Jamf Pro OverviewUNIXBusinessApplication

Jamf Pro is the #2 ranked solution in top Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) tools. PeerSpot users give Jamf Pro an average rating of 9.4 out of 10. Jamf Pro is most commonly compared to Microsoft Intune: Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune. Jamf Pro is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 51% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 23% of all views.
Jamf Pro Buyer's Guide

Download the Jamf Pro Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: May 2023

What is Jamf Pro?

Jamf Pro is a mobile device management software designed to help organizations and businesses automate Apple device handling-related workflows and processes. It features zero-touch deployment that enables users to automatically enroll new Apple devices, and also configure and deploy these devices swiftly and efficiently. It comes with inventory management capabilities, Apple mobile device management features, and an enterprise app store. Jamf Pro also allows users to deploy and access their mobile apps licenses in bulk. When it comes to using the app store, end users don’t need to ask for assistance from helpdesk agents in order to download, install, and update applications.

Jamf Pro Features

Jamf Pro has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

  • Zero-touch deployment
  • Management of Apple devices
  • Security for app devices
  • App Store for self-service enterprise
  • Smart targeting
  • Reports of inventory
  • Smart Groups
  • Preconfiguration of apps
  • App distribution
  • Mac imaging
  • Upgrades to app and OS
  • Management of IT inventory
  • Device enrollment (user initiated)
  • Purchasing & license management

Jamf Pro Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Jamf Pro. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

  • Deployment: Fully-customizable onboarding experience. Provision the perfect Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, all deployed seamlessly with the workflow of your choice.
  • Device management: Use configuration profiles, scripts, and policies to make your Apple devices function exactly as needed. Move beyond simple troubleshooting by automating management with patented Smart Groups technology. This is a powerful way to trigger real-time alerts and actions from inventory data.
  • Application management: Streamline app management with bulk purchasing and deployment. The solution integrates with Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager, allowing you to assign apps to users or devices without Apple ID. Deploy apps from the App Store, B2B App Store, or your own in-house apps.
  • Apple device security: Protect Apple devices by leveraging native security features. Manage device settings and configurations, restrict malware and patch all of your Apple devices without user interaction.
  • Self-service access: Give your users access to a one-stop shop for trusted apps, company resources, and shortcuts for troubleshooting tasks like password resets.
  • Inventory: Automatically gather user, hardware, software, and security device data or customize inventory specifications. The dynamic Smart Groups feature keeps track of everything for you, including software versions and warranty expiration dates.

Reviews from Real Users

Jamf Pro stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Some of these include its app deployment, its easy installation, and the fact that it’s lightweight but powerful. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

An IT Support Specialist at Visby Medical writes, “The first most valuable feature I found was the ability to simply push out applications to devices, Mac or iPads/iPhones. It's as easy as procuring the licensing for the apps and then setting it to the volume purchasing back in Jamf.”

Another reviewer, a Desktop Engineer at Kroger, notes, “The self-service portal to share scripts and other tasks that have extremely minimized the need for calls to our support teams, or even sharing the applications we package and allowing users to pick and choose what apps they need or want, instead of just blanket installing everything from our old environment.”

Jamf Pro was previously known as JAMF Software Casper Suite.

Jamf Pro Customers

Xero, National Geographic, Oxford University, Via, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Fallon, Cabela's

Jamf Pro Video

Jamf Pro Pricing Advice

What users are saying about Jamf Pro pricing:
"It seems fair. It could be a little bit less, but you have to pay for a product. You can't get something for free. You get what you pay for, so if you put in a little bit of money, you're going to get a good quality product."

Jamf Pro Reviews

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Senior Support Specialist / Jamf Admin at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Cuts the deployment time in half, has a great community, and is absolutely stable and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "Smart groups and just the way MDM works are valuable. We like all the features that they have. We try to use it as much as possible, and then we have the support and community involvement to reach out to."
  • "We would like to have some of the extension attributes configured so that those extension attributes can be part of the core structure. They can make some of the extension attributes the actual attributes. They shouldn't be like add-ons."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our iPads and for all our Macs for our university. We use it for the installs. We're trying to get that automated, and our end goal is that it's zero-touch or as close to zero-touch as possible. We're working our way so that we configure it, and it will set up all the applications needed for the specific user. If they need other ones, they'll be in self-service, or we'll figure something out based on the frequency of the specific app and how many people need it. If it's a one-off or if it's something that a department needs, we can make adjustments based on that.

