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GFI LanGuard vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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

GFI LanGuard
Ranking in Patch Management
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Quest KACE Systems Manageme...
Ranking in Patch Management
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (3rd), Endpoint Compliance (8th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (12th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of GFI LanGuard is 2.4%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 4.4%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ted Mbugua - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly stable, quick support, and useful modules
My advice to others wanting to implement this solution is you do not have to be very technical to use it. When installing it, you only need to click next. Additionally, the support is helpful and knowledgeable. Their technical documentation is easily accessible. I rate GFI LanGuard an eight out of ten.
Scott Tweed - PeerSpot reviewer
Low maintenance, reliable, and easy to create packages
I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it. The deployment process for both deploying and creating a package is straightforward. I believe the inventory in KACE is superior to SCCM's. I know with SCCM I could do things like remote console into machines via the agent's remote console, but that is not a feature that is provided in KACE. I know that at least in the Systems Management Appliance, I can't get to it. I'm not sure how distribution works, with distribution points. I'm not sure if KACE has that feature. You could use an SCCM to set up distribution points at remote sites so that they don't have to download patches or software from across the country. If you have a DP or something similar, they could pull it down.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was easy."
"It is helpful to patch and scan vulnerabilities."
"The most valuable features of GFI LanGuard are the vulnerability assessment, it provides us with substantial insight into what applications are running on the endpoint systems and what vulnerabilities are there in the running applications. The second would be the assets tracking. I'm able to see in the network whether my endpoint server is operating and if all the other IT equipment is running in the environment. Additionally, GFI LanGuard is not heavy on system resources. It gives a competitive advantage over others."
"The most useful features of GFI LanGuard are vulnerability assessment and patching solutions."
"The most valuable feature of GFI LanGuard is its email spam feature."
"The most valuable feature is that I am able to patch third-party solutions."
"The most valuable features in GFI LanGuard are patch management and vulnerability assessment."
"I like that the solution can block users from unnecessarily putting devices on the network."
"I am impressed by the service desk ticketing and asset management."
"The software asset management has been a big help, even when it comes to license true-ups. I can use it to find out how many Tivoli we have, and boom, there's the number... And you can actually click on the information about the software and it shows, for example, that these five servers are where it's being reported. If you really want, you can log in to them and validate."
"It also does patch management. At the moment, I'm rolling out a new feature update, 20.8.2, and it's a great challenge because we have to deploy it to 1,200 computers in the home office. We want to do it without interrupting production, but KACE is reliable and it's easy to adapt it to my needs for how and when to deploy the feature update."
"There is one place for a lot of different things. If somebody has a problem with their computer, they will put in a ticket. From there, we will know who it is and the assets assigned to them, because there is one place to go look for what we are talking about and with whom we are talking. Just having one place for everything is really convenient. For example, we are able to deploy software to hundreds of computers. We don't need to go to each individual device."
"The ability to push an image to a machine, wake that image up, and just blast a new image to a computer without even having to touch it, and then push the software to that machine. This just made things so much more convenient for us and so much more efficient."
"The initial setup is relatively easy."
"The single pane of glass for managing devices is helpful because it allows me to perform updates and control things without having to disturb the doctors or nurses."
"The most valuable feature is the imaging of computers through the SDA... Being able to do that so quickly with the SDA, and to then use the SMA for reinstalling software, has been huge for our productivity."
 

Cons

"GFI LanGuard has some technical limitations with machines."
"If GFI LanGuard had a cloud version it would be better for people that are working from home."
"GFI LanGuard can improve by adding more modules, such as asset control or asset inventory."
"The version we are using only allows one person to use it at a time and does not allow multi-users."
"GFI LanGuard can improve by adding asset tracking."
"When you want to uninstall software from an endpoint, sometimes it becomes very problematic."
"This solution is limited to the local area network only and cannot manage remote devices."
"The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes."
"What could be improved is the possibility to use replicas in a secure way outside our network in order to maintain the machines that never connect to our corporate network."
"We'd love to see support for larger dependencies in the scripting feature."
"I wish Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) would have a top-down approach since we use orgs; currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the university."
"I've had some issues with patch catalogue."
"We had issues with the tool's support. We are a Dutch firm and everything has to be in Dutch. We were not able to do the alerts. You were required to tweak them a lot to get them in the language that you preferred. The solution's support depended on the person that you got online. Sometimes, the response was fast and other times you needed to wait a long time. The support also depended on the levels of support that you had requested."
"Its dashboard needs improvement. Currently, there is no way to modify the dashboard. There should be more flexibility so that we can create views according to our use case."
"I have complaints about smart label adaptation and because of this, I recommend a 24 to 48 hour bake-in period."
"KACE implemented the possibility of reducing the network speed of the KACE agent. You can set it so that it takes whatever network speed you want or you can set it to 5 Mb, to save network speed. You set it for all the computers, but it would be preferable to separate between VPN connections in our home office and the local area. It would be great to be able to set separate speeds for different VLANs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the pricing of GFI LanGuard a four out of five."
"GFI LanGuard isn't expensive."
"On a scale of one to five, with one being expensive and five being competitive, I would rate the price as a four."
"We are a gold partner and we receive favorable discounts. The price of GFI LanGuard is competitive. When you evaluate other solutions, such as ManageEngine."
"GFI LanGuard has very fair pricing compared to other similar solutions out there."
"GFI LanGuard cost approximately $1,000 annually to use the solution."
"We buy consulting fees from Software Factory, then we pay extra for it."
"The pricing and licensing are good. It's worth it."
"The pricing is great. It's billed annually and it's very reasonable."
"Some of the other solutions were just astronomical in price compared with KACE and didn't necessarily have the ease of use either. So, we chose Quest KACE for its easy-to-use features and cost."
"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"We are also saving on the licensing fee, compared to other endpoint management solutions."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The pricing is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Photography Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GFI LanGuard?
The most valuable feature of GFI LanGuard is its email spam feature.
What needs improvement with GFI LanGuard?
The only drawback with GFI LanGuard is that you cannot directly integrate it from the Outlook email; instead, you have to first log in to the site to make changes. Instead of directly white listing...
What is your primary use case for GFI LanGuard?
Internally, as a user, I use GFI LanGuard for email and web monitoring.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?
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.
What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
I wish Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) would have a top-down approach since we use orgs; currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the...
What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
My main use case for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is to deploy applications and maintain security, and we use it day-to-day to handle those tasks. With Quest KACE Systems Managemen...
 

Also Known As

LanGuard
Dell KACE Systems Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BayView Medical Clinic, FrugalBrothers Software, Zaw, National Theatre, American Red Cross
Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Find out what your peers are saying about GFI LanGuard vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.