ConnectWise Automate vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

The compared ConnectWise and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. ConnectWise is ranked #9 in RMM , and holds a 7.7% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #6 in SM , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 5.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of ConnectWise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ConnectWise Automate

Read 15 ConnectWise Automate reviews

1,659 Views
1,012 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Read 84 Microsoft Configuration Manager reviews

10,784 Views
1,833 Comparison Views

91% 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: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

August 2025

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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) (9th)

Microsoft Configuration Man...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Distribution (1st), Server Monitoring (6th), Configuration Management (3rd), 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 9.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Server Monitoring, holds 5.3% mindshare, down 7.2% since last year.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ConnectWise Automate	7.7%
Kaseya VSA	18.2%
NinjaOne	13.7%
Other	60.400000000000006%

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Server Monitoring Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager	5.3%
Zabbix	25.9%
Checkmk	10.5%
Other	58.3%

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.

Read full review

JunedBedrekar

Expert at Tata Consultancy

Have effectively deployed patches and applications while integrating with cloud solutions

The features I find most valuable in Microsoft Configuration Manager are replication and scripting. If I want to get a fetch report for anything, such as hardware-related issues or group policy-related issues, I need to fetch the report by using SCCM's scripting language and remediation part. The inventory collection features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are good because we always prefer the inventory. We do it by using the script language. We use remote management capabilities in Microsoft Configuration Manager. Remote management capabilities are useful if the user is not providing access; we can use the backend users to update the group policy and sync the devices. These are the main features we require.

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

"The database is great. It's a nicely ordered database."

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

"It allows us to manage all client requests, jobs and invoicing."

"The implementation is nice and easy."

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

"We use monitors to keep track of our machines. We use a pretty good portion of information from Automate."

"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."

"This product saves us a lot of time and increases our efficiency."

More ConnectWise Automate pros

"What's valuable is the basic management of the systems, being able to control who can access the systems."

"You can remote control or RDP. That has been the most valuable because we can go into one console and can get to anything we want. Instead of going to all these different consoles, we centralized everything."

"There is a faster time to rollout. If we get a new PC, it can be ready for productivity right away."

"The cloud account management is a valuable feature."

"The tool's most valuable features are easy patch management and software deployment."

"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 scalability to deploy the package."

"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is very scalable."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"Patching and reporting need improvements, especially reporting. The reporting engine is quite outdated, so you end up having to use your own dashboard."

"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."

"The project management needs improvement and there's a section of the product called configuration that also needs to be improved."

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

"The menu doesn't always load properly."

"Technical support was helpful."

"There could be better linkages between ConnectWise Automate and Manage from a ticketing perspective. Automate and Manage each has its own ticketing system. We use the one in Manage, but it'd be nice if they were linked directly to the one in Automate."

"The fixed client for Automate is slow. The web client is not very intuitive."

More ConnectWise Automate cons

"It would be better if automation options were available. For example, in Nexthink or SysTrack, there is an analytical tool. Creating dashboards would be very easy if you implement the same thing in Microsoft. That report will be a daily cost to the customers and good revenue for our organization. The price also could be better. In the next release, we need to include some features like tables, dashboards, surveys, services, and metrics in the dashboard. Whatever we are implementing will be downloaded by a report. Apart from the report, we will telecast from the dashboard. It's very easy to compare, and it will be easy to telecast to the end-users."

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

"In terms of the monitoring, the timeframe it takes to actually report back on the compliance of a device after it has been patched is a bit too long."

"Troubleshooting in general needs improvement. There's just a ton of logs to go through, and so finding the error log that corresponds with that you're doing can sometimes be difficult."

"Devices like smartphones and tablets are managed very well on VMware, however, they are absent in SCCM. I could configure iPad from the VMware site and it was done very easily. It should be just as possible on SCCM."

"They should improve their anti-malware policies like the SCEP policies. For instance, you can't have different policies for different servers, there is only one policy in all the servers, and everything is covered under that. For example, say you want to scan one group of servers on Saturday, and then you want to scan another group of servers on Sunday, you can't do that. You have to scan all your servers, a regular scan or a full scan, on the same day and at the same time. That's definitely one thing they need to resolve. In the next release, it would actually be nice if they included Apple products. It will also help if you can use Intune again. Their compliance reporting feature could also be better. They can maybe work a bit on that for patching now. It would be better if SCCM came with the functions of Right Click Tools built-in. If SCCM would have all those functions already built-in, we won't have to go and spend $5,000, just as an add-in from another company to get those functions."

"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."

"The configuration of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could be improved, it is a bit complicated."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

"Pricing and licensing are reasonable."

"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."

"Presently, I am using a free trial version."

"Along with buying a license for MECM, we also have to buy a service called CMG (Cloud Management Gateway) which is a virtual machine in the cloud with which you can link your MECM to the Azure tenant so as to manage teleworkers."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Performing Arts

10%

Educational Organization

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	63

Questions from the Community

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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 4% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ConnectWise Automate

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

August 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 ), Microsoft SMS

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 streamlines IT management with features such as software deployment, patch management, and automation, centralizing operations for Windows environments. Integration with Microsoft products allows efficient oversight of workstations and servers.

Microsoft Configuration Manager provides comprehensive IT management, offering software deployment, patch management, and application pushing. Automation reduces manual tasks, ensuring consistency across systems. Centralized management enables standardized OS deployments, application updates, and configuration integrity. Integration with Microsoft products facilitates seamless operations, while hardware and software inventory, compliance reporting, and remote control functions enhance IT management. Users seek improvements in application deployment for those without deep scripting knowledge and desire better WSUS control, PowerShell and Intune integration, Linux compatibility, and user interface enhancements. Performance improvements are requested for remote user management and third-party application support.

What features enhance Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Software Deployment: Efficiently distribute software across large networks.
Patch Management: Automate and streamline update processes for security and functionality.
Automation Capabilities: Reduce manual effort and enhance consistency in IT tasks.
Centralized Management: Standardize OS deployments and application updates.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Seamless operation with existing Microsoft infrastructure.
Hardware and Software Inventory: Comprehensive tracking for assets and resources.
Compliance Reporting: Ensure compliance with internal and external standards.
Remote Control Functions: Enhance support and troubleshooting capabilities.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Decreased Manual Work: Automation reduces time spent on repetitive tasks.
Enhanced Security: Automated patch management keeps systems secure.
Consistent Configurations: Centralized updates ensure uniformity across systems.
Improved Integration: Seamless operation within Microsoft ecosystems boosts productivity.
Comprehensive Oversight: Detailed inventory and reporting tools aid in strategic planning.
Streamlined Support: Remote capabilities improve IT support and user satisfaction.

Microsoft Configuration Manager is widely implemented in organizations to manage Windows workstations and servers. It is essential for deploying operating systems and applications, managing software updates, and conducting hardware and software inventories. The tool is crucial for endpoint and configuration management, ensuring compliance, and automating processes like patching and vulnerability management. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and education rely on Microsoft Configuration Manager to keep systems secure and operational, adapting it to address their specific needs and challenges in maintaining diversified IT environments.

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)

August 2025

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