We have a private cloud deployment, and the cloud provider is Jamf.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us track our Macs. It has also helped with productivity in terms of deployment for Macs to different departments. It has helped our techs a lot. They need to spend less time with each specific Mac because it does a lot of the work for them.

What is most valuable?

Smart groups and just the way MDM works are valuable. We like all the features that they have. We try to use it as much as possible, and then we have the support and community involvement to reach out to. If we have questions, we can reach out to the community to see if somebody else has experienced this. We can also see if there's a certain workflow that somebody is doing using Jamf. We can then follow that or take a part of it and make adjustments based on our needs.

What needs improvement?

We would like to have some of the extension attributes configured so that those extension attributes can be part of the core structure. They can make some of the extension attributes the actual attributes. They shouldn't be like add-ons.

It's a great product. It would be great if the training was a little less expensive, or they could break it up into less expensive modules so that it's easier for people to get through. When they're between $2,000 to $2,500 for each course, depending on if you are an educational institute or not, it's hard for somebody if they're paying it out of their own pocket. I know that not everyone pays for it on their own, and they try to get it from their employer, but it's a big investment even for employers. It makes it harder for some people to get their necessary training. They can either make it a little less expensive or break it up into smaller modules so that people could go along, and it'll be easier for them to afford. If they break it up in half, it would be a thousand dollars or a little bit less. That would be a little easier for people to manage if they had to do it on their own or for an employer to commit to putting somebody in a class. You also wouldn't take as much time off from work because it could be done in two or three days versus four days. I still like the environment or the way they're doing it, but I'm just trying to think of things that would help people.

Buyer's Guide
Jamf Pro
May 2023
Learn what your peers think about Jamf Pro. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2023.
706,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been working with it for about six years. We did a trial in 2014, and then we went to another product. We then switched over in 2017. So, it has been about six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's absolutely stable. It's wonderful. Everything has its snags and glitches, and they fix them on the new patches, but they're always on top of everything. They're very informative as well on different things that are out there. They now even have a video put out there that tells you about their products and what's coming out in the new release. It has the changes, the updates, and the new features. That's awesome because then instead of having to read through a manual, you can just watch a video. It helps you to understand things a lot better rather than going through a manual. You are using multiple sensors, which helps in the learning process.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's absolutely scalable. We have a little over a hundred workstations, and then we have our devices, and then we also have other groups. We have the med center, and then we have other smaller groups on the university side that have their deployment. I'm not sure how many are in theirs, but they're a site. As far as the university goes, that's us, but then they have different sites where it trickles down to them for their deployments. I don't have numbers for them, but they're definitely smaller than what we have.

We also have a lot of iPads that we give out to our School of Medicine students and there are some other departments that get a bunch of iPads that are given out to the actual students. So, there are definitely over a thousand. That's just for us, but then there are other departments too, so it's a big number.

How are customer service and support?

It's excellent. I'd rate their support a 10 out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switched to AirWatch in between, which is now called Workspace ONE. We did that because we had the med center side. They were going that route, so we kind of followed them. We were probably getting a better deal. I'm not sure of all the details on that, but I was bummed out. I didn't want to change.

VMware works better with Active Directory, but Jamf does it a little bit differently. In terms of how Smart Groups work and everything in the Jamf environment, Jamf has its own way of doing it, but it requires a little bit of understanding. Once you get to set up, it's great. I would never change. Even if someone discounted their product and gave us all the extra benefits for switching, I still wouldn't switch. I'd stay with Jamf because I like the way it works. The community is great. Everything is tied in together to help you.

How was the initial setup?

Its initial setup is complex. They can provide something in the beginning or they could have some kind of virtual thing that would help people prepare for it. I know it's a lot, and there's a lot they have to do, but if there was some kind of pre-starter package with the questions that people have asked while setting it up, it would be helpful. They can keep track of the questions that people ask and then put them in a knowledge base to give out before people come out to do the jump start.

I was partly involved in its deployment. I wasn't there the whole time when their person was here going over things. I was a part of it. They were asking a lot of questions about how we wanted it set up and how the structure is set up. We wanted it to mock our Active Directory environment, but the way it was set up, it was only two-tier, or we couldn't make it as nested as the way we wanted it, so we had to change things and group things in different ways. That threw us off a little bit. We had to organize departments in groups and we had to set them up. It took three to four days to deploy it from what I recall.

