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Perforce Puppet vs vCenter Configuration Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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 Intune
Sponsored
Ranking in Configuration Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
377
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (2nd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
Perforce Puppet
Ranking in Configuration Management
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
vCenter Configuration Manager
Ranking in Configuration Management
18th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.4%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perforce Puppet is 4.2%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Configuration Manager is 2.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune4.4%
Perforce Puppet4.2%
vCenter Configuration Manager2.0%
Other89.4%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized device management has automated onboarding and improves remote security compliance
One thing I feel Microsoft Intune could improve is troubleshooting visibility. In many cases, when a policy or application deployment fails, the error messages are a bit generic. So, admins still spend time checking logs manually or testing on devices one by one. Compared to the simplicity of deployment, troubleshooting sometimes feels less mature. I also think reporting and real-time monitoring could be stronger. The dashboard gives useful information, but in large environments, many teams still depend on additional tools or scripts for deeper reporting and analytics. If I had to focus on one area first, I would probably choose troubleshooting and reporting. Deployment through Microsoft Intune is generally straightforward, but when something fails, identifying the exact root cause can still take more time than expected. Error messages are sometimes too generic, and admins often have to dig through logs, sync status, or multiple portals to understand what actually happened. I think user experience and policy management could also improve further. Microsoft Intune has become much better over the years, but sometimes the admin portal still feels fragmented because certain configurations open in different sections or redirect to older interfaces. For new admins, especially, it can take time to understand where everything is located. Another thing is policy conflict handling. In larger organizations, multiple device policies, compliance rules, and configuration profiles can overlap. When conflicts happen, the visibility is not always very clear, so admins spend time figuring out which policy actually won or caused the issue.
reviewer2284542 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Development Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Automated configuration management ensures consistent server setups
The strength of Puppet is in automated configuration management. We can configure a server once and set rules with Puppet so that future server configurations are automatic and consistent with company requests. Puppet is declarative, meaning it finds the best state for itself and corrects any deviations in the configuration.
Nikhil Nikhil - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Operations Lead at TT Systems LLC
Compliance management has improved efficiency but licensing changes pose challenges
I am not using any advanced features or AI. I am employing a basic VMware vCenter setup for my infrastructure. Scalability has no major limitations, and the solution is efficient. Overall, it's satisfactory. I would rate the vCenter experience as seven out of ten due to concerns regarding license, pricing, and AI features.

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 fit for modern endpoint management, especially for remote and hybrid environments, and it keeps improving as Microsoft expands the platform."
"Once it is well integrated with the rest of the environment, it makes everything easy."
"Overall, Microsoft Intune has been a strong platform for modern endpoint management, especially for organizations supporting hybrid work and cloud-first device management strategies."
"The feature of remotely wiping devices in Microsoft Intune is what I prefer the most."
"We have seen a clear ROI with Microsoft Intune; time saved has reduced device setup from three to five hours to thirty minutes, and there is a workload reduction of around twenty to thirty percent less manual effort from the IT team."
"ROI is very high at the end."
"We have not experienced any bugs or glitches with this solution."
"Our configuration profiles used to be all over the place. For example, there's a lot of legacy stuff in Active Directory. Going through Intune has helped us enforce settings, which has improved device security and functionality. When you apply something through Intune, you know it works. You don't have to worry about a legacy setting from Active Directory that was uploaded by somebody seven years ago. With Intune, you can see that a device has a setting, and you can be confident that the device is configured how you want."
"The valuable features I found are installing packages remotely and pushing files from a centralized server, and we can also create users and monitor services remotely."
"Puppet Enterprise is a stable solution."
"The versatility is great."
"The most valuable features are the agent, high load balancing, and overall robustness and features."
"Before we began using Puppet, everything was manual; once we moved to Puppet, it opened up a completely new world of automated management, which was amazing."
"The organization of the overall product in terms of usage is very good."
"Puppet Enterprise provides an autonomous delivery solution and agent-server architecture that was really helpful on our case for Internet base device management."
"Puppet Enterprise has reduced the time of production changes or environment changes, freeing our engineers to spend their time on creative, visionary work instead of repetitive tasks."
"We can scale the solution as needed."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The feature that I have found most valuable is the virtual machine management across different hosts, located in different areas."
"The tool's scalability is good and easy, especially when compared to Microsoft Hyper-V."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"I would recommend this solution to others, it has worked very well for me."
"This product is very stable, it's a very good product."
"Our clients have better knowledge of how they have to provision hardware and when they will need to provision hardware, making for more predictable environments and preventing future problems."
 

