Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Security Administrator at Dev Information Tech Pvt Ltd
MSP
Top 20
Offers compliance management, pack management, software and OS deployment, and power management capabilities and real-time detection of endpoints
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support for BigFix is really amazing."
  • "One aspect that could be improved is the speed of the console. Sometimes it can be slow, which is something that needs to be addressed."

What is our primary use case?

I am supporting a client and serving as an administrator of BigFix. My responsibilities include taking care of the whole infrastructure, patch deployment, vulnerability scanning, vulnerability assessment, third-party application vulnerability mitigation, generating reports, and ensuring compliance with security standards such as the CIS checklist. We handle all the security standards related to BigFix.

What is most valuable?

BigFix has several good features. Firstly, its client on the endpoints consumes less than 2% of CPU memory. Unlike other solutions like CrowdStrike or Tenable, where clients communicate with the database once a day or collect data every two days, BigFix offers real-time detection of endpoints. For example, if we have predefined conditions for monthly OS patches on various operating systems like AIX, Windows, Linux, and Mac, BigFix provides its own external sites where patches released by Microsoft or Mac are stored. These patches and content are integrated with the BigFix network. Each patch or package has relevant conditions that continuously evaluate the endpoints to determine if they are applicable. When creating software packages, we ensure that relevant conditions are met to prevent redundant deployments. This is important as continuous patching without checks can lead to system corruption or device issues. 

We are currently managing more than a hundred devices. So, upon creating a package with the relevant condition in place, there are already thousands of devices that have that specific package deployed. The condition checks to ensure that the package is not redeployed to those devices, avoiding any potential issues that can arise from repeated deployments. 

In some internal solutions, continuously deploying patches to an endpoint can lead to system corruption, device hang-ups, or other problems. However, BigFix prevents such issues by evaluating the relevance of each patch and ensuring it is only deployed when necessary.

BigFix is an endpoint customer solution that offers various capabilities. It enables compliance management, pack management, software and OS deployment, and power management. You can also integrate One Ready scanning tools like Qualys or Tenable, allowing vulnerability feeds to be directly evaluated within BigFix. 

If BigFix does not have a pre-existing solution, we can create our own scripts using its action script and relevant language. The platform supports multiple scripting languages, including PowerShell and Python, providing flexibility for deployments.

What needs improvement?

One aspect that could be improved is the speed of the console. Sometimes it can be slow, which is something that needs to be addressed. When compared to other solutions like Tenable or CrowdStrike, BigFix constantly communicates with the database in real time, which can cause some slowness.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working dedicatedly with BigFix for the past five years. We are currently using version 10.0.4 of BigFix.

Buyer's Guide
BigFix
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about BigFix. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

BigFix is stable overall. However, like any software, you may encounter occasional issues, but they are manageable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. Scalability is relatively easy to achieve with BigFix. We already have a capacity planning guide in place that outlines predefined steps to check and scale the environment. It provides guidelines for designing the infrastructure to meet scalability requirements.

Currently, I'm working with a large enterprise that uses BigFix.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support for BigFix is really amazing. There are dedicated technical support engineers available, and you can open tickets or seek help through the BigFix forum. Additionally, there are technical solution architects who can assist you. Just open a ticket with the Excel support team, and they will be there to help you.

The support is generally excellent, but there may be occasional delays due to their workload.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

When it comes to the root server, you have the option to use either Windows or Linux. Deploying the root server is a straightforward process. Deploying the root server is the first step. After that, if you're considering deploying the complete infrastructure, you'll need to follow the capacity planning guidelines. It will help determine the appropriate infrastructure requirements. For instance, if you have 10,000 devices, it is recommended to use a server with at least 128 GB of RAM, 32-core processors, and a robust server configuration. You can choose to host it in a cloud-based environment or a dedicated environment, but it should meet the necessary specifications in terms of RAM and processor capacity.

Once you have the server set up, you will define your release strategy. This involves setting up top-level releases and renewal releases. The reason for having multiple releases is to distribute the load and avoid overburdening the root server. Top-level releases communicate with the root server and receive data from it, which they then distribute to the lower-level releases. These releases, in turn, distribute the data to the endpoints.

As for the installation process, it is quite straightforward. Once the root server is installed, you need to install the console. Once the console is installed, you can proceed to deploy clients or agents on the endpoints. 

