BigFix vs Perforce Puppet comparison

HCLSoftware and Perforce are both solutions in the Configuration Management category. HCLSoftware is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while Perforce is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0. HCLSoftware holds a 5.2% mindshare in CM, compared to Perforce’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Perforce users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Perforce Puppet and BigFix compete in software configuration management and endpoint management respectively. Perforce Puppet is preferred for its adaptable pricing and strong support, while BigFix impresses with advanced features focusing on security.

Features: Perforce Puppet includes automation, configuration management, and flexible scripting. BigFix offers endpoint management, compliance, and comprehensive security solutions.

Room for Improvement: Perforce Puppet could enhance its security management tools, expand cross-platform support, and improve its user interface. BigFix may improve its deployment speed, user interface intuitiveness, and provide more flexible pricing models.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Perforce Puppet allows scalable deployment backed by extensive documentation and community support. BigFix has a complex setup due to its comprehensive nature but provides responsive customer service that helps mitigate initial challenges.

Pricing and ROI: Perforce Puppet is cost-effective with a straightforward pricing strategy, ensuring quick ROI for configuration management. BigFix requires higher initial investment but offers long-term value with in-depth security and management tools, appealing to those seeking comprehensive system oversight.

To learn more, read our detailed BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet

April 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 893,221 peers since 2012

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 May 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 5.4%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BigFix is 5.2%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perforce Puppet is 3.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	5.4%
BigFix	5.2%
Perforce Puppet	3.6%
Other	85.8%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

Varun Mehra

Collaboration Support Engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees

Centralized device management has transformed security and streamlined remote provisioning

One area where Microsoft Intune can improve is the user interface. Sometimes the portal feels a bit complex and not very intuitive, especially for new users, and it can take time to find specific settings. Another point is troubleshooting. While logs are available, the diagnostic policies and sync issues can still be time-consuming and not very straightforward. I also feel that reporting could be more detailed and customizable. The built-in reports are helpful, but for deeper insights, I often need to rely on additional tools. Overall, it is a strong solution, but improving usability and troubleshooting experience would make it even better. While Microsoft Intune works very well within the Microsoft ecosystem, the integration of some third-party tools could be smoother and require less customization. Support is another area that could improve, as sometimes response times can be slow, and resolving complex issues may take longer than expected. In terms of features, I think more advanced automation and built-in remediation options would be helpful since common issues can be fixed automatically without manual intervention.

Read full review

Anish_Mishra

RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited

Successfully manage endpoint security and compliance while facing integration challenges

I have not come across any difficulties. I integrated it with ILMT (IBM License Metric Tool). It lets us identify all software being used in my organization with BigFix. It provides input of all types of software being used, including details and information about hardware specifications. I am more involved in software licensing and procurement, so I utilize this tool for procuring more licenses if needed for our company. After integration, we get different dashboards showcasing our IBM infrastructure, highlighting various issues in our environment that we can mitigate. I recommend BigFix to others. I rate BigFix a seven out of ten.

Read full review

Saufi Salim

Unix Consultant at ExxonMobil

Have managed configurations efficiently with an adaptable tool

I am using Perforce Puppet in the IT industry. I have experience with configuration management tools, specifically Perforce Puppet. I am a user of Perforce Puppet. I have used modular architecture to customize and integrate with my current IT environment. It is flexible and able to address my specific needs. I have worked with event-driven automation, and it helps to identify potential issues when someone manually changes any configuration on the server. Perforce Puppet reinforces the intended configuration that we have set earlier. I recommend Perforce Puppet as it's a good tool for all kinds of business and easy to use. It takes less than three months to learn how to use Perforce Puppet. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Perforce Puppet an eight.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Conditional access has helped 3M tailor and enforce our security policies in the mobile space."

"When managing a large number of devices in an organization, it becomes easy to handle them on one platform using Microsoft Intune."

"Microsoft Intune saves eight hours per day, and during my work hours, I use my time to study and run tests on configurations I'm curious about and try them out in my environment."

