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KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs Vicarius vRx 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
KACE SMA increases efficiency and productivity, offering rapid ROI by streamlining operations and reducing time, costs, and staffing needs.
Sentiment score
8.1
MSPs and clients achieved significant time, cost, and efficiency gains with Vicarius vRx, realizing a 40% ROI.
The return on investment is seen in the quick access to information, good inventory management, and efficient systems management.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
KACE SMA support is praised for its expertise and 24/7 availability, with occasional room for flexibility improvement.
Sentiment score
8.0
Vicarius vRx customer service is praised for responsiveness, professionalism, and effectiveness, with high ratings and efficient communication.
I would rate the customer support for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) as a 10.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The customer service is very good, providing quick customer support in Spanish.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
Their support is very good, and they respond quickly.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
During the POC and the implementation, they were very available and made their best efforts to help us.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
Whenever I've contacted them, they respond promptly with a callback or by email.
Systems Admin at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
KACE Systems Management Appliance efficiently supports various organization sizes, excelling in integration, scalability, and comprehensive network management.
Sentiment score
7.8
Vicarius vRx scales well, featuring easy deployment across endpoints, but some face challenges during large system updates.
The product is very scalable as it supports 10,000 thousand endpoints with just one appliance.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
We have outgrown the size of one KACE appliance and are now running two.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is very simple; you just script it, and then the computers connect themselves.
Information Systems Supervisor at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
When we attempted to scale this and update 200 systems, that just locked it.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
We have some clients with up to a thousand agents.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
KACE Systems Management Appliance is praised for its stability, reliability, and efficient performance, with swift recovery during incidents.
Sentiment score
7.3
Users generally find Vicarius vRx stable and efficient, despite occasional deployment challenges and update-related high CPU usage.
There are some issues that they do not even know how to fix at this point.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
I would rate the stability of Vicarius vRx ten out of ten.
Information Security Manager at Pango
There are some issues like high CPU usage during updates, but these were fixed.
IT Manager & Sys Admin at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

KACE Systems Management Appliance struggles with scalability, usability, customization, integration, image deployment, and technical support responsiveness.
Vicarius vRx needs improved automation, simplified login, better integration, UI, and advanced management features for enhanced user experience.
Currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the university.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
I am pretty sure that the tool works great when it comes to Windows, but when you are in an environment that has different flavors of Linux at different version levels, that may pose an issue.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
We have the ability to search across the network for all switches, routers, and printers, but some devices might be outdated and have vulnerabilities.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
Enhancing Vicarius vRx with improved third-party integrations, like notifications for external systems, and increased cloud integration for richer instance information, would be valuable improvements.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

KACE Systems Management Appliance offers cost-effective enterprise solutions, although potentially expensive for small businesses, with no additional feature costs.
Vicarius vRx offers scalable per-asset pricing, competitive yet costly, with negotiable rates appealing to resellers but challenging for smaller entities.
The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
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.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
It was very cheap.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
In the past, Vicarius vRx was cheap, but now they have adjusted their pricing policy, resulting in higher renewal costs.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
From a pricing perspective, Vicarius was cheaper compared to other competitors.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
 

Valuable Features

KACE SMA offers integrated, centralized IT management for efficient software deployment, asset management, and security with customizable inventories.
Vicarius vRx offers automated patching, vulnerability management, and a user-friendly interface, greatly reducing manual tasks for IT teams.
Scripting has saved us hundreds of hours over the years when patching these vulnerabilities compared to how we did it before.
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The most valuable features include simplicity, which makes systems management easier and faster, especially for device management.
Avocat at Star Boxes India Pvt Ltd
It's a valuable tool that reduces tension between IT and security teams by providing time to properly install patches.
Information Security Manager at Pango
The system prioritizes vulnerabilities, identifying high, medium, and low risks, allowing us to focus on high-risk applications.
Information Systems Supervisor at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
The most valuable feature is the system's ability to provide information about open CVEs and how it compares the local version with available updates.
IT Manager & Sys Admin at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

KACE Systems Management App...
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 (7th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (10th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (10th)
Vicarius vRx
Ranking in Patch Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (15th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 3.8%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vicarius vRx is 3.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Vicarius vRx3.1%
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)3.8%
Other93.1%
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2514510 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Has a lot of backend issues and doesn't work the way we thought it would
We did some automation. We kicked off scheduled updates to update our systems, but it did not work. When we attempted to scale the product and update multiple systems, we ran into a lot of issues. We also ran into the issue of it creating double assets. I am not sure how that happened, but it was a mess and still is a mess. That is where we are. They should probably go back to the drawing board and make sure that they can patch Linux. In our environment, we are 99% Linux. They may need to build their own lab and have a lot of Linux devices. They can have old different Linux systems and 50 or 60 of them and attempt to do an update in their own lab and see what happens. I am still not sure if that would give them a true test because we have systems here with Docker containerization and all kinds of things on it. They will have to mimic what some of these environments will look like. I am pretty sure that the tool works great when it comes to Windows, but when you are in an environment that has different flavors of Linux at different version levels, that may pose an issue.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
12%
Government
10%
Non Profit
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Non Profit
9%
Media Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vicarius vRx?
I do not use other solutions, so I cannot compare its pricing to others, but its price seems okay.
What needs improvement with Vicarius vRx?
I would be happy if the patch update could be downloaded to the Vicarius server and then implemented on the client. Currently, they just send a link to the software. For example, if I want to updat...
What is your primary use case for Vicarius vRx?
We use Vicarius vRx to manage all third-party software updates. Previously, we could manage Windows updates, but third-party updates were an issue. It was difficult for us to manage the updates of ...
 

Also Known As

Dell KACE Systems Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs. Vicarius vRx and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.