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Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 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

Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNI...
Ranking in Patch Management
29th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
KACE Systems Management App...
Ranking in Patch Management
9th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (3rd), Endpoint Compliance (7th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (12th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac is 1.2%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 3.6%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)3.6%
Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac1.2%
Other95.2%
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

KU
Linux admin at Ameex Technologies
With good website development capabilities, the solution also provides exceptional stability
The initial setup is straightforward. The time taken for deployment for the website depends on the website code files and database. It may take four hours to eight hours for a single site to migrate from another solution. We used to do the migration from the cloud only and not on-premises. For deployment, we used to compress the code files, and using SFTP, we used to transfer the files. We then configure the same with that, and after transferring the code files, we used to have the UAT, staging, and production URL. Once everything is fine, we will switch the DNS for the live website. For the deployment and maintenance, we need support from the client's side and from the management side to make the DNS switch. We also need help from third-party vendors to provide access.
MH
Server Administrator III at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliability and adaptability enable efficient application deployment and security management
The best features Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) offers include the scripting function, which stands out to me because I can find specific needs and deploy the applications based on those needs. There was a time when scripting really saved me time by allowing me to find specific registry entries and modify them to patch security vulnerabilities. Scripting has saved us hundreds of hours over the years when patching these vulnerabilities compared to how we did it before. I really enjoy the security features that are enabled to deploy Microsoft and other vendor patches, which stand out to me as key functionalities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, and Mac helps to ensure that everything is up to date."
"The solution is easy to implement."
"The tool is a stable product."
"Compared to other software options, this is not exactly a cheap solution, however, the value you get is good, and therefore it's worth the cost."
"The website development section is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The big pros of Quest KACE Systems Management are its simple interface, and simple, direct management. It's very easy to maintain and manage the device, and it's easy to get it up and running. You can have it up and running in an hour..."
"We have our KACE agent deployed on all of our workstations and servers, and it provides us with reports on the hardware and software inventory for those."
"The Systems Deployment Appliance is magical when it comes to automating deployment... Not only can we have multiple images, specific to end-users' uses, but we have a plethora of post-installation tasks to install or configure the system, tasks that can be re-used for each system. You just have one basic base image, and then you use the post-install tasks to customize everything else. It is amazing."
"The service desk can be configured and customized to better serve our environment."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to have an overview of all devices that are accessing our environment."
"There is ease of use, and its pricing was a driving factor."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to monitor updates—the software versions—on machines so that we can keep everything compliant."
"The information available via KACE is up to date, critical to our normal operations, and has become the go-to tool of our IT teams for extended support."
 

Cons

"The better way to improve the solution is by working on an area where it lacks, which includes the migration part."
"The tool needs to improve its visual system."
"The solution can be quite expensive, compared to other options on the market."
"The solution can be quite expensive, compared to other options on the market."
"I would sure like them to be able to copy and paste out of OneNote. That drives me nuts. You can't copy from OneNote into KACE."
"The only pain point I have is with their salespeople. They call too often. They're too aggressive in trying to upsell. We know what we need, and we know if we want to expand. I don't mind quarterly calls from them, but sometimes, it is weekly. They need to get their sales team under control. The main goal of their support people and professional services is to make sure they deliver the service, and they deliver it well, whereas their salespeople are so interested in making a sale that they're wasting my time."
"The labeling process should be more streamlined. It should be easier to do. It gets confusing at times."
"We had issues with the tool's support. We are a Dutch firm and everything has to be in Dutch. We were not able to do the alerts. You were required to tweak them a lot to get them in the language that you preferred. The solution's support depended on the person that you got online. Sometimes, the response was fast and other times you needed to wait a long time. The support also depended on the levels of support that you had requested."
"We'd love to see support for larger dependencies in the scripting feature."
"There may be a good reason why some things are not easily able to be done, yet it needs work to compete with some of the other ticketing systems out there now."
"Its dashboard needs improvement. Currently, there is no way to modify the dashboard. There should be more flexibility so that we can create views according to our use case."
"The solution needs to have the ability to push out managed feature updates from Microsoft in a more seamless way."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source, so we do not need any licensing."
"It was a very attractive price. This is a huge feature of this product. If you would "credit score" this product versus others out there on the market, this one has a very attractive price."
"We are also saving on the licensing fee, compared to other endpoint management solutions."
"It may be more expensive, but you get what you pay for."
"n terms of pricing and licensing, my advice is that you need to assess what you need and then look at what they offer. It's easy to get caught up in the things that you want, but don't really need."
"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"We need it, so we have to pay the price. It is what it is. If you need a gallon of milk, then you have to pay the price for it. You don't want to buy the cheap stuff. You want to buy the stuff that is organic and good for your body, which doesn't have all this other junk in it. You want it clean for your body. Quest has done that for our deployment and management systems."
"The pricing is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
University
12%
Non Profit
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is that, hands down, it beat all of the others in simplicity and pricing.
What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
I wish Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) would have a top-down approach since we use orgs; currently, we have to go into each org to deploy applications when we need them all across the...
What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
My main use case for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is to deploy applications and maintain security, and we use it day-to-day to handle those tasks. With Quest KACE Systems Managemen...
 

Also Known As

HEAT Patch, PatchLink
Dell KACE Systems Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.