Cons

"Reporting in Microsoft Intune presents challenges because the built-in reports are often too basic."
"I think nine is a very good rating for this solution, and I kept one point out because I think in the future it requires improvement based on future scalability in the IT infrastructure."
"There is room for improvement in Microsoft Intune regarding Linux and Mac compatibility because some limitations exist."
"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."
"I'd like to see an ability to deploy more ways of management, managing devices and processing the policies."
"There are challenges with Intune, specifically in reporting. Many third-party companies offer single-pane-of-glass reporting that shows you what your update environment looks like, how your patch is doing, application status, etc., but Intune's reporting is not intuitive. You can connect to Azure, monitoring, and the workbooks, but it's not streamlined."
"Automatic updating is pretty rough. It doesn't give me as much control as I had in the past."
"There is room for improvement in Microsoft Intune's understanding and user experience as the interface is easy to navigate for deploying applications and finding user information, but I think there should be a reduction in dependency on on-premises infrastructure and focus on artificial intelligence and automation to improve further."
"The solution has really complex code, you have to understand the Ruby language. However, once you know the code then you can move ahead without any problems."
"There's a lot of scope for enhancement on the DevSecOps side. They should definitely include features for compliance, for both the Linux and Windows side of the devices, as well as for network devices. Compliance is something they need to work on."
"Clients with less technical expertise may find Puppet complex to configure. Our team may struggle if technical team members leave the organization, leaving others uncertain about using the tool."
"We would like Puppet to add more integration for applications."
"At the beginning the initial setup was kind of complex."
"Regarding the cost, I find it expensive, always."
"Puppet Enterprise should improve the general extensibility for places where they can't install it."
"Well at the beginning it was kind of complex. Because you had a lack of knowledge."
"The licensing model has shifted from socket-based to core-based licensing, resulting in increased customer costs. Moreover, if a customer utilizes software like VMware, which integrates seamlessly with ESXi, it becomes even more challenging to consider replacing ESXi. Hence, many customers, particularly in India, are actively exploring alternatives."
"The snapshot functionality on the solution needs improvement. After renewing the snapshot, all of the production was stuck. Right now, its functionality is one of our main concerns."
"My impression on the impact of the real-time monitoring features of vCenter Configuration Manager is that it's somewhat good, but you cannot find the full log message; you have to dig deep in order to get it."
"The platform's certificate management functionality can be challenging, along with troubleshooting when issues arise."
"vCenter Configuration Manager could improve by having more integration."
"If the solution could manage on-premises and cloud resources with the help of one tool, it would be an extra agent."
"The technical support is not bad. It is good internally for our organization, and we are not facing any problems now. We have not taken platinum support, so our teams that are operating from the client site will have to wait longer to get their problems fixed."
"When vCenter is in a Microsoft environment, there is a lot of licensing involved, where we face some difficulties."
 

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."
"Microsoft Intune is pretty reasonable. We have difficulty with Azure, which is probably why we have not put many assets in Azure. Everything we put there is very expensive."
"We use Defender ATP and E5 licenses."
"Microsoft Intune costs about $7 per user per month, which is somewhat on the pricier end. That said, it's a reliable product, so it's fair."
"It's a bit expensive from a licensing perspective, especially as we look to have organizations with tenants across the globe."
"Intune is included in the Microsoft 365 licensing package that we have."
"Generally, we get favorable discounts, so it's not too bad. Obviously, we're looking at decreasing those wherever we can to bring value back to the public purse because it's all charity based. It's all publicly funded."
"Intune is inexpensive. It also comes bundled in some Office 365 licenses, so you can choose to purchase it separately or as a package."
"Puppet Enterprise can be an expensive solution for smaller businesses."
"Depending on the size of the organization there is a point when the price of Puppet Enterprise should be lower. However, they provide really good functionality, features, and capabilities."
"The main thing that we noticed when we switched from the enterprise version to the community version was the difference in cost — the infrastructure is pretty expensive."
"Puppet Enterprise’s pricing is competitive."
"I am not knowledgeable with the pricing of the product."
"vCenter's pricing is reasonable, but nowadays, they are drastically increasing their prices, which is pathetic."
"We have to pay for the whole bundle and individual pricing is not available. One license costs us almost $200 every year."
"Users need to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution, which is expensive."
"The pricing is mid-range so I rate it a six out of ten."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The product price and licensing fees are reasonable, especially when compared to other products in the market."
"It is an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
20%
Construction Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business192
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise20
 

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 ...
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...
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Puppet Enterprise?
Regarding the cost, I find it expensive, always. I don't know how much the license would cost per year or per user ap...
What needs improvement with Puppet Enterprise?
I don't know what could be improved in Perforce Puppet to make this tool better for the next release. I can't think o...
What is your primary use case for Puppet Enterprise?
My main use case for Perforce Puppet is for configuration management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Configuration Manager?
Nowadays, it is a bit expensive. It's costly, primarily due to the licensing aspect.
What needs improvement with vCenter Configuration Manager?
My impression on the impact of the real-time monitoring features of vCenter Configuration Manager is that it's somewh...
What is your primary use case for vCenter Configuration Manager?
My usual use cases for vCenter Configuration Manager mainly involve migration, shift and lift mainly, and some type o...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Puppet
vCM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Los Alamos National Laboratory, GitHub, IP Commerce, Cedexis, Spiceworks, Server Density, Swisstopo, Chockstone, Constant Contact, NICS, Citrix
Bank Al Bilad, Thomas-Krenn.AG, Pronto!, Unimed Juiz de Fora
Find out what your peers are saying about Perforce Puppet vs. vCenter Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.