person that allows them to install the Intune device manager directly on our system."

"Intune should be much more granular in terms of supporting more Android cellular devices."

"Reporting in Microsoft solutions is pathetic. With Intune, I'm getting a free inventory tool, but I don't get a reporting tool. When I go to Intune, I can see one machine's entire data in terms of the hardware and the software running on it, but I cannot generate a report for all the machines in the organization. The reporting is the only feature holding back the functionality that is already there."

"The time we have to wait to deploy policies has room for improvement."

"Customer service used to be better. In the last couple of years, support has not been very good, even with Premier and Premium support. It's been very hit-or-miss."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"One area that could be enhanced is dynamic configuration management. Additionally, improving integration with other AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation would be beneficial."

"Every AWS service comes with some associated costs."

"We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves."

"AWS does not have EKS cluster backup."

"The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement."

"It could be agentless if there's room for improvement in the AWS Systems Manager. Currently, you have to install agents, although, for most of the latest EC2 images, the agents come preinstalled. If it could be at the level of Ansible, which is agentless, that would be fantastic. When you compare the solution to Ansible, one of the most widely accepted tools, the agentless feature stands out. So, if the AWS Systems Manager could become agentless, that would be a significant improvement."

"Additional features can be added as per customer requirements."

"Lacks sufficient integrations."

More AWS Systems Manager cons

"Its dashboard needs improvement. Currently, there is no way to modify the dashboard. There should be more flexibility so that we can create views according to our use case."

"The only pain point I have is with their salespeople. They call too often. They're too aggressive in trying to upsell. We know what we need, and we know if we want to expand. I don't mind quarterly calls from them, but sometimes, it is weekly. They need to get their sales team under control. The main goal of their support people and professional services is to make sure they deliver the service, and they deliver it well, whereas their salespeople are so interested in making a sale that they're wasting my time."

"The solution needs to have the ability to push out managed feature updates from Microsoft in a more seamless way."

"We'd love to see support for larger dependencies in the scripting feature."

"There is always room for improvement. However, the system does most of what we need at this moment."

"Paying for the product should come with full and extended training anytime it is needed."

"I would sure like them to be able to copy and paste out of OneNote. That drives me nuts. You can't copy from OneNote into KACE."

"There should be a mini toolbox, like the competitors of KACE have, with the small features for KACE administrators. That would make their lives easier. If you are troubleshooting a specific endpoint, remote control is available as is Wake-on-LAN. But if you want to execute some commands, you have to use a third-party tool, the PS tool. If they would integrate those small things, it would make KACE more powerful."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"No one can compete with Microsoft when it comes to price, and the features it is offering."

"In terms of the product price and licensing costs, my company finds the product to be reasonably priced."

"Our enterprise agreement includes Microsoft Intune at no additional cost."

"The pricing for Microsoft Intune is reasonable. Our clients are satisfied."

"Microsoft Intune has been incorporated into our Microsoft E5 licenses."

"I liked the tool's pricing until P2 came into effect. I am unsure about the current value versus the cost of the new licensing model."

"If you're ever going to buy an Office 365 environment, then pricing is reasonable given all that it does, but if you're not, then you might find the pricing expensive."

"Microsoft Intune's costliness stems from licensing fees and the overhead associated with its management, user experience, and device remediation."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"The platform provides excellent value for the capabilities it offers when compared to third-party tools for similar tasks."

"It was a very attractive price. This is a huge feature of this product. If you would "credit score" this product versus others out there on the market, this one has a very attractive price."

"It may be more expensive, but you get what you pay for."

"Some of the other solutions were just astronomical in price compared with KACE and didn't necessarily have the ease of use either. So, we chose Quest KACE for its easy-to-use features and cost."

"We are also saving on the licensing fee, compared to other endpoint management solutions."

"We are a university. So, we have a very good price for the system. I think the price for the system is worth it because of the security patch management. The security patch management is very important for us. The price is very good for KACE SMA, the functionality you get, and the patch management."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"It is expensive in Brazil."

"Its pricing model is good for what it offers. Nobody here gives me a hard time about renewing the contract every year. It might be a little cost prohibitive for a smaller company who has to stand up a virtual environment as well as have virtual environment licensing and the hardware. If you have a smaller environment, it might be cost prohibitive. If you only have a couple of hundred computers, you might be more willing to do those manually. In our environment, the cost savings of having KACE far outweigh the licensing costs. We are okay with its pricing model."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

12%

University

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 ...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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What needs improvement with AWS Systems Manager?

There isn't anything specific I remember at the moment.

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What do you like most about Quest KACE Systems Management?

KACE automatically tracks this information and saves it for me, allowing me to call it up on the dashboard. For examp...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?

The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?

The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SM...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 15% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

Samsung Knox vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 3% of the time

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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 17% of the time

AWS Config vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 9% of the time

BigFix vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 5% of the time

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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 32% of the time

BigFix vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Windows Server Update Services vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 6% of the time

Automox vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 4% of the time

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

February 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Configuration Management

February 2025

Download AWS Systems Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

February 2025

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) report

Download Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Amazon Elastic Container Registry

Dell KACE Systems Management

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

AWS Systems Manager is a management service that helps you automatically collect software inventory, apply OS patches, create system images, and configure Windows and Linux operating systems. These capabilities help you define and track system configurations, prevent drift, and maintain software compliance of your EC2 and on-premises configurations. By providing a management approach that is designed for the scale and agility of the cloud but extends into your on-premises data center, Systems Manager makes it easier for you to seamlessly bridge your existing infrastructure with AWS.

Systems Manager is easy to use. Simply access Systems Manager from the EC2 Management Console, select the instances you want to manage, and define the management tasks you want to perform. Systems Manager is available now at no cost to manage both your EC2 and on-premises resources.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is a comprehensive tool for managing IT endpoints. It facilitates asset management, software distribution, and endpoint tracking while offering remote access capabilities and a centralized help desk.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is designed for organizations that need efficient endpoint management. It offers a range of features like inventory tracking, automated patch management, and ticketing. By integrating with remote access tools such as Bomgar, Quest KACE helps reduce manual tasks involved in managing software updates and system deployments. Although it faces challenges in scalability and requires improvements in integration and reporting, it remains a versatile choice for asset tracking and endpoint administration.

What are Quest KACE SMA's key features?

Asset Management: Streamline the organization and tracking of physical and virtual assets.
Remote Access: Integrates with Bomgar for secure, remote troubleshooting and management.
Software Distribution: Deploy applications across devices efficiently without physical intervention.
Centralized Endpoint Management: Manage endpoints from a centralized console to ensure compliance and optimization.
Automated Patch Management: Schedule and deploy patches to maintain system security and performance.
Help Desk: Integrated ticketing system for tracking and resolving user issues.
Scripting and Reporting: Enhance administrative tasks through automated scripts and detailed reports.

What benefits should users consider?

Improved Productivity: Reduces manual interference with automated deployments and updates.
Labor Savings: Minimizes labor requirements with efficient remote management tools.
Integrated Reporting: Provides actionable insights through comprehensive reports to optimize IT operation.
User-Friendly Interface: Boosts effectiveness due to its intuitive, easy-to-navigate design.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is implemented across industries for managing IT assets and endpoints, particularly where remote management and compliance are critical. It's employed in healthcare, education, and government sectors for efficient patch management, inventory control, and software deployment, aiding organizations in managing security accreditations and centralizing help desk operations.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

January 2025

Free Report: AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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