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BMC Helix Client Management vs Microsoft Configuration Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

BMC Helix Client Management
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (9th), Endpoint Compliance (6th)
Microsoft Configuration Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Software Distribution (2nd), Server Monitoring (5th), Configuration Management (4th), Patch Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

BMC Helix Client Management and Microsoft Configuration Manager aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. BMC Helix Client Management is designed for Mobile Device Management (MDM) and holds a mindshare of 5.0%, up 3.3% compared to last year.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Server Monitoring, holds 4.1% mindshare, down 5.3% since last year.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BMC Helix Client Management5.0%
Jamf Pro12.1%
NinjaOne7.0%
Other75.9%
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager4.1%
Zabbix10.3%
Nagios XI6.1%
Other79.5%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Cristian Testa - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Manager Product Manager - Latin America Region at tdi
A stable solution that allows you to manage IT clients from receipt to retirement
The initial setup is straightforward and easy to use, but you need to understand the different functionalities and modules. The console version and the Hub application are different, and you need some knowledge to make the process easier. Deployment typically takes about two months. You start with the initial setup and then continue with operations. The deployment process is straightforward. The master installation takes about thirty minutes. After that, you deploy different relays to discover the endpoints and create the credentials and sources to install the agents. Once the agent is installed on an endpoint, you can manage it as needed. The first step is always the installation. BMC Client Management can be deployed both on cloud and on-premises. After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increased need for remote solutions, so we have customers using both models. In BMC Client Management, I'd rate the initial setup as an eight out of ten.
NS
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized endpoint control has streamlined deployments and improved security compliance
In my experience, the best features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are software deployments and updates, OSD, hardware and software inventory, compliance and configuration baseline, reporting and monitoring, and integration with Intune hybrid management. These features make endpoint management efficient and scalable. The feature I rely on the most day-to-day is software deployment and patch management. It keeps endpoints updated and secure with minimal manual effort. Inventory and compliance monitoring are also important, but daily deployments are critical. Microsoft Configuration Manager has had a significant positive impact on our organization in several ways: improved efficiency, enhanced security and compliance, standardization, scalability, and visibility reporting. Overall, Microsoft Configuration Manager has helped us save time, reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and maintain strong control over our endpoints. One of the biggest impacts Microsoft Configuration Manager has had on efficiency is the reduced manual work for software deployment and patching. For example, deploying a new application or security updates to hundreds or thousands of devices previously required several days of manual effort, including running scripts, checking devices individually, and validating installation. With Microsoft Configuration Manager, these tasks are automated and managed, allowing deployments to complete in hours rather than days. We also have automated reporting for deployment success and compliance which saved the IT team significant time that used to be spent gathering and reconciling inventory data from multiple tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of our customers is a financial institution with more than 15,000 endpoints, and we use BMC Client Management to manage their regulatory compliance needs, manage the endpoints from a security perspective, and integrate it with service management as well."
"BMC Client Management has helped us be able to patch our OS or any software to the latest version."
"One feature I like, that was especially valuable during the pandemic, is remote control. Remote control grants administrators and support personnel access to the laptops and PCs of employees (who might be working from home) in order to fix any issues that come up as and when they come up, even without having to wait for a support request."
"The solution provides multiple features in one place."
"It's a scalable solution. We have deployed it for customers using 3000 nodes to those using 300,000 nodes."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its patching capabilities and the help it offers when it comes to use cases, like prompting for the reboot after a certain period of time."
"The inventory and patch management tools are very valuable."
"BMC Client Management is a stable solution and one of the best in the market. It allows me to manage all recipe endpoints, including iOS, Android, Linux, Unix, and Windows, all within the same solution."
"In general, I would recommend the solution to other organizations and companies."
"We are using the solutions for PC application inventories, patch management for new PC installation, PC reinstallation, and zero-day patching."
"Technical support was helpful and responsive."
"The possibility or native capability of managing Microsoft networks and Microsoft endpoints is valuable for me."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the OSD and application deployments, and it also automates updates."
"The scalability to deploy the package."
"If you have this solution in your environment, it's a win-win situation."
"Software deployment and WSUS are most valuable."
 

Cons

"BMC Client Management supports only iOS devices. It would be good if they would support Android as well."
"In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. The latest version includes more endpoints, but they do not cover everything the operations team needs. Additionally, I think improving the hierarchy for managing endpoints is crucial. Extending the endpoint capabilities would be highly beneficial."
"BMC Client Management could improve in the area of integration."
"It would be good if BMC Client Management can perform vulnerability assessment scanning at the endpoint on its own and mitigate that. Then, we wouldn't have to rely on a third party VA tool. I would like to see this application move to being a web-based one."
"The solution needs to add whitelisting because many customers request it."
"The solution does not offer the functionality of remote access to users."
"The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool."
"The endpoint configuration is very convoluted to implement."
"The tool's deployment can be cumbersome."
"We have had a lot of issues with Mac application deployment support. They need to improve the support for the Mac operating system."
"The deployment process is lengthy and should be quicker to complete."
"Our company would prefer not rebooting computers while people are using them. There seems to be no strategy behind it."
"Servers are still not getting it properly, so we could add the servers in Microsoft Configuration Manager for things such as OS deployment and Autopilot as well."
"There is a reboot issue with the patching. Sometimes, if patching runs into any issue whatsoever, it doesn't reboot but it doesn't tell you it errored out. It just sits there and we don't find out until the next day whether it patched or not. That was a big issue for us. We're working through that. They added some stuff in there now where you can actually tell reboot is pending. But we still need some kind of notification that if something fails or is pending, we know. We shouldn't have to go in and look. They don't have anything for that right now."
"One area of improvement is regarding the patching of Office 365 products. We have some difficulties on this side, and it can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe there is an additional cost of around two hundred dollars."
"BMC Client Management is a very affordable solution. There is one main server license which I believe is around $1,000 per year, and then there is the license for the actual solution. With the solution license, you can opt for a suite license where you get access to all the features and benefits, or alternatively you can buy any of the five main components of the suite license individually."
"To use BMC Client Management they charge annually per node."
"The solution is low cost."
"The price could be better."
"The license price could be reduced for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager They should make the price more affordable for smaller companies, most companies would be able to use the solution if it was priced better. There are more people on this cloud because you don't have to have either a server room or an on-premise server. You can have one IT person handle this without any local infrastructure."
"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."
"Microsoft provides a steep price for their enterprise products, but they offer very competitive pricing for their legacy customers."
"We have a support license from Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager and the overall price of the solution is reasonable."
"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
"As far as I know, it is an annual operating expense license."
"When you compare this solution with other tools in the market you might actually find a lot of variation in the pricing and that's why people opt for the other tools rather than Microsoft tools."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Retailer
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
How to choose between ManageEngine Desktop Central and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM)?
ManageEngine Desktop Central is very easy to set up, is scalable, stable, and also has very good patch management. What I like most about ManageEngine is that I can log on to every PC very easily a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCCM?
The setup cost is considered sufficient. It is not significant enough for us to consider a change at the moment.
 

Also Known As

BMC Helix Client Management, Helix Client Management, BMC Fromdistance Mobile Device Management
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Charter Manufacturing
Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
Find out what your peers are saying about JAMF, Microsoft, Kandji and others in Mobile Device Management (MDM). Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.