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AWS CloudFormation vs vCenter Configuration Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
377
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
AWS CloudFormation
Ranking in Configuration Management
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
vCenter Configuration Manager
Ranking in Configuration Management
18th
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 August 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.6%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 5.4%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Configuration Manager is 2.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune4.6%
AWS CloudFormation5.4%
vCenter Configuration Manager2.0%
Other88.0%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized device management has automated onboarding and improves remote security compliance
One thing I feel Microsoft Intune could improve is troubleshooting visibility. In many cases, when a policy or application deployment fails, the error messages are a bit generic. So, admins still spend time checking logs manually or testing on devices one by one. Compared to the simplicity of deployment, troubleshooting sometimes feels less mature. I also think reporting and real-time monitoring could be stronger. The dashboard gives useful information, but in large environments, many teams still depend on additional tools or scripts for deeper reporting and analytics. If I had to focus on one area first, I would probably choose troubleshooting and reporting. Deployment through Microsoft Intune is generally straightforward, but when something fails, identifying the exact root cause can still take more time than expected. Error messages are sometimes too generic, and admins often have to dig through logs, sync status, or multiple portals to understand what actually happened. I think user experience and policy management could also improve further. Microsoft Intune has become much better over the years, but sometimes the admin portal still feels fragmented because certain configurations open in different sections or redirect to older interfaces. For new admins, especially, it can take time to understand where everything is located. Another thing is policy conflict handling. In larger organizations, multiple device policies, compliance rules, and configuration profiles can overlap. When conflicts happen, the visibility is not always very clear, so admins spend time figuring out which policy actually won or caused the issue.
KK
Full-stack Developer / AWS Architect at Mantiqh Technologies
Infrastructure management becomes more efficient with automated deployments using code
Improvements are needed for sharing resources between template files, especially when using AWS SAM. Documentation can be difficult to understand, and I suggest AWS provide small instructional videos on their website. Additionally, creating microservices and connecting multiple APIs into a single API gateway can be challenging; documentation should address specific needs. The ability to split CloudFormation templates without losing data due to changes in resources like API gateway URLs or Cognito pools is also needed.
Nikhil Nikhil - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Operations Lead at TT Systems LLC
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

"The system itself is great."
"Microsoft Intune is a very effective solution from my understanding, and I definitely would recommend it."
"Intune provides full endpoint visibility and IT control across device platforms. You can individualize it for your company with the Intune Company Portal app."
"The solution has reduced the risk of security breaches by 30%."
"The most important part is that they're fast in implementing and integrating with the Windows operating system, as well as how it integrates with other Office 365 products."
"Using this product has completely stopped DLP, so people cannot take material off of corporate machines or corporate imagines, and that's a huge benefit."
"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."
"Comparing this to having an endpoint management solution, the efficiency gain may be up to 80%."
"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."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"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."
"Since AWS CloudFormation integrates well with the AWS platform, it facilitates faster deployment. Building templates for AWS services within the solution is also straightforward, making the process easier."
"The most valuable feature of AWS CloudFormation is the simple tracking of infrastructure."
"What I like best about AWS CloudFormation is that it is a quick and simple way to deploy various applications, like WordPress."
"The integration of the solution is very good."
"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."
"I like vMotion because it manages fault tolerance."
"The market share of VMware is huge. It is not even necessary to prove the capabilities attached to the product."
"The most valuable feature of vCenter Configuration Manager is the ease of provisioning."
"vCenter has some good user experience, and the initial setup is straightforward."
"vCenter is very easy to use if you have good skills. It takes a little time to configure everything. It is template-based, so you click, click, and then reboot. It takes 15 minutes."
"We prefer to pay for these products that are integrated and straightforward."
"The stability and reliability are great."
"This product is very stable, it's a very good product."
 

Cons

"The synchronization could be improved."
"Regarding mobile devices, Intune is good, but there are other services that I would say are ahead of Intune from an administration and reporting point of view."
"Microsoft Intune could be faster with client to server communication. Whenever I push something, it takes time; sometimes it takes more than one hour to deploy on the Windows side."
"The UI is not user-friendly and has room for improvement."
"It needs certificate provisioning for S/MIME purposes."
"For autopilot, there should be more granularity on the settings that they offer at this stage."
"The support from Microsoft was previously good, but now it is very poor."
"Unfortunately, Intune’s management extension does not provide the same level of logging, and I lack the visibility in Intune that I had with SCCM."
"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."
"It would help all users if AWS improved the auto-generation of the CloudFormation file."
"The Infrastructure Composer is not fully complete, making it necessary to tweak the code manually after generating it, which could be improved."
"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."
"It's not that easy to use, but I can learn very fast."
"As soon as they manage to parametrize the whole thing and to implement parameters at all levels, it will become automatically a lot more flexible."
"There is room for improvement in the optimization of AWS CloudFormation."
"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."
"The interface itself is not very user-friendly."
"Configuration Manager should decrease the deployment time in the data center and the management time as this could help many data centers reduce their operating costs."
"Their licensing needs to be improved."
"The ease of setup and installations could be improved."
"The product's high price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The cost of this solution should be improved."
"When vCenter is in a Microsoft environment, there is a lot of licensing involved, where we face some difficulties."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While I don't have access to high-level financial information, I believe we have achieved lower costs with this implementation."
"The pricing for Intune and the competitor products are all within the same range, there is no true advantage when it comes to cost."
"Its price is quite okay. I wish they provide certain additional features with the same license."
"Its pricing seems reasonable."
"Microsoft Intune is not cost-effective as a standalone product."
"There are licenses required for this solution. We enable licenses on the devices we need to manage."
"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 licensing costs we leave up to the customer and these vary from one to another."
"The solution's cost is normal, neither cheap nor expensive."
"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."
"This solution is free to use and does not require a license."
"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 pricing is not notably high."
"In general, pricing within AWS is relatively affordable."
"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."
"This product is not cheap. I have a yearly license for vCenter and the license is not cheap."
"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 solution is quite expensive."
"The solution comes with three-year support. We have to renew the support annually after the three years are up."
"vCenter's pricing is reasonable, but nowadays, they are drastically increasing their prices, which is pathetic."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"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
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
18%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise186
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise20
 

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 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...
What is your primary use case for vCenter Configuration Manager?
My usual use cases for vCenter Configuration Manager mainly involve migration, shift and lift mainly, and some type o...
 

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: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.