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KACE Desktop Authority 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

KACE Desktop Authority
Ranking in Client Desktop Management
3rd
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
Ranking in Client Desktop Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (4th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Client Desktop Management category, the mindshare of KACE Desktop Authority is 6.4%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine Endpoint Central is 42.4%, up from 38.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Client Desktop Management
 

Featured Reviews

DW
Saves me time and effort when adding and subtracting drives, and Premier Support handles updates
Desktop Authority is nice for us because we can pass out all of our drive mappings and our printers, throughout the office and the shop. Our environment is a very big place because we're a steel fabricator. We don't fabricate steel racks for your kitchen. We're fabricating steel buildings and beams for highrises. We're sitting on a few acres of property, so it's nice to be able to deploy and fix things without always having to walk everywhere or physically go to a machine to map a drive. It's easier to use than doing it in Windows Active Directory, which I never have loved at all. One of the benefits is time savings. If we make a change to a job and I want to pull a drive off of a set of computers, I can do it without having to leave my desk. Before we started using the solution, I would have had to go to every machine. That was a much more cumbersome way of handling it. That is one way it does save me time, probably a few hours every month. I don't have to mess around with something that I can do by opening up Desktop Authority. I can make a few changes, apply those changes, and I'm done in a matter of a few minutes. In the old days, I would have had to go outside, to every machine and every computer. We have jobs that run anywhere from two months to two years. We did a lot of steel for the Rams' stadium, SoFi Stadium in California. That job is still going and it's four years in. But at some point, we're going to want to shut that job down, and we'll shut that particular drive off of the network. And that's the advantage. I can individually go in and say, "Okay, we're done fabricating steel for this job. The shop doesn't need to see this information anymore," and I can pull it away from them really easily with this software. That's one of the things that is a huge benefit for me. That's where it's saving me time.
Gabriel Clement - PeerSpot reviewer
Good for patch server management
For Endpoint Central, as an end-user system, we set automatic deployment from Friday. If, for any reason, there are instances that are missed, we check every day from 07:00 AM to 05:00 PM. We don't need to submit automatic deployment, so it's still part of my deployment process. We set up a test server. Once we are okay with the patch that they need to test, they approve it, and then it applies to production. We used Microsoft. So, for asset processing reports and things like that, we had to move to ManageEngine. They changed the name to Endpoint Central. So, it's like that in terms of being much better and having more functionality as a product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If we make a change to a job and I want to pull a drive off of a set of computers, I can do it without having to leave my desk. Before we started using the solution, I would have had to go to every machine. That was a much more cumbersome way of handling it."
"The reporting tool is very good."
"The setup is pretty simple."
"The solution's most valuable features are its patch management capabilities, especially for third-party applications, along with quick and easy configuration and deployment processes."
"The centralized control of all of our Windows hardware that this solution offers has been most valuable to our organization."
"Page management and ADA integrations are the most valuable features of ManageEngine Endpoint Central."
"The initial setup process is good."
"Patch management features are an important feature."
"We can scale the product."
 

Cons

"It would be nice if it were a little easier to maneuver around the patch management. I would like to use that more, but it got very cumbersome and complicated when I tried to use it in the past. I haven't used that much since then."
"Their support channel could be better. They're an India-based company. They're based out of India. So, here in the States, support can be difficult when you're dealing with time zone requirements. A more global support channel would be a wise choice for them."
"The pricing could be a bit better."
"The solution isn't fully stable, and, when it goes down, it's hard to get it up and running."
"The patch management module could be simplified as it is currently a bit complicated."
"Some difficulties with setup for multiple locations."
"We would like to see options for deploying Microsoft 365 accounts into Outlook. For now we only can use it to deploy exchange accounts. Also we would like to see an option do decline Windows 7 ESU patches in a bulk."
"Sometimes computers fail to receive patches, and we need to investigate why."
"The MDM feature isn't very good. It doesn't support Amazon vendors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost was a big factor when we made the decision to go with it. It wasn't very expensive, and it's not even very expensive now. I pay less than $500 a year for it."
"The product is not costly. The product is properly priced, especially for SMBs."
"Choose wisely between the Professional and Enterprise editions, based on your needs."
"Could provide more services on the standard license"
"There is a freeware version of the solution available as long as you do not breach the number of licenses and users that are dictated."
"Affordable for any customer."
"The product is not expensive."
"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."
"I have been using the free version and am in the stage where I have to decide if I will proceed with the paid license, or instead choose another product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ManageEngine Desktop Central, Desktop Central, ManageEngine Desktop Management MSP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elevion
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Strathallan School, BMI Healthcare, Comercial Kywi, First Priority Federal Credit Union, Gerab National Enterprises
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine, Broadcom, Quest Software and others in Client Desktop Management. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.