Microsoft Configuration Manager vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor comparison

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

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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 Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 6.9%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 8.8%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is 1.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	6.9%
Microsoft Configuration Manager	8.8%
SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor	1.5%
Other	82.8%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24

Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license

The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.

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Narendar S

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.

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Akhil Reddy

Software Developer at NOESIS Portugal

Alerting has helped us detect server issues across our environment

The alert mechanism is the biggest advantage of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. The customizability of the alerting system is particularly valuable. Whatever devices are in the environment, whether EC2 servers or on-premises servers, all of them can be monitored using this service. I can easily find out what exactly is going wrong in the environment. The clear audit trail aids in troubleshooting and optimization. The tool is effective for detecting unauthorized changes across platforms.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The security compliance capabilities make it widely adopted across organizations."

"I find Microsoft Intune valuable primarily for its Windows management capabilities, along with its Android Enterprise and Apple device management for mobile devices."

"The standout features of Intune are its excellent mobile device management and highly effective application management capabilities."

"For our office workers who are not based in Norway, when we order the PC, we can do some of the settings for them. These are standardized settings. We can set them up exactly as they are in Norway so that they're the same."

"I would rate Microsoft Intune a nine out of ten."

"Autopilot is definitely the most valuable feature for me, because as an MSP supporting some clients with 300 to 400 users, once it is configured correctly we use Microsoft Intune so that when a laptop is sent directly to a remote user they just log in with their email address and password and their machine is ready to go with Wi-Fi, SharePoint access, OneDrive backup, Outlook, and all the applications they need automatically configured and deployed."

"When comparing Microsoft Intune to Jamf, Microsoft Intune is superior."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Intune is having all our devices compliant with our policies."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"What's valuable is the basic management of the systems, being able to control who can access the systems."

"You can remote control or RDP, which has been the most valuable because we can go into one console and get to anything we want; instead of going to all these different consoles, we centralized everything."

"It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer."

"Valuable features include configurations enforcement, compliance data gathering, and deployment of a standardized OS."

"It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer."

"The most valuable features I find in Microsoft Configuration Manager are mostly patching, deploying software, deploying images, and running custom scripts."

"It has been working for us, and it has never been down so far."

"This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

"The product’s alert feature is good. We receive notifications whenever some failures occur in the configuration."

"SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is a good-to-have solution for all customers who are under audit pressure, especially from regulatory authorities."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is version control. For example, if we began on the first of the month and we considered that as the configuration of the server, I could set that configuration as my baseline. On a daily basis, if there was the operations team that did, for example, server patching, the tool will maintain all levels of versions."

"The customizability of the alerting system is particularly valuable; whatever devices are in the environment, whether EC2 servers or on-premises servers, all of them can be monitored using this service."

Cons

"I assess the stability of the product as low. I have faced downtime crashes and performance issues with Microsoft Intune."

"The support is not particularly good. Sometimes when you open a case with Microsoft, you end up resolving the issue by yourself."

"The only drawback or challenge is that it does not support server deployment."

"We would like to see support for Chrome and/or devices for Chromebooks."

"Microsoft Intune is currently overpriced."

"Customer service used to be better, but as we are nearing the end of the contract, the focus on investing in us as a customer has diminished. It is what one would expect in such a situation."

"I cannot think of any particular features which I consider to be most valuable."

"Intune should improve its software inventory to provide better metering of which software is used throughout the company. This is especially needed for reporting third-party software solutions."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"We'd like the solution to make it easier to manage remote users."

"It is a bit of an old and outdated product."

"Some of the capabilities aren't fully developed yet. It's an ongoing work in progress. I think they are making some steps in the right direction as far as managing workstations centrally, like Intune."

"I would like to see more automation."

"Since this solution is agent-based, computers without the agent cannot be reached on the network."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the synchronizing of the policies on the devices."

"A lot of experience is needed in terms of troubleshooting, as this is one of the most difficult tasks in MECM. We were seven people in a group and I was the only one that had the patience to do the troubleshooting at times."

"I would like to see some improvements in WSUS and control of other, non-Microsoft, product updates."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

"Some dashboards I observed in Dynatrace are not available in SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor."

"In a feature release, they could enhance the reporting. However, we have not evaluated this part of the solution extensively."

"The price of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is not reasonable, it is slightly on the higher side."

"The product’s support services and licensing models need improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are licenses required for this solution. We enable licenses on the devices we need to manage."

"Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."

"The solution is cost-efficient."

"I recently got to know that the AD P1 license is compulsory to use Intune Autopilot, which was surprising for me. Earlier, this was not the case. It is the wrong thing to do. We now need to purchase AD P1 licenses for us and for our customers. I would rate it a seven out of ten for pricing."

"Intune is available as an individual product, but it also comes with Office 365 Premium or an Enterprise license, and the price varies for each version."

"Microsoft Intune is expensive."

"It comes with the E5 plan. We bought the E5 plan from Microsoft."

