OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management vs VMware Aria Automation comparison

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management vs. VMware Aria Automation

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.7%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management is 2.0%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Automation is 4.1%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	4.7%
VMware Aria Automation	4.1%
OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management	2.0%
Other	89.2%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

OluwashileAdeniyi

Senior Infrastructure Security Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Centralized endpoint security has improved and supports hybrid work and BYOD policies

Regarding what I dislike about Microsoft Intune and its downsides, I would say that more Mac controls are needed because we have limited Mac and Linux control. When comparing controls and policies between Windows, Mac, and Linux, Windows has almost everything you can think of, while Mac and Linux have limited types of control. You cannot implement certain things on Mac and Linux that you can on Windows. The limited controls are a major issue. Additionally, if Microsoft could find a way to embed servers into Microsoft Intune, that would be beneficial. Microsoft Intune is not really designed for servers or Windows servers. It is more tailored towards Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. Windows servers are not fully supported. Enterprise organizations usually have both servers and endpoints, which are users' workstations. For servers, most people look for other solutions such as SCCM, which is Configuration Manager. However, SCCM is what Microsoft Intune is trying to replace. Both SCCM and Microsoft Intune belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to transition organizations into Microsoft Intune, the native cloud solution. However, because this update is still in process, servers are not fully compatible with Microsoft Intune and cannot be managed by it. The current policy that has emerged from issues with clients is what they call co-management, which is relatively new, and I do not know if adoption is significant. Many legacy or older customers who have been using these products for decades still have SCCM. When it is time for them to manage their Windows devices, they use what is called cloud attach. Cloud attach is a term whereby your SCCM is connected to your Microsoft Intune. Most people do not know about it, but I have deployed it for several organizations. Cloud attach and co-management work together so that your device is in SCCM, but some policies are pushed from Microsoft Intune. It is like two different solutions working hand in hand. That is what they call co-management. Microsoft Intune does not bring all of your endpoint and security management tools into one place, which is the goal and how it should be. However, as I mentioned, servers are not included. If we talk about end users, Microsoft Intune does bring all your devices together. In a typical enterprise environment, you have end users with workstations, laptops, company-issued phones, and bring your own devices. You can create policies for all of these. However, for the backend, your servers do not have much coverage. Servers are not really covered by Microsoft Intune in that way.

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it_user1272306

Chief Technology Officer at DoITWise

Helpful impact analysis and the discovery capability is quite good

This tool works hand-in-hand with RPA technology. RPA will allow you to control your servers by deploying the server automation agent. You don't have the discovery, but then you can deploy the policies that maintain the authorized versus current state. On top of that, you can use server automation to deploy patches or remediate configuration issues on the operating system. My advice to anybody who is implementing this solution is to ensure that the process is set up properly, first. Once the process is set up, the tool will do the rest for you. Overall, this is a comprehensive tool that works well, and I wouldn't touch it other than to enhance the UI and make containerization work without the CDF. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

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VasilisGiannitsiotis

Senior IT at ITSolutions

Automation has streamlined complex financial workflows but still needs more intuitive orchestration

Something to improve in VMware Aria Automation would be related to VCF 9, as I do not know what it is trying to bring because they exposed it as the solution of everything. So VCF 9 will bring VCF Automation and VCF Operations, the new product line of VMware. I have not seen what this brings or what else it includes. Maybe in the area of vRealize Orchestrator, this would be beneficial because VRO can do everything. Perhaps a more user-friendly way to use that tool would be helpful because the possibilities there are endless. I am looking for more user-friendly navigation in VMware Aria Automation.

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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

"Overall, Microsoft Intune has been a strong platform for modern endpoint management, especially for organizations supporting hybrid work and cloud-first device management strategies."

"I find what is most valuable about Microsoft Intune is how, at the granular level, it allows us to manage the devices."

"One of the biggest advantages of Microsoft Intune is not only the management itself, but also how well it integrates with other Microsoft technologies."

"Maturity makes it a stable product."

"We are getting good compliance and we are able to save time, with workload reduction between 40 to 60 percent, and we are also getting very good security, which represent significant time-saving and money-saving aspects for the organization."

"Microsoft Intune is far more efficient and faster than MECM."

"Microsoft Intune has positively impacted our organization by giving us a more centralized and consistent way to manage endpoints, especially as remote and hybrid work become more common."

