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Carahsoft vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

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

Carahsoft
Ranking in Software Distribution
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Configuration Man...
Ranking in Software Distribution
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (4th), Configuration Management (4th), Patch Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Software Distribution category, the mindshare of Carahsoft is 1.6%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 27.5%, down from 33.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Distribution Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager27.5%
Carahsoft1.6%
Other70.9%
Software Distribution
 

Featured Reviews

Ruth Starr - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Analyst at General Services Administration
Online expert-led training has expanded my skills and supports continuous learning at my desk
What I appreciate most about the on-demand aspect of Carahsoft is that the people in the training are experts in their field, so I trust their knowledge and experience more than going to a class in a college environment where they do not know the government way of doing business. I would say that learning from the experts in the field and knowing that they have long experience, over five years of experience, is the best feature Carahsoft offers, which makes me more able to trust their advice. I appreciate the way I can look at the calendar and see what is coming up in advance to sign up for them and have them automatically notify me as a reminder. Specifically, I appreciate that some of the trainers call me because some of the trainers are very outgoing, and I appreciate talking to them on the phone; I do not necessarily prefer to always be on chat or webinars. I find that it is made available to me for free, so I do not pay a cost for it. Carahsoft helps me learn faster and learn about technologies that I do not understand, enabling me to learn effectively.
NS
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized endpoint control has streamlined deployments and improved security compliance
In my experience, the best features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are software deployments and updates, OSD, hardware and software inventory, compliance and configuration baseline, reporting and monitoring, and integration with Intune hybrid management. These features make endpoint management efficient and scalable. The feature I rely on the most day-to-day is software deployment and patch management. It keeps endpoints updated and secure with minimal manual effort. Inventory and compliance monitoring are also important, but daily deployments are critical. Microsoft Configuration Manager has had a significant positive impact on our organization in several ways: improved efficiency, enhanced security and compliance, standardization, scalability, and visibility reporting. Overall, Microsoft Configuration Manager has helped us save time, reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and maintain strong control over our endpoints. One of the biggest impacts Microsoft Configuration Manager has had on efficiency is the reduced manual work for software deployment and patching. For example, deploying a new application or security updates to hundreds or thousands of devices previously required several days of manual effort, including running scripts, checking devices individually, and validating installation. With Microsoft Configuration Manager, these tasks are automated and managed, allowing deployments to complete in hours rather than days. We also have automated reporting for deployment success and compliance which saved the IT team significant time that used to be spent gathering and reconciling inventory data from multiple tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I think Carahsoft is a great resource, and you should keep growing as much as possible."
"Carahsoft has helped us primarily in selling to the US government efficiently and swiftly."
"Centralization through a distributor has made it so that both our renewals and sales teams spend less time generating quotes, less time having to follow up with customers, and more time going after making sure opportunities get closed and finding new opportunities."
"It is easy to install, and quick to deploy."
"With the SCCM inventory, we found a lot of rogue applications. We were able to identify them, find out who was running them, and either put them on our application list or remove them."
"The solution is stable."
"SCCM, therefore, is the best that I can tell, as I've been able to evaluate it fully."
"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is valuable in keeping our systems updated. We are able to send updates to all the systems. Additionally, the Intune integration is helpful."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ability to deploy patches to nearly all applications."
"The most valuable feature is the graphical-based reports of software updates that have been successful, the ones that have failed, and a summary of where the failures are what security breaches may occur."
"This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system, allowing us to standardize our Windows configuration, with models supported through imaging."
 

Cons

"It would be beneficial if Carahsoft enabled their people to deliver the software and similar services."
"I would appreciate an individual Carahsoft representative so that I could build a relationship with one person instead of getting five different people calling me for the same event every day."
"I wish Carahsoft would offer more direct integrations between CRMs, and I would also appreciate more introductions internally with like-minded vendors or complementary vendors within Carahsoft's ecosystem."
"Since this solution is agent-based, computers without the agent cannot be reached on the network."
"The solution is a bit heavy on the sources such as RAM or CPU and the software needs to be a bit lighter."
"It would be nice to have everything in one place. Now they have Intune for the desktops and SCCM to handle their servers."
"The deployment process is lengthy and should be quicker to complete."
"The solution could improve the functionality for automating, license management. Additionally, more and better-looking reports are needed."
"I would like to see an agentless version of the solution."
"With Microsoft Premier Support, you get what you pay for. There's Third Tier Support that you pay for. If you pay for that, you get excellent support, and if you don't pay for that, then you get the less experienced staff."
"There's no way to say, "I want this maintenance window to be on the second Tuesday of the month." It's strict. This window is this and that's it. You can't fluctuate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Pricing and licensing are a downside of SCCM. It's expensive. I'd have to confirm this, but I think they changed the licensing to core-based instead of socket-based. It's not cheap, because you have to buy the software, you have to buy SQL. Another thing we learned from talking to Microsoft is that they provide you a license for SQL if you run it on the same box as the primary server. If you run it outside that box, you have to buy SQL. Microsoft does recommend you running it on the same box because of performance. But then, in order to run SQL, SCCM, and everything on the same box, you better have some resources. It's an expensive solution. There's no doubt about it."
"I rate the price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager an eight out of ten."
"The price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is expensive."
"We have to pay for a license."
"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."
"Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."
"The solution is expensive. Microsoft Configuration Manager would likely be considered high-priced for small businesses because they may not fully utilize all of its features and capabilities."
"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Carahsoft?
Carahsoft's pricing is determined by the software vendors' pricing. If a vendor provides a margin, the prices remain the same as set by the software company. If no margin is provided, Carahsoft may...
What needs improvement with Carahsoft?
I would appreciate an individual Carahsoft representative so that I could build a relationship with one person instead of getting five different people calling me for the same event every day.
What is your primary use case for Carahsoft?
My main use case for Carahsoft is that I am able to attend training online, but I am not allowed to attend in person, making it a really good way for me to learn about new technologies without havi...
How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
How to choose between ManageEngine Desktop Central and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM)?
ManageEngine Desktop Central is very easy to set up, is scalable, stable, and also has very good patch management. What I like most about ManageEngine is that I can log on to every PC very easily a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCCM?
The setup cost is considered sufficient. It is not significant enough for us to consider a change at the moment.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
Find out what your peers are saying about Carahsoft vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.