In terms of maintenance, we have to go in there and check on things. We also have to do software updates, which is expected because every software product that wants to stay current is going to have updates for it when the developer puts out new versions or updates to fix issues or add improvements to the product. It's just using the main apparatus and updating different modules. We're also in the RC program, so we get our releases a little bit early. We test their product a little bit ahead of time.

What was our ROI?

It has really helped. It has really helped cut the time almost in half for deploying. A lot of the work is done already, and you just have to get a device enrolled and start a few things, and then it installs a lot of the products that are needed, so you don't have to actually install those.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It seems fair. It could be a little bit less, but you have to pay for a product. You can't get something for free. You get what you pay for, so if you put in a little bit of money, you're going to get a good quality product. You don't get a cheaper Mercedes. You have to pay for it. Mercedes is not my choice. It's just an example of something that's built with quality.

What other advice do I have?

I'd definitely advise giving it a try. Give it some time because it would take some time. There is learning involved to learn the product, but the community is great, and you can learn from the community. It takes a little bit of investment from the customer standpoint to get to another product, but once you get over that hurdle and kind of understand the environment, it's really going to help you. So, try it, and once you get to a certain point and start using it, you're going to fall in love with it. It's going to be great.

Overall, I'd rate Jamf Pro a 10 out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Apple Device Coordinator at Orland School District 135
User
Helpful "lost" mode, ability to lock down devices, and enforces CIS recommendations
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to put a device into a lost mode state that will report locations as it checks in has allowed us to retrieve so many lost devices."
  • "It would be amazing if they would give Apple TV management its own space in Jamf Pro and not just mix it in with devices."

What is our primary use case?

Jamf Pro is an Apple device management solution. This software will allow you to manage and deploy small and extremely large Apple device deployments for any size company. 

Jamf Pro will give you full management control available by Apple for Macs, iPads, and Apple TVs. With this software, you will be able to ensure devices are secure, compliant, and set for your users in any environment. 

Best of all, this can be done remotely and without the need for much user interaction. Without this product, I would not be able to support the over 7,000 apple devices I have spread across 11 different sites. 

How has it helped my organization?

I led districts deploying full one-to-one device rollouts of MacBooks and iPads back to the days before there even was a product called a MacBook Air and iPads were still very new. 

I have seen the struggles and rewards of one-to-one deployments and JAMF has been there every step of the way. As the years have gone by and I continued using JAMF, I watched as it grew in popularity and reliability. Through it all, I can honestly say that the company and the product are strong factors in why I have stayed in Mac Administration for as many years as I have. 

The product itself gets better year by year. In the early days, there were some shaky deployment times and bugs, but they have always been quick to patch and offer top-level support for any issues that we faced. Nowadays JAMF is day one support and deployment-ready. 

When managing over 6,000 Apple products across 11 sites that is a must! Users want the latest and greatest from Apple, and JAMF makes sure we can offer that but also keep machines compliant and secure with day one compatibility. Speaking of compliance, JAMF gives us all the tools we need to make sure our devices are locked down and can only be used by the users we assign them to. We also have all the tools needed to keep their data safe and secure. If a device goes missing, we can use the toolset in JAMF to lock, locate and recover the device. 

I honestly cannot say enough positive things about this product and company. The size of deployment I have been able to deploy and refresh yearly would have simply been impossible without JAMF. There may be other MDM solutions out there, however, none of them have the full feature set that JAMF gives me to keep my end-users and machines in a happy state.

JAMF is more than a product though. It’s a family of Mac Admins who love Apple. JAMF is both the company employees and their customers together. We all support each other through the community forum called JAMF Nation. Users can offer tips and support to one another, report bugs or concerns, and simply geek out about Apple administration. 

JAMF employees also join in there and connect in ways I have not seen other companies do. They even have a site called JAMF Heroes that allows employees and customers to connect even more deeply in an almost Facebook kind of fashion while keeping it focused, fun, and professional. Calling support is also a win as I have always gotten top-level support and my issues or concerns are resolved quickly and efficiently.

In closing, JAMF is more than a product or company. It is a family and is simply a must for anyone who has Apple devices in their organization and wants them to be safe and secure.

What is most valuable?

The ability to lock down devices and ensure data stays with the user is great. 

Also being able to enforce CIS recommendations is a must! Jamf Pro gives you full management control over Apple devices and the services available on them. 

The ability to put a device into a lost mode state that will report locations as it checks in has allowed us to retrieve so many lost devices. 

