ConnectWise Automate vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

The compared ConnectWise and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. ConnectWise is ranked #8 in RMM , and holds a 7.2% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #7 in SM , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of ConnectWise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ConnectWise Automate

Read 15 ConnectWise Automate reviews

1,583 Views
1,013 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Read 85 Microsoft Configuration Manager reviews

9,866 Views
1,776 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

ConnectWise Automate

Microsoft Configuration Man...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ConnectWise Automate and Microsoft Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about NinjaOne, Kaseya, datto and others in Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM).

To learn more, read our detailed Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

January 2026

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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

ConnectWise Automate

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (8th)

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Distribution (1st), Server Monitoring (7th), Configuration Management (3rd), Patch Management (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 7.2%, down 7.6% compared to last year.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Server Monitoring, holds 4.4% mindshare, down 6.7% since last year.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ConnectWise Automate	7.2%
Kaseya VSA	16.4%
NinjaOne	11.5%
Other	64.9%

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Server Monitoring Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager	4.4%
Zabbix	18.1%
Checkmk	8.1%
Other	69.4%

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Sean Saeb

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.

Read full review

JunedBedrekar

Expert at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Have effectively deployed patches and applications while integrating with cloud solutions

The features I find most valuable in Microsoft Configuration Manager are replication and scripting. If I want to get a fetch report for anything, such as hardware-related issues or group policy-related issues, I need to fetch the report by using SCCM's scripting language and remediation part. The inventory collection features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are good because we always prefer the inventory. We do it by using the script language. We use remote management capabilities in Microsoft Configuration Manager. Remote management capabilities are useful if the user is not providing access; we can use the backend users to update the group policy and sync the devices. These are the main features we require.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Remote access and detailed monitoring help us support our equipment."

"It is very scalable."

"It's a very good IT tool for a company that provides IT services. It is very helpful for technicians to work with the tool to see all of the customers in one place and then manage all of the computers in one place."

"Scripting and patch management are really important for us. Patch Manager is something that we use a lot, and we would love to have it continually improved. It is one of the most useful features for us for controlling patches and other things for different clients."

"This product saves us a lot of time and increases our efficiency."

"The database is great. It's a nicely ordered database."

"The initial setup is easy and the deployment is quick."

"The most value we get from this solution is that everything is on a patch cycle."

More ConnectWise Automate pros

"The most valuable feature of SCCM is the application distribution."

"It does the job and meets our needs. With everybody working remotely these days, we are using this solution to deploy everything. The deployment of PCs is easy."

"Microsoft is being very competitive right now, and they are really investing in a lot of new features to be more competitive in the marketplace."

"The major features of this product are the reporting tools. The most valuable features are package deployment and application deployment. Security management is also good because any vulnerability will be identified, and you can fix it. It's the best tool because you never know what kind of client you will have. For example, you may have your offices in low bandwidth remote areas. But it's achievable because it accommodates the bandwidth that you have available. Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is an excellent reporting tool for your environment. If you want to know the details about the hardware configuration, software configuration, what is causing a problem, or when a new feature update comes in for Windows, even that goes on SCCM itself. A lot of deployment stuff."

"This has made the management of our environment easier."

"I find the product valuable for deployment recovery and it has done much more than that."

"Software deployment and WSUS are most valuable."

"Patching is the main feature because SCCM is made to control the entire environment without manually interpreting. So it is good to use for patching."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"The wait time for a support ticket to be addressed needs to be reduced. They take a couple of days to get back. It is a little frustrating when we have to wait for a couple of days. A lot of times, the issue is critical for us. If we're reaching out to their support team and submitting a ticket, it is because we need it handled quickly."

"They could use some automated alerts particularly when we're talking about an MSP that might shoot over."

"Patching and reporting need improvements, especially reporting. The reporting engine is quite outdated, so you end up having to use your own dashboard."

"I have a problem with the reports available on the solution. I don't understand how to work with the reporting functionality. For example, when I want to give a report for a specific machine, ConnectWise doesn't seem to have this as an option. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, or if the reporting functionality is just poorly conceived."

"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."

"The project management needs improvement and there's a section of the product called configuration that also needs to be improved."

"The menu doesn't always load properly."

"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."

More ConnectWise Automate cons

"There's no way to say, "I want this maintenance window to be on the second Tuesday of the month." It's strict. This window is this and that's it. You can't fluctuate."

"I'm looking for a single solution for all discovery needs. It fulfills about 40% of the requirements, and I'd like to see the other 60% so that I don't have to keep doing this."

"Some of the capabilities aren't fully developed yet. It's an ongoing work in progress. I think they are making some steps in the right direction as far as managing workstations centrally, like Intune."

"They should improve their anti-malware policies like the SCEP policies. For instance, you can't have different policies for different servers, there is only one policy in all the servers, and everything is covered under that. For example, say you want to scan one group of servers on Saturday, and then you want to scan another group of servers on Sunday, you can't do that. You have to scan all your servers, a regular scan or a full scan, on the same day and at the same time. That's definitely one thing they need to resolve. In the next release, it would actually be nice if they included Apple products. It will also help if you can use Intune again. Their compliance reporting feature could also be better. They can maybe work a bit on that for patching now. It would be better if SCCM came with the functions of Right Click Tools built-in. If SCCM would have all those functions already built-in, we won't have to go and spend $5,000, just as an add-in from another company to get those functions."

