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Ivanti Patch for Configuration Manager vs KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 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

Ivanti Patch for Configurat...
Ranking in Patch Management
28th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
KACE Systems Management App...
Ranking in Patch Management
9th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (3rd), Endpoint Compliance (7th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (12th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Ivanti Patch for Configuration Manager is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 3.9%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)3.9%
Ivanti Patch for Configuration Manager1.9%
Other94.2%
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

Gaurav Chandola - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Associate Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides detection logic that tells us which customer will record an update and is less expensive than other solutions
I haven't had experience with customer service and support, however, we did have an advisory case with one of their technical support staff. We were publishing and getting the full metadata for the patch. We were getting the full updates for the patch release. There was confusion as to why we were seeing that in the SCCM, instead of in the full metadata patch. The support person was able to help us in understanding what we were doing wrong, highlighting it could be a certificate issue. We generated a new certificate, and after they were applied, the issue was fixed. Overall, I would rate their customer service and support a five out of five.
MH
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliability and adaptability enable efficient application deployment and security management
The best features Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) offers include the scripting function, which stands out to me because I can find specific needs and deploy the applications based on those needs. There was a time when scripting really saved me time by allowing me to find specific registry entries and modify them to patch security vulnerabilities. Scripting has saved us hundreds of hours over the years when patching these vulnerabilities compared to how we did it before. I really enjoy the security features that are enabled to deploy Microsoft and other vendor patches, which stand out to me as key functionalities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature of Ivanti Patch for SCCM is the detection logic."
"KACE’s knowledge-based articles are very good."
"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 most valuable feature is the ability to monitor updates—the software versions—on machines so that we can keep everything compliant."
"I can reach people now that I couldn't have reached previously. We are saving about 25 percent in time."
"Asset management is most valuable. It is essential for all customers. The other features are also useful, but asset management is most important."
"You don't have to be an advanced user. Rather, in terms of ease of use, this product is right where it needs to be."
"The solution provides us a single pane of glass with everything that we need for endpoint management of all devices. It definitely has made our endpoint management process much easier."
"We're able to deploy software and push out fixes to endpoints faster than ever."
 

Cons

"We have some problems with patches not installing successfully."
"In future releases, I would like to see improvements with the feature upgrade for the SCCM, which Microsoft has already integrated. Currently, Ivanti does not give us information about the enablement package."
"My biggest complaint is that almost every time they send out a new version, it fixes something and breaks another. Something that wasn't working in the last version now works, but something else stops; or they'll remove some dashboard that I really found to be nice and replace it with something totally different that I could care less about."
"Imaging becomes a problem when you start to try to go beyond doing more than thirty or forty machines at a time. We initially tried to do that virtually and it just, it wouldn't work."
"I've had some issues with patch catalogue."
"Scalability is my primary concern right now."
"I still need better communication about which processes are really due and which processes are currently being processed. According to the initial setup service provider, there is still no real management or overview on KACE where you can really see 100 percent of what is going on as well as what is going to be processed next and whether I can influence the overall process. It could really help me if I knew, e.g. exactly in 10 minutes my colleague will be supplied with this or that software. I haven't found this yet. If they could add this, that would be cool. It is still missing and I haven't yet found something like this."
"The solution needs to have the ability to push out managed feature updates from Microsoft in a more seamless way."
"There is always room for improvement. However, the system does most of what we need at this moment."
"The only hiccups we had were some power issues, where the box was a little under-powered early on."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We do not have a license with Ivanti, instead we buy just the plugins for the consoles, making it a much less expensive option versus other solutions."
"The cost of KACE has been relatively low compared to other systems. Even if those systems have the same cost, they do not do as much of the third-party patching that KACE natively does."
"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."
"Their pricing is per end-point device. There is an initial cost for the license for the server, which is pretty low, and then there is a per end-point device license, which is also fairly low. So, the pricing is still reasonable."
"Licensing is very straightforward. They don't overcomplicate it. This is not a Cisco product where you have to have 30 different licenses just to open the box. It's pretty much set-and-forget. You pay an annual license... The cost is in the mid to upper range, but the ROI exceeds the outside cost, especially once you've had the system for a while."
"Its pricing model is good for what it offers. Nobody here gives me a hard time about renewing the contract every year. It might be a little cost prohibitive for a smaller company who has to stand up a virtual environment as well as have virtual environment licensing and the hardware. If you have a smaller environment, it might be cost prohibitive. If you only have a couple of hundred computers, you might be more willing to do those manually. In our environment, the cost savings of having KACE far outweigh the licensing costs. We are okay with its pricing model."
"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The pricing is fair."
"We need it, so we have to pay the price. It is what it is. If you need a gallon of milk, then you have to pay the price for it. You don't want to buy the cheap stuff. You want to buy the stuff that is organic and good for your body, which doesn't have all this other junk in it. You want it clean for your body. Quest has done that for our deployment and management systems."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
14%
Retailer
12%
Real Estate/Law Firm
10%
University
12%
Non Profit
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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

Patch for SCCM, Shavlik Patch for SCCM, Ivanti Patch for MEM
Dell KACE Systems Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Pittsburgh
Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Patch for Configuration Manager vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.