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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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
17th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Quest KACE Systems Manageme...
Ranking in Patch Management
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Client Desktop Management (12th), Endpoint Compliance (8th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 5.3%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mario Del Toro - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps to manage the accesses for the users, provide specific permissions, and verify identities
I use the solution to manage the accesses for the users, provide specific permissions, and verify identities.  The tool is a stable product.  The tool needs to improve its visual system.  I would rate the product's stability a ten out of ten.  I would rate the solution's scalability a nine out…
Scott Tweed - PeerSpot reviewer
Low maintenance, reliable, and easy to create packages
I like how when you click on the device, it shows you everything that has changed as well as the software versioning. I am really enjoying the inventory aspect of it. The deployment process for both deploying and creating a package is straightforward. I believe the inventory in KACE is superior to SCCM's. I know with SCCM I could do things like remote console into machines via the agent's remote console, but that is not a feature that is provided in KACE. I know that at least in the Systems Management Appliance, I can't get to it. I'm not sure how distribution works, with distribution points. I'm not sure if KACE has that feature. You could use an SCCM to set up distribution points at remote sites so that they don't have to download patches or software from across the country. If you have a DP or something similar, they could pull it down.

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 tool is a stable product."
"The solution is easy to implement."
"The website development section is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"There is one place for a lot of different things. If somebody has a problem with their computer, they will put in a ticket. From there, we will know who it is and the assets assigned to them, because there is one place to go look for what we are talking about and with whom we are talking. Just having one place for everything is really convenient. For example, we are able to deploy software to hundreds of computers. We don't need to go to each individual device."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"It is excellent in terms of updating and configuring everything the way we need. For anything more complex, we do professional service engagements, and they're exceptional. For anything less complex, we just need to ask questions. Their support division is extremely good too."
"Pretty much all of the features are valuable. The inventory is very helpful to be able to keep track of our devices. The deployments make it easy to deploy new software packages or upgrade packages. The help desk is also a great tool for tracking problems and problem tickets."
"Using this solution saves us lots of time, especially when it comes to performing updates."
"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..."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to monitor updates—the software versions—on machines so that we can keep everything compliant."
"When vulnerabilities are exploited so much, it is nice to be able to quickly detect or deploy what is needed within our off-work hours or during work hours without a reboot."
 

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."
"I would like them to implement VBScript language in KACE Systems Management. Currently, we can only use PowerShell."
"The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface and lacks a manual configuration option."
"The labeling process should be more streamlined. It should be easier to do. It gets confusing at times."
"The solution needs to have the ability to push out managed feature updates from Microsoft in a more seamless way."
"I still need better communication about which processes are really due and which processes are currently being processed. According to the initial setup service provider, there is still no real management or overview on KACE where you can really see 100 percent of what is going on as well as what is going to be processed next and whether I can influence the overall process. It could really help me if I knew, e.g. exactly in 10 minutes my colleague will be supplied with this or that software. I haven't found this yet. If they could add this, that would be cool. It is still missing and I haven't yet found something like this."
"The problem is that it's harder to directly emulate a lot of the stuff that the group policies do, using the KACE solution. With regular group policies, you just specify the various settings you want to change on the workstations, and then you specify the workstations and—while it's kind of an ugly mess—it does it. Whereas on KACE, you really have to know what you're doing with scripting to effectively script those exact same changes."
"Sometimes the information is not as real time as it's supposed to be."
"I have complaints about smart label adaptation and because of this, I recommend a 24 to 48 hour bake-in period."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source, so we do not need any licensing."
"We buy consulting fees from Software Factory, then we pay extra for it."
"The pricing is fair."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."
"Their pricing is per end-point device. There is an initial cost for the license for the server, which is pretty low, and then there is a per end-point device license, which is also fairly low. So, the pricing is still reasonable."
"The pricing is great. It's billed annually and it's very reasonable."
"Its pricing model is good for what it offers. Nobody here gives me a hard time about renewing the contract every year. It might be a little cost prohibitive for a smaller company who has to stand up a virtual environment as well as have virtual environment licensing and the hardware. If you have a smaller environment, it might be cost prohibitive. If you only have a couple of hundred computers, you might be more willing to do those manually. In our environment, the cost savings of having KACE far outweigh the licensing costs. We are okay with its pricing model."
"Based on other solutions that we had implemented, its pricing seems to be quite competitive. It is not inexpensive, but it is also not more expensive than any other solution. They have the standard licensing fees and support fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
11%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?
Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, and Mac helps to ensure that everything is up to date.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?
The solution is not expensive. It is cheaper than other solutions. The solution is open-source, so we do not need any licensing.
What needs improvement with Ivanti Patch for Linux, UNIX, Mac?
The better way to improve the solution is by working on an area where it lacks, which includes the migration part. Currently, on Amazon AWS, we have hosted all the websites. It is fine to migrate f...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?
The pricing is in the middle range of the market, not too expensive but not the cheapest either.
What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
The user interface needs improvement as customers have mentioned they do not like the interface since it is not an SMA-based interface and lacks a manual configuration option.
What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
The main use cases for Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance are touch management, software and hardware inventory, and software delivery.
 

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. Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.