Finally, the ability to support OS releases on day one has been key to keeping our users up to date and retaining full management over the devices. 

What needs improvement?

This is a hard one as honestly, I'm happy with the state of the product. There are wish list items so I guess I can go over those. I would love to be able to save a Lost Mode text layout. I use the same message all the time and it would be nice to have a populated message I can save in those fields. That's not a very big deal, to be honest. 

It would be amazing if they would give Apple TV management its own space in Jamf Pro and not just mix it in with devices. This is due to the fact that I manage these devices very differently and have to exclude them from things all the time. Again, this is a very small issue though. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using The JAMF Pro Software for more than ten years now. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For me, Jamf Pro has been extremely stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Jamf Pro is extremely scalable for any size needed. 

How are customer service and support?

There are a lot of support options with Jamf Pro. Phone, email, Helpdesk, Pro, and baseline. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup is a breeze with the jump start program. A Jamf Pro rep will get you up and going right away. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Always ask for the best deal they can offer. There is special pricing available for particular businesses. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Jamf Pro was in place before I started.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Jamf Pro
May 2023
Learn what your peers think about Jamf Pro. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2023.
706,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Systems Administrator at International School of Amsterdam
User
Easy to set up and easy to maintain with good reporting functionality
Pros and Cons
  • "The fact that devices just need an internet connection [anywhere in the world] that allows them to check into the Jamf Software Server allows for identical management as if on campus or remote, has proven to be golden during the pandemic."
  • "The cheaper Jamf School is also a product that has been acquired and decked out to meet more educational needs for a good price. Some features of Jamf School aren't (yet?) available in Jamf Pro and for educational users/customers of Jamf Pro, it would beneficial to have these available in the Pro version too."

What is our primary use case?

I use it in a K-12 school environment with 1:1 iPads in K-5 and Shared iPads in Upper School. The staff uses MacBook devices and there are also iMacs for student use. In this set-up, we cater to users from 4/5 years old to Staff with 30+ years of service with ease.

Whether we need app-like icons (web clips) on iPad devices or complex printer solutions on Mac devices, users simply open Self Service, and, with a single click, the magic happens. For the youngest users, everything gets pushed silently overnight and sings and dances in the morning.

How has it helped my organization?

It is easy, fast, and reliable to set up, maintain, and change settings/new apps/profiles/printer settings for all our devices. 

Having reporting functions and Smart Groups to give a real-time and up-to-date status on the progress and installations is a must in a large environment. Students and Staff rely heavily on up-to-date devices, OS, and apps - whether they are on the school campus or studying remote from their homes. 

With the sudden lockdown scenarios and little time to prepare for Remote Learning in a school, it was so comforting to know that the tech wouldn't be an obstacle (as school administration feared).

What is most valuable?

The fact that devices just need an internet connection [anywhere in the world] that allows them to check into the Jamf Software Server allows for identical management as if on campus or remote, has proven to be golden during the pandemic. Also, from a user point of view, everything remains the same, despite not being able to attend classes in person! As it was quite a task in general for staff and students to have to do teaching and learning from home, their tech (and our support) remained the same.

What needs improvement?

The more educational tools, bells, and whistles, the merrier. Jamf has (in my opinion) always been the go-to-MDM for education and despite Pro's higher prices, it is a must for administrators. 

The cheaper Jamf School is also a product that has been acquired and decked out to meet more educational needs for a good price. Some features of Jamf School aren't (yet?) available in Jamf Pro and for educational users/customers of Jamf Pro, it would beneficial to have these available in the Pro version too.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution since 2013.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Having moved our on-premise server to Jamf Cloud was a very good move for us. As mentioned before, having to spend time and energy to update and maintain [on-premise] servers for various OS-patches and Jamf-updates which often causes downtime, is a risk (when doing it yourself). Having Jamf's own experienced engineers monitor their cloud instances and take care of patches/updates/downtime is always faster and better than me trying to do it myself! Since the move to the Jamf Cloud, we have not had any downtime, besides the announced and scheduled update windows that come directly from Jamf. In case of incidents in the Jamf-cloud, these have been resolved mostly within the hour, whilst hardly noticing any downtime on the user's end! When changes are made during a rare downtime-window, the targeted devices will still receive the command(s) and content as soon as the services are back up (or the incident has been resolved)!. This adds to the overall reliability and stability of this solution!

