Microsoft Configuration Manager vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Microsoft and Progress Software are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3, while Progress Software is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.0. Additionally, 91% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

Microsoft Configuration Manager and WhatsUp Gold compete in the IT management solutions category. Microsoft Configuration Manager appears stronger for enterprises with extensive software deployment needs, while WhatsUp Gold excels in network monitoring for smaller networks.

Features: Microsoft Configuration Manager provides application deployment, integration with Microsoft products, and valuable compliance reporting. It also supports comprehensive remote management and security features. WhatsUp Gold offers auto-discovery, topology mapping, and real-time network insights with easy visualization tools, device health checks, and bandwidth monitoring.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Configuration Manager could enhance its performance and provide better PowerShell integration with improved support for non-Microsoft products. A more appliance-like interface and accurate compliance reporting would benefit users. WhatsUp Gold would benefit from simplifying its licensing model, adding deeper integration options, and improving its interface and monitoring capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Configuration Manager is primarily on-premises, with hybrid options and a complex initial deployment process. It benefits from extensive online resources but has mixed reviews for customer service responsiveness. WhatsUp Gold is also on-premises with praise for easy setup and generally good customer service, although some users report occasional delays.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Configuration Manager's pricing can be seen as costly, especially for smaller businesses, but its integration and automation capabilities justify its cost for larger enterprises. WhatsUp Gold, with a clearer licensing model, is considered reasonably priced, especially for educational institutions and smaller businesses, although it can become costly for extended monitoring functions.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. WhatsUp Gold

April 2026

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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

Featured Reviews

Varun Mehra

collaboration support engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees

Centralized device management has transformed security and streamlined remote provisioning

One area where Microsoft Intune can improve is the user interface. Sometimes the portal feels a bit complex and not very intuitive, especially for new users, and it can take time to find specific settings. Another point is troubleshooting. While logs are available, the diagnostic policies and sync issues can still be time-consuming and not very straightforward. I also feel that reporting could be more detailed and customizable. The built-in reports are helpful, but for deeper insights, I often need to rely on additional tools. Overall, it is a strong solution, but improving usability and troubleshooting experience would make it even better. While Microsoft Intune works very well within the Microsoft ecosystem, the integration of some third-party tools could be smoother and require less customization. Support is another area that could improve, as sometimes response times can be slow, and resolving complex issues may take longer than expected. In terms of features, I think more advanced automation and built-in remediation options would be helpful since common issues can be fixed automatically without manual intervention.

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Narendar S

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.

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Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

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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

"Intune's integration with Defender and other security solutions is valuable because it offers a view into different security vulnerabilities and enables us to secure them more effectively."

"It is very easy for me to configure all the things. Once I create policies and applications in Intune, it is very easy for us to enroll users."

"Intune's unified endpoint management platform is invaluable."

"We have not experienced any bugs or glitches with this solution."

"The Autopilot feature is the most valuable because it saves significant time on managing devices. We can ship devices globally, and users can set them up on their own. It's convenient."

"We are transforming our flat network by adopting different cloud solutions, and our own applications are hosted in the cloud. Intune ensures our security throughout our entire cloud-based system, improving our security posture."

"The conditional access policies that we set up are very useful."

"A great solution for anyone wanting a modern endpoint device management solution."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"We have found the scalability to be quite good."

"The technical support is good."

"SCCM is a fantastic solution whose use is only limited by your creativity."

"What's valuable is the basic management of the systems, being able to control who can access the systems."

"Automation of operating system, application, and update deployments massively reduces IT operations effort."

"The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."

"In summary, this product works well and I recommend it."

"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 process has significantly improved our software distribution workflows."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

"It's a good product, and if one has the expertise to use it, it will be a good investment and it will help IT to save and plan for the future."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"Our local support team provides excellent service."

"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides."

"In terms of pricing, I'd say that the pricing is nice and the product is good."

"WhatsUp Gold is very easy to deploy."

"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the application monitors that allow for discreet roaming on network devices."

"We primarily use the solution to check the state of the network, monitoring thousands of devices and all of the internal network, and it is the first tool we use to see the state of the network for real-time monitoring."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update."

"The reports that are generated aren't so great. They don't give a lot of meaning so far, but that could be down to user knowledge than the actual reporting side of things. I'm not a big user of it, but I was a bigger user of MaaS360, and we used to be able to run weekly and monthly reports. In the case of any deviations. we'd get a warning immediately. That's not so easy to do or to get in place for Intune. This could be just a user issue, but when I compare both, that's the only thing that's lacking for me."

"I think that there is room for improvement with the reporting. If this is done, it will be a better product."

"I would like to see better integration with Microsoft. There are a few things I can still do with Jamf that I am unable to do with Intune yet."

"An issue we have run into with Microsoft Endpoint Manager is that we cannot patch third-party products like Adobe and Chrome with it."

"We haven't really gone through all the features of Intune. We are just discovering them. Every day, we see a new feature that we want to apply, but what will be great for Intune is to be able to deploy apps in a simple fashion. We should be able to easily install various apps on the Windows platform, iOS, and Android. Currently, we have to write some scripts. It's not as straightforward as we would like it to be. It should be simplified so that we can do it just with three clicks—next, next, finish—without needing to write a script."

"More integration with monitoring tools is needed."

"Some enrollment features could be improved."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"The cost of the product can be improved."

"It would be better if automation options were available."

"I think SCCM can improve whatever details they shared with the integration partner. There was a lot of junk software and data."

