AWS CloudFormation vs SaltStack comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
168
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (4th), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
AWS CloudFormation
Ranking in Configuration Management
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SaltStack
Ranking in Configuration Management
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Network Automation (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 12.3%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 0.8%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SaltStack is 2.8%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management
Unique Categories:
Remote Access
4.5%
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
36.2%
No other categories found
Network Automation
3.4%
 

Featured Reviews

TA
May 17, 2024
It solves many challenges we face in deploying and configuring devices
Intune's security features for Apple iOS and Mac OS are helpful. We can check enrollment, manage public and private settings, and manage the organization's data using security key features. Like the MCM interface, the Intune portal is flexible and easy to understand. The Cloud PKI feature helps us manage our complex certificate infrastructure across our cloud and on-prem Active Directories. We are using copilot. The settings are controlled by Intune and SCCM, so the copilot works the same regardless of the product we use. It simplifies IT operations and helps us manage both. We can use AD Connect to integrate our on-prem Active Directory, connect with hybrid devices, and manage every device in the organization.
Bireshwar Adhikary - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2023
Pretty easy setup with great automations for provisioning that save time and money
There are three environments or microservices for support. The first is the sandbox which is like a playground where cloud engineers develop or deploy. The second is the UAT which is for clusters and other things. The third is the E2E environment for testing. These levels provide good support and a high level of availability. Support is very good for cloud hardening and resource tagging. In the non-pro environment, support is comparably less. It takes much more time to follow up or solve issues. On the weekends, you cannot get test study or dev team support because they are not working.
BF
Oct 13, 2023
A strong and flexible solution that helps with configuration management
We use SaltStack for configuration management, where we maintain configurations of 150 servers. It also helps with file integrity monitoring.  We monitor the configurations against CIS standards. We run CIS benchmarks and maintain configurations with higher CIS values for each server.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that it's very good and very simple. I found that we just needed to have a proper subscription for an Intune tenant, and from the subscription, if we have the right role assigned, like the global admin role or the owner role, we can use Microsoft cloud resources. With the help of that, we can do many things like setting up Microsoft Intune in the cloud to create our virtual machines. All these can be done, and the steps are very simple. I really liked it. I like features like Windows Auto-Enrollment. I like it very much because whenever you supply it to the end-user, it will be ready to use immediately. The end-user only needs to provide the user credentials, and then they are good to go. I also really like Cloud PC, which was recently launched on Azure."
"By using Microsoft Intune we can control which websites the users can go to and it provides a secure environment for our employees using their laptops that are having access from home. We have installed Intune to control the user's environment minimizing the chances of any hacking."
"While I don't think you can ever have full visibility and control, Intune certainly allows us to see the applications being used and tells us if things like Windows patches aren't applied to machines. It does a good job. That visibility makes life a little easier."
"It's easy to deploy a configuration or policy to a system, especially when you don't have Azure AD. Now we are talking to all these small and medium-sized customers who don't necessarily have an on-premise Windows Active Directory. If they have invested in Office 365 Premium, this functionality becomes available to them."
"We already use a lot of Microsoft products in our company, and therefore, it made sense to also use this product."
"The device profiling which uses the official Outlook email enabled us to control the screenshot feature and prevent copying outside of the organization's application."
"It is a helpful tool to manage BYOD policies."
"Intune enables us to manage our devices from anywhere."
"The reusability of the solution is valuable."
"Automations make it pretty easy to provision AWS, development, or deployment environments."
"The integration of the solution is very good."
"The most valuable feature of AWS CloudFormation is the simple tracking of infrastructure."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. We use it every day."
"The most beneficial aspect lies in its capability to handle input acquisition and assessment."
"What I like best about AWS CloudFormation is that it is a quick and simple way to deploy various applications, like WordPress."
"It is a highly stable solution."
"The automation functionality has been most valuable. With a click of a button, we are able to automate provisioning, the build of new hardware and apply patches. These are all extremely important and differentiated tasks that can be automated in SaltStack."
"I want to build automation that is intelligent, part of the fabric of our environment, and is somewhat self-sustaining. I think SaltStack can help me do this."
"The product’s most valuable feature is its ability to provide environmental security."
"We monitor the configurations against CIS standards. We run CIS benchmarks and maintain configurations with higher CIS values for each server."
"SaltStack has given us the ability to deal with systems at scale and rectify issues at scale."
"The ability to programmatically describe the desired state of a single, or an entire fleet of servers, on-premises, and in a cloud environment."
 