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling up or down is a breeze. Just add users/devices to the existing scope of workflows and apps and it does what you expect (remember to add licenses when scaling up).

How are customer service and technical support?

They are always quick and accurate on their responses. Even for more complex issues, a timely and solid solution is given.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We looked at Apple's Profile Manager in the server-app back in the days of Lion/Leopard/Snow Leopard, however, it wasn't reliable and had a tendency to 'break' with every OS/server-app update, which led to having to re-enroll all devices every time.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward with help from Jamf to make sure you do not just install a server, but also tailor it to the needs of the (educational) organisation.

What about the implementation team?

We did our jumpstart with help from Jamf (Katie English) and she rocked it. She is very knowledgeable.

What was our ROI?

It's invaluable to measure the time I get to spend with users to help them, as opposed to muttering about an on-premise server. We have continued this setup for the last 5 years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Although it might seem expensive, it is such a time-saver. Many overlook the fact that people's work hours cost money too. At the end of the day, it is cheaper to have a rock-solid solution that you can rely on and not have to troubleshoot, versus a cheaper solution that requires constant attention from technicians - I'd rather spend the time with the user to up their ante.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't look at other options; Jamf was the go-to tool at the time and was Apple-oriented (unlike Mobile Iron).

What other advice do I have?

It's the best Mobile Device Management on the market for Apple devices in my opinion.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Infrastructure Consultant at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
Easy to use with great patching and a simple setup
Pros and Cons
  • "We found the initial setup to be simple."
  • "The patching can definitely use a little bit of improvement. They should make it a little bit more automated."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product to manage everything Apple, including MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads.

How has it helped my organization?

In general, it just has allowed us to deploy Macs and iPhones easier and more securely to our end users. We can also maintain software updates.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use is very good. Patching is also really easy with the tool as well.

We found the initial setup to be simple.

What needs improvement?

Anything could always use improvement. The patching can definitely use a little bit of improvement. They should make it a little bit more automated. That's the only thing I would say could use a little bit of enhancement.

I'd like to see more security-based profiling. One of the other competitor products, Kandji, has an entire section of pre-built profiles for things like initial security requirements. You can just pick the security requirement and then implement it. You don't have to code it all up as you do with Jamf, since they don't have that feature in there right now. If you're going through major security changes in your company. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution probably for about six years at this point.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is about 100% stable. It's the best solution in the industry.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've had no issues with scalability. You go from a small number of devices to thousands of devices, and there's no change. There's no slowness or anything like that. It just continues to function.

We have about 700 iPhones, and about 250 to 300 MacBooks right now, and user roles range from developers to CEOs.

We will increase usage. We always have a desire to increase usage, however, we have a choice program in place for our users. Therefore, if a Windows person wants to switch, when their time is ready for a refresh, they can choose a Mac device.

How are customer service and support?

There are no issues with support. I've always had great service with them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used Workspace ONE by AirWatch for iPhones, and we switched due to the fact that we wanted a single solution to manage all the back Apple devices.

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup is very straightforward. They also provide a guide for you to come in, and they help you with everything from start. 

It was already in the current company I work with. It was already deployed in the previous one. We did it in a pilot project for about a month, and then we were able to move it into production pretty quickly. It all depends on your skill level. When you bring the vendor in with their sort of prep package; they do it in about four days with you.

We have a first-level service desk. We also have first-level desktop support, and then third-level would be me. I'm probably the only one with a lot of Macs or Apple experience, therefore, I'm probably the single person maintaining it other than like the basic day-to-day stuff, that the other people do.

What about the implementation team?

This is my second company using it, so I didn't really need any assistance to get it going.

What was our ROI?

ROI is always hard. With Microsoft solutions, everything's baked into your 365 licensing, including Intune. It's hard to break out the licensing, like an ROI properly due to the fact that Microsoft doesn't do that. They just have the one-time costs for everything Microsoft these days.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We only really look at the numbers once a year. I would not say it's the cheapest solution on the market, however, I would also say you get what you pay for when you sign up for any of these services. While there are cheaper ones, I would also say the cheaper ones are the cheaper ones across the board, so it's not necessarily great to go with the cheaper solution.

There are no extra fees. Once you have that in place, you're pretty much good to go.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions before choosing this product.

What other advice do I have?

I'm just an end-user.

