AWS CloudFormation vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management comparison

AWS CloudFormation vs. OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of March 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 AWS CloudFormation is 3.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management is 2.0%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	6.9%
AWS CloudFormation	3.4%
OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management	2.0%
Other	87.7%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

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.

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Sridivya Chillappa

application security engineer at Hyperspace IT India

Automation and consistency in infrastructure deployment provide a robust foundation

When it comes to the challenges with AWS CloudFormation, I faced a few challenges. One challenge is associated with large infrastructures; the template can become very long and hard to manage. Sometimes, the error messages during stack creation or update can be very hard to troubleshoot. Managing the correct order of resource creation and some updates can be tricky, especially with interdependent resources. If a stack update fails halfway and rolls back, it sometimes leaves the resources in an inconsistent state. AWS imposes a limit on stack size and the number of resources per stack, which can be quite constrained for large deployments. Despite all this, once we have experience, we can overcome these challenges very easily. Stack creation or updates can be slower than expected, especially with large and complex resources, and certain resource types or dependencies can add to the wait time. Nevertheless, AWS offers a way to optimize performance by breaking large templates into nested stacks. It's very capable, but there is room for improvement in speed.

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it_user1272306

Chief Technology Officer at DoITWise

Helpful impact analysis and the discovery capability is quite good

This tool works hand-in-hand with RPA technology. RPA will allow you to control your servers by deploying the server automation agent. You don't have the discovery, but then you can deploy the policies that maintain the authorized versus current state. On top of that, you can use server automation to deploy patches or remediate configuration issues on the operating system. My advice to anybody who is implementing this solution is to ensure that the process is set up properly, first. Once the process is set up, the tool will do the rest for you. Overall, this is a comprehensive tool that works well, and I wouldn't touch it other than to enhance the UI and make containerization work without the CDF. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It supports end-users who tend to lock their devices quite frequently. Its conditional access policy helps us keep the users logged into their devices."

"I would recommend Microsoft Intune to others; it is a very good and scalable solution."

"Microsoft Intune has definitely reduced management burdens."

"The most valuable features are the ones that make sure that the deployment is of a standard operating system and the Zero Touch deployment, which is very useful. This allows users to have an out of box experience."

"Maturity makes it a stable product."

"We like Intune's Autopilot functionality, which enables one-touch deployment. Dynamic grouping is another feature we find valuable working in academia. We have people in buckets based on their roles in the university, such as faculty, staff, alum, or grad. Sometimes, they will fit into multiple places, and dynamic grouping helps with that."

"The biggest benefits of Intune are the ability to push changes and the added security. When we moved forward with Defender, we onboarded all those machines automatically. That helps dramatically. For a while, we were left with machines that weren't protected. We could see where people had done things they shouldn't have done, and Defender saved our skins a few times. It didn't happen a lot, but it happened enough that it made us glad we made that decision."

"It's cloud-based with no need for on-premise infrastructure, you can access it anywhere and start working on it, and you will have the record of data in your hand anytime if you need it quickly."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The CloudFormation template can be reused to create multiple stacks, reducing duplications and improving our infrastructure."

"It is easy to work from the console and deploy new database services."

"By using AWS CloudFormation, I can automate tasks like creating VPCs and load balancers instead of doing them manually each time. The features I like most include improved scalability, resource management, ease of deployment, template creation, and resource provisioning."

"Its ability to treat infrastructure's code is valuable. It makes things automatable and reproducible."

"The time to market is really good, I would say, because you can quickly set up a blueprint and deploy it, and the initial setup is simple."

"The most beneficial aspect lies in its capability to handle input acquisition and assessment."

"With CloudFormation, there is no need to use complicated coding."

"CloudFormation has helped automate the infrastructure in AWS, making the process more efficient."

More AWS CloudFormation pros

"The most valuable feature is the impact analysis."

"Overall, this is a comprehensive tool that works well, and I wouldn't touch it other than to enhance the UI and make containerization work without the CDF."

"We use it for managing our desktops; we have 350,000 desktops and it allows us to manage and control them relatively easily."

"Automatic Spiral Discovery: This feature enables deep and dynamic configuration and change management."

"Helps me perform changes in connected infrastructure thanks to the discovery features."

Cons

"Intune's server management could be better. If it could incorporate more features from System Center into Intune's Configuration Manager, it would be beneficial."

"Intune's third-party patch management could be better. It should be easier for the average system admin to keep non-Microsoft applications updated."

