N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring &amp; Management vs Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

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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

N-able N-sight Remote Monit...

Ranking in Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Quest KACE Systems Manageme...

Ranking in Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

15th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Client Desktop Management (6th), Endpoint Compliance (7th), Patch Management (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) category, the mindshare of N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management is 4.0%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

Featured Reviews

Frank Ashley Simon

IT Support Specialist at Cell C

The script deployment features let us create whatever we want to deploy on our devices.

The reporting could be more customizable. RMM pulls a vast amount of data, but you need to filter through it to get a decent executive report each month. I'm pulling reports all day through the XML file and such to get the information our executive needs. They don't want a 34-megabyte Excel spreadsheet, but the overview only provides limited information, like a basic breakdown. For example, if I'm looking at the overview, it would be nice to see the number of systems running Windows and the version or how the number of devices reporting correctly on a patch management level. I'd like to see a simpler interface and a more versatile reporting structure. We are looking at moving up to N-central now. I'm working with N-able to set up a demo because I see N-central's reporting has a better structure.

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Scott Tweed

Windows Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Low maintenance, reliable, and easy to create packages

I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it. The deployment process for both deploying and creating a package is straightforward. I believe the inventory in KACE is superior to SCCM's. I know with SCCM I could do things like remote console into machines via the agent's remote console, but that is not a feature that is provided in KACE. I know that at least in the Systems Management Appliance, I can't get to it. I'm not sure how distribution works, with distribution points. I'm not sure if KACE has that feature. You could use an SCCM to set up distribution points at remote sites so that they don't have to download patches or software from across the country. If you have a DP or something similar, they could pull it down.

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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

"I'm really happy with the background remote access, which allows me to easily change system internals such as registry keys and silently execute commands using the command prompt in the background. This kind of remote access makes it easy for us to do our jobs without getting in the customer's way."

"The reporting for this solution has been most valuable."

"The most valuable aspect of N-able Remote Monitoring & Management is it provides an all-in solution for the different solutions."

"The solution is user-friendly."

"The network device is a good feature. In a place where you need to monitor your firewall switches, you can add an RMM tool and monitor it on the same screen on the same setup for the same client. Network devices are very good."

"Remote support has been very handy. It also lets us know if there are failing hard drives or Windows issues."

"The most helpful feature is script deployment because we can create whatever we want to deploy on our devices. This works in a cloud environment, where we previously relied on Active Directory. Since the start of the COVID outbreak, all the staff members began working from home, and most of the people there did not use the VPN to transfer the policies."

"The solution provides an administration panel where we can see what is happening on our client's stations, such as events, alerts, and all the software installed."

More N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management pros

"I am impressed by the service desk ticketing and asset management."

"KACE has made our life much easier since we got off the Microsoft solution. The Microsoft solution was a lot harder to image over different ports and stuff. They would only have this one place where we could do all the imaging. Now, we have a whole building where we can image from. This means that we can image from our storage area, where we have a place to do our imaging. We can also image right at our desks, which is a lot easier."

"My company had bought some new machines. We used the tool to do some basic settings to ship every machine the same way and undertake the Windows deployment. We did the scripted installation. The tool helped us deploy custom software for specific departments. We also did Windows updates with the product."

"The big pros of Quest KACE Systems Management are its simple interface, and simple, direct management. It's very easy to maintain and manage the device, and it's easy to get it up and running. You can have it up and running in an hour..."

"The solution provides us a single pane of glass with everything that we need for endpoint management of all devices. It definitely has made our endpoint management process much easier."

"I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to monitor updates—the software versions—on machines so that we can keep everything compliant."

"KACE’s knowledge-based articles are very good."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pros

Cons

"The reporting could be more customizable. RMM pulls a vast amount of data, but you need to filter through it to get a decent executive report each month. I'm pulling reports all day through the XML file and such to get the information our executive needs. They don't want a 34-megabyte Excel spreadsheet, but the overview only provides limited information, like a basic breakdown."