I would advise users to definitely go with a Cloud solution if they can. It just makes life that much easier.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. I've used it for a long time. I've never had a problem and it works great. That said, I could see there are a couple of little things that they could do, to definitely improve the product.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Regional Service Delivery Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Great for triggering policies, easy to set up and ideal for companies using macOS
Pros and Cons
  • "The action and trigger is the main thing for us. We like the kind of repetitive script which we can use there."
  • "The solution only makes sense if you have a lot of macOS products in your company."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Jamf Pro for iOS devices and macOS devices.

How has it helped my organization?

This product is very useful in the terms of creating and protecting security norms. Our security norms are very strict and this product is fulfilling all those requirements. For example, in macOS, we don't allow users to enable the root account. We have disabled it. We have disabled it with the help of a script. However, if users enable it, we have the script in place which automatically disables it again. This is the feature which I like most. This is one example of how it has allowed us to gain control within our organization. 

What is most valuable?

The policies by which we can trigger something based on some action have been very useful. The action and trigger is the main thing for us. We like the kind of repetitive script which we can use there.

What needs improvement?

With respect to the improvement there, since we are using AirWatch also if I compare both of these products, I would say that we are like an incentive. Sensors are something in the repetitive script. It checks the device if something changes on the device. As soon as something changes on the device, it triggers that thing. Now, this is already available in Jamf however, we find this functionality is more robust in AirWatch as compared to Jamf.

The solution only makes sense if you have a lot of macOS products in your company.

There are some hiccups here and there, however, that is true of any product. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than two and a half years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. We haven't had issues with bugs or glitches. it's reliable and the performance has been good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is great. I would rate it 4.5 out of five. 

We have around 40,000 on the solution currently. Users are varied. It's everyone from the CEO and CIO to CEO normal users, salespersons, marketing persons, et cetera.

We do not plan to increase usage at this time. 

How are customer service and support?

Our team handles all of the troubleshooting. I've never been in touch with technical support. From my team members, I've never heard anything beyond sometimes answers getting delayed, however, they always seem eager to help. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Earlier, the solution we were using was MobileIron. MobileIron Is almost the same. However, among the two solutions, Jamf is the market leader. That's why we thought we'd go with the Jamf and then try it out.

How was the initial setup?

I would rate the implementation process four out of five in terms of ease of deployment. It's not a new environment. Although it was new enrollment, we moved from MobileIron to Jamf. And the migration was smooth. The implementation was also smooth. 

First, we did the POC. Then, we implemented the same settings, et cetera, whatever we had in the MobileIron. We implemented those things in Jamf. After that, we just moved the users from the pilot phase and started the rollout for the business users.

In terms of the term that handles deployment and maintenance, initially during the implementation, as we have to manage both environments, MobileIron's and the Jamf's, the number of team members were around seven or eight. Now, we have dropped down to four.

What about the implementation team?

While Jamf and Apple did help us a bit, we handled the implementation ourselves in-house without a consultant or integrator. 

What was our ROI?

I have not seen a direct ROI. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I cannot speak to the exact costs of the solution. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Intune also. However, Intune at the time was not the market leader. That was around late or mid-2019. At that time, Intune was not very mature as compared to Jamf. We were using AirWatch also. We evaluated AirWatch and Intune along with the Jamf.

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using.

In my organization, we have lots of Mac devices. I always give the advice to my colleagues or my friends that if you have more Mac devices, then definitely go with Jamf, however, if you're not using Mac devices and you have fewer iOS devices it may not make sense. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It is a solid product.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
President at DeBerry and Company
Real User
Simple, powerful, highly scalable, and best-of-breed
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a great tool. Its ease of use is fantastic. It is very simple, and you don't really have a high learning curve with this."
  • "There should be an option for exporting the data for reporting purposes so that we can give that to the higher-ups, such as CIO. We should be able to see bar graphs and charts on different data points. It would be great to have a good reporting tool to look at, for example, data points of how many versions of Adobe Acrobat we have in our environment in a bar graph or pie chart. They don't have anything like that. There is an application called Tableau Reader, which does statistics, and you can put a statistical or analytical aspect in there to extract data and share it on a graph or a pie chart. Such a tool would be great."

What is our primary use case?

It's used for package deployment, security patching, and zero-day vulnerability patching. It is also used for reporting and provisioning new machines into the enterprise. 

It is primarily in the cloud. Most companies are migrating Jamf to the cloud. They're trying to get rid of their on-prem instances, and Jamf prefers that as well.

What is most valuable?