"For the price, the features included with Microsoft are appealing."

"What I appreciate about Microsoft Intune is that it is easy for me to deploy software to an environment with 600 laptops."

"Microsoft Intune has improved endpoint visibility, simplified remote device management, and helped standardize security policies across both corporate and remote devices."

"Microsoft Intune has been a time saver and reduces the time and effort IT admins have to invest."

"I like that it's very good and very simple. I found that we just needed to have a proper subscription for an Intune tenant, and from the subscription, if we have the right role assigned, like the global admin role or the owner role, we can use Microsoft cloud resources. With the help of that, we can do many things like setting up Microsoft Intune in the cloud to create our virtual machines. All these can be done, and the steps are very simple. I really liked it. I like features like Windows Auto-Enrollment. I like it very much because whenever you supply it to the end-user, it will be ready to use immediately. The end-user only needs to provide the user credentials, and then they are good to go. I also really like Cloud PC, which was recently launched on Azure."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"Switching to BigFix has alleviated that to a great degree and is now allowing our company to think ahead about how we can incorporate other pieces of BigFix that other solutions don't have integrated natively, so we can get five or six product sets out of BigFix as opposed to just a single product set on a solution that didn't even work to begin with."

"This has very much improved our organization by saving time to deploy thousands of endpoints to our customers."

"We've had no issues with stability."

"Also, the ability to customize the content to do what we need it to do is very powerful and very flexible for us."

"Our services are easy to manage with BigFix."

"Between the user groups, the community, the AVP support, the direct access via technical route and the PMR support, half the time I don't even need to do a formal PMR because the solutions from the community resolve whatever issues we're having. It's the best community and support based system I've ever used."

"Before we had BigFix, we had problems with some malware. BigFix allows us to immediately patch all instances of endpoints that were vulnerable to antivirus and initiate scans. That's key."

"BigFix can manage lost devices, so you can wipe them remotely to ensure the IP doesn't get out in public. Unified endpoint security is a new perspective. I know that HCL is also collaborating with IBM, but I'm not sure if there is any cooperation between them and MaaS360 or other endpoint components."

More BigFix pros

"Puppet Enterprise has reduced the time of production changes or environment changes."

"Return on the IaaS project was breaking even in the same year with deployment of 500 VM servers with a 3-tier app stack, and annual ROI from savings thereafter was to the tune of 60-80%."

"Good tools to automate your servers, the time and effort to learn writing manifest is quiet high but it's worth on the long run"

"Puppet Enterprise provides an autonomous delivery solution and agent-server architecture that was really helpful on our case for Internet base device management."

"The agent-based feature helps me by being stable."

"Before we began using Puppet, everything was manual; once we moved to Puppet, it opened up a completely new world of automated management, which was amazing."

"Puppet Enterprise has reduced the time of production changes or environment changes, freeing our engineers to spend their time on creative, visionary work instead of repetitive tasks."

"Puppet Enterprise is a stable solution."

More Perforce Puppet pros

Cons

"Intune has all the features enabled for Windows devices but needs to be improved on iOS and Apple devices."

"What would make this product better is adding more security policies and features in the next upgrade."

"The feature that allows us to import the business application from the configuration manager to Intune is not very good at this time."

"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."

"When pushing anything from Microsoft Intune, the sync timing is 48 hours. While sometimes it takes 5 to 10 minutes, the official period given by Microsoft is within 48 hours, which can be time-consuming for policies, applications, or patches."

"Lacks the ability to deploy more ways of management, managing devices and processing the policies."

"Since the devices are configured over the Internet, whatever policy we apply from the compliance portal does not reflect immediately on the endpoint."

"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."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"I have concerns about BigFix's pricing, which I find to be slightly on the higher side."

"The product lacks AI, ML, and IIT."

"I would like to see different types of reporting and the ability to integrate closer with the cloud."

"The relevant language takes a little getting used to since it's not used anywhere else in the industry. It's just in the BigFix environment."