BigFix provides a built-in client deployment tool called the Data Tool. Using this tool, you can leverage your active directory credentials to scan and analyze your network, identifying devices that have or do not have BigFix installed. Once the scanning process begins, the tool will start deploying the agents to the appropriate endpoints. The installation of the agents does not require a reboot. However, when deploying the infrastructure itself, a reboot may be necessary. But for clients deployed on agents or endpoints, whether it's servers, Windows 10 machines, or Linux machines, the agent installation does not require a reboot. 

Once the agents are installed, they automatically refresh themselves every 15 minutes. They communicate with the nearest relay to check if any new content needs to be deployed to that particular endpoint. The agent keeps checking with the relay and deploys content if there is any to be received.

What about the implementation team?

For the complete infrastructure deployment, you need to follow capacity planning guidelines. This will help determine the required infrastructure.


Recently, we have set up new infrastructure, and capacity planning is a time-consuming process. Depending on the client and their requirements, it can take a couple of days to two weeks to finalize the agreement, especially if there are cost constraints. Companies often have limitations on project expenses. Once everything is finalized, it takes just one day to get the entire infrastructure up and running.

As for the endpoints, when we start deploying agents on laptops or desktops used by end users (not servers), it can take up to 30 days. This is because the agents are deployed as the endpoints come online intermittently. We keep the deployment policy open for five business days to accommodate this.

So, to summarize, infrastructure installation is typically completed within six to eight hours. After that, the network team checks the network utilization and load, and if necessary, they adjust the bandwidth. Deployment of agents onto clients usually takes about a week, but in server environments with a large number of servers (e.g., 5,000 servers), all the clients can be deployed within an hour or two. Once the entire infrastructure is up and running, we need to monitor the dashboards to ensure that BigFix is performing as expected. This monitoring period lasts for 30 days. Once everything is set up and functioning properly, we can start using BigFix.

For the basic setup of BigFix, you would typically require two architects: one familiar with Windows and another familiar with Linux. Additionally, networking expertise is needed to enable and disable certain ports. The involvement of various teams is necessary, especially the network team, which handles port opening and tunnel creation. For environments larger than 20,000 endpoints, two architects are needed. However, if the environment has around 5,000 to 10,000 endpoints, one architect is sufficient. Apart from the architects, you would also need two sole operators to manage all the modules within BigFix, such as inventory, compliance, cash management, and lifecycle management, which includes package deployment and patch deployment.

Currently, we have two people managing the maintenance of over a thousand devices. However, we recently increased the team to three members. They provide 24/5 support and handle various issues, including configuration and web application problems. If you require 24/5 support, it's recommended to have two architects and two operators who have a good understanding of BigFix. During peak times, the architects are available, and during off-peak hours, the operators can handle the tasks.

What other advice do I have?

I would say that with great power comes great responsibility. As a BigFix admin, it is crucial to be careful and use the tool wisely. You have the ability to bring positive outcomes, but one incorrect deployment can have severe consequences and potentially disrupt the entire network.

Overall, I will give BigFix an alpha ten out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1956723 - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation Architect at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to set up, simple to manage, and is easily accessible
Pros and Cons
  • "BigFix has always been easier to use when managing servers, especially when you deal with so many servers. We have 7,000. That's a lot of services to manage, and it's convenient to patch them all at once."
  • "The relevant language takes a little getting used to since it's not used anywhere else in the industry. It's just in the BigFix environment."

What is our primary use case?

It's mostly patch-inflated. For the company I currently work for, we manage about 7,000 servers, and we use BigFix Enterprise to do most of the relevant software updates and patches to stay within compliance and away from vulnerabilities for many of our product users.

How has it helped my organization?

I'm not sure how the company functioned before. I'm fairly new.

What is most valuable?

The product is easily accessible. We already did the network setup and things like that. It is to manage servers conveniently throughout the company if it's already listed on BigFix. Where it has the BigFix client on it, it's just a matter of sending the patches and waiting for it to run.

We have the management side of BigFix as well. Most of the time, we typically don't have any problem, however, every once in a while, we try to find out why a patch didn't work, and things like that. It helps us keep on top of things.

