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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Tanium comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

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...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Software Distribution (2nd), Server Monitoring (5th), Configuration Management (4th), Patch Management (2nd)
Tanium
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (24th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (14th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (23rd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (8th), Autonomous Endpoint Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Microsoft Configuration Manager and Tanium aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Microsoft Configuration Manager is designed for Server Monitoring and holds a mindshare of 4.2%, down 5.0% compared to last year.
Tanium, on the other hand, focuses on Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP), holds 2.5% mindshare, up 2.4% since last year.
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager4.2%
Zabbix9.8%
Nagios XI6.0%
Other80.0%
Server Monitoring
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tanium2.5%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.7%
CrowdStrike Falcon5.8%
Other85.0%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user460248 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technology Architect - Cloud & Infrastructure Services at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
May 23, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

NS
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized endpoint control has streamlined deployments and improved security compliance
In my experience, the best features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are software deployments and updates, OSD, hardware and software inventory, compliance and configuration baseline, reporting and monitoring, and integration with Intune hybrid management. These features make endpoint management efficient and scalable. The feature I rely on the most day-to-day is software deployment and patch management. It keeps endpoints updated and secure with minimal manual effort. Inventory and compliance monitoring are also important, but daily deployments are critical. Microsoft Configuration Manager has had a significant positive impact on our organization in several ways: improved efficiency, enhanced security and compliance, standardization, scalability, and visibility reporting. Overall, Microsoft Configuration Manager has helped us save time, reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and maintain strong control over our endpoints. One of the biggest impacts Microsoft Configuration Manager has had on efficiency is the reduced manual work for software deployment and patching. For example, deploying a new application or security updates to hundreds or thousands of devices previously required several days of manual effort, including running scripts, checking devices individually, and validating installation. With Microsoft Configuration Manager, these tasks are automated and managed, allowing deployments to complete in hours rather than days. We also have automated reporting for deployment success and compliance which saved the IT team significant time that used to be spent gathering and reconciling inventory data from multiple tools.
Sandeepraj Gatla - PeerSpot reviewer
Dfir Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Endpoint monitoring has strengthened incident response and provides rapid isolation and forensics
Tanium provides an endpoint which is isolated from the network and environment. We can easily search its logs and history and connect remotely directly to that particular device which has been isolated from the network. We can search for the history and logs, including audit logs and event logs. The complete activity of the user or owner of the device is visible to us. We can see the artifacts of particular USB transfers internally for official use. We can not only connect remotely but also see the device status and how many failures have occurred within the network so far. We can see the IP address, how many times it has changed its IP address, and how many times it was connected to VPN or external VPN or internal VPN and what has been searched while on VPN. We can block the IOCs or IP addresses as well. We can block domains, hashes, SHA values, SHA-256, SHA-1, SHA-5 and MD5. Although I am not completely involved in the automation team, we do have that team and I have worked in some CERT recently. Tanium is more useful while we are in the CERT because most of the times when we are on high alert, Tanium does play a main role for that particular incident or any high case. Tanium is a simple tool and we can easily integrate it to many devices and it is a mandatory tool to secure an endpoint. It is mandatory to give any RDP connection and the tool should be present in the particular device. It is completely mandatory and it is in the policy as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is very stable compared to older versions."
"It gives us the ability to set up schedules, according to what our security requirements are, to automate the patching of our servers and desktops."
"The scalability to deploy the package."
"The main, clear valuable feature is updating the latest, patches and updates from Windows. This is the main feature we really utilize a lot."
"The new CMD features are excellent."
"We are happy with the collaboration of SCCM with Patch My PC, which allows us to do patch work."
"It uses detailed descriptions of the workstations, and that is good for me."
"Using SCCM has sped up PC deployment, made it much more consistent through automation, and provided a self-service application portal that users can go to and install software themselves without admin rights."
"I'm not so familiar with the tool but I like the interaction of the console to the picture. Patching is the primary model I have been focusing on for the last couple of weeks. So I have created a proof of concept environment and have been checking the available features."
"Tanium’s best features include support for any Windows, Linux, or Mac endpoint, regardless of where it is, and the ability to do IT operations and security operations."
"Tanium is used for endpoint management, specifically patching and configuration management."
"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."
"Tanium is highly scalable."
"Tanium is a simple tool and we can easily integrate it to many devices and it is a mandatory tool to secure an endpoint."
"I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in parallel."
"Tanium has made the process of detecting threats more proactive with its detection. So, the process is easier and more efficient."
 

