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KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs Matrix42 Unified Endpoint Management comparison

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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

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
312
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Remote Access (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
KACE Systems Management App...
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
10th
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), Patch Management (9th)
Matrix42 Unified Endpoint M...
Ranking in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
21st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (21st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 28.2%, down from 34.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 2.0%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Matrix42 Unified Endpoint Management is 1.8%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Intune28.2%
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)2.0%
Matrix42 Unified Endpoint Management1.8%
Other68.0%
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
 

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24
Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license
The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.
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.
Sanjay Mukhopadhyay - PeerSpot reviewer
Director - Sales & Operations - India at Intertec Systems
It is a complete and competitive solution with excellent OEM support
Matrix42 is a complete solution in terms of functionality. Still, you need to understand whether it's also capable of managing Kubernetes containers to that extent, and this is not very clear in the product fact sheet. It’s possible with Ivanti MobileIron, though, and Matrix42 seems to be one step behind in this aspect. Likewise, in terms of integration, there is still room for improvement in Matrix42 to integrate with more third-party tools compared to Ivanti, which has a larger number of integrations due to its size. MobileIron is an older product that has evolved over time, offering advantages in terms of readily available third-party APIs and integrations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It works well if you have a Microsoft environment."
"Our main use is Intune's management of mobile devices, like Android or iPhone devices. The application performs quite well for both types. We successfully managed almost 3,000 endpoints."
"When a user receives the machine, sets it up, and turns it on, it connects to the domain and begins installing software, becoming ready within approximately half an hour, which represents a significant time savings for IT departments."
"The conditional access policies that we set up are very useful."
"It is a comprehensive security solution that not only controls access to enterprise resources but also tracks and prevents unauthorized access, ensuring the protection of sensitive data and preventing potential data loss scenarios."
"The most valuable feature of Intune is the central dashboard for compliance and policy management."
"The insights, even though we're talking about charts and graphs, are super valuable to customers who might not otherwise know what's in their ecosystem or the current state of things within their ecosystem."
"Windows Autopatch is the most valuable because it removes the burden of patch management."
"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."
"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 tool helped us deploy custom software for specific departments. We also did Windows updates with the product."
"KACE’s knowledge-based articles are very good."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to have an overview of all devices that are accessing our environment."
"The information available via KACE is up to date, critical to our normal operations, and has become the go-to tool of our IT teams for extended support."
"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."
"I can reach people now that I couldn't have reached previously. We are saving about 25 percent in time."
"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 most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to assign a package to a user on a system If you have your software packages set up via SCCM. It automates the process, which is very convenient, especially since most of our people are remote. Additionally, the overall functionality is good."
"Matrix42 Enterprise Mobility Management offers on-premises deployment."
 

Cons

"Manually syncing devices to enforce policies is cumbersome."
"Improvements can be made by allowing server integrations since it is an area where the product currently has shortcomings."
"Since GMS is unavailable in China, we currently rely on device administrator enrollment for managing Android devices there."
"Certificate management within Microsoft Intune's Suite is still under development. It's not very reliable compared to other certificate tools, though it has made good progress within a couple of years."
"If we could remote into a device, it would be great. Currently, we cannot directly connect to the user device. We have to use other tools such as VMware for connecting to devices."
"The reporting causes problems because we're trying to gather data to present to the management, but we can't get the data they request. If a user has removed an application from his device, but it won't report it at exactly the right time. It takes time to sync from the device to the portal. Let's say we are preparing a list or deck for the number of compliant devices that meet all of the organization's requirements. In a real-time scenario, that device could be compliant, but it is showing as non-compliant on the portal. It sometimes hampers the overall decisions that we make on our end."
"Microsoft Intune is currently overpriced."
"The initial setup is a little bit complex."
"There is always room for improvement. However, the system does most of what we need at this moment."
"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."
"There should be a mini toolbox, like the competitors of KACE have, with the small features for KACE administrators. That would make their lives easier. If you are troubleshooting a specific endpoint, remote control is available as is Wake-on-LAN. But if you want to execute some commands, you have to use a third-party tool, the PS tool. If they would integrate those small things, it would make KACE more powerful."
"It took a little bit of time to figure out how to use the KACE Service Desk. I like the way that I'm able to customize it. But when it comes to how our techs are able to use it, it's not as functional as our current solution, which is BMC FootPrints Service Desk."
"We'd love to see support for larger dependencies in the scripting feature."
"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."
"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."
"There isn't a lot they need to improve with the solution itself at this point. It is pretty close to providing a single pane of glass for everything that we need for endpoint management specifically on all devices. There is very little that it doesn't provide for us, and for those, we have to go to other methods. There are some of the patching solutions that it doesn't take care of for us. So, we have to do those manually on the devices, and that's really the biggest thing. It doesn't do patching really well for non-Microsoft applications. The major application updates, particularly Windows updates, don't function nearly as well, but, for the vast majority of things, it does just fine. If they could improve in this aspect, that'd be great, but I don't know if they're going to be able to do that."
"Matrix42 Enterprise Mobility Management could improve the user interface, it is not very intuitive."
"In terms of integration, there is still room for improvement in Matrix42."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Intune is not cost-effective as a standalone product."
"The cost of the license and the features are justified for myself as a technical person."
"If you're ever going to buy an Office 365 environment, then pricing is reasonable given all that it does, but if you're not, then you might find the pricing expensive."
"Previously the price was $4 per month per user. Now it's $2.25 per user per month."
"Its pricing seems reasonable."
"It's affordable for the protection it gives. There are no additional costs."
"While Microsoft Intune boasts a wide range of features, its user-friendliness and bundled licensing cost are key considerations for me."
"Microsoft Intune is expensive."
"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."
"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."
"We pay annually for technical support."
"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."
"The pricing is great. It's billed annually and it's very reasonable."
"Licensing is done on a per device basis, so it's dependent on how many agents you've got installed."
"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."
"Matrix42 is more affordable than Ivanti."
"I am not sure the price of this solution but I would imagine it is fairly expensive because of the complexity, you would not use it in a small company."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
University
12%
Government
10%
Non Profit
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Government
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business121
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise154
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise15
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
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What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
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Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Dell KACE Systems Management
Matrix42 Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), Silverback Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Partou Childcare
Find out what your peers are saying about KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs. Matrix42 Unified Endpoint Management and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.