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BigFix vs KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Microsoft Intune significantly reduced costs, improved efficiency, integrated seamlessly with Microsoft 365, enhancing productivity and reducing resource needs.
Sentiment score
4.9
BigFix delivers quick ROI with efficient patch management, reducing manual labor and costs while improving compliance and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.3
KACE Appliance boosts productivity and reduces costs by streamlining system management, cutting labor needs, and simplifying processes.
Everything we've gained from it makes my job easier day after day, and I see value in it as an engineer.
IT Systems Engineer at Syracuse University
Microsoft Intune not only saves costs by reducing the number of personnel needed but also offers a comprehensive solution for managing laptops, applications, security, individual access, and enrollment.
Subject Matter Expert at Engage IT Services Pvt Ltd
With Microsoft Intune, tasks such as device provisioning, policy deployment, application delivery, and compliance enforcement require less manual effort than in more traditional management models.
Endpoint Cloud Solution Architect at Lutech
The return on investment is seen in the quick access to information, good inventory management, and efficient systems management.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Microsoft Intune's support is mixed; premium users experience better outcomes, but standard support often faces delays and issues.
Sentiment score
7.6
BigFix's customer service is praised for expertise and responsiveness, enhanced by community resources and recent support improvements.
Sentiment score
6.6
KACE Systems Management Appliance users praise the responsive, professional support and ITNinja for high satisfaction despite mixed experiences.
When a support ticket is submitted, it directly reaches someone with Intune support expertise.
Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
When I contacted Microsoft, they had the same expertise, if not more, which is phenomenal because I felt heard and my problem was solved.
IT Systems Engineer at Syracuse University
Sometimes, the support provided is excellent, and the representative is knowledgeable, while other times, the service needs improvement.
Engineer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
On a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest quality, enterprise support provides timely responses, typically within four to eight hours.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
Technical support from HCL is satisfactory unless there are customization requirements.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
Whenever we need any kind of support, the BigFix team is present and available.
Solution Sales Specialist at TD SYNNEX
I would rate the customer support for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) as a 10.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The customer service is very good, providing quick customer support in Spanish.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Intune scales efficiently, supporting diverse organizational sizes and environments, offering seamless management and consistent performance as needs evolve.
Sentiment score
4.7
BigFix effectively manages environments of all sizes with high scalability, supporting large deployments without performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
KACE SMA efficiently manages endpoints, easily scales, integrates well with virtual environments, and accommodates growth with minimal setbacks.
The scalability of Microsoft Intune is ten out of ten.
Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Ideally, we want to automatically segregate devices based on user properties like primary use, but currently, dynamic groups seem limited to device properties.
Engineer, Systems Admin . at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
It supports organizations with 200 endpoints and those with more than 15,000 endpoints.
Director at Provisioned
BigFix requires some minimum configuration requirements.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
The product is very scalable as it supports 10,000 thousand endpoints with just one appliance.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
We have outgrown the size of one KACE appliance and are now running two.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Intune delivers high stability with minimal issues; users rate it highly for reliable integration and day-to-day operations.
Sentiment score
6.2
BigFix is praised for its stability, efficient large-scale deployments, and autonomous operations with minimal user intervention and near-perfect ratings.
Sentiment score
8.1
KACE SMA is stable and reliable, with quick support for issues and minimal downtime, appreciated for its resilience.
We have not experienced downtime, bugs, or glitches.
Head of IT at TWM SOLICITORS LLP
It appears Microsoft Intune undergoes changes without informing customers.
Support Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
In my experience, Microsoft Intune is a stable platform as it is a cloud-based service, and updates are regularly delivered by Microsoft.
IT Administrator at Newrest Inflight España, S.A
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is stable and secure;
Security Administrator at EbixCash
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Intune struggles with non-Windows compatibility, complex setups, slow sync, limited customization, inefficient policies, and unsatisfactory integration.
BigFix users seek pricing adjustments, enhanced interface, improved documentation, better integration, scalability, and cloud and mobile management solutions.
KACE SMA users seek enhanced scalability, reporting, UI design, easier remote management, and better integration with reduced resource consumption.
Features like unlocking devices sometimes fail, and the support offered for other operating systems is insufficient.
Strategy & Portfolio Advisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now.
Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
Engineer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Building a management console is quick and simple, taking only one to two hours for setup.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
The problem was related to the hardware configuration and hardware specifications.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
In addition to reporting improvements, there should be a feature for application control to allow or disallow certain applications from being executed on endpoints.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
Currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the university.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The dashboard could be more interactive; for example, it should provide alerts if an endpoint is vulnerable to viruses.
Security Administrator at EbixCash
The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Intune is cost-effective within Microsoft 365 packages, with discounts for nonprofits and bulk purchases, though standalone licenses cost more.
BigFix offers flexible pricing with competitive but potentially costly plans, beneficial licensing, and discount options for larger deployments.
KACE SMA's per-device licensing offers cost-effective scalability and comprehensive management, providing value across various organization sizes.
Introductory professional services, like a fast-track service, were included with our E5 membership, and there have been no additional costs.
Senior Systems Architect IV at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
The Intune suite and add-ons, such as batch management and remote help, are costly.
Technical Sales Professional (Microsoft Modern Workplace) at Alnafitha IT
It costs approximately forty euros per user per month.
Cyber Security Officer at Gudu
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to SolarWinds, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is that, hands down, it beat all of the others in simplicity and pricing.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
In terms of cost-effectiveness, considering a situation where I want to deploy KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) for just pushing updates, it is completely fine.
Security Administrator at EbixCash
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Intune excels in device management, integration, automation, and security, enhancing efficiency with Autopilot, Azure AD, and advanced features.
BigFix offers scalable and customizable endpoint management with robust patching, software distribution, and security compliance across multiple platforms.
KACE SMA enhances productivity with off-hours deployment, automation, and streamlined asset and license management through a single interface.
Intune excels in configuration and compliance management for Windows 10, ensuring devices receive timely updates and adhere to organizational standards.
Microsoft Practice Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Dynamic groups allow us to set conditions for automatic membership, eliminating the need for user intervention or manual review and ensuring a seamless workflow.
Engineer, Systems Admin . at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Windows Autopatch is the most valuable because it removes the burden of patch management.
Director at Provisioned
The BigFix features that have proven most effective include inventory, software delivery, software distribution, software catalog, and both software and hardware management.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
I use this mainly to capture inventory for IBM products, and as BigFix was part of IBM, it gets easily integrated with IBM solutions.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
BigFix supports something known as Patch Policies, which allows users to define that whenever critical patches are released, they should get evaluated against machines and automatically deploy them.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
Scripting has saved us hundreds of hours over the years when patching these vulnerabilities compared to how we did it before.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Overall, KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) helps streamline my processes by allowing me to check the uptime and downtime of machines, whether they are connected to the internet or not, and how long a machine has been switched off.
Security Administrator at EbixCash
The most valuable features include simplicity, which makes systems management easier and faster, especially for device management.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
378
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Remote Access (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
BigFix
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (9th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (25th), Patch Management (8th)
KACE Systems Management App...
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
12th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (2nd), Endpoint Compliance (7th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (11th), Patch Management (9th)
 

