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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between BigFix and Chef based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Configuration Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed BigFix vs. Chef Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"This product works very well for companies already using the full Microsoft suite.""As the solution is a software as a service, the scalability is unlimited.""The conditional access policies that we set up are very useful.""The solution is easy to use, simple to understand for those new to using it, and combined with the other Microsoft products it makes for an overall good package.""Intune is effective because of the configuration management and endpoint security it provides. The graphical interface makes it easier to configure and deploy devices.""Based on my experience, I find Intune very flexible for managing Windows devices. We can use scripting, and we can make use of the self-service portal or the company portal to publish some of the applications for Windows.""The standout features of Intune are its excellent mobile device management and highly effective application management capabilities.""I like the tool's integration with Apple. Anyone who creates an ID in Intune will get an Apple ID."

More Microsoft Intune Pros →

"The most valuable feature is the patching.""It is for multiple use cases. A lot of people are looking at it just for security, and that's really endpoint security. The endpoint management part of it in terms of being able to constantly do patching for Windows, Unix, macOS, Cloud, Raspberry, VMware, and all Linux flavors is important, and they are very good at that. They have support for virtually every OS on the market.""One of the biggest benefits BigFix has had for our organization is the ease and efficiency to perform many different tasks, across pillars and platforms, all from one pane of glass.""The technical support for BigFix is really amazing.""The most valuable feature is patch management, a must have, even for Linux and iOS.""We are able to use BigFix through API connections to automate and reduce resources and time. The product's been great for us. It's increased the security posture ten-fold and it's increased our visibility across our endpoints enormously.""It is pretty secure, and it gives extensive vulnerability features as compared to other applications. It supports multiple languages, and the security checks are pretty high as compared to other tools in the market.""Having higher visibility on patching level, on patching successful, and non-successful has been a way that BigFix has improved my organization. Also, the ability to customize the content to do what we need it to do is very powerful and very flexible for us. Finally, in the area of custom interfaces like REST API really gives us the ability to provide for our external customers."

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"Manual deployments came to a halt completely. Server provisioning became lightning fast. Chef-docker enabled us to have fewer sets of source code for different purposes. Configuration management was a breeze and all the servers were as good as immutable servers.""Chef is a great tool for an automation person who wants to do configuration management with infrastructure as a code.""The most important thing is it can handle a 100,000 servers at the same time easily with no time constraints.""The most valuable feature is the language that it uses: Ruby.""If you're handy enough with DSL and you can present your own front-facing interface to your developers, then you can actually have a lot more granular control with Chef in operations over what developers can perform and what they can't.""The most valuable feature is automation.""Deployment has become quick and orchestration is now easy.""Chef recipes are easy to write and move across different servers and environments."

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Cons
"In the past, I raised some tickets for the enhancement feature, which was missing in Intune.""Integration with Mac devices requires some improvement.""There should be more support for macOS. Even though macOS is supported by Intune and Microsoft is working very hard to get more features into Intune to manage macOS, that's one thing they can give a lot more attention to.""There is room for improvement in integration and security as well.""The reporting could be improved, as it's pretty poor compared to other products of this type.""Microsoft Intune has a latency response time issue. The latency has room for improvement.""It should be easier to define policies and comply with those policies.""Intune has some limitations when it comes to application updates for third-party applications. You can schedule an update, but when it's a package setup, you need to supercede and replace it each time."

More Microsoft Intune Cons →

"I would like the dashboard to be improved to show the problematic machines and good machines.""The only thing that I don't like about BigFix is that it does not support other devices such as printer firmware, router firmware, and things like that. I will be happy if I can control everything and get everything else in there, even if it is just a line item. They can do some enhancements to the Web UI. I am trying to get customers to be able to manage their environment by using Web UI, and it would be good if we can delete endpoints by using Web UI. We should also be able to generate Excel content or data tables from the Web UI without having to go to the console. It is small stuff, and it drives me crazy that I have to go to another console to do these things.""I would like to see API connectivity, built-in API connectors to the standard toolsets, whether it's for your ServiceNow or your Qualys. More API connectivity to make it easier to integrate to other tools.""I would like to see more integration with external data.""It could use better integration with Hypervisor products like VMware.""It can be improved speed-wise. They can make it a little bit light. If you do any query for servers in bulk, it can take some time. Similarly, creating a job can take some time.""The sub-capacity licensing was a challenge for some of it. We had trouble getting it to calculate right.""The reporting structure could be a little more simplistic. Currently, it throws too many vulnerabilities. Some of them are not needed because they are only informational and limitations, and they are not of much help. It doesn't need to show us these things."

