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BigFix vs GFI LanGuard comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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

BigFix
Ranking in Patch Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (6th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (26th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (4th)
GFI LanGuard
Ranking in Patch Management
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of BigFix is 9.0%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GFI LanGuard is 2.7%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

Bella Yakoby - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers third-party patching feature, good scalability, and enhance endpoint management capabilities
From the perspective of the team that's handling the environment, it's not so user-friendly compared to other solutions, the competitors. We hire new teams from time to time, and they are complaining, look, although BigFix is very robust and cross-platform, it's not so fun to work with. The user interface for the technical teams is not so advanced. It's not so intuitive compared to SCCM, compared to ManageEngine. And this is the fact that they have, with the teams, because they have the rejection. The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned. For new employees, it's less easy to find someone I don't need to educate on how to work with BigFix. Although it's easy, it's not as intuitive as the other solutions, and the functionality of the other solutions is less advanced. Let's summarize: The user interface has to be changed from the perspective of the teams that are managing the product. It's old school.
Ted Mbugua - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly stable, quick support, and useful modules
My advice to others wanting to implement this solution is you do not have to be very technical to use it. When installing it, you only need to click next. Additionally, the support is helpful and knowledgeable. Their technical documentation is easily accessible. I rate GFI LanGuard an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This has very much improved our organization by saving time to deploy thousands of endpoints to our customers."
"It enables us to patch our systems quickly and within expectations and to increase our volume as needed. It has also helped us compress our patch sites. We used to do it monthly but now we do it weekly."
"The older version of the tools that I use also included the connectivity aspect, and the fact that the tool now has it separate from the collection of usage data makes the deployment of these tools much easier."
"BigFix has drastically reduced the maintenance window period to patch and reboot servers."
"It has improved my organization because we can automate a lot of tasks. We went from manually patching machines or doing our best and having very little visibility into it to us being able to set it and forget it and getting really good results on first-pass patching."
"My company provides support services to a lot of customers and companies. We have reduced a huge amount of man-effort. Along with the man-effort, we have reduced the timeline to fix the compliance and security gaps. We have an unbroken record. The documentation clearly says that we have done the patching of newly released patches, including Microsoft and third-party patches, in up to 80% of the computers, within 72 hours of the release of the production. That was a very massive benefit that we have seen. When I talk about the 80% endpoints, it is 100 or 200. I am talking about 25,000 endpoints."
"The architecture for patching and the 100% correct reporting makes BigFix stand apart from other solutions."
"BigFix is a great product. The flexibility of putting together your own relevance and retrieving custom data from any one of your agents is a valuable feature. It is one of my favorite features because if a boss asks me, "How many of these devices do we have?", I can put together a report in two seconds."
"The initial setup was easy."
"I like that the solution can block users from unnecessarily putting devices on the network."
"This product is a great solution at a great price as long as it is only going to be used for a local area network."
"The solution is easy to use and integrates well with other operating systems."
"The most valuable feature is that I am able to patch third-party solutions."
"It is helpful to patch and scan vulnerabilities."
"The most valuable features of GFI LanGuard are the vulnerability assessment, it provides us with substantial insight into what applications are running on the endpoint systems and what vulnerabilities are there in the running applications. The second would be the assets tracking. I'm able to see in the network whether my endpoint server is operating and if all the other IT equipment is running in the environment. Additionally, GFI LanGuard is not heavy on system resources. It gives a competitive advantage over others."
"The most useful features of GFI LanGuard are vulnerability assessment and patching solutions."
 

Cons

"The sub-capacity licensing was a challenge for some of it. We had trouble getting it to calculate right."
"Implementing a business solution with BigFix has some issues, primarily concerning the time required for distribution to clients if there are too many."
"The product is quite buggy and complicated to use."
"The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned."
"The stability is generally pretty good. The one thing that we came across is the battle between load on endpoints and load on our servers and relays versus how quickly, effectively and reliably actions can be taken. I'd like to not have to take an action on a system while I'm working with someone and then have to say whether something will happen between five seconds or thirty minutes from that point."
"Relay selection and availability needs improvement as an incorrect relay selected can cause network chokes."
"I would like to see for it to be a little easier for new users to be able to learn and create relevant statements. In my opinion, that's the hardest part for bringing on new people that haven't had BigFix experience. Being able to have easier ways to build relevance in ActionScript would be the biggest improvement I'd like to see."
"I self-taught for this online, so the initial setup was a little difficult to pick up at first. I had to create a couple of testing environments and destroy them in order to learn how to use it. There was a lot of trial and error, a lot of reading of the manuals."
"This solution is limited to the local area network only and cannot manage remote devices."
"GFI LanGuard could improve the rollback feature. If we have installed the wrong we have had some issues with the rollback function. Additionally, more input from GFI LanGuard for the custom software push install."
"When you want to uninstall software from an endpoint, sometimes it becomes very problematic."
"GFI LanGuard has some technical limitations with machines."
"GFI LanGuard can improve by adding asset tracking."
"The version we are using only allows one person to use it at a time and does not allow multi-users."
"The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes."
"The documentation on how to use this solution in a Linux environment is not clear, which is something that should be improved because it is complicated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is slightly high."
"The price of BigFix could be lower. However, I am always seeking a lower price."
"When purchasing, buying with other IBM tools provided us with a very good discount in pricing."
"The price is very fair."
"The product is less costly when compared to other solutions, and this is a good solid solution for what we have paid."
"I can estimate the reduced cost of servers maintenance to approximatively $500,000."
"The price of BigFix is better than the solutions. You are able to pay monthly or annually. There are not any hidden costs with BigFix. There is an additional cost for the SQL database."
"The price is reasonable, but our customers find it expensive."
"GFI LanGuard isn't expensive."
"GFI LanGuard cost approximately $1,000 annually to use the solution."
"I rate the pricing of GFI LanGuard a four out of five."
"GFI LanGuard has very fair pricing compared to other similar solutions out there."
"We are a gold partner and we receive favorable discounts. The price of GFI LanGuard is competitive. When you evaluate other solutions, such as ManageEngine."
"On a scale of one to five, with one being expensive and five being competitive, I would rate the price as a four."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
33%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Photography Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is competitive, but not the most competitive.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
While performing integration, we face many issues with IBM solution. We need detailed information about those issues that can help users to mitigate them. The problem was related to the hardware co...
What do you like most about GFI LanGuard?
The most valuable feature of GFI LanGuard is its email spam feature.
What needs improvement with GFI LanGuard?
The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes. Instead of directly white listing...
What is your primary use case for GFI LanGuard?
Internally, as a user, I use GFI LanGuard for email and web monitoring.
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Endpoint Manager
LanGuard
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
BayView Medical Clinic, FrugalBrothers Software, Zaw, National Theatre, American Red Cross
Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. GFI LanGuard and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.