"The valuable feature of this solution is its ease of use."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"We use it for managing our desktops; we have 350,000 desktops and it allows us to manage and control them relatively easily."

"Automatic Spiral Discovery: This feature enables deep and dynamic configuration and change management."

"Overall, this is a comprehensive tool that works well, and I wouldn't touch it other than to enhance the UI and make containerization work without the CDF."

"The most valuable feature is the impact analysis."

"Helps me perform changes in connected infrastructure thanks to the discovery features."

"Overall, VMware is very good, it's very stable, very extensible, but it does have a relatively high learning curve."

"Integrating this tool with other technologies/third-party tools, that are not part of the VMware family, is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"SaltStack has given us the ability to deal with systems at scale and rectify issues at scale."

"It's increased the efficiency, as there's less manual work through vRA and now Orchestrator is the one doing most of the work and making everything more automated."

"It has saved us a lot of time and work. It helped us to reorganize some of our service lines, so we could be more efficient. For example, on our open system server team, we had 15 people building servers, now we have two."

"States, pillars, and custom modules have all taken us a long way in achieving our goals."

"The product saves a lot of time and cost for us. It has valuable features for creating a playbook."

"One of the valuable features is controlling VM standards and server sprawl while at the same time providing the ability for end users to self-provision VMs."

More VMware Aria Automation pros

Cons

"Microsoft needs to strategize its licensing structure. When using Microsoft Intune, we bought a small scale of controls, only controlling part of the devices, though Microsoft Intune can do much more. The Intune Suite offers more features, allowing extensive integration with either internal or cloud environments without requiring third-party licensing. However, each feature has a separate license, making logistics and cost management difficult if not strategically bundled together."

"Intune should improve the management of non-Microsoft devices. It would be better to manage Mac, Android, and other non-Microsoft operating system devices within the same Intune interface."

"My assessment of the user experience of Microsoft Intune is that it is sometimes good and sometimes poor, depending on Microsoft's infrastructure."

"The main disadvantage seen today is regarding Linux clients. We have a lot of development resources that have Linux on their clients, and we can't manage them on the same platform, as we do with other clients such as macOS and Windows. So, it should have support for Linux clients. It should also have better support for macOS."

"Microsoft's technical support isn't very good. They're very slow in responding."

"In the future, I would like to see improvements in Microsoft Intune, especially related to policies and GPU."

"Automations in Microsoft Intune can be more elaborated; KQL (Kusto Query Language) is available, but if multiple automation options were readily available, which would include PowerShell, KQL, JSON, and different interpreters like VS Code or Python readily available from Microsoft Intune, it would help administration and management much better."

"Currently, BitLocker does not support BYOD enrollment, which is a product limitation."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"It needs dashboards."

"The native UI should be simplified because it is outdated and a little bit over-complicated."

"The infrastructure itself is stable, but the agent has a lot of problems."

"Automation: We want to be able to have a lot more preconfigured solutions."

"It would be nice if, at the director level, the manager level, there was a pretty graphic. They don't like to see numbers and line items, they want to see graphs and scales and real world pictures. That would support better reporting."

"Automation or scripting should be simplified so that administrators who are not experts can have a better grasp of automation."

"Once you get in there and start to understand the product, it is more intuitive. However, for somebody coming in from the outside, it takes a while to understand it."

"Sometimes it feels like there are more moving parts than is necessary, and maybe something simpler would do."

"VMware should go the way of vROps, with everything in one machine, the ability to scale out, and a more distributed environment instead of having the usual centralized SQL database."

"Ability to mimic more VCD functionality. Ability to share blueprints among tenants, or have a master blueprint repository, so you don't have to move the stuff between tenants."

"I would like to see more improvement in the way it integrates with other systems."

More VMware Aria Automation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Intune comes with the licensing that is common for large organizations. However, Microsoft has recently released many add-ons that are very expensive, especially for large organizations or corporations."

"While Microsoft charges for actual usage, it lacks discount options."

"The E5 license is expensive."

"All security solutions worldwide are expensive. Microsoft has allowed a small scale of features within Microsoft Intune for cost-efficient solutions. If you want the full suite, you need to invest more to gain better security features."