"The new EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) feature, Detect, is new and still needs a few updates."

"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."

"The remote software installation could be better."

"The self-service application seems to need some work to replace the client UI."

More BigFix cons

"The solution has really complex code, you have to understand the Ruby language. However, once you know the code then you can move ahead without any problems."

"Puppet has a steep learning curve so you need to spend some time before you can use Puppet daily."

"At the beginning the initial setup was kind of complex."

"The solution has really complex code, you have to understand the Ruby language and customized Domain Scripting Language (DSL)."

"Clients with less technical expertise may find Puppet complex to configure. Our team may struggle if technical team members leave the organization, leaving others uncertain about using the tool."

"The compliance side needs work. Puppet doesn't have much in terms of dealing with compliance."

"We would like Puppet to add more integration for applications."

"There's a lot of scope for enhancement on the DevSecOps side. They should definitely include features for compliance, for both the Linux and Windows side of the devices, as well as for network devices. Compliance is something they need to work on."

More Perforce Puppet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is fair. It's a normal price. It isn't too expensive or too cheap."

"It is expensive. The cost depends on the license that we choose."

"It is not a cheap solution. The price for a device when you start using it at a large scale can be improved. It is covered under our enterprise agreement. We pay once a year. I am not aware of any additional costs."

"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."

"I rate Intune an eight out of ten for affordability. It's bundled with the 365 licensing, which is competitive overall."

"Intune comes with the licensing that is common for large organizations. However, Microsoft has recently released many add-ons that are very expensive, especially for large organizations or corporations."

"There is a license required to use this solution. However, it was part of a bundle package. Microsoft Intune is far less expensive than other solutions, such as Workspace ONE."

"Microsoft Intune's costliness stems from licensing fees and the overhead associated with its management, user experience, and device remediation."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"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 tool's price continues to go up. The cost per endpoint can vary, ranging from approximately 30 to 80 dollars per year. Compared to other products, pricing is in the middle. You need to buy an additional database license, but most users already have it."

"There's not much big cost. We only have to pay the agents' cost for the server, and for the systems."

"The license is subscription-based."

"You are charged per server and per workstation when using BigFix. ManageEngine is a lot cheaper than BigFix. There are some additional costs, such as support."

"The price of the solution is high. There are not any additional fees from the standard license."

"Compliance, inventory, and licensing are really pricey. They should lower the price. It discourages users from getting onboard."

"The price is reasonable, but our customers find it expensive."

More BigFix pricing and cost advice

"Puppet Enterprise can be an expensive solution for smaller businesses."

"Depending on the size of the organization there is a point when the price of Puppet Enterprise should be lower. However, they provide really good functionality, features, and capabilities."

"Puppet Enterprise’s pricing is competitive."

"The main thing that we noticed when we switched from the enterprise version to the community version was the difference in cost — the infrastructure is pretty expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Configuration Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	151
Midsize Enterprise	60
Large Enterprise	177

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	30
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	67

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for BigFix?

I have been working at Tech Data for the last 12 plus years.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Puppet Enterprise?

Regarding the cost, I find it expensive, always. I don't know how much the license would cost per year or per user ap...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Puppet Enterprise?

I don't know what could be improved in Perforce Puppet to make this tool better for the next release. I can't think o...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Puppet Enterprise?

My main use case for Perforce Puppet is for configuration management.

See all answers

Comparisons

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 9% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 9% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Intune Competitors

Tanium vs BigFix

Compared 6% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs BigFix

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs BigFix

Compared 4% of the time

NinjaOne vs BigFix

Compared 2% of the time

HashiCorp Terraform vs BigFix

Compared 2% of the time

More BigFix Competitors

BMC TrueSight Server Automation vs Perforce Puppet

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Perforce Puppet

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs Perforce Puppet

Compared 9% of the time

AWS Systems Manager vs Perforce Puppet

Compared 7% of the time

Quali CloudShell Pro vs Perforce Puppet

Compared 5% of the time

More Perforce Puppet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

April 2026

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

BigFix

May 2026

Download BigFix product report

Buyer's Guide

Perforce Puppet

April 2026

Download Perforce Puppet product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Tivoli Endpoint Manager

Puppet

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

HCLSoftware

Demo not available

Perforce

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

HCL BigFix offers a Unified Endpoint Management platform that enhances security, reduces costs, and simplifies IT operations across hybrid, multi-cloud environments through a centralized control structure.