BigFix has always been easier to use when managing servers, especially when you deal with so many servers. We have 7,000. That's a lot of services to manage, and it's convenient to patch them all at once.

It's easy to set up. 

What needs improvement?

Once in a while, some servers don't get patched, usually from our end of things. Maybe a server hasn't been reported in the last few weeks, and we don't know whether that server has been decommissioned or not. That's not on in BigFix in particular.

The relevant language takes a little getting used to since it's not used anywhere else in the industry. It's just in the BigFix environment. If there's anything that could be improved, it would be making the relevant language more readable and more common. 

We'd like the solution to be agentless, similar to, for example, Ansible. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's been around for a while, according to what I've seen. It used to be an IBM product before the move to an HTC, so I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a lot of complications. It'll still be a pretty stable product moving on into the future.

For now, it seems like BigFix has been the most popular for server management.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Considering the fact that the company I work for is pretty big, if that's the product they're using for their server management, I would say it's offering pretty good scalability. It's a very scalable application for managing servers. Some people use it for one or two servers, or maybe 30 or 40. We use it for pretty much all the servers managed here, and to my knowledge, that's about 7,000. It used to be 10,000. However, we decommissioned a bunch of irrelevant servers.

We do not plan to expand usage just yet.

How are customer service and support?

We talk to HTC from time to time. We do lunch and learns with them and take most of our questions directly. They're quite easily contactable for the company to reach out to and set up a meeting, and they're usually very helpful. They're a great resource.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I did not previously use a different solution. The company's been around for a long time, and it seems like everybody's just known BigFix to be one we used. I'm a bit newer to the company.

How was the initial setup?

The implementation was fairly straightforward. Documentation was online, so you just have to read it and follow instructions. It's pretty straightforward.

The deployment strategy more or less depends on our current environment for the company. It took me a while, not due to BigFix, just due to the company restrictions for onboarding employees. You have to have permission to access this and that. So it took a little longer than it would if it was on a local system, my private system, or something like that. 

Currently, we have two teams that can handle deployment and maintenance. There are those on the Window side, for managing the Windows servers, and there's the Linux OS applications team. They both pretty much do the same thing for two different operating systems.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment was handled in-house. However, we are looking to try and automate more in Ansible going forward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't deal directly with licensing. 

My understanding is that it is  affordable. We have had conversations about other licenses, and other applications like Splunk, and we know that one is more expensive. Pricing hasn't been anything that's even come up in conversation.

What other advice do I have?

While we are using the on-premises deployment, we are moving towards the private cloud. 

I'd advise new users to read a lot of the documents before subscribing to their licensing. Read much of the documentation and know what use cases would work for you. Before you get into it, try the trial version, as it might help to test it out to see what it is.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
BigFix
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about BigFix. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Account Manager at Techlab security
Reseller
Top 20
Maximizing patch management efficiency and competitive pricing but needs asset management improvements
Pros and Cons
  • "It covers multiple operating systems and helps with patch management."
  • "BigFix could improve its asset management capabilities to discover assets, including hardware."

What is our primary use case?

BigFix is primarily used for patch management, compliance, and security patches.

How has it helped my organization?

It covers multiple operating systems and helps patch customers with patch management services, alleviating patch management issues for our customers.

What is most valuable?

It covers multiple operating systems and helps with patch management. BigFix is also valuable for its inventory, license inventory, and compliance with server hardening.

What needs improvement?

BigFix could improve its asset management capabilities to discover assets, including hardware. More improvements could be made in asset management.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been reselling BigFix for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The overall stability of the solution is good with no reported issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very easy to scale.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support from HCL is satisfactory and not usually an issue.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The installation is quite smooth and can be managed by one person, depending on the complexity and size of the environment.

What about the implementation team?

Our project team managed the installation quite smoothly.

What was our ROI?

There has been a significant return on investment, particularly saving time and resources in patch management and compliance. It saves approximately 40% to 50% of time and resources.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is competitive, but not the most competitive.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer2123019 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a tech consulting company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Simple patching, useful patch reports, and good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable aspect of BigFix is its ability to patch desktops. While we have complete control over servers and can easily push patches to them, desktops pose a greater risk for leaks and vulnerabilities if patches are not installed in a timely manner. By using BigFix, we have significantly improved our ability to patch desktops, whether they are laptops, desktops, or other mobile devices used by end-users."
  • "In order to derive maximum benefit from BigFix, it is essential that we configure all of its features and implement them effectively. If the automation could be improved we would be able to mitigate the risks associated with zero-day threats."

