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IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager [EOL] vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 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

IBM Tivoli Configuration Ma...
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Configuration Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Software Distribution (1st), Server Monitoring (7th), Configuration Management (3rd), Patch Management (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Megha Rastogi - PeerSpot reviewer
Server Administrator at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
Responsive support, reliable, and scalable
IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager is used for complete database storage The user interface of IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager could improve. You have to know the full UI before you can manage it properly. I have been using IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager for approximately 10 years. IBM Tivoli…
JunedBedrekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Expert at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have found IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager to be scalable."
"The most valuable feature of SCCM is the application distribution."
"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 process has significantly improved our software distribution workflows."
"It works well for the endpoints for the customer I'm consulting. It has a bunch of knobs, and you can tune it to do lots of things."
"I have found the solution to be scalable. We have around 50,000 users using the solution."
"The product is useful for patch management."
"The ability to make collections and deploy to them has been great."
"The tool's most valuable features are easy patch management and software deployment."
"I manage software updates and operating systems for devices, and within seconds, we can remotely deploy a system for, say, 2,000 devices. Not only that, but we can also deploy scripts and create comprehensive compliance rules."
 

Cons

"The user interface of IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager could improve. You have to know the full UI before you can manage it properly."
"One area of improvement is regarding the patching of Office 365 products. We have some difficulties on this side, and it can be improved."
"The time the solution takes for updating systems could be quicker. For example, the system information status is not updating as it should. Additionally, the database synchronization querying is slow and could be improved."
"The reporting functionality in Microsoft Configuration Manager could be improved as it is not very user-friendly."
"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."
"It needs to be able to load faster during deployment."
"We'd like the solution to make it easier to manage remote users."
"There is a reboot issue with the patching. Sometimes, if patching runs into any issue whatsoever, it doesn't reboot but it doesn't tell you it errored out. It just sits there and we don't find out until the next day whether it patched or not. That was a big issue for us. We're working through that. They added some stuff in there now where you can actually tell reboot is pending. But we still need some kind of notification that if something fails or is pending, we know. We shouldn't have to go in and look. They don't have anything for that right now."
"I want the system to provide some dependency relations. I would also like to see the relationship between different machines."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."
"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."
"For enterprises, there is an annual license required to use this solution. The price of the solution could be cheaper. However, this is mostly because of the exchange rate from the dollar to the Nigerian currency."
"Pricing and licensing are horrible. You have to not look at dollar value to use SCCM. It's super-duper expensive but it works. The acquisition cost is expensive, it's labor-intensive. But it works."
"We have a support license from Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager and the overall price of the solution is reasonable."
"The price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
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 Enterprise64
 

Questions from the Community

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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 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 ...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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