"Microsoft Intune has been incorporated into our Microsoft E5 licenses."

"The pricing needs improvement."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"My team members bundled it together with their Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft 365 and related products."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"This is a really good tool for the money."

"We do plan to see ROI with any new implementation of new technologies being implemented within our environment."

"It is an open-source product."

"There is confusion between licensing levels. There are three different licensed versions of vRealize Automation, and there are different things which can happen in each of them."

"The solution is free of cost."

"It is pricey for what you get."

"SaltStack is an open-source product."

"From a budget point of view, the pricing is a bit on the higher side."

"I would rate it high because, compared to other solutions, VMware’s pricing is quite expensive. VMware products have become significantly more costly in recent years, leading to higher costs."

More VMware Aria Automation pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

University

30%

Construction Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	190
Midsize Enterprise	65
Large Enterprise	185

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	131

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Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Configuration Management

Download OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management product report

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management report

VMware Aria Automation

Download VMware Aria Automation product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Micro Focus ZENworks Configuration Management, HPE CMS, HPE Configuration Management, Micro Focus Configuration Management

VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack

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

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management provides robust IT asset management and configuration capabilities. Designed to manage devices and applications efficiently, it ensures seamless operations across networks while reducing complexity in IT environments.

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management helps businesses streamline device management by automating routine IT tasks. It's well-suited for managing desktops, laptops, and servers. The software supports centralized administration, which reduces downtime and manpower costs. IT departments value its scalability and secure configuration capabilities, enabling them to manage diverse networks with ease.

What are the key features?

Device Management: Simplifies the management of endpoints with automated updates and patches.
Asset Inventory: Provides comprehensive tracking and management of software and hardware assets.
Remote Control: Allows secure remote access to troubleshoot devices.
Policy Enforcement: Ensures compliance through automated policy deployment.
Reporting: Offers detailed insights and reports on device statuses and usage patterns.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces IT administration costs by automating repetitive tasks.
Improved Security: Enhances security with robust patch management.
Easy Scalability: Supports growing infrastructure without scaling issues.
Time Savings: Minimizes downtime and increases productivity with efficient management.

Industries such as healthcare, education, and finance leverage OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management for its customizable configurations that suit regulatory requirements and data security needs. Its deployment supports diverse network structures, offering flexibility in managing unique IT demands across sectors.

OpenText

VMware Aria Automation is known for its automation capabilities, integrating with VMware and third-party tools to enhance workflow efficiency, save time, and manage resources effectively.

VMware Aria Automation offers a diverse set of features including a self-service portal and a streamlined user-friendly interface, which make it ideal for organizations aiming to automate virtual machine provisioning. The platform supports extensive automation capabilities across multi-cloud environments, featuring flexible blueprint designs and comprehensive integration with platforms like AWS, Azure, and ServiceNow. Though improvements are desired in areas like logging, template management, and vCenter integration, its robust framework facilitates IT infrastructure services, disaster recovery, and development operations. It is specifically beneficial for orchestrating workflows, automating routine tasks, and managing workloads efficiently in private and hybrid cloud environments.

What are the most important features of VMware Aria Automation?

Self-Service Portal: Empowers users with easy access to resources and tools needed for automation.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and usage for both technical and non-technical users.
Extensive Automation Capabilities: Streamlines VM deployment and processes across various platforms.
Integration with VMware and Third-Party Tools: Enhances workflow automation and extends functionality.
Flexible Blueprint Designs: Allows for customized and scalable deployment solutions.

What are the benefits and ROI users should consider?

Efficiency: Reduces manual workload, leading to time and cost savings.
Scalability: Supports dynamic growth and resource management.
Enhanced Workflow Automation: Improves process efficiency with comprehensive integrations.
Customizable Orchestration: Enables tailored solutions that meet specific requirements.
Resource Management: Efficiently utilizes resources, reducing waste and optimizing operations.

VMware Aria Automation is implemented across industries for automating the provisioning of virtual machines and managing cloud environments. It is used in sectors requiring efficient server deployment, network configurations, and seamless integration with tools such as AWS and Azure. It aids in reducing manual efforts, supporting IT infrastructure services, and enhancing disaster recovery protocols.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Tech Mahindra, NNIT, ASIC

Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual

OpenText ZENworks Configuration Management vs. VMware Aria Automation