"Regarding this, I'd like to mention the agent situation. When the agent on an end-user device is not functioning correctly, it can be quite problematic. It would be highly beneficial if there were a self-healing mechanism in place. Essentially, if the agent becomes corrupted or encounters issues, it should be able to rectify itself autonomously. This is particularly critical because, in order to utilize a tool like MECM (assuming you're referring to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager), we need to deploy agents, known as AsMs, on all the devices we use, such as Windows 10 or Windows Server. Sometimes, when we deploy configurations or updates, they don't apply properly due to agent issues. This issue has been present since we began using MECM around 23 years ago. Unfortunately, there is currently no built-in mechanism for the agent to detect its own problems and initiate self-repair. Microsoft doesn’t have any feature to scan vulnerabilities and hence, they could include those."

"It needs to be able to load faster during deployment."

"This solution needs to be supported on all Operating systems."

"The configuration of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could be improved, it is a bit complicated."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing and licensing are reasonable."

"I pay $85 a month per user for a ConnectWise package that contains multiple solutions."

"I believe Automate is available for around $2."

"From what I've overheard, it is pretty comparable to other solutions in terms of price."

"There is not a license needed to use the solution."

"The price model is different for every client."

"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."

"Microsoft provides a steep price for their enterprise products, but they offer very competitive pricing for their legacy customers."

"The price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is expensive."

"Pricing and licensing are a downside of SCCM. It's expensive. I'd have to confirm this, but I think they changed the licensing to core-based instead of socket-based. It's not cheap, because you have to buy the software, you have to buy SQL. Another thing we learned from talking to Microsoft is that they provide you a license for SQL if you run it on the same box as the primary server. If you run it outside that box, you have to buy SQL. Microsoft does recommend you running it on the same box because of performance. But then, in order to run SQL, SCCM, and everything on the same box, you better have some resources. It's an expensive solution. There's no doubt about it."

"SCCM comes with its own version of SQL Server. If you use that SQL Server with SCCM and don't use it for another applications than you get an SQL Server for free."

"When you compare this solution with other tools in the market you might actually find a lot of variation in the pricing and that's why people opt for the other tools rather than Microsoft tools."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Performing Arts

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	64

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about SCCM?

One of the standout features of SCCM is its application management capabilities. It allows us to create packages efficiently and deploy them to specific groups within our network. This streamlined ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Kaseya VSA vs ConnectWise Automate

Compared 29% of the time

Datto Remote Monitoring and Management vs ConnectWise Automate

Compared 16% of the time

Atera vs ConnectWise Automate

Compared 9% of the time

NinjaOne vs ConnectWise Automate

Compared 8% of the time

ConnectWise Asio Platform vs ConnectWise Automate

Compared 4% of the time

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 9% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 7% of the time

Tanium vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

PDQ Deploy vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ConnectWise Automate

January 2026

Download ConnectWise Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

January 2026

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

LabTech for IT Service Providers, ConnectWise Automate for Corporate IT Departments, ConnectWise Automate for IT Service Providers

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS

Overview

ConnectWise Automate is an IT management tool that helps deliver IT services at the speed of business. Our remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform provides powerful automation to discover & manage devices, monitor for problems, and automate action. Deliver streamlined reactive and proactive managed services, stop putting out fires, and start focusing on what matters most. See why over 5,500 partners worldwide chose ConnectWise Automate by visiting ConnectWise.com or calling 877-522-8323.

ConnectWise

Microsoft Configuration Manager streamlines IT management with features such as software deployment, patch management, and automation, centralizing operations for Windows environments. Integration with Microsoft products allows efficient oversight of workstations and servers.

Microsoft Configuration Manager provides comprehensive IT management, offering software deployment, patch management, and application pushing. Automation reduces manual tasks, ensuring consistency across systems. Centralized management enables standardized OS deployments, application updates, and configuration integrity. Integration with Microsoft products facilitates seamless operations, while hardware and software inventory, compliance reporting, and remote control functions enhance IT management. Users seek improvements in application deployment for those without deep scripting knowledge and desire better WSUS control, PowerShell and Intune integration, Linux compatibility, and user interface enhancements. Performance improvements are requested for remote user management and third-party application support.

What features enhance Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Software Deployment: Efficiently distribute software across large networks.
Patch Management: Automate and streamline update processes for security and functionality.
Automation Capabilities: Reduce manual effort and enhance consistency in IT tasks.
Centralized Management: Standardize OS deployments and application updates.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Seamless operation with existing Microsoft infrastructure.
Hardware and Software Inventory: Comprehensive tracking for assets and resources.
Compliance Reporting: Ensure compliance with internal and external standards.
Remote Control Functions: Enhance support and troubleshooting capabilities.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Decreased Manual Work: Automation reduces time spent on repetitive tasks.
Enhanced Security: Automated patch management keeps systems secure.
Consistent Configurations: Centralized updates ensure uniformity across systems.
Improved Integration: Seamless operation within Microsoft ecosystems boosts productivity.
Comprehensive Oversight: Detailed inventory and reporting tools aid in strategic planning.
Streamlined Support: Remote capabilities improve IT support and user satisfaction.

Microsoft Configuration Manager is widely implemented in organizations to manage Windows workstations and servers. It is essential for deploying operating systems and applications, managing software updates, and conducting hardware and software inventories. The tool is crucial for endpoint and configuration management, ensuring compliance, and automating processes like patching and vulnerability management. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and education rely on Microsoft Configuration Manager to keep systems secure and operational, adapting it to address their specific needs and challenges in maintaining diversified IT environments.

Microsoft

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

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad

Buyer's Guide

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

January 2026

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