"Our company would prefer not rebooting computers while people are using them. There seems to be no strategy behind it."

"The solution can be improved with the addition of a mobile device manager."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the synchronizing of the policies on the devices."

"There's no way to say, "I want this maintenance window to be on the second Tuesday of the month." It's strict. This window is this and that's it. You can't fluctuate."

"The main SCCM lacks some things, which they incorporated into Microsoft Intune. When I evaluated these two products, one from VMware Workspace One and one from Microsoft, I found that there is something missing in SCCM, which is available and works very well in VMware Workspace One."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

"The initial setup of WhatsUp Gold is a medium range of difficulty levels. However, if it is your first time it could be difficult."

"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user."

"Pricing is too high relative to how many devices we use. The price list is not linear to number of devices."

"You have to invest a few days to become an expert in this solution."

"WhatsUp Gold should work on real-time monitoring and configuration management. If they succeed in doing this, the solution will cover all the network troubleshooting aspects and will be a benefit."

"Users want SMS available via Whatsapp Gold. They don't want to go through third party SMS servers. The solution should work to make this possible."

"Setting up WhatsUp Gold is complicated and not easy because it requires managing SNMP and many complex settings in the devices it's monitoring, and fine-tuning it to fit our needs is also not very easy."

"The new release cadence needs to be improved. It takes a while for them to add new features and functionality."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's affordable. It's cheaper if you have an Office 365, E5, or E3 subscription because everything is there."

"It's affordable for the protection it gives. There are no additional costs."

"The cost is somewhat on the higher side, particularly when considering certain price points, especially in markets like India."

"There is a license needed for this solution and it is either included in one of the enterprise license agreements. Microsoft licensing is a mathematical institute, it could be quite complex. We tend to ask specialized organizations to research what the most profitable way it would be for us to use licenses in the organizations."

"It's monthly for us, but it's built into the license cost that we pay our IT each month. It's maybe 129 Kroner per head, which translates to £10. There are some additional costs. Our IT had to set up and configure their own server, so there is an extra cost for that, but I'm not sure what that costs."

"For organizations that are a Microsoft shop, the pricing is compelling."

"It is expensive. The cost depends on the license that we choose."

"The pricing is inherently reasonable, as Microsoft leverages market insights to maintain the total cost of ownership at around ninety to ninety-five percent of what would be incurred in an on-premise scenario."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"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 license price could be reduced for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager They should make the price more affordable for smaller companies, most companies would be able to use the solution if it was priced better. There are more people on this cloud because you don't have to have either a server room or an on-premise server. You can have one IT person handle this without any local infrastructure."

"When you compare this solution with other tools in the market you might actually find a lot of variation in the pricing and that's why people opt for the other tools rather than Microsoft tools."

"Presently, I am using a free trial version."

"The price could be better."

"The price model is different for every client."

"Microsoft provides a steep price for their enterprise products, but they offer very competitive pricing for their legacy customers."

"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"This is a well priced solution."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	153
Midsize Enterprise	59
Large Enterprise	180

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	69

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

See all answers

What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

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How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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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 ...

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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. Wh...

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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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information fir...

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What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complic...

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What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 9% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 9% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 6% of the time

PDQ Deploy vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 3% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 3% of the time

KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 2% of the time

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LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

ScienceLogic vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

NinjaOne vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

April 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager

April 2026

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Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

April 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

Microsoft Configuration Manager streamlines IT management with features such as software deployment, patch management, and automation, centralizing operations for Windows environments. Integration with Microsoft products allows efficient oversight of workstations and servers.

Microsoft Configuration Manager provides comprehensive IT management, offering software deployment, patch management, and application pushing. Automation reduces manual tasks, ensuring consistency across systems. Centralized management enables standardized OS deployments, application updates, and configuration integrity. Integration with Microsoft products facilitates seamless operations, while hardware and software inventory, compliance reporting, and remote control functions enhance IT management. Users seek improvements in application deployment for those without deep scripting knowledge and desire better WSUS control, PowerShell and Intune integration, Linux compatibility, and user interface enhancements. Performance improvements are requested for remote user management and third-party application support.

What features enhance Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Software Deployment: Efficiently distribute software across large networks.
Patch Management: Automate and streamline update processes for security and functionality.
Automation Capabilities: Reduce manual effort and enhance consistency in IT tasks.
Centralized Management: Standardize OS deployments and application updates.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Seamless operation with existing Microsoft infrastructure.
Hardware and Software Inventory: Comprehensive tracking for assets and resources.
Compliance Reporting: Ensure compliance with internal and external standards.
Remote Control Functions: Enhance support and troubleshooting capabilities.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Decreased Manual Work: Automation reduces time spent on repetitive tasks.
Enhanced Security: Automated patch management keeps systems secure.
Consistent Configurations: Centralized updates ensure uniformity across systems.
Improved Integration: Seamless operation within Microsoft ecosystems boosts productivity.
Comprehensive Oversight: Detailed inventory and reporting tools aid in strategic planning.
Streamlined Support: Remote capabilities improve IT support and user satisfaction.

Microsoft Configuration Manager is widely implemented in organizations to manage Windows workstations and servers. It is essential for deploying operating systems and applications, managing software updates, and conducting hardware and software inventories. The tool is crucial for endpoint and configuration management, ensuring compliance, and automating processes like patching and vulnerability management. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and education rely on Microsoft Configuration Manager to keep systems secure and operational, adapting it to address their specific needs and challenges in maintaining diversified IT environments.

Microsoft

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. WhatsUp Gold

April 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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