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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Qualys Patch Management 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

Microsoft Configuration Man...
Ranking in Patch Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (6th), Configuration Management (3rd)
Qualys Patch Management
Ranking in Patch Management
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 15.0%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Patch Management is 4.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

MikeNelson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Deployment recovery works well but requires configuration improvements
While I do not use the product frequently, many issues were due to configuration rather than the product itself. I cannot give an exact recommendation as it is not my area of responsibility. The team that uses it finds it adequate. It is presently good enough for us not to investigate other options. Overall, I rate the product a six out of ten.
Revathi VeeraRaghavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a centralized platform for managing assets and vulnerabilities, enabling assessment, prioritization, and remediation
Qualys Patch Management system requires several improvements. Firstly, the inability to download asset patches and the lack of third-party application integration limit patch accessibility. Additionally, rollback options are unreliable, and pre-deployment patch testing is crucial. Reporting needs enhancement, particularly with group-based compliance percentages and clearer, VMDR-like reporting in the Patch Management module. Furthermore, detection speed should be improved, as patches are released 24 hours after QIDs are published. The user interface could be more functional, with dashboards for patch compliance visualization and simplified error code language. Finally, the Mac patch catalogue needs expansion, and automated workflows, policy enforcement, and testing procedures should be streamlined for seamless, user-independent operation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature is the graphical-based reports of software updates that have been successful, the ones that have failed, and a summary of where the failures are what security breaches may occur."
"I find the product valuable for deployment recovery and it has done much more than that."
"Patching is very effective and reporting is very good."
"It's helped us solve problems surrounding patching, installing, and reporting different patches, etc., on the virtual machines."
"The initial setup is fairly straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is the availability of being able to manage the Microsoft estate. It handles many areas, such as asset management and tracking."
"The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."
"Qualys Patch Management offers excellent features, most notably the Qualys Gateway Service, which caches patches and distributes them to agents, minimizing bandwidth consumption."
"The customer support team is quite responsive and always ready to assist."
"The features I find most valuable in Qualys Patch Management include the ability to manage registry changes and run scripts both pre and post-patching. We have been able to apply workarounds for zero-day vulnerabilities efficiently."
"Policy enforcement requires less time for my team because users cannot avoid applying updates. The user can skip two or three times or for a maximum of eight hours. After that, there is no way to avoid it. It helps us keep the environment safe."
"Patch Management, if configured correctly, works effectively without requiring further action."
"We have seen about 60% to 70% improvement in the patch rate so far."
"Compared to other tools, Qualys is better due to its automation capabilities, which allow us to achieve high compliance rates."
"Qualys' best feature is its reporting. At first, it may seem a little complicated to a beginning user, but it's helpful once you get used to it. Most of these scans run automatically. We set the scans up for the client to run at daily, weekly, or monthly intervals, depending on how critical the server or other hardware is."
 

Cons

"I want the system to provide some dependency relations. I would also like to see the relationship between different machines."
"The solution is crowded with information."
"On some hardware, we'd like an easier way to get peripherals attached."
"The main room for improvement is the on-screen display. I think it would be good if some improvements were made."
"The solution should be more compatible with different versions of Linux."
"There's no way to say, "I want this maintenance window to be on the second Tuesday of the month." It's strict. This window is this and that's it. You can't fluctuate."
"The tool's deployment is complex and depends on the architecture you want to implement."
"The solution should incorporate AI. It should also incorporate real-time capabilities. If we could get real-time information about challenges or issues, it would allow us to take immediate action. For example, with the recent outage caused by the Windows issue, having a real-time warning system could have helped us avoid or reduce the downtime we experienced."
"Qualys could improve its capacity to fix vulnerabilities on VMware and other virtualized environments. The reporting could also be enhanced to make it more user-friendly. It's difficult for beginners to learn."
"The patch status and patch completion information should be improved."
"There is room for improvement in terms of adding more patches."
"Qualys Patch Management's pricing could be more competitive, as it presents a significant obstacle for many companies who find it unaffordable."
"It would be beneficial to have more efficiently scheduled task deployments that are tailored to specific asset types or deployment needs."
"Pricing is on the higher side. We found it costly compared to other vendors."
"It is pretty good. However, it would be good to have more widgets and AI-generated reports. I have not seen anything related to AI with Qualys. It would be beneficial for Qualys to incorporate AI-generated tools for Patch Management and VMDR. This could assist in managing risks, providing AI-generated reports, and creating risk letters for clients, which can streamline communication."
"The availability of Qualys Patch Management needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"I would rate the cost as eight out of ten."
"Along with buying a license for MECM, we also have to buy a service called CMG (Cloud Management Gateway) which is a virtual machine in the cloud with which you can link your MECM to the Azure tenant so as to manage teleworkers."
"The price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is expensive."
"Its licensing is quite complicated because we are getting the license not only for SCCM but for the full Microsoft package. We don't need to pay for a separate license. We need to have one license that includes everything we need, such as Windows, Microsoft 365, SCCM, encryption, and so on. So, we don't have a specific price for it. Perhaps, it is good that it includes the full suite of licensing of Microsoft. It is expensive, but we are getting a lot of features."
"Microsoft provides a steep price for their enterprise products, but they offer very competitive pricing for their legacy customers."
"The solution is expensive. Microsoft Configuration Manager would likely be considered high-priced for small businesses because they may not fully utilize all of its features and capabilities."
"The solution operates on a licensing model that can be expensive."
"The pricing is reasonable and less expensive than the previous tool."
"Qualys Patch Management's pricing could be more competitive, as it presents a significant obstacle for many companies who find it unaffordable."
"Qualys Patch Management is a cost-effective solution for managing our 43,000-plus assets."
"The pricing is fair and within our budget."
"Qualys Patch Management offers a moderate price point, neither cheap nor expensive, considering its comprehensive functionality."
"While the cost of Qualys Patch Management is slightly high compared to alternative tools, it is not excessively expensive."
"The licensing cost is more than 2,000 for the whole Americas region"
"Its price is competitive in the market. Compared to other solutions like Rapid7, Qualys offers a favorable price point and robust features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about SCCM?
One of the standout features of SCCM is its application management capabilities. It allows us to create packages efficiently and deploy them to specific groups within our network. This streamlined ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Patch Management?
Qualys Patch Management comes as part of a bundled package with several modules, making it a cost-effective deal for us. I cannot speak to the separate cost, as we have always used it as part of th...
What needs improvement with Qualys Patch Management?
There is room for improvement in the inclusion of more patches. That's the only improvement I would suggest. Not all patches are available on Qualys, so they need to get licenses for other patches ...
What is your primary use case for Qualys Patch Management?
Mostly, I've used it because I'm working in the Vulnerability Management Team. I've done the POC for Patch Management and then handed over the product to the Patch Management Team, which handles th...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM )
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
Information Not Available
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