Microsoft Configuration Manager vs vCenter Configuration Manager comparison

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. vCenter Configuration Manager

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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 May 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 5.4%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Configuration Manager is 7.8%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Configuration Manager is 2.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	5.4%
Microsoft Configuration Manager	7.8%
vCenter Configuration Manager	2.0%
Other	84.8%

Configuration Management

Q&A Highlights

Ariel Lindenfeld

VP Product at PeerSpot

Feb 26, 2015

SCCM vs. vCenter Configuration Manager

My first question when reading this post was why is your colleague looking to replace vCM with SCCM? Is it a license cost issue or are they moving from VMWare to Windows HyperV etc? Is their focus on problem management and any related patch management or compliance reporting with the change? I have read some blog posts where SCCM users have complained about the detail provided in SCCM's compliance reports - where the user needs to consider their device naming and CMDB records to take advantage of the out of the box reporting. Posters noted customization of reports can lead to very long report run times and oversized detail. Specific to vCM, there are some available add on tools that address its weaknesses in compliance reporting so that gives another option - ie staying with vCM but installing an add on app to improve its compliance reporting/remediation.

Centralized device management has transformed security and streamlined remote provisioning

Featured Reviews

Varun Mehra

Collaboration Support Engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees

One area where Microsoft Intune can improve is the user interface. Sometimes the portal feels a bit complex and not very intuitive, especially for new users, and it can take time to find specific settings. Another point is troubleshooting. While logs are available, the diagnostic policies and sync issues can still be time-consuming and not very straightforward. I also feel that reporting could be more detailed and customizable. The built-in reports are helpful, but for deeper insights, I often need to rely on additional tools. Overall, it is a strong solution, but improving usability and troubleshooting experience would make it even better. While Microsoft Intune works very well within the Microsoft ecosystem, the integration of some third-party tools could be smoother and require less customization. Support is another area that could improve, as sometimes response times can be slow, and resolving complex issues may take longer than expected. In terms of features, I think more advanced automation and built-in remediation options would be helpful since common issues can be fixed automatically without manual intervention.

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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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Mohamad Irshidat

Principal Consultant Engineer at Estarta Solutions

Migration streamlines processes while real-time monitoring opportunities remain

The migration feature of vCenter Configuration Manager is the most loved feature so far. This particular feature is valuable because it is vendor-oriented and works with VMware, which makes your life easy. Regarding system reliability, it is helpful. When you design it for the process, it will help you minimize the downtime, and it will help the reliability of the system. vCenter Configuration Manager has impacted my organization positively, but it's not fully deployed yet; we only use it for one or two tasks, and our team goes back to using the vCenter itself. However, further on, maybe we'll find a use case that will help us use the configuration manager.

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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

"One of the most valuable aspects of Microsoft Intune is its seamless integration with Azure Active Directory, offering capabilities akin to Group Policy Objects."

"Intune's most valuable feature is its centralized management capability."

"The device profiling which uses the official Outlook email enabled us to control the screenshot feature and prevent copying outside of the organization's application."

"Dynamic groups allow us to set conditions for automatic membership, eliminating the need for user intervention or manual review and ensuring a seamless workflow."

"Application deployment and keeping the devices secure no matter where they are, by having this cloud solution — that has been great."

"Microsoft Intune does a great job of helping protect our environment."

"As an IT administrator, I appreciate Intune's ability to implement granular device-level policies for our organization's employees."

"ROI is very high at the end."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"In summary, this product works well and I recommend it."

"The stability of the product is good."

"Microsoft Configuration Manager gives different tools in one solution."

"This solution captures all the devices in our infrastructure."

"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 dashboards have information about our assets."

"It is a good choice for deployment that performs very well."

"I like its ease of use, it does what you need it to do, and it's a one-stop-shop for the company and for all your deployments."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pros

"I would recommend this solution to others, it has worked very well for me."

"This is the best solution for management for the server administrator."

"The features are easy to handle and straightforward."

"All of these features serve different purposes and are very useful."

"vCenter Configuration Manager is the best tool for centrally managing resources"

"The technical support of VMware on Dell is excellent."

"There are a lot of useful features, such as DRS, ease of use, and many configuration options."

