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AWS CloudFormation vs vCenter Configuration Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
277
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
AWS CloudFormation
Ranking in Configuration Management
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
vCenter Configuration Manager
Ranking in Configuration Management
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 10.2%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Configuration Manager is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
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 communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
Mbula Mboma - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates efficient infrastructure deployment with visibility into resource connections
I primarily use AWS CloudFormation for deploying infrastructure efficiently. For instance, if I want to create load balancers with target groups and EC2 instances, I find CloudFormation simplifies the process of deployment and configuration, reducing the possibility of errors AWS CloudFormation…
Nikhil Nikhil - PeerSpot reviewer
Compliance management has improved efficiency but licensing changes pose challenges
I am not using any advanced features or AI. I am employing a basic VMware vCenter setup for my infrastructure. Scalability has no major limitations, and the solution is efficient. Overall, it's satisfactory. I would rate the vCenter experience as seven out of ten due to concerns regarding license, pricing, and AI features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"As an IT administrator, I appreciate Intune's ability to implement granular device-level policies for our organization's employees."
"First of all, the integration with the rest of Microsoft's products is a major win."
"I like the group policy management feature, which performs application monitoring and device enrollment."
"Intune saves time, and it is very easy to use. It allows us to manage applications completely."
"It is a cloud-based service. It is easy to use and offers privacy."
"The security features are most definitely valuable. If I have to give an example, the lockdown features that prevent employees from configuring anything or downloading company data are valuable. We get high-quality device protection, malware protection, and information protection at the same time."
"The mobile device management is very useful."
"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."
"There is a cost-benefit to using CloudFormation that comes about because of the automation that it provides."
"The most beneficial aspect lies in its capability to handle input acquisition and assessment."
"The nested stacks would be one of the more valuable features."
"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."
"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 CloudFormation template can be reused to create multiple stacks, reducing duplications and improving our infrastructure."
"The ability to quickly run up CloudFormation in AWS and the template validation function are the most valuable features."
"It is easy to work from the console and deploy new database services."
"This solution supports multiple platforms in a single solution."
"The interface is very user-friendly and the solution is simple to use."
"I appreciate it because it's very easy to set up and configure new disks and servers."
"The solution is excellent at automating processes."
"It's a very nice solution for our needs."
"The product's initial setup process is very simple."
"The product's deployment phase was easy."
"Beneficial patch management and template features."
 

Cons

"Intune should improve its software inventory to provide better metering of which software is used throughout the company. This is especially needed for reporting third-party software solutions."
"The most significant challenge is reporting and monitoring. The reporting accuracy for deploying applications and all aspects of Intune needs to be improved."
"One area for improvement is app deployment. Another is the Windows update rollout. If you're rolling out an object to a device that's offline, Intune stops trying to reach this device after it sits idle for a bit. We are forced to find a workaround that could help manage that."
"The solution could be improved by the opportunity to connect third-party application databases, such as Chocolatey or another setup store, to Intune."
"Integration with Mac devices requires some improvement."
"Historically, Group Policy has simplified the management of various items, such as printer and drive mappings and while Intune offers workarounds, it lacks native support for these functionalities."
"I know that their AI pieces are at the infancy stage, but allowing users to do more tagging for information would be an interesting thing because Intune also directly integrates with Azure. Because a lot of the devices are hosted with that, you also get a lot of tagging of user data and other things like that."
"Intune could be enhanced by automating application upgrades, similar to how it automates operating system upgrades."
"Error-handling features can be improved."
"There is room for improvement in the optimization of AWS CloudFormation."
"Creating the inline policies is not great."
"AWS CloudFormation allows you to use the code templates written in JSON and YAML, but not directly in Python. Adding this feature would be beneficial."
"It would help all users if AWS improved the auto-generation of the CloudFormation file."
"Improving the quality of support would be helpful."
"If Amazon could extend CloudFormation to other cloud platforms, that would be good. Currently, it is only limited to AWS."
"The solution needs to offer better support to other cloud vendors."
"The functions are not running in HTML5."
"Acquiring certifications often require extensive training and successfully passing an exam, which can be costly and time-consuming, particularly if you already possess experience in the domain. As a result, this can increase the overall cost of obtaining certification and may present a challenge that requires addressing."
"Regarding the licensing part, previously I was able to acquire the license with an eight-core configuration. Now it requires a 16-core setup, which is difficult for customers who have fewer connections to the servers."
"They could improve the hybrid-cloud environment and its management, not only for the local host but also including the connection between public and private cloud."
"The only challenge my company faces with the solution in relation to the customers is something that is directly related to the tool's pricing."
"The solution needs to add its own backup system because it has issues integrating with third-party solutions."
"There are a lot of steps to do the configuration. We have to do it step by step and it is time-consuming. If it was easier it could be done quicker. There should be a preloaded configuration."
"The price could be reduced."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the price a four out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"Intune is moderately expensive. You can get the license bundled with Office 365 E3 or E5 licenses. The E5s are a bit expensive, but you get some cheaper solutions with Intune."
"The licensing costs we leave up to the customer and these vary from one to another."
"While I can't provide insights from a business perspective, it's worth noting that the pricing may differ significantly, and the discount we received might not be reflective of standard business rates."
"It's affordable. It's cheaper if you have an Office 365, E5, or E3 subscription because everything is there."
"Microsoft Intune is pretty reasonable. We have difficulty with Azure, which is probably why we have not put many assets in Azure. Everything we put there is very expensive."
"We work with the subscription rather than a server license. I think it's economical this way because we don't have to have a server license for that, and I think that works in our favor."
"Microsoft Intune has a user-based subscription model. You can go for a monthly or a yearly payment."
"In general, pricing within AWS is relatively affordable."
"The tool's pricing depends on the page model."
"AWS CloudFormation doesn't have any cost because it's only the resources that you deploy with the solution that'll incur costs."
"AWS CloudFormation's pricing is cheaper than that of other cloud providers."
"The pricing is not notably high."
"The tool is free for the AWS environment."
"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."
"The solution's cost is normal, neither cheap nor expensive."
"It's a large application. It consumes a lot of resources. Sometimes the price is too high for our customers. If they buy it directly from VMware, its hard to convince the customer that we will bring down the total cost of ownership, in the end."
"The price of the solution is too expensive for us and we are looking to move to another solution."
"Price-wise, the product is an affordable one. The additional expenses, apart from the licensing costs of the solution, are attached to the support a user wants to receive from vCenter Configuration Manager's end."
"It is on a yearly basis."
"There is a free license for the standard version. Their enterprise version is expensive. I would advise starting with one server and working your way up as you go. The enterprise version provides support."
"Users need to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution, which is expensive."
"The product is highly-priced."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten. The product has increased its cost by at least two to three times its previous cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
8%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
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 is free. However, there may be unexpected costs if developers deploy services incorrectly without ...
What needs improvement with AWS CloudFormation?
Improvements are needed for sharing resources between template files, especially when using AWS ( /products/amazon-aw...
What do you like most about vCenter Configuration Manager?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Configuration Manager?
Nowadays, it is a bit expensive. It's costly, primarily due to the licensing aspect.
What needs improvement with vCenter Configuration Manager?
My impression on the impact of the real-time monitoring features of vCenter Configuration Manager is that it's somewh...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
CloudFormation
vCM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia
Bank Al Bilad, Thomas-Krenn.AG, Pronto!, Unimed Juiz de Fora
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS CloudFormation vs. vCenter Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.