Cons

"I think that there is room for improvement with the reporting. If this is done, it will be a better product."
"Reporting in Microsoft solutions is pathetic. With Intune, I'm getting a free inventory tool, but I don't get a reporting tool. When I go to Intune, I can see one machine's entire data in terms of the hardware and the software running on it, but I cannot generate a report for all the machines in the organization. The reporting is the only feature holding back the functionality that is already there."
"It doesn't economize when you scale up. We have over 14,000 employees, and we have between 7,500 and 8,000 city-owned or personal devices being used to conduct city business. Its price can be improved. It is not a cheap solution."
"There can be delays in the deployment of new policies."
"The synchronization could be improved."
"I have a lot of Apple products in my environment. It would be nice to have an improved integration of Apple products with Microsoft Intune without Jam."
"Onboarding of endpoint devices is not straightforward. The onboarding process was a little heavier than I thought it would be. That's the key improvement area. Obviously, the more control you have over the devices, the better it is."
"It would be beneficial to have a more straightforward understanding of Intune's capabilities, presented in a simplified manner."
"The speed of the replication process could improve. It can take some time to replicate that could use a speed increase."
"They could improve the product's capability to handle circular dependencies more effectively."
"The code we write in AWS CloudFormation is pretty big compared to Terraform. We need to have more modules in the solution. A library should also be there where we can save code lines. A dashboard feature would be good for designers."
"Including certain examples of templates would be advantageous."
"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."
"Provisioning a large environment or a large number of services takes a bit more time than with Terraform."
"The conditions that can be added in AWS CloudFormation are not as powerful as any programming language."
"CloudFormation is not particularly good at handling cross-account dynamic references. If you try to refer to an object that CloudFormation has created in a separate AWS account, it tends to fall apart. That's because it is a byproduct of the multi-tenant configuration. This is the most glaring shortcoming in my perspective because you can't dynamically reference objects in other accounts that CloudFormation has created, but it is not a shortcoming that you can't overcome. This is the only pain point that I've come across that didn't have a workaround natively. Sometimes the confirmation is slow, and it could be faster. The downside to CloudFormation when you're fully embracing it is that the AWS services do not get released immediately fully CloudFormation enabled. If you need to use the latest AWS service that just got announced or reinvented, you're not going to be able to continue with CloudFormation for the first X number of months. This is because they develop the products separately, and then they hand it to the CloudFormation team, which later on develops a CloudFormation integration. So, if you need to be on the newest thing AWS has, CloudFormation is often going to be a constraint that prevents you from doing that."
"Web UI."
"A hardened set of tests would be much appreciated."
"This solution could be integrated with more hardware for an improved offering."
"It is difficult to set up."
"There is a little bit of pain when it comes to libraries and what is needed to run the product."
"SaltStack's features are minimal."
"Its configuration process could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Intune is expensive."
"Pricing can be improved."
"Previously the price was $4 per month per user. Now it's $2.25 per user per month."
"It is cheap, but as compared to Google, it is costly. Google is cheaper, but quality-wise, Microsoft Intune is better."
"The price for Intune is fair."
"It is not expensive."
"Any bundle package, such as Security E3, covers multiple things, such as AAP, BitLocker, etc. If you go for them individually, they would be more expensive. Bundling makes the price more attractive and competitive."
"Microsoft Intune is available for individual purchase at a low per-device cost."
"The pricing is not notably high."
"In general, pricing within AWS is relatively affordable."
"The tool is free for the AWS environment."
"The solution's cost is normal, neither cheap nor expensive."
"There's no cost for launching any template using CloudFormation."
"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."
"The product is free."
"This solution is free to use and does not require a license."
"It is an open-source product."
"SaltStack is an open-source product."
"So much can be done with the Open Source side, and especially for smaller shops. I personally think the pricing for Enterprise is hard to justify."
"The pricing for this solution is roughly 20% lower than the competitive products in the market."
"The solution is free of cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about AWS CloudFormation?
AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CloudFormation?
AWS CloudFormation's pricing is cheaper than that of other cloud providers.
What needs improvement with AWS CloudFormation?
Manual updates are sometimes deployed, leading to errors or disruptions when attempting to modify or tear them down. ...
What do you like most about SaltStack?
We monitor the configurations against CIS standards. We run CIS benchmarks and maintain configurations with higher CI...
What is your primary use case for SaltStack?
We use SaltStack for configuration management, where we maintain configurations of 150 servers. It also helps with fi...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
CloudFormation
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia
IBM CloudTD BankScotiaBankLinkedIneBayLiberty MutualTargetHyattCyxteraNetAppFacebookLyft
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS CloudFormation vs. SaltStack and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
787,779 professionals have used our research since 2012.