"My experience working with this solution has been good and I recommend it."

More vCenter Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"The solution requires Mac support."

"Installing software in Microsoft Intune can be challenging if it is not already prepackaged."

"Reporting can be better. Only global administrators can see detailed reports at the moment, and I don't want to use the global admin."

"One big problem with Microsoft is that they're changing the names of the products quite often, or they're quite consistently doing so. Intune is now Endpoint administration. Constantly switching the user interface or the administrative interface makes it quite hard to keep pace. If you are on a two-week holiday and you come back and look at the same screen you have looked at for the last couple of months, it looks different, which is annoying. Changing things around all the time doesn't make it easy."

"It's only good for a Microsoft environment. While it works very well for Microsoft users but if you have other kinds of operating systems, it's very painful to use."

"When somebody has a customized application or their own company's application, we cannot deploy that application."

"An issue we have run into with Microsoft Endpoint Manager is that we cannot patch third-party products like Adobe and Chrome with it."

"They should make it easier to order it, however, that's generally true for everything from Microsoft."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"They should improve their anti-malware policies like the SCEP policies. For instance, you can't have different policies for different servers, there is only one policy in all the servers, and everything is covered under that. For example, say you want to scan one group of servers on Saturday, and then you want to scan another group of servers on Sunday, you can't do that. You have to scan all your servers, a regular scan or a full scan, on the same day and at the same time. That's definitely one thing they need to resolve. In the next release, it would actually be nice if they included Apple products. It will also help if you can use Intune again. Their compliance reporting feature could also be better. They can maybe work a bit on that for patching now. It would be better if SCCM came with the functions of Right Click Tools built-in. If SCCM would have all those functions already built-in, we won't have to go and spend $5,000, just as an add-in from another company to get those functions."

"Our company would prefer not rebooting computers while people are using them. There seems to be no strategy behind it."

"It would be better if automation options were available. For example, in Nexthink or SysTrack, there is an analytical tool. Creating dashboards would be very easy if you implement the same thing in Microsoft. That report will be a daily cost to the customers and good revenue for our organization. The price also could be better. In the next release, we need to include some features like tables, dashboards, surveys, services, and metrics in the dashboard. Whatever we are implementing will be downloaded by a report. Apart from the report, we will telecast from the dashboard. It's very easy to compare, and it will be easy to telecast to the end-users."

"It should provide the ability to remotely connect to mobile devices. There are some solutions that are doing that, but with Microsoft Intune, the only way to remotely connect to devices outside the organization and mobile devices is by using TeamViewer."

"The main thing is that SCCM has to become an appliance instead of a server. When I say appliance, it has to come preconfigured so that it is drop-shipped into the enterprise and then you activate the feature sets that you want. It should pull down all the latest binaries. Once that is all there, it should have a discovery tool which goes out and discovers the assets within an enterprise. If the server, workstation, and applications are all coming from the same vendor, why not have the vendor do this work for us and automate it as much as it possibly can?"

"Its client interface should be more accessible, and the notifications should be more customizable from the console."

"I currently need to increase my compliance level in the patching processes which this solution could improve on."

"Not everything is readily available, and there are a lot of commands that are only executable via PowerShell."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager cons

"The only challenge my company faces with the solution in relation to the customers is something that is directly related to the tool's pricing."

"The functions are not running in HTML5."

"It is not so user-friendly that you can just start the host and everything works."

"There are some complexities within the system center."

"The reporting could be improved."

"The snapshot functionality on the solution needs improvement. After renewing the snapshot, all of the production was stuck."

"The ease of setup and installations could be improved."

"The cost of this solution should be improved."

More vCenter Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While I don't have access to high-level financial information, I believe we have achieved lower costs with this implementation."

"Cost is not my department, but the product is included in the E5 license that we already pay for every user, so no additional cost is incurred."

"It is expensive. The cost depends on the license that we choose."

"The licensing costs we leave up to the customer and these vary from one to another."

"The product is relatively pricey, but considering its benefits, I'd say it's fair. The benefits outweigh the expensive licensing fees, especially for large organizations, but medium-sized and smaller businesses may be unable to afford it."

"For Microsoft 365 E5 clients, cost is not an issue as this product is one of the benefits."