What is our primary use case?

We are using BigFix for sending patches to our servers and desktops, such as security and regular updates.

How has it helped my organization?

BigFix has enhanced our organization by demonstrating its efficacy in delivering software updates to endpoints. For example, Microsoft releases patches and we are able to easily make them available for our end-user computing platforms. Additionally, by utilizing the network inventory feature in BigFix, we have been able to substantially improve error percentages and completion statuses, and generate reports on patching percentages within a day and subsequent weeks.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable aspect of BigFix is its ability to patch desktops. While we have complete control over servers and can easily push patches to them, desktops pose a greater risk for leaks and vulnerabilities if patches are not installed in a timely manner. By using BigFix, we have significantly improved our ability to patch desktops, whether they are laptops, desktops, or other mobile devices used by end-users.

What needs improvement?

In order to derive maximum benefit from BigFix, it is essential that we configure all of its features and implement them effectively. If the automation could be improved we would be able to mitigate the risks associated with zero-day threats.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used BigFix within the last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. The primary role of the solution is to patch the systems to the latest released security updates. We have not had any issues once we had deployed the solution correctly.

During our exploration of available solutions, we found that very few in the market offer comprehensive security features. In our evaluation of BigFix, we were particularly impressed with its VMware functionality, which far exceeded that of other solutions we considered. Rather than having to configure multiple solutions, BigFix provided us with basic security information and VMware management detection and response all in one. While the effectiveness of BigFix is certainly a key consideration, its ability to consolidate security features was a major factor in our decision to choose it.

I rate the stability of BigFix an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of BigFix an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the support of BigFix an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Microsoft SCCM prior to BigFix. We switched toBigFix because we wanted to have a complete solution. Microsoft SCCM was lacking features, such as managing the network endpoints, the discovery of the endpoints, VMware functionality, and Linux patching.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment of BigFix is complicated. There are a lot of firewall ports that need to be configured and with a company with 50,000 employees, this can be a challenge. The configuration could improve by being more streamlined in the future.

We were assigned a project manager from the BigFix team who provided us with a comprehensive list of requirements for establishing effective communication. However, implementing these requirements across multiple countries and coordinating with various network teams posed a challenge, particularly in terms of opening the necessary communication channels through firewalls. This was a daunting task, especially if the application utilizes codes that are commonly blocked by firewalls.

The full deployment of the solution took three months.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution is high. There are not any additional fees from the standard license.

I rate the price of BigFix a seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

For those considering the use of BigFix, my advice is to pay close attention to the deployment phase. This involves identifying the necessary firewall ports and ensuring that the servers are configured to communicate with the internet to download patches. Proper deployment is critical for ensuring smooth operation in the future, as troubleshooting can be difficult once the solution is fully deployed.

I rate BigFix an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
DocBurnham - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Technical Architect - ITAM at a tech consulting company with 5,001-10,000 employees
MSP
Easy to use, good sub-capacity licensing, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "It's good for reporting hardware and software."
  • "The sub-capacity licensing was a challenge for some of it. We had trouble getting it to calculate right."

What is our primary use case?

It matches with the ILMT tool. We're trying to validate the licensing for IBM software. 

How has it helped my organization?

We're using the permanent discovery tool for septic for hardware and software too. For IBM, we have to use that due to the reporting of sub-capacity licenses.

What is most valuable?

It's mostly easy to use.

The sub-capacity licensing is the most valuable aspect of the product right now for us. 

It's good for reporting hardware and software. 

The solution is stable.

Technical support is helpful.

It scales well.

What needs improvement?

It's got some complexity when we're trying to figure out the IBM setup for software.

The sub-capacity licensing was a challenge for some of it. We had trouble getting it to calculate right.

It's better for hardware discovery. We get to increase its capabilities for hardware discovery. They need to enhance their sub-capacity capabilities, so we can use it easier for sub-capacity so that it is less of an art form and more of a science.

