GFI LanGuard vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

GFI and Microsoft are both solutions in the Patch Management category. GFI is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1. GFI holds a 3.0% mindshare in PM, compared to Microsoft’s 15.5% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of GFI users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

GFI LanGuard

Read 10 GFI LanGuard reviews

1,333 Views
623 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Read 81 Microsoft Configuration Manager reviews

4,318 Views
3,334 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

GFI LanGuard

Microsoft Configuration Man...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 24, 2024

Microsoft Configuration Manager and GFI LanGuard are competing in the IT management software category. Microsoft Configuration Manager seems to have the upper hand, particularly for large enterprises due to its comprehensive feature set and integration capabilities.

Features: Microsoft Configuration Manager offers application deployment, patch management, and comprehensive compliance reporting, making it suitable for managing devices and configurations in corporate networks. It also provides deployment automation, remote control functionality, and centralized console management. GFI LanGuard excels in vulnerability assessment and asset tracking, focusing on security insights across endpoints and offering robust patch management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Configuration Manager could improve by simplifying its setup, reducing high resource consumption, and expanding PowerShell support. Further integration with Microsoft Intune is also needed. GFI LanGuard could enhance scalability and integration with cloud services, improve multi-user access, and simplify software rollback features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Configuration Manager supports on-premises and hybrid deployments, offering flexibility but potentially requiring skilled IT personnel. Customer support, while sometimes slow, becomes proficient at higher support tiers. GFI LanGuard is straightforward for on-premises deployment, though it faces challenges in hybrid environments. It is praised for good customer service with adequate online resources.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Configuration Manager is seen as expensive due to licensing requirements, including SQL and additional cloud services, but offers significant ROI by reducing operational costs, especially for enterprises using the Microsoft ecosystem. GFI LanGuard's competitive pricing appeals to small and medium-sized businesses, with bundled services providing good value through effective patch management and security analysis. Both products optimize IT management tasks, though ROI varies based on organizational size and complexity.

To learn more, read our detailed GFI LanGuard vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GFI LanGuard vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

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

GFI LanGuard

Ranking in Patch Management

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Ranking in Patch Management

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (4th), Configuration Management (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of GFI LanGuard is 3.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 15.5%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Patch Management

Featured Reviews

Ted Mbugua

Security Manager at CRAG

Scalable, light on resources, and useful visibility

The most valuable features of GFI LanGuard are the vulnerability assessment, it provides us with substantial insight into what applications are running on the endpoint systems and what vulnerabilities are there in the running applications. The second would be the assets tracking. I'm able to see in the network whether my endpoint server is operating and if all the other IT equipment is running in the environment. Additionally, GFI LanGuard is not heavy on system resources. It gives a competitive advantage over others.

Read full review

MikeNelson2

IT Infrastructure Coordinator at NSW Government

Deployment recovery works well but requires configuration improvements

While I do not use the product frequently, many issues were due to configuration rather than the product itself. I cannot give an exact recommendation as it is not my area of responsibility. The team that uses it finds it adequate. It is presently good enough for us not to investigate other options. Overall, I rate the product a six out of ten.

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

"The most valuable feature is that I am able to patch third-party solutions."

"The most valuable features of GFI LanGuard are the vulnerability assessment, it provides us with substantial insight into what applications are running on the endpoint systems and what vulnerabilities are there in the running applications. The second would be the assets tracking. I'm able to see in the network whether my endpoint server is operating and if all the other IT equipment is running in the environment. Additionally, GFI LanGuard is not heavy on system resources. It gives a competitive advantage over others."

"The most valuable feature of GFI LanGuard is its email spam feature."

"It is helpful to patch and scan vulnerabilities."

"I like that the solution can block users from unnecessarily putting devices on the network."

"This product is a great solution at a great price as long as it is only going to be used for a local area network."

"The solution is easy to use and integrates well with other operating systems."

"The most valuable features in GFI LanGuard are patch management and vulnerability assessment."

More GFI LanGuard pros

"The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."

"Endpoint Manager is valuable to our organization because it allows us to connect to our enterprise from remote locations securely. The most useful feature is its robustness and scalability. It is highly scalable and flexible, allowing us to use it in various environments. Additionally, we can specialize the policies related to each device group. This ensures that each group has access to the applications they need for their work and non-work hours."

"The solution is highly scalable."

"Technical support was helpful and responsive."

"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is very scalable."

"Automation of operating system, application, and update deployments massively reduces IT operations effort."

"Microsoft Configuration Manager is integrated with other Microsoft products."

