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Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Configuration Manager 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

Jamf Pro
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (2nd)
Microsoft Configuration Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (6th), Configuration Management (3rd), Patch Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Jamf Pro and Microsoft Configuration Manager aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Jamf Pro is designed for Mobile Device Management (MDM) and holds a mindshare of 29.5%, up 28.7% compared to last year.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Server Monitoring, holds 6.0% mindshare, down 8.6% since last year.
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Pete C - PeerSpot reviewer
Customizable with a self-service portal and a good security posture
Policies enabled for self-service should have keywords attached, so that multiple search terms can direct to a single preferred result, without having to clutter the description field. The new remote support tool is still lacking features compared to other industry solutions. There is no built-in functionality for tracking changes over time for multiple devices. All patch reporting is only a current snapshot. The password management tools are fairly outdated. The web console (GUI) is slow with maddening UI/UX inconsistencies.
MikeNelson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Self Service feature, which allows us to make apps available to our staff and students was essential."
"It's as easy as procuring the licensing for the apps and then setting it to the volume purchasing back in Jamf."
"With the countless API integrations and Jamf Marketplace add-ons, Jamf is customizable and is a total device management tool for Apple's ecosystem."
"The ease of use and access allows us to manage all of our devices collaboratively."
"My team use this solution to provide end-to-end support on our managed Mac fleet. This includes doing OS updates and upgrades, application deployments, configuration settings and outlining."
"There is also zero-day support to all new Apple OS."
"The zero-day support regarding new Apple hardware and Apple operating systems is very good."
"It's a scalable product."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ability to deploy patches to nearly all applications."
"There have to be made some improvement in WSUS and control in other non-Microsoft products updates."
"I like the data collection."
"Microsoft Configuration Manager is integrated with other Microsoft products."
"What's valuable is the basic management of the systems, being able to control who can access the systems."
"This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system."
"The cloud account management is a valuable feature."
"I find the product valuable for deployment recovery and it has done much more than that."
 

Cons

"For Windows, we have a reset option. We'd that option available for Mac."
"For patch management in Jamf, two Smart Groups are required as patch policies cannot be scoped as of now. This is not a major issue, as there is a great workaround by using a wrapped "member of" duplicate Smart Group. However, being able to avoid two Smart Groups for patch management would be nice."
"I would love to see more integration with ASM and ABM."
"It would be nice to be able to search smart groups and/or filter them."
"The on-going improvements & innovation that Jamf provides over time is something that needs to be maintained, as it is what is needed to fulfill a business & team need at the right time."
"Training should be more accessible and cheaper."
"I'm not exactly sure where it could be improved off the top of my head, but there is room for improvement."
"Every once in a blue moon, we wind up with a rarely-seen superbug that takes support weeks to months to solve."
"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."
"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."
"I want the system to provide some dependency relations. I would also like to see the relationship between different machines."
"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."
"Troubleshooting in general needs improvement. There's just a ton of logs to go through, and so finding the error log that corresponds with that you're doing can sometimes be difficult."
"SCCM can improve on third-party application support."
"Management of Linux devices could be improved."
"The availability of technical support could improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a pricey solution."
"The total ROI is worth every penny."
"Depending on how much support you require, it might make sense to add that to the licensing agreement."
"The setup is pricey upfront for support and setup."
"The cost of this solution is expensive but worth it."
"This product is surely worth the cost of implementation."
"The price of this solution is a bit high but it is worth the money for the features. There is an annual license for the use of this solution."
"Jamf Pro is on the expensive side and could be slightly cheaper."
"The license price could be reduced for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager They should make the price more affordable for smaller companies, most companies would be able to use the solution if it was priced better. There are more people on this cloud because you don't have to have either a server room or an on-premise server. You can have one IT person handle this without any local infrastructure."
"There is an annual license needed to use the solution."
"The solution is expensive. Microsoft Configuration Manager would likely be considered high-priced for small businesses because they may not fully utilize all of its features and capabilities."
"The price could be better."
"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."
"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
"We have to pay for a license."
"The price model is different for every client."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
42%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
University
5%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Jamf Pro?
The most valuable features of Jamf Pro for me are the device locator, which helps find missing iPads, and the ability to remotely manage and disable devices.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jamf Pro?
The pricing structure is one of the cons. However, the licensing model is simple and easy to manage from an MSP perspective. Licenses are annual, and any changes are communicated effectively.
What needs improvement with Jamf Pro?
The biggest area for improvement is the price and the structure of Jamf's onboarding process, especially the mandatory JumpStart consultation, which can be costly for small organizations. The solut...
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...
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 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 ...
 

Also Known As

JAMF Software Casper Suite
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM )
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Xero, National Geographic, Oxford University, Via, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Fallon, Cabela's
Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
Find out what your peers are saying about JAMF, Microsoft, Cisco and others in Mobile Device Management (MDM). Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.