We'd like agents to be able to collect usage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution on and off for about eight years or so. I've used it for quite a while now. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution has scaled well for what we are doing. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been very good. Sometimes they can't do things if it is not a function of the system; however, if the function of the system is possible, they help us and make it work. We are satisfied with the level of support we get. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not overly complex. The complexity was the handling of configurations. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing was good. We had government pricing going into the project and it was pretty fair. 

What other advice do I have?

I am using the latest version of the solution. I am not sure of the exact version number. I help different companies. Some are on the latest, and some aren't.

I'd advise people to understand what data they need and that the solution can actually pull that data in the right format for them.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ali Dahbi - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Onsite Support at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Effective patch management, plenty of features, and simple deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable and essential features of BigFix are all of them, they are needed when serving the purpose of the desktop operation framework. We cannot run operations without patching or without having an appropriate mechanism for deploying software, et cetera. The features all serve their purpose for our use case."
  • "BigFix can improve the way machines report back to the console. In the external relay management environment, it has become more of a hybrid environment with most of the machines not being on-site. The need of having public-facing reporting items interconnected is becoming more and more crucial. In general, the reporting could use some enhancement."

What is our primary use case?

We are using BigFix for desktop management, endpoint management, inventory, application control, remote control, building machines, master images, OS deployment, and software distribution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable and essential features of BigFix are all of them, they are needed when serving the purpose of the desktop operation framework. We cannot run operations without patching or without having an appropriate mechanism for deploying software, et cetera. The features all serve their purpose for our use case.

The one feature that provided the most value and efficiency would be patch management. It's the most powerful feature in BigFix.

What needs improvement?

BigFix can improve the way machines report back to the console. In the external relay management environment, it has become more of a hybrid environment with most of the machines not being on-site. The need of having public-facing reporting items interconnected is becoming more and more crucial. In general, the reporting could use some enhancement.

In a future release, it would be a benefit to have a cloud-based solution with external cloud-based relays. Additionally, having a remote control in the cloud feature would be interesting.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using BigFix for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

BigFix is stable. However, there have been a few minor issues, such as the relay's not reporting.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of BigFix is good. How deployment is not that large in size. The exercises that we do are pretty limited.

We have approximately 30 administrators using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

Our company has a good relationship with the reseller that we work with and the support they provide to us is fair.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of BigFix was easy because we started from scratch, we didn't have a CCM before. The deployment of BigFix is a powerful feature, it is simple to do.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of BigFix could be lower. However, I am always seeking a lower price.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is for them to take a holistic approach while designing. Don't look at one functionality, but look at the environment as a framework. View it from all aspects and merge operation with security. Don't let your focus be on the compliance of your environment or on the operation element alone, take other aspects into consideration, such as the security aspect, which is fast remediation, vulnerability management, and end-of-life management.

I rate BigFix an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
VP of Solutions at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It can manage lost devices, so you can wipe them remotely to ensure the IP doesn't get out in public.
Pros and Cons
  • "BigFix can manage lost devices, so you can wipe them remotely to ensure the IP doesn't get out in public. Unified endpoint security is a new perspective. I know that HCL is also collaborating with IBM, but I'm not sure if there is any cooperation between them and MaaS360 or other endpoint components."
  • "The main shortcoming of BigFix was integration with vulnerability management. If you had a vulnerability in your software and BigFix on the endpoint, you needed integration with Qualys, Tenable, or another vulnerability management solution to fix that. It was like, "Okay, we can identify issues, and get that information back from the endpoint, but what are we doing about it?""

What is our primary use case?

We used BigFix internally at my previous org. My current company is a BigFix reseller. A lot of people are looking at endpoint security now, but we primarily used BigFix for true endpoint management.

Endpoint security has become the main thing, but we used BigFix for patching and a lot of the other use cases in the past, and I think it worked pretty well. Obviously, the market has gotten much more crowded. 

What is most valuable?

The UEM component evolved into reunified endpoint management. Many of our customers used it for deployment and patching. HCL has a new endpoint security approach now, but it was really for managing that. 

BigFix can manage lost devices, so you can wipe them remotely to ensure the IP doesn't get out in public. Unified endpoint security is a new perspective. I know that HCL is also collaborating with IBM, but I'm not sure if there is any cooperation between them and MaaS360 or other endpoint components.

What needs improvement?