More BigFix Cons →

"The time that it takes in terms of integration. Cloud integration is comparatively easy, but when it comes to two-link based integrations - like trying to integrate it with any monitoring tools, or maybe some other ticketing tools - it takes longer. That is because most of the out-of-the-box integration of the APIs needs some revisiting.""If they can improve their software to support Docker containers, it would be for the best.""They could provide more features, so the recipes could be developed in a simpler and faster way. There is still a lot of room for improvement, providing better functionalities when creating recipes.""There appears to be no effort to fix the command line utility functionality, which is definitely broken, provides a false positive for a result when you perform the operation, and doesn't work.""I would like to see more security features for Chef and more automation.""Since we are heading to IoT, this product should consider anything related to this.""If only Chef were easier to use and code, it would be used much more widely by the community.""I would also like to see more analytics and reporting features. Currently, the analytics and reporting features are limited. I'll have to start building my own custom solution with Power BI or Tableau or something like that. If it came with built-in analytics and reporting features that would be great."

More Chef Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Consider the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite rather than choosing specific sub-components, e.g. only Microsoft Intune."
  • "There is a cost benefit of using Microsoft Intune because of the packaging with other Microsoft products."
  • "Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."
  • "The purchase of the product was handled by someone else."
  • "I have no comment on pricing of the solution."
  • "The product is offered as part of a Microsoft standard bundle. The pricing can be competitive to Airwatch, and Maas360."
  • "For Microsoft 365 E5 clients, cost is not an issue as this product is one of the benefits."
  • "The price of Intune is included with the license for Office 365, so we don't have to pay anything extra for it."
  • More Microsoft Intune Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I can estimate the reduced cost of servers maintenance to approximatively $500,000."
  • "When purchasing, buying with other IBM tools provided us with a very good discount in pricing."
  • "I would stay with the Managed Virtual Server license model, which is a 1-to-1 license per OS whether it is virtual or physical."
  • "The product is less costly when compared to other solutions, and this is a good solid solution for what we have paid."
  • "Compliance, inventory, and licensing are really pricey. They should lower the price. It discourages users from getting onboard."
  • "You get what we call the Platform Edition, which you get for free. The patch service is maybe $0.50 per workstation per month. Then there's the basic server cost, which is about $1.50 per server per month. You also get into Lifecycle which does power management, OSD remote control, and those types of things, and that might be about 10 times the price - which works out to about $13 per server and, maybe $5 per workstation per month."
  • "The price is very fair."
  • "The price is reasonable, but our customers find it expensive."
  • More BigFix Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "When we're rolling out a new server, we're not using the AWS Marketplace AMI, we're using our own AMI, but we are paying them a licensing fee."
  • "The price per node is a little weird. It doesn't scale along with your organization. If you're truly utilizing Chef to its fullest, then the number of nodes which are being utilized in any particular day might scale or change based on your Auto Scaling groups. How do you keep track of that or audit it? Then, how do you appropriately license it? It's difficult."
  • "The price is always a problem. It is high. There is room for improvement. I do like purchasing on the AWS Marketplace, but I would like the ability to negotiate and have some flexibility in the pricing on it."
  • "Purchasing the solution from AWS Marketplace was a good experience. AWS's pricing is pretty in line with the product's regular pricing. Though instance-wise, AWS is not the cheapest in the market."
  • "We are able to save in development time, deployment time, and it makes it easier to manage the environments."
  • "We are using the free, open source version of the software, which we are happy with at this time."
  • "I wasn't involved in the purchasing, but I am pretty sure that we are happy with the current pricing and licensing since it never comes up."
  • "Pricing for Chef is high."
  • More Chef Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes it… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of… more »
    Top Answer: Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also… more »
    Top Answer:I’ve found patching to be the most valuable feature of the solution.
    Top Answer:The product is affordable. I rate the solution’s pricing a three out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is high.
    Top Answer:Some clients have adopted it but have expressed concerns about its flexibility. They have other tools that effectively… more »
    Top Answer:Chef is a great tool for an automation person who wants to do configuration management with infrastructure as a code.
    Top Answer:Chef does not support the containerized things of Chef products. In the future, Chef could develop a docker container or… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
    Tivoli Endpoint Manager
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Intune is a comprehensive cloud-based service that allows you to remotely manage mobile devices and mobile applications without worrying about the security of your organization’s data. Device and app management can be used on company-owned devices as well as personal devices.