Featured Reviews

OluwashileAdeniyi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Infrastructure Security Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Centralized endpoint security has improved and supports hybrid work and BYOD policies
Regarding what I dislike about Microsoft Intune and its downsides, I would say that more Mac controls are needed because we have limited Mac and Linux control. When comparing controls and policies between Windows, Mac, and Linux, Windows has almost everything you can think of, while Mac and Linux have limited types of control. You cannot implement certain things on Mac and Linux that you can on Windows. The limited controls are a major issue. Additionally, if Microsoft could find a way to embed servers into Microsoft Intune, that would be beneficial. Microsoft Intune is not really designed for servers or Windows servers. It is more tailored towards Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. Windows servers are not fully supported. Enterprise organizations usually have both servers and endpoints, which are users' workstations. For servers, most people look for other solutions such as SCCM, which is Configuration Manager. However, SCCM is what Microsoft Intune is trying to replace. Both SCCM and Microsoft Intune belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to transition organizations into Microsoft Intune, the native cloud solution. However, because this update is still in process, servers are not fully compatible with Microsoft Intune and cannot be managed by it. The current policy that has emerged from issues with clients is what they call co-management, which is relatively new, and I do not know if adoption is significant. Many legacy or older customers who have been using these products for decades still have SCCM. When it is time for them to manage their Windows devices, they use what is called cloud attach. Cloud attach is a term whereby your SCCM is connected to your Microsoft Intune. Most people do not know about it, but I have deployed it for several organizations. Cloud attach and co-management work together so that your device is in SCCM, but some policies are pushed from Microsoft Intune. It is like two different solutions working hand in hand. That is what they call co-management. Microsoft Intune does not bring all of your endpoint and security management tools into one place, which is the goal and how it should be. However, as I mentioned, servers are not included. If we talk about end users, Microsoft Intune does bring all your devices together. In a typical enterprise environment, you have end users with workstations, laptops, company-issued phones, and bring your own devices. You can create policies for all of these. However, for the backend, your servers do not have much coverage. Servers are not really covered by Microsoft Intune in that way.
Ravi Khanchandani - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder Director at Techsa Services
Long-term partnership improves customer satisfaction and delivers efficient endpoint management
BigFix supports something known as Patch Policies, which allows users to define that whenever critical patches are released, they should get evaluated against machines and automatically deploy them. Their software distribution is very efficient because they use a pull mechanism rather than a push mechanism, allowing each machine to download from the closest repository and install themselves. The same assessment mechanism applies for real-time vulnerability remediation, allowing identification, evaluation, and automatic remediation across machines. Compliance metrics typically measure the patch percentages deployed against the number of endpoints, which could be various device types including virtual machines and mobile devices. Measurements are taken against each device type, looking into compliance percentages for browsers such as Chrome and Edge based on their versions.
AdityaJain - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Administrator at EbixCash
Centralized software deployment has simplified endpoint control but needs stronger security alerts
What I like best about KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is that it allows pushing custom-made applications to all computers that have KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) endpoint installed. This makes it easier for the organization to push patches and updates. If I need to push EDR updates, I can use KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), as it automatically updates the EDR on that endpoint, and that is a great feature. Overall, KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) helps streamline my processes by allowing me to check the uptime and downtime of machines, whether they are connected to the internet or not, and how long a machine has been switched off. I can also gather hardware details and software inventory from it. I can show a live demonstration if a video conference can be arranged. Incident resolution capabilities with KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) have improved operational efficiency for system administrators, as it makes it easier to track machines with KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), gather their IP addresses, and push several updates, patches, or software deployments at once. I can design compliances as per my requirements, such as ensuring passwords are reset after 45 days.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Construction Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
10%
Construction Company
9%
Non Profit
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise185
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise67
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise16
 

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 BigFix?
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to other major software solutions, making it ...
What needs improvement with BigFix?
I have concerns about BigFix's pricing, which I find to be slightly on the higher side. While it may not be the most ...
What is your primary use case for BigFix?
I have been working at Tech Data for the last 12 plus years.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?
In terms of cost-effectiveness, considering a situation where I want to deploy KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA...
What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
For improvements in KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), I would want to see it become a standalone software agen...
What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
I have deployed KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) around 230 plus PCs, and I use it to push Windows updates and...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Tivoli Endpoint Manager
Dell KACE Systems Management
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

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
Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.