The main shortcoming of BigFix was integration with vulnerability management. If you had a vulnerability in your software and BigFix on the endpoint, you needed integration with Qualys, Tenable, or another vulnerability management solution to fix that. It was like, "Okay, we can identify issues, and get that information back from the endpoint, but what are we doing about it?" 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been solid when I've used BigFix with customers in the past. In that space, I don't think everybody is doing as much innovation as in other areas in the endpoint management or security market. 

I delineate between those two because endpoint management is a different use case. I think it's probably become a lot more important since the pandemic started.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We never had any challenges with scalability. Some of our customers had tens of thousands of endpoints. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used a few competitors a while back, but I don't know what LANDESK is up to these days. They were a big player in the market, but I don't know what other contenders are out there now.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The patching tool is $250 per client device per year. The inventory and discovery tool is $15 per client per year. They have a lifecycle management tool that is the central component for managing endpoints, which costs around $43 per year. BigFix Compliance is the other part, and that's also around $43.

What other advice do I have?

I rate BigFix nine out of 10. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. It depends on your infrastructure. If you have a pure Microsoft shop, you can probably get by deploying and managing endpoints their way. 

However, if you have a mixed environment of any kind, BigFix is good at what it does. Patch management is vital for security posture, so I wouldn't be surprised if BigFix is becoming increasingly popular.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Application administrator with 201-500 employees
Real User
Very user-friendly with helpful support and great for IBM environments
Pros and Cons
  • "It's very straightforward."
  • "Maybe the online help could be improved. It'd be nice if you would have a lot more phrases and keywords that you could search for and find answers with the help."

What is our primary use case?

It's primarily used for endpoint license monitoring. It's for the usage of applications, monitoring usage of CPUs, and stuff like this. When you have an audit, you can prove very fast what product you are using and what kind of CPU resources they are using.

There are other use cases. For example, I can find details for every use case where I need to know something about the software installed. Once, we had a Log4j bug. When the Log4j bug was live, we could use BigFix to analyze which of all the servers and clients this bug is used.

What is most valuable?

It's very usable for a technician, for an administrator. It's very straightforward. The usability is very close to everyday technical tools that you use as a systems administrator. So it's quite user-friendly. That said, it's not user-friendly for someone who is not working a lot with stuff like this. 

What needs improvement?

It's quite user-friendly if you are technical and if you just know what you want to do and to do the tasks. It's not user-friendly for someone who is a new user or something like this. It's specialized and user-friendly.

Maybe the online help could be improved. 

It'd be nice if you would have a lot more phrases and keywords that you could search for and find answers with the help.

It would be nice if there could be an extra interface. Not really to script something. However, if you want to make a drag-and-drop script, something like this, that would be quite useful for us.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for one year now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable and reliable. That's not a problem at all. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The end users are all the teams. We have a Windows team, Linux team, application team, et cetera. All the teams work with the outputs of this tool. There might be 40 to 50 people or something working with this product.

You can have relays, and then you can scale it. It's a scalable system.

I work with it regularly, every week.

How are customer service and support?

Their online help mechanisms and documentation need to be improved. It's hard to find documented answers to your questions as the search functionality isn't ideal. 

That said, their direct support is excellent. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not worked with any other similar product.

How was the initial setup?

I did not set up the system. It was set up when I got the task to take care of this product. It was already installed.

The product itself doesn't require a lot of maintenance. Of course, the server and client updates would be good as the tool has clients. The clients install them on all machines. However, the topic itself needs a lot of maintenance. If you want the data in BigFix to be up to date in case of an audit, you have to take care of the insights of BigFix. BigFix itself is running. However, the list of the servers needs to be correct, et cetera.

What about the implementation team?

It was set up within the company. There was no outside assistance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't handle the licensing aspect of the solution. I can't speak to the price. 

What other advice do I have?

I am working with the latest update. I'm an end-user of the product.

I'm totally satisfied. For the use of the product that we have, it's totally working. It's fine.

I would recommend the solution if you are using a lot of IBM software in your company. If you are using BigFix and you have the client installed on every machine, you are nearly always audit-safe from out of the box. I would recommend it to everybody who has to take care of a lot of IBM product licensing. For everybody who has a lot of IBM products to be licensed, I would recommend using BigFix.

I'd rate it eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BigFix Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: July 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BigFix Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.