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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Symantec Ghost Solution Suite comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 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

Microsoft Configuration Man...
Ranking in Software Distribution
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (5th), Configuration Management (4th), Patch Management (2nd)
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite
Ranking in Software Distribution
4th
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Software Distribution category, the mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 26.7%, down from 31.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is 14.1%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Distribution Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager26.7%
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite14.1%
Other59.2%
Software Distribution
 

Featured Reviews

NS
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.
it_user5682 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager of Infrastructure at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Saves time in our deployments
For many years we were using Ghost for saving time in our deployments. Almost 15 year later this product is still on the way. Ease of use, faster and useful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the scalability."
"We are happy with the collaboration of SCCM with Patch My PC, which allows us to do patch work."
"By having less IT support you can handle more workstations."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its ability to deploy patches to nearly all applications."
"I have found some valuable features to be the built-in reporting tool, the ability to get visibility on your organization, compliance reports, software remitting for all your products in your organization, and the management of all machines in your environment including a new domain and workgroups."
"Microsoft Configuration Manager gives different tools in one solution."
"Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is valuable in keeping our systems updated. We are able to send updates to all the systems. Additionally, the Intune integration is helpful."
"It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer."
"Norton Ghost is a great tool for disk imaging, backup and restore with an easy-to-use interface and a variety of unique features."
"Great for personal use."
"We can restore the Hard Disk including OS with few clicks."
"Norton Ghost provides a friendly interface to backup and restore the disk image."
 

Cons

"There is a reboot issue with the patching. Sometimes, if patching runs into any issue whatsoever, it doesn't reboot but it doesn't tell you it errored out. It just sits there and we don't find out until the next day whether it patched or not. That was a big issue for us. We're working through that. They added some stuff in there now where you can actually tell reboot is pending. But we still need some kind of notification that if something fails or is pending, we know. We shouldn't have to go in and look. They don't have anything for that right now."
"Management of Linux devices could be improved."
"The solution can be improved by speeding up the synchronizing of the policies on the devices."
"It offers a very difficult cloud gateway when it comes to cloud management."
"I currently need to increase my compliance level in the patching processes which this solution could improve on."
"There is no asset management package included. You have to buy that separately so we need to use another system to manage that."
"Sometimes the time it takes to find the fault is a bit too long. The resolution time needs to be shortened quite a bit."
"Cloud-based improvements need to be better managed than is currently the case."
"Data backup on DVDs failed entirely on Win (XP, Vista), as the process either could not be completed or written data was corrupted."
"Norton Ghost software do not provide disk management utilities."
"Recovery CD is slow to boot and requires a minimum of 1GB RAM."
"It doesn't offer scripting or drive-spanning."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of SCCM depends on the size of the organization. The price is competitive."
"It comes free with the Microsoft account. We have a yearly agreement, and all products are covered under it."
"Presently, I am using a free trial version."
"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"For enterprises, there is an annual license required to use this solution. The price of the solution could be cheaper. However, this is mostly because of the exchange rate from the dollar to the Nigerian currency."
"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."
"The license price could be reduced for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager They should make the price more affordable for smaller companies, most companies would be able to use the solution if it was priced better. There are more people on this cloud because you don't have to have either a server room or an on-premise server. You can have one IT person handle this without any local infrastructure."
"As far as I know, it is an annual operating expense license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise69
No data available
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCCM?
The setup cost is considered sufficient. It is not significant enough for us to consider a change at the moment.
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Also Known As

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM ), Microsoft SMS
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
24 HourFitness, BDO Israel, and Citizens Business Bank.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.