AWS Systems Manager vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Configuration Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 10.7% mindshare in CM, compared to Microsoft’s 11.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Microsoft Configuration Manager and AWS Systems Manager are enterprise system management solutions. Microsoft Configuration Manager is advantageous for organizations needing strong compliance enforcement, while AWS Systems Manager favors automation and integration within the AWS ecosystem.

Features: Microsoft Configuration Manager offers robust capabilities in deploying standardized operating systems, comprehensive application deployment, and enforcing configuration integrity. AWS Systems Manager provides seamless AWS integration, parameter store management, and dynamic policy updates, streamlining AWS resource management.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Configuration Manager requires enhanced performance, better Linux support, and improved compliance reporting. AWS Systems Manager could improve with more intuitive user interfaces, enhanced automation capabilities, and better cross-account management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Configuration Manager, primarily an on-premises or hybrid cloud solution, involves complex setup but is backed by robust documentation and positive technical support. AWS Systems Manager simplifies cloud deployment for AWS users and is praised for strong technical support and online resources.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Configuration Manager has high licensing and setup costs but offers substantial ROI through efficiencies. AWS Systems Manager is cost-effective for AWS clientele, with many features included at no extra charge, and higher pricing only under increased demand. Both deliver positive ROI by streamlining operations and reducing manual tasks.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Systems Manager vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

July 2025

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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 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 Systems Manager is 10.7%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 11.9%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Ambe Frankline

Cloud/DevOps Engineer at Innovative Technology Systems

Tracks every action on AWS accounts in a centralized way

Setting up AWS Systems Manager to monitor and control other services is easy. You need to link the services you want to observe and track. The time it takes to deploy depends on factors like connectivity, latency, and the complexity of the services. For example, setting up a simple application is faster than setting up a more complicated three-tier or multi-tier system. Using the solution for batch updates varies depending on the number of servers involved and the commands needed. Personally, when I do small projects at home, deploying a few servers doesn't take long. But at work, where we handle larger deployments with hundreds of servers, it's faster due to better connectivity and resources.

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MikeNelson2

IT Infrastructure Coordinator at NSW Government

Deployment recovery works well but requires configuration improvements

While I do not use the product frequently, many issues were due to configuration rather than the product itself. I cannot give an exact recommendation as it is not my area of responsibility. The team that uses it finds it adequate. It is presently good enough for us not to investigate other options. Overall, I rate the product a six 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

"Its protection policies are most valuable. It protects mobile devices as well as individual apps. It is pretty scalable, and its documentation is also pretty good. It is also pretty straightforward to deploy."

"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."

"Within Intune, managing policies and having a consistent way to manage devices is valuable."

"One valuable feature of Microsoft Intune is the enrollment process, which is user-based, making it easier to manage compared to AirWatch."

"While Microsoft Intune boasts a wide range of features, its user-friendliness and bundled licensing cost are key considerations for me."

"The many policies available in Microsoft Intune for managing our devices are valuable."

"Microsoft Intune policies, remote wipe, and using corporate and private profiles are valuable features, but MFA is the most valuable feature as it ensures that the end user is authentic."

"Intune provides full visibility into all active mobile device users. If their devices are noncompliant with our security policies, I have the flexibility to update them remotely."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud."

"Has a variety of automation options."

"The solution's ability to scale is good."

"Systems Manager has a feature where it analyzes the logs and gives us a performance overview in the form of a graph. We know when it's taking up more resources and when there are spikes, so we can predict the usability."

"With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems manually."

"AWS provides Auto Scaling groups."

"The store organizes parameters hierarchically, making it easier to configure and control versions. It also ensures scalability and high availability, automatically scaling to handle increasing workloads and providing reliable access to configuration data across multiple AWS availability zones."

"AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts."

More AWS Systems Manager pros

"It lets you know what your infrastructure is like and what state you are in."

"We're a Microsoft-centric organization, so we are happy with the integration between products."

"The solution doesn't require any maintenance from our end because it is a cloud-based solution and Microsoft takes care of everything."

"The scalability to deploy the package."

"The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."

"Patching is very effective and reporting is very good."

"There have to be made some improvement in WSUS and control in other non-Microsoft products updates."

"SCCM does everything from A to Z for a Windows operating system."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"The information we receive at the device level needs improvement."

"Customer service used to be better, but as we are nearing the end of the contract, the focus on investing in us as a customer has diminished. It is what one would expect in such a situation."

"The Mac integration has room for improvement."

"The technical support could be improved."

"Some customers have reported experiencing slowness when using lower versions of the Android system."

"Microsoft needs to strategize its licensing structure. When using Microsoft Intune, we bought a small scale of controls, only controlling part of the devices, though Microsoft Intune can do much more. The Intune Suite offers more features, allowing extensive integration with either internal or cloud environments without requiring third-party licensing. However, each feature has a separate license, making logistics and cost management difficult if not strategically bundled together."

"I would like to see better integration with Microsoft."

"From an end-user perspective of Microsoft Intune, I haven't experienced any challenges since installation. However, some customers have reported experiencing slowness when using lower versions of the Android system."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"Ensuring broader OS coverage in patch management could be beneficial for the product."

"The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement."

"It could be agentless if there's room for improvement in the AWS Systems Manager. Currently, you have to install agents, although, for most of the latest EC2 images, the agents come preinstalled. If it could be at the level of Ansible, which is agentless, that would be fantastic. When you compare the solution to Ansible, one of the most widely accepted tools, the agentless feature stands out. So, if the AWS Systems Manager could become agentless, that would be a significant improvement."

"The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts."

"The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required."

"We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves."

"I'd like to see more automation for monitoring and managing things like AWS CloudWatch and AWS Config. It would be a significant improvement if it could automatically handle these tasks and address issues as they arise."

"Additional features can be added as per customer requirements."

More AWS Systems Manager cons

"I would like to see more automation."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the synchronizing of the policies on the devices."

"The ability to integrate MDM would be great."

"The operations could be faster and you need some patience with this tool."

"It is a bit of an old and outdated product."

"The solution could improve the functionality for automating, license management. Additionally, more and better-looking reports are needed."

"The database should be made to be more stable and robust, but not so much the configuration."

"The availability of technical support could improve."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Intune is linked with Microsoft. We can deploy the Microsoft E365 license to users by Intune. There are different types of licenses, such as device administrator licenses, E5 licenses for device enrollment manually, and P1 and p2 licenses for device enrollment automatically. These are the licenses required for the administration."

"The price for Intune is fair."

"The purchase of the product was handled by someone else."

"Every customer used to purchase licenses based on their needs."

"For organizations that are a Microsoft shop, the pricing is compelling."

"It's monthly for us, but it's built into the license cost that we pay our IT each month. It's maybe 129 Kroner per head, which translates to £10. There are some additional costs. Our IT had to set up and configure their own server, so there is an extra cost for that, but I'm not sure what that costs."

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

"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"

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"The platform provides excellent value for the capabilities it offers when compared to third-party tools for similar tasks."

"Most of the features are free. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe the pricing is generally very low. Some services that are part of Ops Manager might have associated costs."

"As we were doing a government project so the government got the project at a very nominal cost."

"An AWS cloud engineer can bring down the costs."

"The price model is different for every client."

"When you compare this solution with other tools in the market you might actually find a lot of variation in the pricing and that's why people opt for the other tools rather than Microsoft tools."

"Presently, I am using a free trial version."

"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."

"There is not a license needed to use the solution."

"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."

"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."

"The solution operates on a licensing model that can be expensive."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

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 ...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about AWS Systems Manager?

With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems m...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Systems Manager?

Every AWS service comes with some associated costs. While using AWS Systems Manager, we continually monitor to optimi...

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What needs improvement with AWS Systems Manager?

There isn't anything specific I remember at the moment.

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How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that ...

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How to choose between ManageEngine Desktop Central and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM)?

ManageEngine Desktop Central is very easy to set up, is scalable, stable, and also has very good patch management. Wh...

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What do you like most about SCCM?

One of the standout features of SCCM is its application management capabilities. It allows us to create packages effi...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

SOTI MobiControl vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 3% of the time

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AWS Config vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 8% of the time

AWS CloudFormation vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 5% of the time

BigFix vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 4% of the time

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 13% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 11% of the time

Tanium vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 8% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

PDQ Deploy vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

June 2025

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

Configuration Management

June 2025

Download AWS Systems Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

June 2025

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Amazon Elastic Container Registry

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM )

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

AWS Systems Manager is a management service that helps you automatically collect software inventory, apply OS patches, create system images, and configure Windows and Linux operating systems. These capabilities help you define and track system configurations, prevent drift, and maintain software compliance of your EC2 and on-premises configurations. By providing a management approach that is designed for the scale and agility of the cloud but extends into your on-premises data center, Systems Manager makes it easier for you to seamlessly bridge your existing infrastructure with AWS.

Systems Manager is easy to use. Simply access Systems Manager from the EC2 Management Console, select the instances you want to manage, and define the management tasks you want to perform. Systems Manager is available now at no cost to manage both your EC2 and on-premises resources.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft Configuration Manager helps IT manage PCs and servers, keeping software up-to-date, setting configuration and security policies, and monitoring system status while giving employees access to corporate applications on the devices that they choose. When Configuration Manager is integrated with Microsoft Intune, you can manage corporate-connected PCs and Macs along with cloud-based mobile devices running Windows, iOS, and Android, all from a single management console.

New features of Configuration Manager, such as the support of Windows 10 in-place upgrade, co-management with Microsoft Intune, Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise Servicing Dashboard, integration with Windows Update for Business, and more make deploying and managing Windows easier than ever before.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

July 2025

Free Report: AWS Systems Manager vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager

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