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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

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

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
336
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
KACE Systems Deployment App...
Ranking in Configuration Management
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Configuration Man...
Ranking in Configuration Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Software Distribution (1st), Server Monitoring (6th), Patch Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 6.9%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) is 1.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 8.8%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune6.9%
Microsoft Configuration Manager8.8%
KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA)1.3%
Other83.0%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24
Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license
The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.
MH
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
User interface and deployment efficiency save time and reduce staff needs
The best features KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) offers include the ease of operation and the ability to create images for deployment. When I say ease of operation, the user interface is easy to create the images, and the people deploying do not have to have access to the appliance in order to deploy images. KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) has positively impacted our organization by allowing us to keep labs with over 300 machines all up to the exact same image for every semester. This has saved our team hundreds of man hours and reduced it down to just a few people doing the deployment compared to how things were done before SDA.
NS
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized endpoint control has streamlined deployments and improved security compliance
In my experience, the best features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are software deployments and updates, OSD, hardware and software inventory, compliance and configuration baseline, reporting and monitoring, and integration with Intune hybrid management. These features make endpoint management efficient and scalable. The feature I rely on the most day-to-day is software deployment and patch management. It keeps endpoints updated and secure with minimal manual effort. Inventory and compliance monitoring are also important, but daily deployments are critical. Microsoft Configuration Manager has had a significant positive impact on our organization in several ways: improved efficiency, enhanced security and compliance, standardization, scalability, and visibility reporting. Overall, Microsoft Configuration Manager has helped us save time, reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and maintain strong control over our endpoints. One of the biggest impacts Microsoft Configuration Manager has had on efficiency is the reduced manual work for software deployment and patching. For example, deploying a new application or security updates to hundreds or thousands of devices previously required several days of manual effort, including running scripts, checking devices individually, and validating installation. With Microsoft Configuration Manager, these tasks are automated and managed, allowing deployments to complete in hours rather than days. We also have automated reporting for deployment success and compliance which saved the IT team significant time that used to be spent gathering and reconciling inventory data from multiple tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to work from all over the planet is valuable. You just need a functioning and working Internet connection."
"When a user receives the machine, sets it up, and turns it on, it connects to the domain and begins installing software, becoming ready within approximately half an hour, which represents a significant time savings for IT departments."
"I would rate the stability of Microsoft Intune nine out of ten."
"Intune's integration with Microsoft 365 is exceptional."
"By using Microsoft Intune, I can control my Outlook on my phone, and whenever I try to open any file attachment, it will be more secure."
"Microsoft Endpoint Manager is not expensive overall, especially for small environments."
"Intune is flexible. If you want to move a device that was previously on-prem, we can bring it to the cloud and apply all the policies. This is helpful for even those organizations that were on-prem and not on the cloud. They can also come and use these features, which are pretty cool and would be handy to protect the data and manage the devices as well."
"The solution offers very good integration with broader enterprise systems and allows companies to capitalize on costs, especially if they are a Microsoft shop."
"Its ticketing is pretty good."
"I'm just an end-user; I'd recommend the solution to others as it has a good balance between pricing and functionality."
"KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) has positively impacted our organization by allowing us to keep labs with over 300 machines all up to the exact same image for every semester, saving our team hundreds of man hours and reducing it down to just a few people doing the deployment compared to how things were done before SDA."
"This solution has made life easy with respect to patching, compliance, and OSD."
"It provides what we need."
"It is a very good solution. It has a good interface and is easy to use. On top of that, it is very reliable in terms of distribution as well as getting the report."
"The cloud account management is a valuable feature."
"It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer."
"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is very scalable."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the OSD and application deployments, and it also automates updates."
"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."
 

Cons

"Historically, Group Policy has simplified the management of various items, such as printer and drive mappings and while Intune offers workarounds, it lacks native support for these functionalities."
"One big problem with Microsoft is that they're changing the names of the products quite often, or they're quite consistently doing so. Constantly switching the user interface or the administrative interface makes it quite hard to keep pace."
"What I'd like to see in their next upgrade is more in the context of today's security policies and what's needed, for them to keep adding features based on that, for example boosting security, so they can keep on adding security features, and that is the best they can do."
"Microsoft Intune could enhance its patch management for various devices, ensuring regular updates and tracking of device privileges."
"For additional functionality, I suggest that Microsoft could expand on asset management. Since the platform is there, they could develop it into a full-fledged asset management system."
"I would like to see Intune improve its handling of hybrid domain joins. We continue to experience issues with machines losing their hybrid domain join status."
"For an existing customer who has an SCCM, it would need to be upgraded to an MECM first before I can introduce Microsoft Intune."
"Intune is not the most user-friendly mobile device management platform available."
"I have heard feedback that the imaging is slow. It takes somewhere around an hour to image one PC."
"KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) works well, but it would be nice if it were org based like the SMA, allowing one SDA to service several different departments."
"I have heard feedback that the imaging is slow. It takes somewhere around an hour to image one PC."
"Marketing: Our management doesn't understand that there is a piece of software which helps them automate and manage the entire network, as far as operating systems on computers."
"This solution needs to be supported on all Operating systems."
"Based on my experience with SCCM 2016, the main, big issue is not having a good user-friendly environment."
"The cost of the product can be improved."
"It offers a very difficult cloud gateway when it comes to cloud management."
"SCCM is a high CPU/memory consuming application and so it would be fine that Microsoft could improve performances."
"The ability to integrate MDM would be great."
"The solution can be improved by speeding up the synchronizing of the policies on the devices."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is cheaper than our company's other MDM tools."
"Intune is available as an individual product, but it also comes with Office 365 Premium or an Enterprise license, and the price varies for each version."
"Intune's pricing is reasonable considering its benefits and the high costs it helps avoid."
"The solution is cost-efficient."
"Microsoft Intune has been incorporated into our Microsoft E5 licenses."
"The price of Microsoft Intune is reasonable."
"It's affordable. It's cheaper if you have an Office 365, E5, or E3 subscription because everything is there."
"Intune is included in the Microsoft 365 licensing package that we have."
Information not available
"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."
"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"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."
"Presently, I am using a free trial version."
"The price could be better."
"For enterprises, there is an annual license required to use this solution. The price of the solution could be cheaper. However, this is mostly because of the exchange rate from the dollar to the Nigerian currency."
"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
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
No data available
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business126
Midsize Enterprise54
Large Enterprise167
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise66
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kace Systems Deployment Appliance?
The pricing for KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) is straightforward, and the setup was easy.
What needs improvement with Kace Systems Deployment Appliance?
KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) works well, but it would be nice if it were org based like the SMA, allowing ...
What is your primary use case for Kace Systems Deployment Appliance?
Our main use case for KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) is to deploy workstations as well as lab machines. We u...
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 ...
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. Wh...
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 effi...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
No data available
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Information Not Available
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 KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA) vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,728 professionals have used our research since 2012.