BigFix streamlines enterprise IT management by integrating infrastructure security, endpoint remediation, and employee experience automation within a single platform. It enables IT Operations and Security teams to function efficiently from a unified control plane, managing over 155 million endpoints. Its robust architecture supports continuous compliance and automated vulnerability remediation, closing the gap between detection and fix. It excels in digital employee experience by ensuring proactive monitoring and utilizing agentic AI for self-healing workflows and intelligent automation, thereby reducing manual efforts and enhancing productivity.

What are BigFix's key features?

Efficient Patch Management: Automates and optimizes patch distribution across platforms.
Compliance Integration: Ensures robust adherence to compliance standards through automated processes.
Scalability: Capable of managing and securing an extensive range of endpoints.
Multi-Platform Support: Provides management for various operating systems through a single console.
Customization Options: Enables API-based customizations and versatile reporting capabilities.

What are potential benefits and ROI factors?

Enhanced Security: Swift vulnerability management reduces risk exposure.
Cost Efficiency: Centralized management minimizes operational complexities and expenses.
Operational Resilience: Maintains compliance and security across distributed environments.
Ease of Management: Simplifies diverse environment management with robust tools.
Boost in Productivity: Reduces manual IT efforts while improving employee experience.

Industries such as telecom, finance, and industrial facilities leverage BigFix for comprehensive patch management, software deployment, and inventory solutions. They benefit from its capacity to support endpoint security, compliance, and diverse operational needs, using it for vulnerability assessment and custom content creation.

HCLSoftware

Perforce Puppet offers automated configuration management and diverse platform support through agent-based functionality, enhancing systems with real-time reporting and efficient process automation.

Perforce Puppet provides comprehensive management for both infrastructure and applications, primarily on-prem servers, enabling automation of server updates, security compliance, and IT operations. It supports Linux and is expanding to Windows, facilitating continuous checks and compliance monitoring. With robust Internet-based features, scalability, role-based access control, and exemplary community support, it streamlines processes like remote package installation, file distribution, and user creation. Using Puppet Forge modules enhances its capabilities despite its steep learning curve and reliance on Ruby and DSL. While GUI limitations necessitate command line proficiency, its integration features and high cost can be a deterrent, prompting some to consider alternatives or the community version.

What are the key features of Perforce Puppet?

Agent-Based Functionality: Provides real-time system management and reporting.
Automated Configuration Management: Streamlines server and network processes with a declarative approach.
Scalability: Adapts to changing infrastructure needs efficiently.
Puppet Forge Modules: Extends capabilities for enhanced performance.
Role-Based Access Control: Ensures secure and organized access control.

What benefits do users gain from Perforce Puppet?

Versatility in Platform Management: Supports diverse environments for seamless integration.
Efficiency in Automation: Reduces manual server configuration tasks.
Community Support: Access to a strong network of developers and users.
Enhanced Security Compliance: Facilitates continuous monitoring and compliance checks.

Perforce Puppet is widely adopted in industries requiring rigorous configuration management and provisioning for on-prem servers. Enterprises automate IT operations and security compliance, applying it initially to Linux servers and progressing to Windows. It aids in public configurations for nodes, enabling efficient network, package, and software integrations while automating configuration and patch management processes.

Perforce

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

Los Alamos National Laboratory, GitHub, IP Commerce, Cedexis, Spiceworks, Server Density, Swisstopo, Chockstone, Constant Contact, NICS, Citrix

Buyer's Guide

BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet

April 2026

Free Report: BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet

Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our BigFix vs. Perforce Puppet 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.