"The Intune license model is costly."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"We use the tool's free license. It is expensive."

"Microsoft provides a steep price for their enterprise products, but they offer very competitive pricing for their legacy customers."

"Pricing is negotiable with Microsoft, depending upon which of their packages you choose."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Pricing and licensing are horrible. You have to not look at dollar value to use SCCM. It's super-duper expensive but it works. The acquisition cost is expensive, it's labor-intensive. But it works."

"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

"The price of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is not reasonable, it is slightly on the higher side."

"SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor has medium pricing compared to other solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	124
Midsize Enterprise	53
Large Enterprise	167

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	66

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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 ...

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. Wh...

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 effi...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

In general, I think that licensing for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is acceptable, and the solution is qui...

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

Some dashboards I observed in Dynatrace are not available in SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. The dashboard f...

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

I work only with SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor. My major use case is the monitoring of environment servers ...

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Comparisons

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IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

PDQ Deploy vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

NinjaOne vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 2% of the time

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HashiCorp Terraform vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

Compared 10% of the time

AWS Config vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Perforce Puppet vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Microsoft Configuration Manager

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

Configuration Management

Download SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS

SolarWinds SCM

Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service designed for device management, security, and compliance. It supports automation and facilitates endpoint management for Windows, iOS, and Android devices, ensuring data protection and efficient policy enforcement.

Microsoft Intune offers seamless integration with tools like Windows Autopilot to automate device setup and deployment. Integrated with Azure Active Directory, it enhances policy management while providing robust reporting and analytics tools for compliance tracking. Despite its intuitive interface aimed at simplifying navigation and device security management, there are challenges such as compatibility issues with Linux and Mac, limited policy support for Android, and demands for better third-party integration. It's widely used for both corporate-owned devices and BYOD scenarios in dynamic IT environments.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Windows Autopilot: Automates device setup for rapid deployment.
Azure Active Directory Integration: Enhances user policy management.
Reporting and Analytics: Improves compliance visibility.
Mobile Application Management: Ensures app security without compromising personal data.
Cloud-Based Management: Allows management from any location.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time Efficiency: Automation reduces time in policy enforcement and configuration updates.
Enhanced Security: Ensures data protection across corporate-owned and BYOD devices.
Improved Compliance: Advanced reporting tools enhance compliance visibility.
Flexible Management: Cloud-based nature supports management from any location.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure data protection and compliance with regulatory standards. Manufacturing sectors utilize Intune for managing a distributed workforce across global locations, while educational institutions employ it to secure and manage devices in learning environments supporting both students and faculty.

Microsoft

Microsoft Configuration Manager streamlines IT management with features such as software deployment, patch management, and automation, centralizing operations for Windows environments. Integration with Microsoft products allows efficient oversight of workstations and servers.

Microsoft Configuration Manager provides comprehensive IT management, offering software deployment, patch management, and application pushing. Automation reduces manual tasks, ensuring consistency across systems. Centralized management enables standardized OS deployments, application updates, and configuration integrity. Integration with Microsoft products facilitates seamless operations, while hardware and software inventory, compliance reporting, and remote control functions enhance IT management. Users seek improvements in application deployment for those without deep scripting knowledge and desire better WSUS control, PowerShell and Intune integration, Linux compatibility, and user interface enhancements. Performance improvements are requested for remote user management and third-party application support.

What features enhance Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Software Deployment: Efficiently distribute software across large networks.
Patch Management: Automate and streamline update processes for security and functionality.
Automation Capabilities: Reduce manual effort and enhance consistency in IT tasks.
Centralized Management: Standardize OS deployments and application updates.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Seamless operation with existing Microsoft infrastructure.
Hardware and Software Inventory: Comprehensive tracking for assets and resources.
Compliance Reporting: Ensure compliance with internal and external standards.
Remote Control Functions: Enhance support and troubleshooting capabilities.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Microsoft Configuration Manager?

Decreased Manual Work: Automation reduces time spent on repetitive tasks.
Enhanced Security: Automated patch management keeps systems secure.
Consistent Configurations: Centralized updates ensure uniformity across systems.
Improved Integration: Seamless operation within Microsoft ecosystems boosts productivity.
Comprehensive Oversight: Detailed inventory and reporting tools aid in strategic planning.
Streamlined Support: Remote capabilities improve IT support and user satisfaction.

Microsoft Configuration Manager is widely implemented in organizations to manage Windows workstations and servers. It is essential for deploying operating systems and applications, managing software updates, and conducting hardware and software inventories. The tool is crucial for endpoint and configuration management, ensuring compliance, and automating processes like patching and vulnerability management. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and education rely on Microsoft Configuration Manager to keep systems secure and operational, adapting it to address their specific needs and challenges in maintaining diversified IT environments.

Microsoft

Network compliance
Network automation
Configuration backup
Vulnerability assessment
Network Insight for Cisco and Palo Alto
Integration with Network Performance Monitor

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad

Information Not Available

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor