AWS Systems Manager vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

The compared Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Quest Software solutions aren't in the same category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #5 in CM , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 10.7% mindshare in the category. Quest Software is ranked #17 in RMM , and holds a 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and AWS Systems Manager both serve in the systems management category. Quest KACE has the upper hand in endpoint management simplicity, whereas AWS Systems Manager excels in automation and integration with AWS services.

Features: Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance provides centralized management, Bomgar integration, and service desk ticketing. It offers single-pane endpoint management and powerful imaging capabilities. AWS Systems Manager is notable for automation options like parameter store, seamless AWS integrations, and batch task automation, making infrastructure management efficient.

Room for Improvement: Quest KACE has limitations in scalability and imaging, which can be complex for inexperienced users. Users have also suggested a need for better ease of use and support integration. AWS Systems Manager could improve through enhanced integrations, dynamic configuration options, and more intuitive interfaces with broader OS patch management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Quest KACE supports robust on-premise deployment with skilled support staff, although there are occasional complaints about slow resolutions and specialized support needs. AWS Systems Manager excels in cloud-native solutions, offering scalability easily for AWS users, though its support may lack comprehensiveness without premium plans. Quest KACE users appreciate the personalized customer service, whereas AWS Systems Manager users often rely on both community and AWS professional support.

Pricing and ROI: Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is praised for transparent pricing and significant ROI through time-saving automation, although it might seem costly for smaller setups. AWS Systems Manager offers value through its close integration with AWS, offering nearly free usage with EC2 instances but may incur additional AWS service costs. Both solutions provide operational efficiencies and reduced labor costs, with AWS often minimizing infrastructure costs through automation.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

January 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

Configuration Management

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi

Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

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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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Scott Tweed

Windows Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Low maintenance, reliable, and easy to create packages

I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it. The deployment process for both deploying and creating a package is straightforward. I believe the inventory in KACE is superior to SCCM's. I know with SCCM I could do things like remote console into machines via the agent's remote console, but that is not a feature that is provided in KACE. I know that at least in the Systems Management Appliance, I can't get to it. I'm not sure how distribution works, with distribution points. I'm not sure if KACE has that feature. You could use an SCCM to set up distribution points at remote sites so that they don't have to download patches or software from across the country. If you have a DP or something similar, they could pull it down.

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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

"Intune's compliance features are valuable because they allow immediate visibility into ongoing situations."

"Overall, my user experience with Microsoft Intune has been great."

"Our main use is Intune's management of mobile devices, like Android or iPhone devices. The application performs quite well for both types. We successfully managed almost 3,000 endpoints."

"Remote Wipe and Autopilot is one of the best features."

"It is very easy to use. It has a very easy interface."

"As an IT administrator, I appreciate Intune's ability to implement granular device-level policies for our organization's employees."

"Intune saves time, and it is very easy to use. It allows us to manage applications completely."

"Overall, I would rate Microsoft Intune as eight out of ten."

More Microsoft Intune pros

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

"Has a variety of automation options."

"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."

"I use AWS Systems Manager primarily for infrastructure management and automation. One of its key benefits is managing patches and updates for our EC2 instances, including both Windows and Linux workloads. It can perform compliance checks on all managed workloads, identifying which systems aren't compliant or haven't been patched."

"It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks."

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

"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 provides Auto Scaling groups."

More AWS Systems Manager pros

"Patching is definitely the most valuable feature. It gives us good, centralized software, which comes in very handy since we are doing 400 servers at a time. It enables us to manage all the servers, and to deal with the application team regarding reboots and scheduling."

"There is ease of use, and its pricing was a driving factor."

"This product made the job easy to do without having to go put hands on the machines."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to have an overview of all devices that are accessing our environment."

"I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it."

"The ability to build scripts right on the deployment center itself, as well as building groups that take those scripts/task chains has been absolutely invaluable and one of the most important parts of my whole environment."

"The ability to push an image to a machine, wake that image up, and just blast a new image to a computer without even having to touch it, and then push the software to that machine. This just made things so much more convenient for us and so much more efficient."

"The Systems Deployment Appliance is magical when it comes to automating deployment... Not only can we have multiple images, specific to end-users' uses, but we have a plethora of post-installation tasks to install or configure the system, tasks that can be re-used for each system. You just have one basic base image, and then you use the post-install tasks to customize everything else. It is amazing."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pros

Cons

"We faced issues with macOS support. The product should have better inventory and asset management."

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

"Each feature has a separate license, making logistics and cost management difficult if not strategically bundled together."

"Intune doesn't provide much control over Windows servers. It's something we struggle with."

"No option to do end-to-en macOS management. Slow implementation of policies."

"At this time, I do not have any areas for improvement. I have heard about some downtime, but I am not in the local IT team."

"There were several bugs with stability."

"There are challenges with Intune, specifically in reporting. Many third-party companies offer single-pane-of-glass reporting that shows you what your update environment looks like, how your patch is doing, application status, etc., but Intune's reporting is not intuitive."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"One area that could be enhanced is dynamic configuration management. Additionally, improving integration with other AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation would be beneficial."

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

"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."

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

"Every AWS service comes with some associated costs."

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

"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."

More AWS Systems Manager cons

"I think it should have the ability to have the applications automatically update. It would be really helpful if this would override what the user might choose to do."

"My biggest complaint is that almost every time they send out a new version, it fixes something and breaks another. Something that wasn't working in the last version now works, but something else stops; or they'll remove some dashboard that I really found to be nice and replace it with something totally different that I could care less about."

"Paying for the product should come with full and extended training anytime it is needed."

"It took a little bit of time to figure out how to use the KACE Service Desk. I like the way that I'm able to customize it. But when it comes to how our techs are able to use it, it's not as functional as our current solution, which is BMC FootPrints Service Desk."

"What could be improved is the possibility to use replicas in a secure way outside our network in order to maintain the machines that never connect to our corporate network."

"It could be designed a little bit more intuitively in terms of administration."

"Scalability is my primary concern right now."

"I wish Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) would have a top-down approach since we use orgs; currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the university."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's reasonable. They're not giving it away, but it's reasonable."

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

"Its price is quite okay. I wish they provide certain additional features with the same license."

"On a scale of one to ten with one being the cheapest, the cost of Microsoft Intune is a five."

"My team members bundled it together with their Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft 365 and related products."

"The price could be better."

"Microsoft offers some licensing where it's included at no extra cost when customers are already using the licenses. In such a case, it's a really good value. If you have to buy the licensing for it, it's probably on par with other solutions. It isn't substantially more or less expensive. The great thing is that it is included in some of Microsoft's licensed packages. So, some customers don't have to spend additional money for it. Typically, most providers that support Intune do charge a management fee of some sort or some fee. Certainly, we're no exception."

"We don't get Intune as a separate module. Most of the time, we use it within an enterprise agreement like E3 or E5. Those licenses are at a good price, but what is annoying is that every single year they go higher."

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."

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

"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."

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

"The product is reasonably priced."

"Some of the other solutions were just astronomical in price compared with KACE and didn't necessarily have the ease of use either. So, we chose Quest KACE for its easy-to-use features and cost."

"Their pricing is per end-point device. There is an initial cost for the license for the server, which is pretty low, and then there is a per end-point device license, which is also fairly low. So, the pricing is still reasonable."

"Its pricing model is good for what it offers. Nobody here gives me a hard time about renewing the contract every year. It might be a little cost prohibitive for a smaller company who has to stand up a virtual environment as well as have virtual environment licensing and the hardware. If you have a smaller environment, it might be cost prohibitive. If you only have a couple of hundred computers, you might be more willing to do those manually. In our environment, the cost savings of having KACE far outweigh the licensing costs. We are okay with its pricing model."

"The cost of KACE has been relatively low compared to other systems. Even if those systems have the same cost, they do not do as much of the third-party patching that KACE natively does."

"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."

"We need it, so we have to pay the price. It is what it is. If you need a gallon of milk, then you have to pay the price for it. You don't want to buy the cheap stuff. You want to buy the stuff that is organic and good for your body, which doesn't have all this other junk in it. You want it clean for your body. Quest has done that for our deployment and management systems."

"We pay annually for technical support."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Educational Organization

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

University

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?

The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.

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What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?

The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SM...

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What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?

The main use cases for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance are touch management, software and hardware inventory,...

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Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 6% of the time

SOTI MobiControl vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 3% of the time

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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 15% of the time

AWS Config vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 14% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 9% of the time

AWS CloudFormation vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 5% of the time

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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 34% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 10% of the time

BigFix vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Windows Server Update Services vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Compared 5% of the time

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Configuration Management

June 2025

Download AWS Systems Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

June 2025

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) report

Download Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Amazon Elastic Container Registry

Dell KACE Systems Management

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)

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is a comprehensive tool for managing IT endpoints. It facilitates asset management, software distribution, and endpoint tracking while offering remote access capabilities and a centralized help desk.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is designed for organizations that need efficient endpoint management. It offers a range of features like inventory tracking, automated patch management, and ticketing. By integrating with remote access tools such as Bomgar, Quest KACE helps reduce manual tasks involved in managing software updates and system deployments. Although it faces challenges in scalability and requires improvements in integration and reporting, it remains a versatile choice for asset tracking and endpoint administration.

What are Quest KACE SMA's key features?

Asset Management: Streamline the organization and tracking of physical and virtual assets.
Remote Access: Integrates with Bomgar for secure, remote troubleshooting and management.
Software Distribution: Deploy applications across devices efficiently without physical intervention.
Centralized Endpoint Management: Manage endpoints from a centralized console to ensure compliance and optimization.
Automated Patch Management: Schedule and deploy patches to maintain system security and performance.
Help Desk: Integrated ticketing system for tracking and resolving user issues.
Scripting and Reporting: Enhance administrative tasks through automated scripts and detailed reports.

What benefits should users consider?

Improved Productivity: Reduces manual interference with automated deployments and updates.
Labor Savings: Minimizes labor requirements with efficient remote management tools.
Integrated Reporting: Provides actionable insights through comprehensive reports to optimize IT operation.
User-Friendly Interface: Boosts effectiveness due to its intuitive, easy-to-navigate design.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is implemented across industries for managing IT assets and endpoints, particularly where remote management and compliance are critical. It's employed in healthcare, education, and government sectors for efficient patch management, inventory control, and software deployment, aiding organizations in managing security accreditations and centralizing help desk operations.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King

Buyer's Guide

AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

January 2025

Free Report: AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Systems Manager vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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