    In an increasingly mobile workforce, Microsoft Intune keeps your sensitive data safe while on the move. Microsoft Intune makes it possible for your team members to work anywhere using their mobile devices. Microsoft Intune provides both the flexibility and the control needed for securing all your data on the cloud, no matter where the device with the data is located.

    Microsoft Intune Device Management Key Features

    With Microsoft Intune Device Management you can:

    • Ensure devices and apps are compliant with your security requirements.
    • Rapidly deploy and authenticate apps on all company devices.
    • Remotely access devices to troubleshoot issues or to remove data from them.
    • Generate reports for all devices in the system.
    • Monitor the way users access and share information to protect company information.
    • Set rules and configure settings on personal and organization-owned devices to access data and networks.
    • Create user groups and device groups, allowing you to rapidly access many users and devices simultaneously.

    Mobile Application Management

    Mobile application management in Intune is designed to protect your organization’s data at the application level.

    With Microsoft Intune Application Management you can:

    • Configure apps to run with specific settings enabled.
    • Update existing apps that are already on the device.
    • See reports on which apps are used and monitor their usage.
    • Selectively wipe organization data from apps.
    • Add mobile apps to user groups and devices.

    As part of Microsoft's Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) suite, Intune integrates with Microsoft Entra ID for access control and with Azure Information Protection for data protection. It also integrates with Microsoft 365 Applications.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Microsoft Intune stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to secure all devices under its management and the flexibility that the solution offers its users.

    A computing services manager notes, "Its security is most valuable. It gives us a way to secure devices, not only those that are steady. We do have a few tablets and other devices, and it is a way for us to secure these devices and manage them. We know they're out there and what's their status. We can manage their life cycle and verify that they're updated properly."

    The head of IT engineering at a financial services company writes, "The one feature we find most useful is the Mobile Application Manager. There are two types: we have the complete MDM and the Mobile Application Manager (MAM). We don't give our users phones, it is their own personal phone, and we need to allow them to have access to the company details on their phone. We need to create a balance between their own personal data and the company data. We deploy the Mobile Application Manager for them so that we won't be able to interfere with their own personal data."

    HCL BigFix is a powerful patch management tool that enables organizations to simply control their patch management operations. It is designed so that IT security and operations teams can collaborate in the most effective way possible. Users that employ BigFix can find and fix issues with their endpoints faster than those that employ its competitors. It comes with thousands of security checks that can be deployed quickly and easily. These enable users to safeguard themselves from a wide variety of digital threats.

    HCL BigFix Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy HCL BigFix include:

    • Total visibility and simplified control. BigFix provides users with total system visibility while simultaneously enabling administrators to easily manage their networks. It enables organizations to run all of their patch management operations from a single user interface. This UI contains all of BigFix’s system controls. It also contains all of an organization’s network data. Users will never have to search for the features or information that they need as everything is centrally located.
    • Maximum benefit for reduced overhead. BigFix enables businesses to integrate with more than 100 different operating systems. Users can utilize the operating system of their choice without multiplying their overhead costs. They can keep costs down while still achieving their goals. 
    • Flexibility. BigFix is highly flexible. Users can integrate it with the top vulnerability management solutions on the market. This enables users to maximize their protective coverage and minimize the amount of time that they have to spend resolving issues. 