It is a great tool. Its ease of use is fantastic. It is very simple, and you don't really have a high learning curve with this.

It is a very powerful tool, and there is so much that you can do with it.

What needs improvement?

There should be an option for exporting the data for reporting purposes so that we can give that to the higher-ups, such as CIO. We should be able to see bar graphs and charts on different data points. It would be great to have a good reporting tool to look at, for example, data points of how many versions of Adobe Acrobat we have in our environment in a bar graph or pie chart. They don't have anything like that. There is an application called Tableau Reader, which does statistics, and you can put a statistical or analytical aspect in there to extract data and share it on a graph or a pie chart. Such a tool would be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for over 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable. There's no issue that I can see.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's highly scalable. You can have 10,000 clients.

It's used on a daily basis. We have 700 users on one and 1,500 users on the other. We also have about 200 users on another. There are about 3,000 machines.

How are customer service and support?

They are good. They are very accessible. I would rate them a five out of five.

How was the initial setup?

It was pretty straightforward once you're in the cloud. I see it from both ends. I was the one who could set up Jamf in the cloud for clients, and now, I'm on the other end having them doing it. I can just jump and set it up on my side. It takes about five minutes or less.

In terms of maintenance, if you have a good engineer, you don't really need a lot of support. I've supported over a thousand by myself.

What was our ROI?

A good ROI is the end-user community in which everything becomes more stable and you can provide a self-service feature where you can put the latest applications available within your enterprise, on something like an internal portal for software distribution, for the end-users to download. This way, you have more user empowerment, and you also have more stability in the enterprise regarding updates and patches. There are also fewer issues. If the end-user has a problem, you can use Jamf Remote to remote in and take care of that issue then and there.

It provides ease of use. The ROI is the end-user experience. Jamf is all about the end-user experience, making sure that they're happy with the product and things of that nature.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I've looked at different solutions. KMG was one, and Fleetsmith was another, which was bought by Apple. There was also Blackberry. So, I have looked at all the other ones, and this tool is the best. It is very simplistic and easy to use without a high learning curve.

What other advice do I have?

You have to make sure you have a good engineer who knows how to use the tool, and you're off to the races.

It is a very powerful tool, and you can do so much with it. Therefore, you'd have to figure out:

  • What does success look like?
  • What is your end goal?
  • What do you want to achieve?
  • Why do you want to use Jamf Pro?
  • What is your use case?

Once you have an idea of what you really want to do, it's very easy to execute that. Some people flounder when they get a tool like this because they have no idea what they want. The best thing is to keep it simple and then build upon a good, sound foundation of simplicity. That's what I've found out. If you jump into using this tool and want it all at once, you might get a little overwhelmed.

I would rate it a 10 out of 10. As compared to any of the others, it is best-of-breed.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Mac Systems Engineer at Imagetext - Business IT Specialists
User
Review about Jamf Pro
Pros and Cons
  • "The Automated Device Enrolment is great!"
  • "One feature or improvement that would be awesome is some sort of mobile app from Jamf that can be used to alert admins of custom alerts."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to manage all of our Apple devices. We are a K12 School in New Zealand that have over 3000+ students and 400+ staff that all use and learn from Apple devices.

Being a K-12 School we have over 50+ packages in our Jamf instance that get deployed and managed. It's also important for us, as, being a school, we needed to protect both teachers and students. Jamf offers many security features - one being SSO with Microsoft Azure - which helps students and staff log into all their resources with ease while protecting our staff and students' privacy.

How has it helped my organization?

As our number of students grew and grew, staffing also grew, which means more and more devices. Apple has been the vast majority of devices in the school, including BYOD devices. We had to move to a more modern management system that would be easy and gave us future features and protection. Jamf was the solution! We migrated and moved all our packages, software, and scripts from Munki (an open-source local solution) to Jamf and got to work on improving and using the more modern features that both Apple and Jamf offered.

What is most valuable?

The Automated Device Enrolment is great! It is, by far, the very best feature! After a year of testing and perfecting the Jamf we got it to a point where each device is now zero-touch deployment. It's been saving the IT department so much more time and effort. Our Helpdesk tickets dropped about 40% - making it easier for us to focus on more important tasks.

Another great feature is just being readily available in the cloud. Moving from on-prem to cloud made deployment so much easier. We no longer needed the staff to come into the school just to install Microsoft Office or any updates that piled up.

What needs improvement?

