AWS CloudFormation vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor comparison

AWS CloudFormation vs. SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

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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 June 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.9%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 4.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is 1.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	4.9%
AWS CloudFormation	4.8%
SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor	1.6%
Other	88.7%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

OluwashileAdeniyi

Senior Infrastructure Security Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Centralized endpoint security has improved and supports hybrid work and BYOD policies

Regarding what I dislike about Microsoft Intune and its downsides, I would say that more Mac controls are needed because we have limited Mac and Linux control. When comparing controls and policies between Windows, Mac, and Linux, Windows has almost everything you can think of, while Mac and Linux have limited types of control. You cannot implement certain things on Mac and Linux that you can on Windows. The limited controls are a major issue. Additionally, if Microsoft could find a way to embed servers into Microsoft Intune, that would be beneficial. Microsoft Intune is not really designed for servers or Windows servers. It is more tailored towards Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. Windows servers are not fully supported. Enterprise organizations usually have both servers and endpoints, which are users' workstations. For servers, most people look for other solutions such as SCCM, which is Configuration Manager. However, SCCM is what Microsoft Intune is trying to replace. Both SCCM and Microsoft Intune belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to transition organizations into Microsoft Intune, the native cloud solution. However, because this update is still in process, servers are not fully compatible with Microsoft Intune and cannot be managed by it. The current policy that has emerged from issues with clients is what they call co-management, which is relatively new, and I do not know if adoption is significant. Many legacy or older customers who have been using these products for decades still have SCCM. When it is time for them to manage their Windows devices, they use what is called cloud attach. Cloud attach is a term whereby your SCCM is connected to your Microsoft Intune. Most people do not know about it, but I have deployed it for several organizations. Cloud attach and co-management work together so that your device is in SCCM, but some policies are pushed from Microsoft Intune. It is like two different solutions working hand in hand. That is what they call co-management. Microsoft Intune does not bring all of your endpoint and security management tools into one place, which is the goal and how it should be. However, as I mentioned, servers are not included. If we talk about end users, Microsoft Intune does bring all your devices together. In a typical enterprise environment, you have end users with workstations, laptops, company-issued phones, and bring your own devices. You can create policies for all of these. However, for the backend, your servers do not have much coverage. Servers are not really covered by Microsoft Intune in that way.

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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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Akhil Reddy

Software Developer at NOESIS Portugal

Alerting has helped us detect server issues across our environment

The alert mechanism is the biggest advantage of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. The customizability of the alerting system is particularly valuable. Whatever devices are in the environment, whether EC2 servers or on-premises servers, all of them can be monitored using this service. I can easily find out what exactly is going wrong in the environment. The clear audit trail aids in troubleshooting and optimization. The tool is effective for detecting unauthorized changes across platforms.

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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

"The features of Microsoft Intune that I appreciate the most are its user-friendly interface and robust security options."

"It's very informative when there is an error. It allows us to backtrace where the error is and resolve that ourselves. It's a bit of a Swiss Army penknife. We find that it fixes most issues."

"Microsoft Intune has definitely reduced management burdens."

"It is much easier to deploy software updates and Windows updates globally because of the cloud base, so I can manage from anywhere, making it quite convenient for me."

"If any user tries to access company data, it directly interacts with the conditional access policy. This helps us protect our data and set the criteria for how data can be accessed and shared."

"Since implementing this solution, our company has grown substantially, and our talent pool has significantly expanded."

"Microsoft Intune has transformed my organization; we are managing to scale the Intune deployment across all our regions efficiently, and it works perfectly for our needs."

"Our configuration profiles used to be all over the place. For example, there's a lot of legacy stuff in Active Directory. Going through Intune has helped us enforce settings, which has improved device security and functionality. When you apply something through Intune, you know it works. You don't have to worry about a legacy setting from Active Directory that was uploaded by somebody seven years ago. With Intune, you can see that a device has a setting, and you can be confident that the device is configured how you want."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The most valuable feature of AWS CloudFormation is the simple tracking of infrastructure."