    BigFix Features

    • BigFix Insights. The BigFix insights feature gives users access to a powerful deep analysis tool. This tool enables organizations to gather data from all of their endpoints and compile them into reports that can aid administrators in their work. It can centralize an organization’s data and also enable it to import data from other sources so that it can make more informed decisions.
    • Task automation. BigFix has the ability to automate rudimentary tasks so that users can focus on tasks that require a greater level of attention. This can include tasks such as event remediation and data collection. This feature enables users to focus their attention on other more critical tasks.
    • Data loss prevention tool. This tool enables users to prevent critical data from being leaked or leaking accidentally. It creates policies that limit or prevent sensitive data from being transmitted. It also enforces the privacy protocols that are already in place. Organizations can leverage this tool to bolster the security protecting their data from malicious actors.
    • Web reputation tool. This tool proactively protects networks from malicious websites. It scans for potentially dangerous websites and opens a blocking page when one is detected. Users are also given the ability to set proxy server credentials for the system to recognize and authenticate. Users can use this to ensure that suspicious websites are unable to infect their networks.
    • Centralized UI. BigFix comes with a built-in UI that centralizes all of the solution’s features so that they can be accessed from a single location. It enables administrators to target specific portions of the network when issues arise without requiring them to take actions that will affect the entire network.

    Reviews from Real Users

    HCL BigFix is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to most of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its auto-patching capability and its user-friendly tools.

    Santhosh K., the chief executive officer of Catnip Infotech Private Limited, writes, “The second valuable feature is, BigFix also has an auto patch updating feature, where the latest patches, and what is required for my system are automatically downloaded and kept ready for me. The solution applies the patch and notifies me after applying the patch. BigFix also gives me a ping saying that I should reset my system within a certain period of time, while the patch is being applied. Let's say, the patch is being applied and if there's an issue, the solution can revoke the applied patch, and revert back to the old state.”


    Benedikt S., an application administrator, says, “It's very straightforward. The usability is very close to everyday technical tools that you use as a systems administrator. So it's quite user-friendly.”

    Chef, is the leader in DevOps, driving collaboration through code to automate infrastructure, security, compliance and applications. Chef provides a single path to production making it faster and safer to add value to applications and meet the demands of the customer. Deployed broadly in production by the Global 5000 and used by more than half of the Fortune 500, Chef develops 100 percent of its software as open source under the Apache 2.0 license with no restrictions on its use. Chef Enterprise Automation Stack™, a commercial distribution, is developed solely from that open source code and unifies security, compliance, infrastructure and application automation with observability. Chef provides an unequaled developer experience for the Coded Enterprise by enabling users to express infrastructure, security policies and the application lifecycle as code, modernizing development, packaging and delivery of any application to any platform. For more information, visit http://chef.io and follow @chef.

    Sample Customers
    Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
    US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
    Facebook, Standard Bank, GE Capital, Nordstrom, Optum, Barclays, IGN, General Motors, Scholastic, Riot Games, NCR, Gap
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Energy/Utilities Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization23%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Retailer12%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization43%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Government8%
    Computer Software Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company30%
    Comms Service Provider20%
    Transportation Company10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise47%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise64%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise49%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business5%
    Midsize Enterprise35%
    Large Enterprise60%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise69%
    Buyer's Guide
    BigFix vs. Chef
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Chef and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    BigFix is ranked 5th in Configuration Management with 91 reviews while Chef is ranked 15th in Configuration Management with 18 reviews. BigFix is rated 8.6, while Chef is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of BigFix writes "Very stable and easy to deploy with excellent patch compliance". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Chef writes "Useful for large infrastructure, reliable, but steep learning cureve". BigFix is most compared with Microsoft Configuration Manager, Microsoft Windows Server Update Services, Tanium, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, whereas Chef is most compared with Jenkins, Microsoft Azure DevOps, AWS Systems Manager, Microsoft Configuration Manager and SaltStack. See our BigFix vs. Chef report.

    See our list of best Configuration Management vendors.

    We monitor all Configuration Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.