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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Symantec Ghost Solution Suite comparison

 

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
1st
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
3rd
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Software Distribution category, the mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 20.8%, up from 20.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is 18.3%, up from 13.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Distribution Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Configuration Manager20.8%
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite18.3%
Other60.9%
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

"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."
"I really like SCCM."
"SCCM, therefore, is the best that I can tell, as I've been able to evaluate it fully."
"The solution enables significant streamlining and reduces resources from a personnel perspective."
"Microsoft has done a good job with authentication solutions, such as single sign-on, or open authentication."
"This has made the management of our environment easier."
"We are using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager in our organization for patch deployment, and we additionally deploy and manage Microsoft antivirus solutions to most of the desktops and the servers which we have."
"The solution is stable."
"We can restore the Hard Disk including OS with few clicks."
"Great for personal use."
"Norton Ghost provides a friendly interface to backup and restore the disk image."
"Norton Ghost is a great tool for disk imaging, backup and restore with an easy-to-use interface and a variety of unique features."
 

Cons

"The solution does not support remote devices so CMG is still required."
"In terms of scalability, I believe there's room for improvement. While SCCM is capable of handling our current needs effectively, scalability could be enhanced to accommodate future growth and larger deployments."
"The deployment process is lengthy and should be quicker to complete."
"Sometimes the time it takes to find the fault is a bit too long. The resolution time needs to be shortened quite a bit."
"The endpoint configuration is very convoluted to implement."
"I'm looking for a single solution for all discovery needs. It fulfills about 40% of the requirements, and I'd like to see the other 60% so that I don't have to keep doing this."
"Based on my experience with SCCM 2016, the main, big issue is not having a good user-friendly environment."
"The time the solution takes for updating systems could be quicker. For example, the system information status is not updating as it should. Additionally, the database synchronization querying is slow and could be improved."
"Recovery CD is slow to boot and requires a minimum of 1GB RAM."
"It doesn't offer scripting or drive-spanning."
"Norton Ghost software do not provide disk management utilities."
"Data backup on DVDs failed entirely on Win (XP, Vista), as the process either could not be completed or written data was corrupted."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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 price is competitive and reasonable."
"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."
"The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."
"The price model is different for every client."
"There is not a license needed to use the solution."
"Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise66
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: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.