Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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 The password management tools are fairly outdated.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 most valuable feature is the ability to manage all devices through Apple's DEP and forcing them into Jamf pre-stage enrollment."
"We have been able to keep our tech department lean and mean, maximizing our efficiency by utilizing Jamf to set up our iPads for us, rather than installing each app one at a time."
"We can set custom deployments based on every available parameter in macOS."
"One of the key features that I liked the most and a lot of the customer value as well is the geofencing. Geofencing is geographical locations. If the device is on a particular premise, then the policy applies. And when the device is not there, the policy goes away."
"We are able to manage our full fleet of devices and can simply integrate with all of our systems."
"With the countless API integrations and Jamf Marketplace add-ons, Jamf is customizable and is a total device management tool for Apple's ecosystem."
"Automated Device Enrollment workflows are great for zero-touch deployments, vital in the current global context. With Automated Device Enrollment workflows, we can deploy new Apple devices directly to end-users without help from the IT support team."
"Being able to easily deploy apps and patches to our client computers with minimal hands-on time from our techs has been huge."
"It lets you know what your infrastructure is like and what state you are in."
"This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system."
"I find the product valuable for deployment recovery and it has done much more than that."
"Patching is very effective and reporting is very good."
"It uses detailed descriptions of the workstations, and that is good for me."
"Provides great insight into the functionalities of the data scope."
"The tool's most valuable features include security updates and patch management, which are critical functions for maintaining security. The automated software distribution and the ability to manage deployments are also highly useful. Enforcing compliance with set policies on systems is another key functionality we leverage."
"What's valuable is the basic management of the systems, being able to control who can access the systems."
 

Cons

"I would love to see an integrated ticketing system built-in, better reporting templates to help analyze the data (software usage, etc.), and integration with FREE SSL Cert (letsencrypt.org) with auto-renewal."
"Jamf Pro could be improved by providing more out-of-the-box integration with other systems such as Active Directory, Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions, and other IT management tools."
"For Windows, we have a reset option. We'd that option available for Mac."
"I would like to see Jamf add more training tutorials and documentation."
"Jamf should give the option to download individual device policy logs, as this capability would really help to diagnose issues."
"One feature or improvement that would be awesome is some sort of mobile app from Jamf that can be used to alert admins of custom alerts."
"Sometimes, the server gets slow. The dashboard is only getting loaded."
"It would be nice if there was a built-in means of renaming computers that worked reliably."
"This solution needs to be supported on all Operating systems."
"I would like to see more automation."
"The tool's deployment is complex and depends on the architecture you want to implement."
"I would like to see some improvements in WSUS and control of other, non-Microsoft, product updates."
"Not everything is readily available, and there are a lot of commands that are only executable via PowerShell."
"The solution should incorporate AI. It should also incorporate real-time capabilities. If we could get real-time information about challenges or issues, it would allow us to take immediate action. For example, with the recent outage caused by the Windows issue, having a real-time warning system could have helped us avoid or reduce the downtime we experienced."
"The solution should be more compatible with different versions of Linux."
"The main thing is that SCCM has to become an appliance instead of a server. When I say appliance, it has to come preconfigured so that it is drop-shipped into the enterprise and then you activate the feature sets that you want. It should pull down all the latest binaries. Once that is all there, it should have a discovery tool which goes out and discovers the assets within an enterprise. If the server, workstation, and applications are all coming from the same vendor, why not have the vendor do this work for us and automate it as much as it possibly can?"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The total ROI is worth every penny."
"Don’t go into a sales call without knowing all the details of your system because Jamf has a ton of tools outside of Jamf Pro to offer and knowing them ahead of time is a must."
"The price of a training pass for five people was $18,000 USD."
"The only thing that is kicking us a bit is the rand to the dollar exchange rate. It is priced in dollars. Every time the rand goes worse, it just costs more. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing because it is very unpredictable because of the rand to the dollar exchange rate."
"Depending on how much support you require, it might make sense to add that to the licensing agreement."
"We have signed a licensing contract for three years. There is an option to buy an annual license subscription, but we opted for three years as it came with a 25% or 30% discount."
"The price difference between Jamf Pro and VMware Workspace One is not very much, but when counting the cost of my time, Jamf Pro is clearly much better."
"The cost of any licensing is certainly outweighed by the time saved from manually managing Apple devices."
"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 licensing is quite complicated because we are getting the license not only for SCCM but for the full Microsoft package. We don't need to pay for a separate license. We need to have one license that includes everything we need, such as Windows, Microsoft 365, SCCM, encryption, and so on. So, we don't have a specific price for it. Perhaps, it is good that it includes the full suite of licensing of Microsoft. It is expensive, but we are getting a lot of features."
"I rate the price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager an eight out of ten."
"Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."
"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."
"The price of SCCM depends on the size of the organization. The price is competitive."
"We have to pay for a license."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions are best for your needs.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.