"Kaseya is a similar product and they have easier scripts. If you want to deploy one software to 100 machines, we need to dig into it and then we need to create the script and work with the support team and then we can deploy that particular script. The pre-built scripted is the one thing that I would definitely like to have improved."

"There are disconnection issues sometimes."

"I would like to see notifications sent with SMS."

"The SentinelOne integration is not great."

"We haven't had it for very long, and we're finally getting comfortable with it. The biggest improvement probably would be a little more clarification. It has few exclamation points or attention-getters when there is a computer that doesn't have the up-to-date patches, etc. However, it's not specific in terms of what you need to do. Sometimes, it says it requires a reboot, and you reboot it, but the same message still shows up. Sometimes, the messages that it gives you about how to resolve an issue are not very easy to understand."

"The alerts and reporting could be done a little more clearly. They are quite cryptic, and quite often, we seem to get a lot of reports just for a computer rebooting or going offline for a couple of minutes, which doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal. Reporting could be refined and improved, and they can make it easy to decipher the reports."

"The product looks a bit old-fashioned."

More N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management cons

"Imaging becomes a problem when you start to try to go beyond doing more than thirty or forty machines at a time. We initially tried to do that virtually and it just, it wouldn't work."

"I would like them to implement VBScript language in KACE Systems Management. Currently, we can only use PowerShell."

"There should be a mini toolbox, like the competitors of KACE have, with the small features for KACE administrators. That would make their lives easier. If you are troubleshooting a specific endpoint, remote control is available as is Wake-on-LAN. But if you want to execute some commands, you have to use a third-party tool, the PS tool. If they would integrate those small things, it would make KACE more powerful."

"One of the complications is that they don't have 24/7 support, and they're also not in our time zone... Sometimes, no matter how critical my application is, if my production server is down I won't be able to connect with anybody till 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time."

"The only pain point I have is with their salespeople. They call too often. They're too aggressive in trying to upsell. We know what we need, and we know if we want to expand. I don't mind quarterly calls from them, but sometimes, it is weekly. They need to get their sales team under control. The main goal of their support people and professional services is to make sure they deliver the service, and they deliver it well, whereas their salespeople are so interested in making a sale that they're wasting my time."

"I have complaints about smart label adaptation and because of this, I recommend a 24 to 48 hour bake-in period."

"Scalability is my primary concern right now."

"It took a little bit of time to figure out how to use the KACE Service Desk. I like the way that I'm able to customize it. But when it comes to how our techs are able to use it, it's not as functional as our current solution, which is BMC FootPrints Service Desk."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license required for this solution."

"The product is fairly priced."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"As I'm not part of the procurement team and because I'm 100% technical, I'm not that familiar with the costs associated with N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management, but I can say that in my location, particularly here in Sri Lanka, it's more expensive than other RMM solutions. I'm working for an Australian IT MSP, and over there, the solution isn't as expensive, but where I'm located, it is, so this is the reason why sometimes, clients don't go with N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management. Licensing cost is also the reason why my organization is looking into Kaseya RMM. My current organization merged with another organization that's using both Kaseya RMM and Connectwise."

"We use SolarWinds RMM on a pay-as-you-go monthly basis, so the cost can be highly variable because it depends on a few factors such as how many devices you need to support and what extra features you want to use. The more devices you have, the more you'll pay, and the same goes for extras."

"It's expensive and out of our budget."

"I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to that since I set it up. It has per-user licensing. If I remember it correctly, it worked out to about $10 a month per user. There were no additional costs. It was pretty straightforward and simple."

"Out clients pay monthly for the license of N-able Remote Monitoring & Management."

"It was a very attractive price. This is a huge feature of this product. If you would "credit score" this product versus others out there on the market, this one has a very attractive price."

"Based on other solutions that we had implemented, its pricing seems to be quite competitive. It is not inexpensive, but it is also not more expensive than any other solution. They have the standard licensing fees and support fees."

