ConnectWise Automate vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

The compared ConnectWise and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. ConnectWise is ranked #10 in RMM , and holds a 7.7% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #7 in SM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 5.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of ConnectWise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ConnectWise Automate

Read 15 ConnectWise Automate reviews

1,953 Views
1,152 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Read 82 Microsoft Configuration Manager reviews

11,776 Views
1,884 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

ConnectWise Automate

Microsoft Configuration Man...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ConnectWise Automate and Microsoft Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Kaseya, NinjaOne, N-able and others in Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM).

To learn more, read our detailed Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

June 2025

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Helped 861,524 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

ConnectWise Automate

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (10th)

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (7th), Configuration Management (4th), Patch Management (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Systems Management solutions, they serve different purposes. ConnectWise Automate is designed for Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) and holds a mindshare of 7.7%, down 9.3% compared to last year.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Server Monitoring, holds 5.3% mindshare, down 8.0% since last year.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

MikeChacker

IT Manager Global Service Delivery at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Facilitates valuable patch cycles, but the web client is not very intuitive and needs updating, and the scripting has room for improvement

The fixed client for Automate is slow. The web client is not very intuitive. It could use some updating and some thought around the UX. Also, with the scripting, I would like to see something where it could have third-party scripts already pre-built, and all you have to do is say, "Hey, I need this," and go load it. It's not as automated as I'd like it to be.

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MikeNelson2

IT Infrastructure Coordinator at NSW Government

Deployment recovery works well but requires configuration improvements

While I do not use the product frequently, many issues were due to configuration rather than the product itself. I cannot give an exact recommendation as it is not my area of responsibility. The team that uses it finds it adequate. It is presently good enough for us not to investigate other options. Overall, I rate the product a six out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Scripting and patch management are really important for us. Patch Manager is something that we use a lot, and we would love to have it continually improved. It is one of the most useful features for us for controlling patches and other things for different clients."

"The most value we get from this solution is that everything is on a patch cycle."

"It's definitely improved the help-desk servicing, et cetera."

"Remote access and detailed monitoring help us support our equipment."

"It's a very good IT tool for a company that provides IT services. It is very helpful for technicians to work with the tool to see all of the customers in one place and then manage all of the computers in one place."

"A good automated scripts feature."

"The initial setup is easy and the deployment is quick."

"ConnectWise Automate's interface is pretty easy to use. It's pretty intuitive to get around and navigate it. It does what I need, which is usually connecting to the client and customers systems."

More ConnectWise Automate pros

"I like a lot of the reporting capabilities and baseline configurations."

"The main, clear valuable feature is updating the latest, patches and updates from Windows. This is the main feature we really utilize a lot."

"The solution has a very good set of features."

"The solution is highly scalable."

"It's helped us solve problems surrounding patching, installing, and reporting different patches, etc., on the virtual machines."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ability to deploy patches to nearly all applications."

"This has made the management of our environment easier."

"SCCM is a stable solution."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"Technical support was helpful."

"This is a raw system. Of course, it has some flaws that could be improved. But, it's something that we will have to work with to get to the point where we need this, we request it and they do their best to make it happen."

"They could use some automated alerts particularly when we're talking about an MSP that might shoot over."

"The wait time for a support ticket to be addressed needs to be reduced. They take a couple of days to get back. It is a little frustrating when we have to wait for a couple of days. A lot of times, the issue is critical for us. If we're reaching out to their support team and submitting a ticket, it is because we need it handled quickly."

"They always change the GUI to some dumb-down version of tiles which are more "user-friendly", but slows my team down in the end."

"We would love to get feature updates and cumulative updates fixed. I know they aren't really supposed to be pushed with Patch Manager. We've got recommendations from ConnectWise to use the scripted feature update installs, scripted KB updates, etc. Having these in Patch Manager itself would be great."

"Scheduling of automation could be improved and made more simple."

"Their support needs to be better."

More ConnectWise Automate cons

"The deployment process is lengthy and should be quicker to complete."

"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager can improve by allowing us to schedule the scripts, we don't have a script scheduling option and have to do it manually."

"I'm looking for a single solution for all discovery needs. It fulfills about 40% of the requirements, and I'd like to see the other 60% so that I don't have to keep doing this."

"SCCM can improve on third-party application support."

"The solution should be more compatible with different versions of Linux."

"There is no asset management package included."

"The tool's deployment is difficult. Microsoft needs to improve documentation with videos."

"Its client interface should be more accessible, and the notifications should be more customizable from the console. It should be more user friendly and have some kind of customized notifications so that we can use it on the client side. These are the reasons why we restricted its use only for the server environment and didn't use it on the client side."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing and licensing are reasonable."

"I pay $85 a month per user for a ConnectWise package that contains multiple solutions."

"From what I've overheard, it is pretty comparable to other solutions in terms of price."

"I believe Automate is available for around $2."

"The price of SCCM depends on the size of the organization. The price is competitive."

"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."

"When you compare this solution with other tools in the market you might actually find a lot of variation in the pricing and that's why people opt for the other tools rather than Microsoft tools."

"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."

"As far as I know, it is an annual operating expense license."

"There is an annual license needed to use the solution."

"Its licensing is quite complicated because we are getting the license not only for SCCM but for the full Microsoft package. We don't need to pay for a separate license. We need to have one license that includes everything we need, such as Windows, Microsoft 365, SCCM, encryption, and so on. So, we don't have a specific price for it. Perhaps, it is good that it includes the full suite of licensing of Microsoft. It is expensive, but we are getting a lot of features."

"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

20%

Computer Software Company

13%

Performing Arts

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about SCCM?

One of the standout features of SCCM is its application management capabilities. It allows us to create packages efficiently and deploy them to specific groups within our network. This streamlined ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ConnectWise Automate

July 2025

Download ConnectWise Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

June 2025

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

LabTech for IT Service Providers, ConnectWise Automate for Corporate IT Departments, ConnectWise Automate for IT Service Providers

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM )

Overview

ConnectWise Automate is an IT management tool that helps deliver IT services at the speed of business. Our remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform provides powerful automation to discover & manage devices, monitor for problems, and automate action. Deliver streamlined reactive and proactive managed services, stop putting out fires, and start focusing on what matters most. See why over 5,500 partners worldwide chose ConnectWise Automate by visiting ConnectWise.com or calling 877-522-8323.

ConnectWise

Microsoft Configuration Manager helps IT manage PCs and servers, keeping software up-to-date, setting configuration and security policies, and monitoring system status while giving employees access to corporate applications on the devices that they choose. When Configuration Manager is integrated with Microsoft Intune, you can manage corporate-connected PCs and Macs along with cloud-based mobile devices running Windows, iOS, and Android, all from a single management console.

New features of Configuration Manager, such as the support of Windows 10 in-place upgrade, co-management with Microsoft Intune, Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise Servicing Dashboard, integration with Windows Update for Business, and more make deploying and managing Windows easier than ever before.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

I-M Technology, Mainstay Technologies, PC Works Plus, Integrity IT, Kerkhoff Technologies Inc., Marathon Consulting, Christenberry Sales Company, EDTS, Secom Technology, Ready to View, ARRC Technology, DaVinci Digital, JNR Networks, Quinn Technology Solutions, PCIT, Liberty Technology, Capital Computers & Networks, Atlanta Technology Force, Doberman Technologies, First Column Enterprises, CisCom Solutions

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad

Buyer's Guide

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

June 2025

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