"A new Intune feature allows application packaging, but it incurs additional licensing costs for a significant number of applications."

"Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft Intune is absolutely useless for protecting my environment."

"If you have a reporting-extensive company, for example, then you may need to look for other products."

"Issues such as Windows 32 app failures occur frequently, and detailed manual detection rules are often necessary."

"There is room for improvement in the reporting capabilities, specifically app reporting. It is challenging to report which apps are installed on which device."

"The interface is not as modern as some competitors in terms of single pane of glass visibility across the entire landscape. It has a very Azure vibe and may not be as graphically appealing as other products."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"There are some limitations with JSON, as the code is written in JSON, which doesn't support commands, looping, or conditionals. This can make the code difficult to read and share across teams. Moreover, the tool only supports AWS."

"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."

"The solution must enable more hands-on designing of the templates."

"The Infrastructure Composer is not fully complete, making it necessary to tweak the code manually after generating it, which could be improved."

"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."

"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."

"The product should be made cloud-agnostic, allowing users to deploy the same environment with minimal tweaks across different cloud platforms, similar to Terraform. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have the ability to manage templates outside of the AWS environment."

"Error-handling features can be improved."

More AWS CloudFormation cons

"The infrastructure itself is stable, but the agent has a lot of problems."

"It needs dashboards."

"The native UI should be simplified because it is outdated and a little bit over-complicated."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The overall pricing of Microsoft Intune is good for companies that have big IT budgets, 3,000 or more users and devices."

"Microsoft Intune's pricing is reasonable."

"It comes as a bundle, so you do not really know what the prices are. Microsoft does not break it down to the user cost for us. It is just bundled with our E5 license."

"While I don't have access to high-level financial information, I believe we have achieved lower costs with this implementation."

"Based on the features that it gives, it is cost-efficient. It is not necessarily on the expensive side of the scale. It provides a hefty number of features that any organization would want. It is in a good price range."

"The pricing for Intune and the competitor products are all within the same range, there is no true advantage when it comes to cost."

"Intune is included with our F3 and E5 licenses."

"I recently got to know that the AD P1 license is compulsory to use Intune Autopilot, which was surprising for me. Earlier, this was not the case. It is the wrong thing to do. We now need to purchase AD P1 licenses for us and for our customers. I would rate it a seven out of ten for pricing."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"AWS CloudFormation doesn't have any cost because it's only the resources that you deploy with the solution that'll incur costs."

"In general, pricing within AWS is relatively affordable."

"The tool's pricing depends on the page model."

"The product is free."

"If you compared serverless and container-based, serverless is less expensive. If you use certain instances the price can increase and become too expensive."

"AWS CloudFormation's pricing is cheaper than that of other cloud providers."

"The tool is free for the AWS environment."

"This solution is free to use and does not require a license."

More AWS CloudFormation pricing and cost advice

"This is a really good tool for the money."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

University

27%

Government

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	124
Midsize Enterprise	53
Large Enterprise	167

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	17

No data available

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 is free. However, there may be unexpected costs if developers deploy services incorrectly without ...

What needs improvement with AWS CloudFormation?

When it comes to the challenges with AWS CloudFormation, I faced a few challenges. One challenge is associated with l...

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Comparisons

Compared 10% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

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HashiCorp Terraform vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 12% of the time

AWS Systems Manager vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 9% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 9% of the time

Chef vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 8% of the time

BigFix vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 3% of the time

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HashiCorp Terraform vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

Compared 9% of the time

BMC TrueSight Server Automation vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

Compared 8% of the time

AWS Systems Manager vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

Compared 8% of the time

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor vs OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management

Compared 4% of the time

More OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

AWS CloudFormation

Download AWS CloudFormation product report

Configuration Management

Download OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management product report

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

CloudFormation

Micro Focus ZENworks Configuration Management, HPE CMS, HPE Configuration Management, Micro Focus Configuration Management

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

AWS CloudFormation provides a common language for you to model and provision AWS and third party application resources in your cloud environment. AWS CloudFormation allows you to use programming languages or a simple text file to model and provision, in an automated and secure manner, all the resources needed for your applications across all regions and accounts. This gives you a single source of truth for your AWS and third party resources.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management helps you manage both devices and software across your entire environment. A single, unified web console provides insight to both devices and software, improves visibility, and helps reduce costs.

OpenText

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia

Tech Mahindra, NNIT, ASIC

AWS CloudFormation vs. OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management