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Atera vs BigFix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.0
Atera boosts efficiency and cuts costs with remote management, software integration, fixed pricing, and automation, enhancing business value.
Sentiment score
6.2
BigFix delivers fast ROI with efficient patch management, improved security, and reduced labor, enhancing efficiency and financial savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
Atera's support team offers quick resolution, accessible help, valued security measures, and improves through user feedback.
Sentiment score
6.5
BigFix provides excellent customer support, with minor first-level inconsistencies, improved overall quality, and valuable community resources.
On a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest quality, enterprise support provides timely responses, typically within four to eight hours.
Technical support from HCL is satisfactory unless there are customization requirements.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Atera is scalable for small to large companies, with intuitive setup and robust API integration, ideal for growth.
Sentiment score
5.7
BigFix excels in scalability, handling deployments from small to large seamlessly, supporting hundreds of thousands of devices efficiently.
BigFix requires some minimum configuration requirements.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Atera is highly stable and reliable, with minor issues quickly addressed and regular updates enhancing functionality.
Sentiment score
5.9
BigFix is praised for its stability, requiring minimal intervention and maintaining performance during large-scale deployments and external challenges.
 

Room For Improvement

Atera needs improved integration, support, and customization across identity management, mobile, network monitoring, and technician control features.
BigFix needs updated documentation, UI improvements, enhanced integration, better patch support, and improved automation and scalability.
In addition to reporting improvements, there should be a feature for application control to allow or disallow certain applications from being executed on endpoints.
Building a management console is quick and simple, taking only one to two hours for setup.
BigFix requires some minimum configuration requirements.
 

Setup Cost

Atera's pricing model offers cost-effective scalability and predictability, with unlimited devices and savings compared to competitors, ideal for enterprises.
BigFix offers flexible, competitive pricing options with various packages and potential discounts, despite additional costs like database licenses.
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to SolarWinds, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
 

Valuable Features

Atera provides robust remote access, automation, and monitoring tools, enhancing productivity and user satisfaction with its intuitive interface.
BigFix is valued for ease, scalability, flexibility, real-time management, integration, single-console efficiency, and wide system adaptability.
We can run commands such as PowerShell, batch scripts, and implement automation.
BigFix supports something known as Patch Policies, which allows users to define that whenever critical patches are released, they should get evaluated against machines and automatically deploy them.
I use this mainly to capture inventory for IBM products, and as BigFix was part of IBM, it gets easily integrated with IBM solutions.
The BigFix features that have proven most effective include inventory, software delivery, software distribution, software catalog, and both software and hardware management.
 

Categories and Ranking

Atera
Ranking in Patch Management
12th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (11th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (4th)
BigFix
Ranking in Patch Management
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (7th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (26th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Atera is 4.3%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BigFix is 6.6%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BigFix6.6%
Atera4.3%
Other89.1%
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

AV
Quick setup and efficient automation boost IT consulting services
It would be beneficial if Atera implemented telephone support for general questions. When onboarding new clients and creating their portal, it would be helpful if presidents or company owners could see the current configuration progress step-by-step, rather than relying solely on email and ticket systems. The task system for technicians could be improved by adding recurring task capabilities. This would allow technicians to have checkmarks and task lists they can mark off as completed. While scalability meets growing needs, there haven't been many additions in the last two years. They are adding new features gradually, but there is always room for improvement.
Ravi Khanchandani - PeerSpot reviewer
Long-term partnership improves customer satisfaction and delivers efficient endpoint management
BigFix supports something known as Patch Policies, which allows users to define that whenever critical patches are released, they should get evaluated against machines and automatically deploy them. Their software distribution is very efficient because they use a pull mechanism rather than a push mechanism, allowing each machine to download from the closest repository and install themselves. The same assessment mechanism applies for real-time vulnerability remediation, allowing identification, evaluation, and automatic remediation across machines. Compliance metrics typically measure the patch percentages deployed against the number of endpoints, which could be various device types including virtual machines and mobile devices. Measurements are taken against each device type, looking into compliance percentages for browsers such as Chrome and Edge based on their versions.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Patch Management solutions are best for your needs.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise66
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atera?
The prices have increased over time. After expressing concerns about pricing to account managers, they offered a 30% discount option for annual commitments. The main benefit we see with this produc...
What needs improvement with Atera?
It would be beneficial if Atera implemented telephone support for general questions. When onboarding new clients and creating their portal, it would be helpful if presidents or company owners could...
What is your primary use case for Atera?
We use it for maintenance support, patch management, the ticket system, ticketing, and automation in general. Atera enables us to take control quickly with different options. We can perform registr...
What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to other major software solutions, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
The reporting still needs improvement since customers want specific reporting, such as N-1 month patching reports. In addition to reporting improvements, there should be a feature for application c...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Tivoli Endpoint Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MSPs, IT consultants, and IT departments worldwide trust and use Atera. 
US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
Find out what your peers are saying about Atera vs. BigFix and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.