One feature or improvement that would be awesome is some sort of mobile app from Jamf that can be used to alert admins of custom alerts or even an option when creating or editing a Smart Computer Group or Smart Mobile Group, to select App Notification as well as email notification when the group has changed. For example, over the weekend I'm not checking work emails. However, if a device over the weekend is out of date or needs attention, then the app could notify me and I could action it.              

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for six years - since 2016.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've never had any issues, server loss or down time. Jamf always organized server upgrades after work hours or in the weekends so it didn't affect any devices.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Jamf has come a very long way since I first started using it in 2016 and Apple has a lot to do with that. The Jamf community and Apple community have grown in the past 3 years and there's a reason for that - a lot more businesses are implementing Apple devices. 

How are customer service and support?

Over the past 6 years, I've only had to contact customer support twice and each time I got a resolution! Jamf customer service always keeps me updated and never left me in the dark.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used an open-source tool called Munki and we made the switch due to the fact that it started to become unreliable. You couldn't update it off-site and it lacked security (especially unsigned packages).

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward as we had everything already prepared. However, it was also complex as there were a few differences between what I was used to and what Jamf is.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I understand Jamf isn't the cheapest solution out there, however, it is by far the best bang for your buck! You get what you pay for, basically. Jamf is always ready whenever Apple makes changes, and, for 6 years straight, there has never been any downtime or server failures.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate other options, however, I knew plenty of people in the Mac Admin communities that spoke highly of Jamf Pro.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
System and Network Administrator at a non-tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Beneficial policies, highly stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the most valuable feature to be the policies."
  • "I think there's room for improvement on the automation. For example, uploading a package to Jamf Pro and then updating the policy and other aspects, should be automatic. For instance, if I put a new version of the software, version 11 and the previous one was 10, Jamf Pro should be able to recognize if there's an update and update the policy automatically. It's not a big deal, but I think there's room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I use Jamf Pro to deploy software on my computers in our school and manage them.

How has it helped my organization?

Jamf Pro has improved my organization because I can have all my computers up to date on certain software, and it's very convenient for me.

What is most valuable?

I have found the most valuable feature to be the policies.

What needs improvement?

 I think there's room for improvement on the automation. For example, uploading a package to Jamf Pro and then updating the policy and other aspects, should be automatic. For instance, if I put a new version of the software, version 11 and the previous one was 10, Jamf Pro should be able to recognize if there's an update and update the policy automatically. It's not a big deal, but I think there's room for improvement.

There are a few additional features I am looking for in the next release. There should be a better way to implement malware protection. I know that Jamf is selling a product to do it, but I think a large part of it can be maintained directly inside the MDM without more cost. I think buying another software to protect the computer is a bit abusive. For instance, most of it can be done by running a script. It should be implemented in a better way.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Jamf Pro for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Jamf Pro is highly stable. I have never had a day of downtime since I have been using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found Yannick Jamf Pro to be scalable. I can work with a very small group of computers or I can update 500 of them in a few minutes.

We have approximately 500 people using the solution and they are mainly teachers.

I use it every day and I update the software once a week. Friday is a big day for me for the usage of the solution and for the rest of the time, it's only small maintenance or emergency operations that I use once in a while. Every day I check in if I've had issues or I check the logs for problems with deployments, and so on. I check it all the time, even when I'm not working, I check it on my phone. It's very convenient.

How are customer service and support?

I have never had the need to use technical support. If I have an issue, I go to the website Jamf Nation, which is a community of Jamf users and I usually I find my solution there.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used two different solutions previously to Jamf Pro, which were MDM and FileWave. There was a third solution we were using but we had to remove it because it was bought by another software company, and it turned into abandonware. I had to look for another solution because all three that I used previously were not good solutions. Jamf Pro was a good solution.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was very easy. It was done by the software company which I work with. The implementation took one day.

What about the implementation team?

We used an integrator for the implementation and my experience with them was great.

I do the maintenance and support of the solution in my organization.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did evaluate many other solutions from different vendors. There were approximately six or seven of them. The closest one I found that met my needs was not even close to matching the useability of Jamf Pro. Jamf Pro is very focused on the Mac system, which gives it a large advantage over the competition.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend those wanting to use this solution to try out the on-premise trial version to see how it works and how you can use it to do deployments. I tried it and it was a real eyeopener. The trial is very good and done well.

I rate Jamf Pro a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jamf Pro Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2023
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jamf Pro Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.