"Its pricing model is good for what it offers. Nobody here gives me a hard time about renewing the contract every year. It might be a little cost prohibitive for a smaller company who has to stand up a virtual environment as well as have virtual environment licensing and the hardware. If you have a smaller environment, it might be cost prohibitive. If you only have a couple of hundred computers, you might be more willing to do those manually. In our environment, the cost savings of having KACE far outweigh the licensing costs. We are okay with its pricing model."

"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."

"It may be more expensive, but you get what you pay for."

"The pricing is great. It's billed annually and it's very reasonable."

"Some of the other solutions were just astronomical in price compared with KACE and didn't necessarily have the ease of use either. So, we chose Quest KACE for its easy-to-use features and cost."

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

More Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

24%

Comms Service Provider

16%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Remote Monitoring & Management?

The pricing is straightforward: it is based on a per-node basis. A node is a device that you would like to monitor to install the agent. The pricing is neither cheap nor expensive; it falls within ...

What is your primary use case for N-able Remote Monitoring & Management?

We use the solution to monitor, automate, and protect the clients and environments.

What do you like most about N-able Remote Monitoring & Management?

The details and the reports they provide are what I like, especially the details for almost the whole computer and the OS type.

What do you like most about Quest KACE Systems Management?

My company had bought some new machines. We used the tool to do some basic settings to ship every machine the same way and undertake the Windows deployment. We did the scripted installation. The to...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?

The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.

What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?

The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface and lacks a manual configuration option.

N-able N-central vs N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management

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Product Reports

N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management

Download N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management product report

N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management report

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Download Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) product report

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) report

Also Known As

N-able Remote Monitoring & Management, SolarWinds MSP Remote Monitoring & Management, MSP RMM, SolarWinds RMM, SolarWinds Remote Monitoring and Management

Dell KACE Systems Management

Overview

RMM software designed for next-level protection

Defend Windows and Apple devices with flexible, real-time remote monitoring and management, and a simple dashboard highlighting critical information during operational peaks.

Patch Microsoft and more

Keep devices compliant and secure with flexible patch management that easily allows MSPs to patch every aspect of the MSFT Environment and beyond.

N-able

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is a comprehensive tool for managing IT endpoints. It facilitates asset management, software distribution, and endpoint tracking while offering remote access capabilities and a centralized help desk.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is designed for organizations that need efficient endpoint management. It offers a range of features like inventory tracking, automated patch management, and ticketing. By integrating with remote access tools such as Bomgar, Quest KACE helps reduce manual tasks involved in managing software updates and system deployments. Although it faces challenges in scalability and requires improvements in integration and reporting, it remains a versatile choice for asset tracking and endpoint administration.

What are Quest KACE SMA's key features?

Asset Management: Streamline the organization and tracking of physical and virtual assets.
Remote Access: Integrates with Bomgar for secure, remote troubleshooting and management.
Software Distribution: Deploy applications across devices efficiently without physical intervention.
Centralized Endpoint Management: Manage endpoints from a centralized console to ensure compliance and optimization.
Automated Patch Management: Schedule and deploy patches to maintain system security and performance.
Help Desk: Integrated ticketing system for tracking and resolving user issues.
Scripting and Reporting: Enhance administrative tasks through automated scripts and detailed reports.

What benefits should users consider?

Improved Productivity: Reduces manual interference with automated deployments and updates.
Labor Savings: Minimizes labor requirements with efficient remote management tools.
Integrated Reporting: Provides actionable insights through comprehensive reports to optimize IT operation.
User-Friendly Interface: Boosts effectiveness due to its intuitive, easy-to-navigate design.

Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance is implemented across industries for managing IT assets and endpoints, particularly where remote management and compliance are critical. It's employed in healthcare, education, and government sectors for efficient patch management, inventory control, and software deployment, aiding organizations in managing security accreditations and centralizing help desk operations.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

NetSys Network Systems

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King

N-able N-sight Remote Monitoring & Management vs. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)