"This solution has made life easy with respect to patching, compliance, and OSD."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"This solution is limited to the local area network only and cannot manage remote devices."

"The version we are using only allows one person to use it at a time and does not allow multi-users."

"GFI LanGuard can improve by adding asset tracking."

"The documentation on how to use this solution in a Linux environment is not clear, which is something that should be improved because it is complicated."

"GFI LanGuard has some technical limitations with machines."

"If GFI LanGuard had a cloud version it would be better for people that are working from home."

"GFI LanGuard could improve the rollback feature. If we have installed the wrong we have had some issues with the rollback function. Additionally, more input from GFI LanGuard for the custom software push install."

"The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes."

More GFI LanGuard cons

"The tool's deployment can be cumbersome."

"Devices like smartphones and tablets are managed very well on VMware, however, they are absent in SCCM. I could configure iPad from the VMware site and it was done very easily. It should be just as possible on SCCM."

"SCCM does not scale well, which is one of the reasons we are not going to continue to use it."

"It should provide the ability to remotely connect to mobile devices. There are some solutions that are doing that, but with Microsoft Intune, the only way to remotely connect to devices outside the organization and mobile devices is by using TeamViewer. It is pretty strange for a big company like Microsoft to not have something for that."

"I would like to see some improvements in WSUS and control of other, non-Microsoft, product updates."

"The downside of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is it's an on-premise-based solution. With the pandemic coming on board the need to support users across the globe has increased. For a while, we would use the in-built Microsoft Teams screen sharing feature but the disadvantage of that is you cannot perform privileged access. Microsoft does not give you access to that. That's where you need cloud-based tools, such as BeyondTrust or Freshservice."

"Initial setup was complex. There's a lot that goes into it."

"The solution is on-premises. The cloud version of the product, if a person needs to be on the cloud, would be InTune, which already exists as an option. SCCM doesn't need to offer cloud features for this reason."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"GFI LanGuard has very fair pricing compared to other similar solutions out there."

"I rate the pricing of GFI LanGuard a four out of five."

"On a scale of one to five, with one being expensive and five being competitive, I would rate the price as a four."

"GFI LanGuard cost approximately $1,000 annually to use the solution."

"We are a gold partner and we receive favorable discounts. The price of GFI LanGuard is competitive. When you evaluate other solutions, such as ManageEngine."

"GFI LanGuard isn't expensive."

"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."

"The price model is different for every client."

"I rate the price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager an eight out of ten."

"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."

"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."

"Pricing and licensing are horrible. You have to not look at dollar value to use SCCM. It's super-duper expensive but it works. The acquisition cost is expensive, it's labor-intensive. But it works."

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

"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

Photography Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GFI LanGuard?

The most valuable feature of GFI LanGuard is its email spam feature.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GFI LanGuard?

The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes. Instead of directly white listing...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for GFI LanGuard?

Internally, as a user, I use GFI LanGuard for email and web monitoring.

See all answers

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

ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus vs GFI LanGuard

Compared 37% of the time

Microsoft Windows Server Update Services vs GFI LanGuard

Compared 19% of the time

Ivanti Patch for Endpoint Manager vs GFI LanGuard

Compared 15% of the time

NinjaOne vs GFI LanGuard

Compared 8% of the time

BigFix vs GFI LanGuard

Compared 7% of the time

More GFI LanGuard Competitors

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Tanium vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 8% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 6% of the time

AWS Systems Manager vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GFI LanGuard

February 2025

Download GFI LanGuard product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

February 2025

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

LanGuard

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

Overview

GFI LanGuard enables complete patch management of security and non-security patches to Microsoft operating systems, Mac OS X, major Linux distributions and third-party applications. It can also automate patching for all major web browsers too.

GFI

Microsoft Configuration Manager helps IT manage PCs and servers, keeping software up-to-date, setting configuration and security policies, and monitoring system status while giving employees access to corporate applications on the devices that they choose. When Configuration Manager is integrated with Microsoft Intune, you can manage corporate-connected PCs and Macs along with cloud-based mobile devices running Windows, iOS, and Android, all from a single management console.

New features of Configuration Manager, such as the support of Windows 10 in-place upgrade, co-management with Microsoft Intune, Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise Servicing Dashboard, integration with Windows Update for Business, and more make deploying and managing Windows easier than ever before.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

BayView Medical Clinic, FrugalBrothers Software, Zaw, National Theatre, American Red Cross

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

Buyer's Guide

GFI LanGuard vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

January 2025

Free Report: GFI LanGuard vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

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