"The most valuable features of AWS CloudFormation include the import and export functionality, and pseudo parameters, which reduce our coding efforts by managing parameterization at the account level."

"It allows defining the infrastructure as code using templates, which describe the desired state of the infrastructure."

"With the help of AWS CloudFormation, I have managed the updates and rollbacks smoothly when there are changes in the infrastructure."

"AWS CloudFormation has automated the resource-building process, thereby removing the scope of human errors. We can tag the resources which help the billing process."

"CloudFormation itself is free to use. You will be charged for the resources you deploy using CloudFormation."

"CloudFormation gives us control of AWS and any Cloud infrastructure. It creates the whole stack for Cloud services technologies so it's easy to manage the whole system."

"The ability to quickly run up CloudFormation in AWS and the template validation function are the most valuable features."

More AWS CloudFormation pros

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is version control. For example, if we began on the first of the month and we considered that as the configuration of the server, I could set that configuration as my baseline. On a daily basis, if there was the operations team that did, for example, server patching, the tool will maintain all levels of versions."

"The customizability of the alerting system is particularly valuable; whatever devices are in the environment, whether EC2 servers or on-premises servers, all of them can be monitored using this service."

"SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is a good-to-have solution for all customers who are under audit pressure, especially from regulatory authorities."

"The product’s alert feature is good. We receive notifications whenever some failures occur in the configuration."

Cons

"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."

"They can improve their MAM policies a little bit more and make them more granular. They should include more granular group policies. They are there, but they need to be more granular. Its stability should also be improved. It is not very stable. Sometimes, it shows some inconsistencies across tenants."

"Microsoft Intune's support for Mac devices is lacking and could be improved."

"Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update."

"There are items that require improvements. One is the controls from iOS."

"Microsoft Intune has potential for improvement; I would like to see a lot more customization in the reporting tools."

"For migrations, sometimes we experience some issues with OS deployment and the user experience side."

"However, there are some areas that need improvement, such as the troubleshooting part, which could be simpler."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"Splitting CloudFormation into multiple formations results in changes to resources like API gateway URLs and Cognito pools, which causes issues, especially when trying to maintain consistency across resources."

"It would help all users if AWS improved the auto-generation of the CloudFormation file."

"I prefer Terraform over AWS CloudFormation because AWS CloudFormation is specific to just AWS. But if I want to use a multi-cloud or hybrid setup, then Terraform works better. It uses a simple language, HCL. So, if you learn HCL, you can manage your infrastructures across different cloud providers. You don't need to be specific to one cloud provider."

"There could be better error handling. It would be a good way to improve the solution."

"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."

"They could improve the product's capability to handle circular dependencies more effectively."

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

"For a beginner, it's kind of difficult to set up. So, the user does need some knowledge in order to do it."

More AWS CloudFormation cons

"The price of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is not reasonable, it is slightly on the higher side."

"In a feature release, they could enhance the reporting. However, we have not evaluated this part of the solution extensively."

"Some dashboards I observed in Dynatrace are not available in SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor."

"The product’s support services and licensing models need improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is fair. It's a normal price. It isn't too expensive or too cheap."

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

"It is average. Some of the costs are quite high depending on what the customer currently uses, but overall, it is not bad. I would not say that I would not recommend Intune based on the cost. I definitely would, but they can definitely improve on the cost. So overall, its cost is not bad."

"No one can compete with Microsoft when it comes to price, and the features it is offering."

"It's a part of Microsoft 365 and E5 licenses. Microsoft's strategy of making every feature in Microsoft Intune paid needs optimization. Remote control is one of the basic features, not a luxury feature, yet we must pay for it. I"

"We don't pay for Intune because it is bundled with the premium subscription to Office 365. It includes Intune and Defender. I don't have to buy two extra products to manage my enterprise."

"Licensing depends on how you are providing support to your enterprise, whether it's device-based or user-based."

"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

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

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

"The tool is free for the AWS environment."

"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."

