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ConnectWise Automate vs ManageEngine Endpoint Central comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

ConnectWise Automate
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (10th)
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (2nd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Systems Management solutions, they serve different purposes. ConnectWise Automate is designed for Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) and holds a mindshare of 6.5%, up 6.3% compared to last year.
ManageEngine Endpoint Central, on the other hand, focuses on Client Desktop Management, holds 19.1% mindshare, down 41.5% since last year.
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ConnectWise Automate6.5%
Kaseya VSA15.0%
NinjaOne12.0%
Other66.5%
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)
Client Desktop Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ManageEngine Endpoint Central19.1%
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)12.5%
Symantec Client Management Suite11.9%
Other56.5%
Client Desktop Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sean Saeb - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner and CIO at Caspian IT Group
Responsive, integrates well with other applications, and the technical support is helpful
There is always room for improvement. I haven't had any problems, and they're doing a great job, in my opinion. They're doing quite well. In most cases, when we discover an issue, we report it to their engineers, who then schedule a fix. Normally, when we request something, I can see it happening within three to four months. This is a raw system. Of course, it has some flaws that could be improved. But, it's something that we will have to work with to get to the point where we need this, we request it and they do their best to make it happen. There is a lot of integration with other applications through Automate, and I believe they are working with all of the industry leaders to get the integration going. I am very pleased to be working with them.
MS
Solutions Consultant at Team Computers
Experience improves with intuitive setup and comprehensive features but needs enhancements for Apple integration
From a ManageEngine perspective, there is room for improvement regarding the Platform SSO technology introduced by Apple, which allows you to integrate your hardware with your identity providers. It used to be only a few selected ones via OIDC protocols or some other protocols, which are not necessary anymore. If a customer is already using Microsoft 365, they can integrate with any MDM for Platform SSO, which essentially hardens their device identity with the person logging in for the first time. It also helps automate enrollment and provide a zero-touch experience. Currently, while some MDM tools InTune and Jamf support this feature, ManageEngine still does not fully support Platform SSO via Microsoft or Google. I have customers using ManageEngine who are looking forward to this solution, and if ManageEngine can provide it, it would enhance the overall product value. For enterprise users, the solution needs improvement. For SMB, it is straightforward; if it is a small company of 100 to 500 users, anything below 1,000, they do not have much of a compliance or security requirement—they just want to manage their devices and push applications. Simple tasks are easier to accomplish. However, when it comes to enterprise-grade deployment, many complex configurations need to be considered, such as Wi-Fi configurations, network configurations, VPN configurations, and advanced certification deployment, such as ACME certification deployment practice introduced by Apple. These are a few things that can be improved on that side, but from a basic user perspective, if someone is in the SMB market or a company just starting off pre-IPO, without going into compliance, they typically find Zoho and ManageEngine to fit their needs. For enterprise-grade deployments, it is more than enough for Windows, but for Apple, it is still in development and not up to the mark.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most value we get from this solution is that everything is on a patch cycle, so all my team has to do is go through patches, whereas previously, they were doing all the patches manually."
"Scripting and patch management are really important for us, and Patch Manager is something that we use a lot and is one of the most useful features for us for controlling patches and other things for different clients."
"I was very happy with how they handled me as a client and am quite satisfied with the level of support we get."
"The solution is very stable; it's reliable, there are no bugs and glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"It allows us to manage all client requests, jobs and invoicing."
"The most value we get from this solution is that everything is on a patch cycle."
"The automated scripts feature means that we can set up for a lot of different things and they have reduced tech input drastically, in the sense that a task only needs to be done once instead of 100 times."
"The database is great. It's a nicely ordered database."
"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine Endpoint Central is the central management console. Additionally, inventory tracking is helpful for knowing where our assets are."
"Desktop Central is easy to deploy, manage, and integrate with other ManageEngine products."
"With Desktop Central, we have been able to maintain patch compliance across our entire estate, manage software licensing and deployment, enforce minimum security compliance, and work towards a zero-touch environment with automated deployment and custom scripting."
"With Desktop Central, we have been able to maintain patch compliance across our entire estate, manage software licensing and deployment, enforce minimum security compliance, and work towards a zero-touch environment with automated deployment and custom scripting."
"ManageEngine Endpoint Central has significantly simplified my device management practices."
"Patch management is the most useful aspect of the product."
"ManageEngine Endpoint Central is straightforward to use and implement."
"I like being able to image over the network. That's a nice feature that it has. Patch management is pretty decent on it as well."
 

Cons

"I almost would rather have a different tool, but I'm not sure which one yet."
"Their support needs to be better."
"The menu doesn't always load properly."
"They always change the GUI to some dumb-down version of tiles which are more "user-friendly", but slows my team down in the end."
"We would love to get feature updates and cumulative updates fixed. I know they aren't really supposed to be pushed with Patch Manager. We've got recommendations from ConnectWise to use the scripted feature update installs, scripted KB updates, etc. Having these in Patch Manager itself would be great."
"Scheduling of automation could be improved and made more simple."
"The wait time for a support ticket to be addressed needs to be reduced. They take a couple of days to get back."
"There could be better linkages between ConnectWise Automate and Manage from a ticketing perspective. Automate and Manage each has its own ticketing system. We use the one in Manage, but it'd be nice if they were linked directly to the one in Automate."
"The only problem with it is that the setup isn't very intuitive. I know that they just upgraded the product to make it a little bit easier to use, but compared to some of the other platforms, it is not easy to configure it, set it up, and get it running. However, once you have set it up and got it running, it runs great."
"ManageEngine Endpoint Central’s scalability could be improved."
"ManageEngine Desktop Central should keep up with some of the features that other major vendors are providing, such as Microsoft."
"The product must provide more API integrations with different ERP tools."
"ManageEngine Endpoint Central setup is a little bit complex at the beginning, but that is normal because we have to set up different aspects of the solution and clean up our organization."
"The Deployment scheduler needs updating to support various methods for deployment."
"Sometimes computers fail to receive patches, and we need to investigate why."
"Some difficulties with setup for multiple locations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I pay $85 a month per user for a ConnectWise package that contains multiple solutions."
"Pricing and licensing are reasonable."
"I believe Automate is available for around $2."
"From what I've overheard, it is pretty comparable to other solutions in terms of price."
"The price could be cheaper."
"The licensing is very easy to understand and pricing is right for what you get."
"The product is not expensive."
"The solution is very affordable."
"The product is cheap."
"We had perpetual licenses. The cost was around 36,000, and then you'd have the yearly maintenance fee of 2,000 or 3,000."
"Choose wisely between the Professional and Enterprise editions, based on your needs."
"The pricing of the product is not bad compared to the other similar solutions in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise35
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
How to choose between ManageEngine Desktop Central and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM)?
ManageEngine Desktop Central is very easy to set up, is scalable, stable, and also has very good patch management. What I like most about ManageEngine is that I can log on to every PC very easily a...
What do you like most about ManageEngine Endpoint Central?
Well, what we like is that it catch actually a lot of features constantly upgrading. So all the three maybe there there were some features as the tenant on the earliest version. Now it's it's almos...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine Endpoint Central?
I would rate the pricing as seven; it is quite expensive from my point of view for ManageEngine Endpoint Central.
 

Also Known As

LabTech for IT Service Providers, ConnectWise Automate for Corporate IT Departments, ConnectWise Automate for IT Service Providers
ManageEngine Desktop Central, Desktop Central, ManageEngine Desktop Management MSP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

I-M Technology, Mainstay Technologies, PC Works Plus, Integrity IT, Kerkhoff Technologies Inc., Marathon Consulting, Christenberry Sales Company, EDTS, Secom Technology, Ready to View, ARRC Technology, DaVinci Digital, JNR Networks, Quinn Technology Solutions, PCIT, Liberty Technology, Capital Computers & Networks, Atlanta Technology Force, Doberman Technologies, First Column Enterprises, CisCom Solutions
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Strathallan School, BMI Healthcare, Comercial Kywi, First Priority Federal Credit Union, Gerab National Enterprises
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