Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs NetCrunch comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 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 Configuration Man...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Software Distribution (1st), Configuration Management (3rd), Patch Management (1st)
NetCrunch
Ranking in Server Monitoring
30th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (79th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (64th), Log Management (69th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 5.3%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetCrunch is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager5.3%
NetCrunch0.9%
Other93.8%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

JunedBedrekar - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
it_user1038504 - PeerSpot reviewer
A network monitoring platform with a useful reporting feature, but permission-based options could be better
The initial setup is fairly easy. Most of it's wizard-based. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to set it up. But if you don't know certain things related to protocols and everything else, it might be difficult. If you know how SNMP works, it'll be fairly simple to set up.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like a lot of the reporting capabilities and baseline configurations."
"The product is useful for patch management."
"It has been working for us, and it has never been down so far."
"Software deployment and WSUS are most valuable."
"We are happy with the collaboration of SCCM with Patch My PC, which allows us to do patch work."
"The dashboards have information about our assets."
"Overall, I believe Microsoft Configuration Manager is definitely a good product."
"The solution effectively handles inventory management, deployment, and reporting."
"Reporting on NetCrunch is pretty good. It's very similar to SolarWinds. It's just a different interface. The majority of everything there was beneficial."
 

Cons

"Its client interface should be more accessible, and the notifications should be more customizable from the console. It should be more user friendly and have some kind of customized notifications so that we can use it on the client side. These are the reasons why we restricted its use only for the server environment and didn't use it on the client side."
"Their compliance reporting is not accurate, and they admitted it on the phone when we had a call with them. We were trying to understand why their numbers didn't match on our compliance reports. It is not accurate and you cannot depend on the compliance reports. The numbers just don't match, and we can't figure out why. We called Microsoft and they said, "Yeah, that's a known issue." But there is no word that they're working on it."
"The configuration of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could be improved, it is a bit complicated."
"Some of the capabilities aren't fully developed yet. It's an ongoing work in progress. I think they are making some steps in the right direction as far as managing workstations centrally, like Intune."
"They need to improve the support for the Mac operating system."
"Microsoft should extend support for additional platforms."
"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."
"It would be nice to have everything in one place. Now they have Intune for the desktops and SCCM to handle their servers."
"I didn't care for the role-based, permission-based options, which were not the best."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"Presently, I am using a free trial version."
"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."
"Its licensing is quite complicated because we are getting the license not only for SCCM but for the full Microsoft package. We don't need to pay for a separate license. We need to have one license that includes everything we need, such as Windows, Microsoft 365, SCCM, encryption, and so on. So, we don't have a specific price for it. Perhaps, it is good that it includes the full suite of licensing of Microsoft. It is expensive, but we are getting a lot of features."
"As far as I know, it is an annual operating expense license."
"Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."
"The price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is expensive."
"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Agriculture
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise64
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
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 ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
AER Kooperation, AON Corpration, Advance Financial services, Airbus SAS, Bauer Net consult, Banco Soal, Bertelsmann, Burke County public, COF training services
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. NetCrunch and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.