"There's no cost for launching any template using CloudFormation."

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

"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."

More AWS CloudFormation pricing and cost advice

"SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor has medium pricing compared to other solutions."

"The price of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is not reasonable, it is slightly on the higher side."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	190
Midsize Enterprise	65
Large Enterprise	185

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 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...

What is your primary use case for AWS CloudFormation?

I have experience with AWS CloudFormation. I use it to automate the provisioning of the entire environment by spinnin...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

In general, I think that licensing for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is acceptable, and the solution is qui...

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

Some dashboards I observed in Dynatrace are not available in SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. The dashboard f...

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

I work only with SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. My major use case is the monitoring of environment servers ...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

AWS CloudFormation

Download AWS CloudFormation product report

Configuration Management

Download SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

CloudFormation

SolarWinds SCM

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 scalable automation for infrastructure management using infrastructure as code principles while supporting JSON/YAML templates, empowering teams to efficiently manage resources across multiple AWS regions.

Designed to enhance efficiency, AWS CloudFormation simplifies resource management through automation, versioning, and template creation. Its integration within AWS accelerates setup and management of infrastructure by facilitating modular design and parameter management. DevOps teams benefit from these capabilities, easing deployment across complex environments. Despite its strengths, it could improve by enhancing speed, better error handling, user interface improvements, documentation, and integrating new AWS services while addressing licensing costs. Multi-cloud compatibility remains absent, which has some opting for alternatives like Terraform for broader deployment scenarios.

What are the key features of AWS CloudFormation?

Infrastructure as Code: Streamlines deployment using descriptive formats.
Nested Stacks: Allows modular and organized deployment.
Versioning: Facilitates tracking changes and rollback implementation.
Scalability: Supports large-scale operations effectively.
Template Creation: Ensures consistent and repeatable environment setups.
YAML/JSON Support: Simplifies code management across regions.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Enhanced Deployment Reliability: Minimizes errors through change tracking and rollbacks.
Automation Efficiency: Reduces manual interventions and speeds setup.
Resource Management Across Regions: Simplifies global deployment processes.
Cost Optimization: Efficient infrastructure usage cuts operational costs.

In industries like finance and healthcare, AWS CloudFormation automates infrastructure deployment, managing resources such as VPCs and EC2 efficiently. DevOps teams use it to ensure consistency through templates, facilitating quick, reliable service deployments while reducing manual error risks and enhancing scalability.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor offers a comprehensive solution for tracking and managing server configurations. It provides visibility into configuration changes, helping IT professionals ensure compliance and prevent unplanned downtime.

Designed for IT teams prioritizing server performance and uptime, SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor delivers detailed insights into configuration changes and deviations. By automating the tracking process, it minimizes manual errors and accelerates troubleshooting. Customers rely on it for maintaining compliance with internal policies and external regulations. This tool not only monitors servers but also provides alerts and automated workflows to resolve configuration issues promptly, enhancing efficiency and service delivery.

What are the key features of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

Configuration Change Monitoring: Tracks all server configuration changes in real-time to detect unauthorized or unintended modifications.
Compliance Reporting: Offers detailed reports to ensure compliance with industry standards and organizational policies.
Alerting System: Provides customizable alerts to notify IT teams about critical configuration changes.
Historical Comparison: Allows users to compare current configurations with past setups to identify variances.
Automated Workflow: Simplifies the process of managing and resolving configuration issues with automated tasks.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Improved Uptime: By quickly identifying and rectifying configuration issues, reduces server downtime.
Enhanced Security: Detects unauthorized changes, preventing potential security breaches.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces manual effort and the associated costs with automated monitoring and reporting.
Regulatory Compliance: Facilitates adherence to legal and industry regulations, minimizing compliance risks.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology leverage SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor for stringent compliance requirements and to maintain high performance standards. Its role in swiftly identifying deviations from required configurations makes it invaluable for sectors where data integrity and availability are critical.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia

Information Not Available

AWS CloudFormation vs. SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor