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ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft 365 Business 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

ManageEngine Endpoint Central
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (4th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (3rd)
Microsoft 365 Business
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
242
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd), Content Collaboration Platforms (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

ManageEngine Endpoint Central and Microsoft 365 Business aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ManageEngine Endpoint Central is designed for Client Desktop Management and holds a mindshare of 41.3%, up 38.6% compared to last year.
Microsoft 365 Business, on the other hand, focuses on Mobile Device Management (MDM), holds 7.5% mindshare, down 11.0% since last year.
Client Desktop Management
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
LaminDrammeh - PeerSpot reviewer
Improves productivity and allows team collaboration in organizations
Previously, my company did not use a unified communication tool. For unified communication, my company started to use Microsoft 365 Business. My company used to use technology like Slack for team collaboration. My company used to use local products to manage emails. My company had a totally different license for Office 365. Microsoft 365 Business was chosen by our company as a solution to combine everything. My company does not use a similar technology, like Microsoft 365 Business. In general, my company improved by moving away from disintegrated technologies, and now we are able to integrate different technologies using Microsoft 365 Business.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Very good, functional solution for endpoint management."
"Patch management features are an important feature."
"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine Endpoint Central is the central management console. Additionally, inventory tracking is helpful for knowing where our assets are."
"Since deploying Desktop Central our endpoints are all updated. We use configuration management to deploy shortcuts to our users' desktops with ease. Also, we use configuration management to map logical hard drives to our users. Our users are very happy with how much ease IT can solve their problems."
"ManageEngine has improved my organization because right now we can actually monitor and find out which software products are installed on each desktop. We can then figure out which ones have to get patched and so forth."
"We can scale the product."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The most important feature we found to be useful in the COVID situation is the secure connection, which gives the IT support staff the ability to seamlessly connect with the users remotely and in a secure way."
"Microsoft 365 Business is useful. It's very useful because, for example, if I can't find my phone, I can just log in and find it at home."
"This is a user-friendly product that is easy to use."
"It is an excellent and powerful program."
"The most valuable features are that it is quite robust and is a collaborative model."
"We've found the stability to be very good."
"It is easy to use."
"The solution is scalable."
"The initial setup is easy to implement and deploy."
 

Cons

"Computer imaging is powerful but breaks frequently. The reason for this breaking is not clear and requires heavy amounts of attention to keep operational. There is a lot of room for this tool to do more but the reliability of this process should be focused on first to ensure core competencies are being fixed before more features are added."
"The reports provided by the product are an area of concern where improvements are required. The visibility provided by the reports is not very attractive."
"I would like to see them include the ability to find out the network usage but I believe that might be a feature of it already."
"The pricing is lower than other well-respected solutions in this category."
"Some difficulties with setup for multiple locations."
"Documentation could improve so we don't need to create the support requests first."
"The reporting analytics could improve in ManageEngine Desktop Central. However, there are some third-party add-ins or modules you can purchase to do reporting analytics."
"Improvement of the chats on the web communication through the WAN would be helpful."
"It would be better if they offered more integrations to integrate with other platforms. It should also allow the content to be accessed over the LTI."
"The price could be better."
"From my experience, I would like to have a very clear way to distinguish between the billing plans and what is offered for the corporation and for personal usage."
"The stability could be improved."
"Their support could be improved. They should pick the right people who are capable of resolving technical issues."
"Bandwidth usage is not always the same depending on the network connection."
"Google Docs and Google Sheets are much more flexible than Microsoft 365 Business software. Additionally, I have found one of the biggest issues with any of the Microsoft management platforms is they are tremendously unintuitive. However, you get used to it, you accept it, and you work away on it."
"The latest update has got a lot of bugs and it is causing us problems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is not costly. The product is properly priced, especially for SMBs."
"The pricing of the product is not bad compared to the other similar solutions in the market."
"There are multiple flavors of the app. They have a distributed version for enterprises. It depends on your size. They price it on a per machine basis. 250 or 500 is probably their least amount."
"The pricing is very low, compared to other products. Compared to Intune or SCCM, it's much less. I can say it's a good product for less of a price."
"We pay about $250 a year for our license."
"Choose wisely between the Professional and Enterprise editions, based on your needs."
"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."
"Compared to other products, ManageEngine Endpoint Central is a very cheap solution."
"The price of the solution is fair but as a company, we would like it always to be cheaper. There is a license for this solution and the type depends on the organization."
"It works out to be $12.50 per user per month."
"The price in general could be cheaper."
"The licensing fees are paid yearly."
"The product is expensive and the licensing costs are yearly."
"The price of users at home the license should be cheaper. We are on an annual subscription."
"We are on a monthly subscription for the use of Microsoft 365 Business. There is an additional fee for support."
"I rate the pricing of the program a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine Endpoint Central?
I am not aware of the pricing and costs. I might know more when we renew our contract.
What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Business?
The product's initial setup phase was straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?
The cost is not perfect. I rate the cost as seven out of ten. It could be more affordable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
In terms of features, we expect improvements in analyzing capabilities. Specifically, providing Power BI for a lower package, such as e3, would be beneficial.
 

Also Known As

ManageEngine Desktop Central, Desktop Central, ManageEngine Desktop Management MSP
Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Strathallan School, BMI Healthcare, Comercial Kywi, First Priority Federal Credit Union, Gerab National Enterprises
Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs. Microsoft 365 Business and other solutions. Updated: May 2019.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.