"Most of our clients come to us with licensing already in place. On average, it costs $6 per device per month to add Intune to an Office 365 subscription, but I am not sure."

"Every customer used to purchase licenses based on their needs."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"I rate the price of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager an eight out of ten."

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

"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."

"SCCM comes with its own version of SQL Server. If you use that SQL Server with SCCM and don't use it for another applications than you get an SQL Server for free."

"As far as I know, it is an annual operating expense license."

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

"Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."

"Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is expensive. However, it is reasonably priced compared to competitors."

"It is an expensive product."

"vCenter's pricing is reasonable, but nowadays, they are drastically increasing their prices, which is pathetic."

"This product is not cheap. I have a yearly license for vCenter and the license is not cheap."

"Their licensing costs are high. But I think for the scale that we are using, it's suitable. If you use it on a larger scale with many servers, you have to pay a lot of money for them. I think it's suitable for organizations that don't need expert people that want more money each year or each month because it's a straightforward solution. We prefer to pay for these products that are integrated and straightforward."

"There is a free license for the standard version. Their enterprise version is expensive. I would advise starting with one server and working your way up as you go. The enterprise version provides support."

"While the pricing is reasonable for large corporations, it presents a substantial financial challenge for medium-sized businesses."

"The price of the solution is too expensive for us and we are looking to move to another solution."

More vCenter Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	151
Midsize Enterprise	60
Large Enterprise	177

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	19

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 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.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Configuration Manager?

Nowadays, it is a bit expensive. It's costly, primarily due to the licensing aspect.

What needs improvement with vCenter Configuration Manager?

My impression on the impact of the real-time monitoring features of vCenter Configuration Manager is that it's somewh...

What is your primary use case for vCenter Configuration Manager?

My usual use cases for vCenter Configuration Manager mainly involve migration, shift and lift mainly, and some type o...

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Comparisons

Compared 9% of the time

IBM MaaS360 vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 9% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 4% of the time

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 6% of the time

PDQ Deploy vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

BigFix vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 3% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 3% of the time

KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs Microsoft Configuration Manager

Compared 2% of the time

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VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Configuration Manager

Compared 9% of the time

BigFix vs vCenter Configuration Manager

Compared 8% of the time

Perforce Puppet vs vCenter Configuration Manager

Compared 7% of the time

Clarity CA vs vCenter Configuration Manager

Compared 7% of the time

BMC TrueSight Automation for Networks vs vCenter Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

More vCenter Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Microsoft Configuration Manager

Download Microsoft Configuration Manager product report

vCenter Configuration Manager

Download vCenter Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

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

vCM

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

vCenter Configuration Manager offers a robust platform for managing virtual environments and optimizing IT infrastructure. It supports multiple platforms while facilitating virtualization, migration, and compliance processes.

vCenter Configuration Manager efficiently manages virtual machines, data centers, and servers. It enhances system performance through automation and centralized management of ESXi clusters. Known for its reliability, it also simplifies patch management and supports hyper-converged infrastructure. Challenges include improving integration, user interaction, and support for cloud and hybrid environments. Licensing transitions and compatibility issues with operating systems are areas of focus. Its strong presence in India enhances VMware environments.

What are vCenter Configuration Manager's key features?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation tasks.
VM Management: Efficient management of virtual machines.
Migration Capabilities: Streamlines the migration process.
High Availability: Ensures continuous operation without downtime.
Automation: Facilitates automated processes to improve efficiency.
Support for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: Enhances the IT environment's scalability.
vMotion and DRS: Critical for disaster recovery and business continuity.

What benefits and ROI should reviews highlight?

Resource Management: Optimizes resource allocation and utilization.
Ease of Provisioning: Simplifies deploying IT assets across the organization.
Compliance Management: Ensures regulatory compliance and governance.
Reliable Stability: Provides a stable and robust IT environment.

vCenter Configuration Manager is implemented across sectors like healthcare and industry. It manages virtualization, server oversight, and host monitoring. Its automation and patch management streamline IT processes, making it a valuable tool for managing diverse IT infrastructures effectively.

Broadcom

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

Bank Al Bilad, Thomas-Krenn.AG, Pronto!, Unimed Juiz de Fora

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. vCenter Configuration Manager