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KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs ManageEngine OS Deployer comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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

KACE Systems Management App...
Ranking in Client Desktop Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Compliance (6th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (11th), Patch Management (11th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (11th)
ManageEngine OS Deployer
Ranking in Client Desktop Management
9th
Average Rating
6.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Client Desktop Management category, the mindshare of KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is 12.1%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine OS Deployer is 3.3%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Client Desktop Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)12.1%
ManageEngine OS Deployer3.3%
Other84.6%
Client Desktop Management
 

Featured Reviews

AdityaJain - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Administrator at EbixCash
Centralized software deployment has simplified endpoint control but needs stronger security alerts
What I like best about KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is that it allows pushing custom-made applications to all computers that have KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) endpoint installed. This makes it easier for the organization to push patches and updates. If I need to push EDR updates, I can use KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), as it automatically updates the EDR on that endpoint, and that is a great feature. Overall, KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) helps streamline my processes by allowing me to check the uptime and downtime of machines, whether they are connected to the internet or not, and how long a machine has been switched off. I can also gather hardware details and software inventory from it. I can show a live demonstration if a video conference can be arranged. Incident resolution capabilities with KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) have improved operational efficiency for system administrators, as it makes it easier to track machines with KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), gather their IP addresses, and push several updates, patches, or software deployments at once. I can design compliances as per my requirements, such as ensuring passwords are reset after 45 days.
it_user363621 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a engineering company with 51-200 employees
It adds necessary drivers for hardware on desktop and notebooks. I'd like to see more detailed explanations and support for how to use it through PXE.
It's helped us to install OS's onto desktops and notebooks It adds a simple solution for adding specific, necessary drivers for hardware on desktops and notebooks when they arrive. I'd like to see more detailed explanations and support for how to use it through PXE. I've never gotten this…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We couldn't ask for more."
"The help desk is super simple to use and we saw our return on investment a long time ago, just in man hours alone."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"The service desk can be configured and customized to better serve our environment."
"By using the KACE solution, we are able to provide endpoint management for our customers, it filled a critical gap for us, contributes to more than 30% of our revenue, and based on customer feedback it has saved more than 50% time through automation."
"For what I use it for, the solution provides a single pane of glass with everything I need for endpoint management of all devices."
"Patching is definitely the most valuable feature. It gives us good, centralized software, which comes in very handy since we are doing 400 servers at a time. It enables us to manage all the servers, and to deal with the application team regarding reboots and scheduling."
"The ability to push an image to a machine, wake that image up, and just blast a new image to a computer without even having to touch it, and then push the software to that machine, just made things so much more convenient for us and so much more efficient than having to go find that machine, pull that machine out, take it back to the shop, and repair it from there."
"Before OS Deployer, I used Microsoft WDS, which requires more manual labor than OS Deployer."
 

Cons

"Imaging becomes a problem when you start to try to go beyond doing more than thirty or forty machines at a time. We initially tried to do that virtually and it just, it wouldn't work."
"Sometimes the information is not as real time as it's supposed to be."
"The setup process was not good with the Dell people. We had horrible training and the setup was not right on a bunch of stuff."
"There is always room for improvement. An example will be the implementation of granulated permission to run Scripts."
"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."
"I still need better communication about which processes are really due and which processes are currently being processed."
"There should be a mini toolbox, like the competitors of KACE have, with the small features for KACE administrators. That would make their lives easier. If you are troubleshooting a specific endpoint, remote control is available as is Wake-on-LAN. But if you want to execute some commands, you have to use a third-party tool, the PS tool. If they would integrate those small things, it would make KACE more powerful."
"Paying for the product should come with full and extended training anytime it is needed."
"I'd like to see more detailed explanations and support for how to use it through PXE."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is great. It's billed annually and it's very reasonable."
"The pricing and licensing are absolutely fair."
"We are a university. So, we have a very good price for the system. I think the price for the system is worth it because of the security patch management. The security patch management is very important for us. The price is very good for KACE SMA, the functionality you get, and the patch management."
"The cost of KACE has been relatively low compared to other systems. Even if those systems have the same cost, they do not do as much of the third-party patching that KACE natively does."
"We are also saving on the licensing fee, compared to other endpoint management solutions."
"We buy consulting fees from Software Factory, then we pay extra for it."
"The pricing and licensing are good. It's worth it."
"The product is reasonably priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
9%
Construction Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise16
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest KACE Systems Management?
In terms of cost-effectiveness, considering a situation where I want to deploy KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) for just pushing updates, it is completely fine. However, apart from that, I d...
What needs improvement with Quest KACE Systems Management?
For improvements in KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), I would want to see it become a standalone software agent. I am curious about why it does not offer EDR functionality. Additionally, the...
What is your primary use case for Quest KACE Systems Management?
I have deployed KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) around 230 plus PCs, and I use it to push Windows updates and scripts. I have designed various scripts for tasks such as password resets afte...
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Also Known As

Dell KACE Systems Management
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Waypoint, Mattos Filho, Meetic, Gems Education, Green Clinic HealthSystem, Service King
EMC, Costco Wholesale Australia, Canyon Bicycles, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, WashingtonFirst Bank, SunEdison, Stafford Development Company, City of Redondo Beach, Columbia Medical Associates, Pratt Institute, Novati Technologies, Toyota Boshoku America, Flight Centre UK, RapidAdvance
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine, Quest Software, Broadcom and others in Client Desktop Management. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.