Microsoft System Center vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zend is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.5. Microsoft holds a 1.9% mindshare in AIS, compared to Zend’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

Microsoft System Center

Read 20 Microsoft System Center reviews

847 Views
313 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Zend PHP Engine

Read 11 Zend PHP Engine reviews

496 Views
496 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft System Center

Zend PHP Engine

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Zend PHP Engine and Microsoft System Center serve different purposes, competing in the fields of application development and IT infrastructure management respectively. Microsoft System Center has the upper hand in large-scale enterprise environments due to its comprehensive management capabilities.

Features: Zend PHP Engine includes caching, code acceleration, and runtime performance enhancement. Microsoft System Center provides server management, automation, and monitoring, making it versatile for IT environments.

Room for Improvement: Zend PHP Engine could enhance its enterprise-level management features, expand integration with IT management tools, and refine scalability for very large projects. Microsoft System Center could simplify its user interface, improve integration with non-Microsoft ecosystems, and refine documentation for ease of use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zend PHP Engine is straightforward in integration with development tools. In contrast, Microsoft System Center, while more complex, offers detailed enterprise-level support and comprehensive deployment models.

Pricing and ROI: Zend PHP Engine is cost-effective, offering immediate affordability through lower setup costs. Microsoft System Center, although more expensive initially, provides long-term value through improved operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft System Center vs. Zend PHP Engine Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center vs. Zend PHP Engine

December 2025

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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 System Center

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (28th)

Zend PHP Engine

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft System Center	1.9%
Zend PHP Engine	1.7%
Other	96.4%

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

Carl Palapal

Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS

Provides comprehensive system management with effective deployment and integration capabilities

The advantages of Microsoft System Center are significant, and I have seen other products as well. As far as advantages are concerned, they have PXE deployment, which is good for deploying operating systems, such as Windows client systems including Windows 10 and Windows 11. Since it is a Microsoft product, all the patches are proprietary, making it easier to deploy. In Microsoft System Center, all the features are integrated already, whereas in ManageEngine, you have to license each feature individually to access those features. The automated features of Virtual Machine Manager are very useful; it automates as long as the policy that I have created is in line with the objective, especially the templates when I'm going to deploy. Regarding endpoint management, Microsoft System Center is very helpful; it has integrated endpoint protection deployment, allowing me to handle endpoint configuration, system deployment, and patch deployment, making it an all-in-one stop shop for managing and configuring end clients. The impact of using Microsoft System Center is significant; it gives me a whole picture of my environment, making it easy to get inventory details regarding applications and hardware, providing full visibility of my setup within the organization.

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SatyendraGupta

External Consultant (Digital Tool Developer and Intervention Specialist) at IQVIA

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature. A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it. I have been Zend PHP Engine for nine years. Multiple people are using the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.…

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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

"The detail in the alarms is great."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it helps us manage our company's application pool, license pool, application update pool, and OS updates."

"The solution is easily available. That's its most valuable aspect."

"The deployment and asset management features are the most valuable. These are the product's main features."

"Managment Packs for Microsoft-specific products, help us implement the best practices for each product."

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

"System Center helps to create the basis for ITIL alignment."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft System Center is its GUI (graphical user interface)."

More Microsoft System Center pros

"We have not encountered issues with scalability as long as we effectively use caching to optimize performance of our web applications as well as a proper use of database connectivity."

"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier."

"The cache modules that Zend provides have been able to optimize and accelerate the loading of the pages when there was exponential growth in data volume and quantity of requests. At the same time, the monitoring console allowed us to have a real-time understanding of the resources and to make decisions when they were at the limit."

"Zend PHP Engine is more secure than any other framework, and I usually prefer Zend PHP Engine for big applications."

"Zend Engine gives the flexibility to use external modules to easily expand the functionalities you need for your web project."

"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."

"The Zend Framework provides an easy, open source way to produce coding based on the needs of our customers."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."

More Zend PHP Engine pros

Cons

"Microsoft System Center should be easier to manage. However, it is complex to deploy, so people hesitate to use it. Though it has many features, such as licensing, asset tracking, and software deployment, we mainly use it for Windows updates. It protects many screens and integrates with databases, but it's complex compared to other solutions. Many now use cloud-based products or other tools like Automox to deploy updates and manage vulnerabilities."

"The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected."

"For me, the tool's UI seems to be too old."

"The platform's performance could be improved. Additionally, its UI needs to be well-upgraded and work faster."

"Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports."

"Something super important that we need is this integration via Intune Configuration Manager."

"Implementation and integration in the case of multi-tenant environments needs improvement."

"Most of the documentation is online, however, there are some gaps there. The product documentation still refers back to the 2012 Server. We're pretty much in 2022. There's a ten-year gap there."

More Microsoft System Center cons

"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."

"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."

"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."

"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM."

"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."

"The solution can be quicker."

"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."

"In terms of improvement, it doesn't support concurrent processing. When we want to process anything on a concurrent basis, we have to divide it into a number of things, like a queue, or we have to run it using Cron jobs. We would like to have the capability to run any thread or process in parallel."

More Zend PHP Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."

"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."

"We maximized our license investment."

"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."

"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."

"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."

"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."

"Its pricing depends on the number of users."

"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

11%

Transportation Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft System Center?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?

The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected. For example, with site configuration, when one...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zend PHP Engine?

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zend PHP Engine?

PHP is an open-source solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?

Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.

See all answers

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Compared 58% of the time

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Compared 42% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center

January 2026

Download Microsoft System Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

January 2026

Download Zend PHP Engine product report

Also Known As

MS System Center

PHP Engine

Overview

System Center helps customers realize the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Platform by delivering unified management. Experience fast time-to-value with out-of-the-box monitoring, provisioning, configuration, automation, protection and self-service.

Microsoft

The Zend PHP Engine is designed to optimize PHP code and improve performance, making it a popular choice for web developers. It is easy to use, stable, does not require a lot of code, is open source, and only requires payment for server costs. The initial setup is straightforward, and there is no real need to set up the solution because it's built into the deployment.

Zend

Sample Customers

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia

Cisco

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center vs. Zend PHP Engine

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft System Center vs. Zend PHP Engine

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