Cons

"It needs to be able to load faster during deployment and the new release could include this ability."
"The solution can be improved with the addition of a mobile device manager."
"In terms of the monitoring, the timeframe it takes to actually report back on the compliance of a device after it has been patched is a bit too long."
"Marketing: Our management doesn't understand that there is a piece of software which helps them automate and manage the entire network, as far as operating systems on computers."
"It does seem a bit buggy from time to time."
"It offers a very difficult cloud gateway when it comes to cloud management."
"The operations could be faster and you need some patience with this tool."
"The analysis is something that can be integrated. Their report analysis can be improved a little bit due to the fact that most of the time complaints policies are saved by the admins. It's something that we need to look into and search for."
"In my opinion, sometimes it takes a long time to give solutions or resolve the issue."
"There are some bugs in the product. The tool needs to improve in the area of reporting."
"The problem or challenge is a pre-sales and go-to strategy for the SMB market delivered through a channel or model. It's very convoluted and vague, which leads to some confusion about the various types of modules, and the device-to-seat cost is extremely difficult to calculate."
"The solution can give a lot of false positives."
"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task."
"It is not really additional functions, or the features that are needed, rather the complexity would be reduced based on the number of modules required to put together a comprehensive operational security and risk compliance model."
"Tanium’s scalability could be improved."
"They could improve the UI."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have to pay for a license."
"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."
"It comes free with the Microsoft account. We have a yearly agreement, and all products are covered under it."
"Pricing and licensing are a downside of SCCM. It's expensive. I'd have to confirm this, but I think they changed the licensing to core-based instead of socket-based. It's not cheap, because you have to buy the software, you have to buy SQL. Another thing we learned from talking to Microsoft is that they provide you a license for SQL if you run it on the same box as the primary server. If you run it outside that box, you have to buy SQL. Microsoft does recommend you running it on the same box because of performance. But then, in order to run SQL, SCCM, and everything on the same box, you better have some resources. It's an expensive solution. There's no doubt about it."
"The price model is different for every client."
"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
"Along with buying a license for MECM, we also have to buy a service called CMG (Cloud Management Gateway) which is a virtual machine in the cloud with which you can link your MECM to the Azure tenant so as to manage teleworkers."
"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 solution offers value for money."
"It is higher than some competitors in the market."
"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."
"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."
"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."
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Answers from the Community

it_user460248 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technology Architect - Cloud & Infrastructure Services at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
May 23, 2017
May 23, 2017
I would not waste time in comparision. SCCM is best for Windows mgt.
2 out of 5 answers
JF
Principal Technology Consultant at RIO3 Consulting
Jun 14, 2016
Good morning, what specific information do you seek. I am on the consulting side so we look at Gartner, Forrester, and other sources. I have some information on SCCM and BigFix off hand. Are there specific features you are looking at to compare SCCM and Tanium?
it_user304998 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jun 14, 2016
Unfortunately we won't have an answer on this, the request is to compare Tanium patch management vs Microsoft Path management (SCCM). We don't play in this space so never bothered to dig in this area. If they are speaking with either Microsoft or Tanium, either one should be able to provide the customer with a comparison between the two vendors. Sent from my iPhone On Jun 14, 2016, at 7:04 AM, Ariel Lindenfeld - Community Manager at IT Central Station > wrote: Hi, Can you help out a colleague with the following question about Endpoint Compliance: ----- Tanium vs SCCM I'm comparing Tanium and SCCM. Has anyone done a comparison of these solutions? Any thoughts about the differences? ----- Please reply to this email with your response or post your answer here. User's background: User at a tech services company with 1000+ employees You've been a member of IT Central Station since September 2015. In a market full of vendor hype, we provide free connections between real users of Endpoint Compliance to share advice and make better buying decisions. Thanks for being part of the community, Ariel Lindenfeld Community Director, IT Central Station IT Central Station 244 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10001 (646) 328-1944 To change notifications, please visit your subscription page or unsubscribe completely from similar emails. um-nqn 101666 gitbdelUmkweEM0dFdtb2svZWFvWlFSVU1yWFdJMHloQnFyYnZSaSs1cG1TbVdMcldCU216ZDRTT0ZMTGVPbmM4SHpDRS0tOGdTTmdTM3VncVp5R0NQM1Y3K3F0QT09--21c2b4f3bf871f4c09d15549779c6a95f54ceb52gitbdel WARNING - CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: ________________________________ The information contained in the e-mail may contain confidential and privileged information and is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Access for any review, re-transmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in regard and reliance upon this e-mail by persons or entities other than the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized and prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message and any attachments.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCCM?
The setup cost is considered sufficient. It is not significant enough for us to consider a change at the moment.
What needs improvement with Tanium?
While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.
What is your primary use case for Tanium?
The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the core functions.
What advice do you have for others considering Tanium?
For smaller companies, Tanium is quite a big investment, and one needs to have a considerable setup to make it economically viable. I would recommend it to others with a similar use case. The solut...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
Tanium Inc Cloud, Tanium XEM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, NinjaOne, Tanium and others in Server Monitoring. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.