Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

Ivanti and Quest Software are both solutions in the Patch Management category. Ivanti is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0, while Quest Software is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0. Ivanti holds a 0.5% mindshare in PM, compared to Quest Software’s 5.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Ivanti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNI...

Read 4 Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac reviews

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104 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Quest KACE Systems Manageme...

Read 38 Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) reviews

1,742 Views
1,097 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNI...

Quest KACE Systems Manageme...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance and Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac are competitors in patch management and IT automation. Ivanti Patch is considered superior due to its comprehensive features and is seen as worth the investment.

Features: Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance offers robust management capabilities, integrated systems management across various platforms, and efficiency in handling diverse IT environments. Ivanti Patch focuses on specialized patch management for Linux, UNIX, and Mac, ensures thorough security compliance, and extensive patching support. The primary difference is Quest KACE's broad scope versus Ivanti's depth in patching.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Ivanti Patch has a straightforward setup tailored to its platforms and provides effective, responsive customer service. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance offers a comprehensive deployment process that may take more time but benefits from strong customer support. The main contrast is Ivanti's streamlined onboarding against Quest KACE's extensive deployment functionality.

Pricing and ROI: Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance offers cost-effective solutions with quick ROI by streamlining IT operations. Ivanti Patch involves higher initial costs justified by enhanced security and compliance, providing long-term ROI. The distinction lies in Quest KACE's value-driven pricing strategy versus Ivanti's focus on long-term gains.

To learn more, read our detailed Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 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

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNI...

Ranking in Patch Management

15th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Quest KACE Systems Manageme...

Ranking in Patch Management

10th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Client Desktop Management (6th), Endpoint Compliance (7th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 5.4%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Patch Management

Featured Reviews

Mario Del Toro

CyberSecurity Executive IAM Engineer at Tata Consultancy

Helps to manage the accesses for the users, provide specific permissions, and verify identities

I use the solution to manage the accesses for the users, provide specific permissions, and verify identities. The tool is a stable product. The tool needs to improve its visual system. I would rate the product's stability a ten out of ten. I would rate the solution's scalability a nine out…

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Scott Tweed

Windows Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

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.

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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

"The solution is easy to implement."

"The website development section is the most valuable feature of the solution."

"Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, and Mac helps to ensure that everything is up to date."

"The tool is a stable product."

"I can reach people now that I couldn't have reached previously. We are saving about 25 percent in time."

"It is excellent in terms of updating and configuring everything the way we need. For anything more complex, we do professional service engagements, and they're exceptional. For anything less complex, we just need to ask questions. Their support division is extremely good too."

"There is ease of use, and its pricing was a driving factor."

"The ability to build scripts right on the deployment center itself, as well as building groups that take those scripts/task chains has been absolutely invaluable and one of the most important parts of my whole environment."

"The Systems Deployment Appliance is magical when it comes to automating deployment... Not only can we have multiple images, specific to end-users' uses, but we have a plethora of post-installation tasks to install or configure the system, tasks that can be re-used for each system. You just have one basic base image, and then you use the post-install tasks to customize everything else. It is amazing."

"We have our KACE agent deployed on all of our workstations and servers, and it provides us with reports on the hardware and software inventory for those."

"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."

"We can get the majority of what we need with this product and do not have to spend money on something else."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pros

Cons

"The solution can be quite expensive, compared to other options on the market."

"The better way to improve the solution is by working on an area where it lacks, which includes the migration part."

"The tool needs to improve its visual system."

"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."

"It is a little bit difficult to use the license compliances because you need to decide when you are using the software catalog if you are using it with their license compliance or the normal software part. Under the inventory, you can use software as a menu link or software catalog. Most of my specialist software is not in the software catalog. When I try to import them, in my license compliances overview, there are cryptic names for this software that I have to import. That is not very good for the reports that I use. When I take them to my bosses, they see cryptic names of software that they don't understand. It would be much better for me if I could use software and the software catalog as well for the license compliances."

"The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface and lacks a manual configuration option."

"We'd love to see support for larger dependencies in the scripting feature."

"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."

"The problem is that it's harder to directly emulate a lot of the stuff that the group policies do, using the KACE solution. With regular group policies, you just specify the various settings you want to change on the workstations, and then you specify the workstations and—while it's kind of an ugly mess—it does it. Whereas on KACE, you really have to know what you're doing with scripting to effectively script those exact same changes."

"It could be designed a little bit more intuitively in terms of administration."

"I've had some issues with patch catalogue."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source, so we do not need any licensing."

"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."

"The pricing and licensing are good. It's worth it."

"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."

"We are a university. So, we have a very good price for the system. I think the price for the system is worth it because of the security patch management. The security patch management is very important for us. The price is very good for KACE SMA, the functionality you get, and the patch management."

"We buy consulting fees from Software Factory, then we pay extra for it."

"We are also saving on the licensing fee, compared to other endpoint management 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."

"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."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, and Mac helps to ensure that everything is up to date.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?

The solution is not expensive. It is cheaper than other solutions. The solution is open-source, so we do not need any licensing.

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What needs improvement with Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?

The better way to improve the solution is by working on an area where it lacks, which includes the migration part. Currently, on Amazon AWS, we have hosted all the websites. It is fine to migrate f...

See all answers

What do you like most about Quest KACE Systems Management?

My company had bought some new machines. We used the tool to do some basic settings to ship every machine the same way and undertake the Windows deployment. We did the scripted installation. The to...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?

The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?

The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface and lacks a manual configuration option.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Patch Management

March 2025

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac report

Download Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac product report

Buyer's Guide

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

April 2025

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) report

Download Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) product report

Also Known As

HEAT Patch, PatchLink

Dell KACE Systems Management

Overview

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac, powered by Heat, swiftly detects vulnerabilities in today’s environment, from workstation to data center. And it deploys expertly pretested patches automatically, helping organizations to patch with more efficiency and efficacy.

Ivanti

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is a comprehensive tool for managing IT endpoints. It facilitates asset management, software distribution, and endpoint tracking while offering remote access capabilities and a centralized help desk.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is designed for organizations that need efficient endpoint management. It offers a range of features like inventory tracking, automated patch management, and ticketing. By integrating with remote access tools such as Bomgar, Quest KACE helps reduce manual tasks involved in managing software updates and system deployments. Although it faces challenges in scalability and requires improvements in integration and reporting, it remains a versatile choice for asset tracking and endpoint administration.

What are Quest KACE SMA's key features?

Asset Management: Streamline the organization and tracking of physical and virtual assets.
Remote Access: Integrates with Bomgar for secure, remote troubleshooting and management.
Software Distribution: Deploy applications across devices efficiently without physical intervention.
Centralized Endpoint Management: Manage endpoints from a centralized console to ensure compliance and optimization.
Automated Patch Management: Schedule and deploy patches to maintain system security and performance.
Help Desk: Integrated ticketing system for tracking and resolving user issues.
Scripting and Reporting: Enhance administrative tasks through automated scripts and detailed reports.

What benefits should users consider?

Improved Productivity: Reduces manual interference with automated deployments and updates.
Labor Savings: Minimizes labor requirements with efficient remote management tools.
Integrated Reporting: Provides actionable insights through comprehensive reports to optimize IT operation.
User-Friendly Interface: Boosts effectiveness due to its intuitive, easy-to-navigate design.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is implemented across industries for managing IT assets and endpoints, particularly where remote management and compliance are critical. It's employed in healthcare, education, and government sectors for efficient patch management, inventory control, and software deployment, aiding organizations in managing security accreditations and centralizing help desk operations.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King

Buyer's Guide

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

April 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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