SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor vs VMware Aria Automation comparison

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor vs. VMware Aria Automation

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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 June 2026, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 4.9%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor is 1.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Automation is 4.1%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Intune	4.9%
VMware Aria Automation	4.1%
SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor	1.6%
Other	89.4%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

OluwashileAdeniyi

Senior Infrastructure Security Engineer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Centralized endpoint security has improved and supports hybrid work and BYOD policies

Regarding what I dislike about Microsoft Intune and its downsides, I would say that more Mac controls are needed because we have limited Mac and Linux control. When comparing controls and policies between Windows, Mac, and Linux, Windows has almost everything you can think of, while Mac and Linux have limited types of control. You cannot implement certain things on Mac and Linux that you can on Windows. The limited controls are a major issue. Additionally, if Microsoft could find a way to embed servers into Microsoft Intune, that would be beneficial. Microsoft Intune is not really designed for servers or Windows servers. It is more tailored towards Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. Windows servers are not fully supported. Enterprise organizations usually have both servers and endpoints, which are users' workstations. For servers, most people look for other solutions such as SCCM, which is Configuration Manager. However, SCCM is what Microsoft Intune is trying to replace. Both SCCM and Microsoft Intune belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is trying to transition organizations into Microsoft Intune, the native cloud solution. However, because this update is still in process, servers are not fully compatible with Microsoft Intune and cannot be managed by it. The current policy that has emerged from issues with clients is what they call co-management, which is relatively new, and I do not know if adoption is significant. Many legacy or older customers who have been using these products for decades still have SCCM. When it is time for them to manage their Windows devices, they use what is called cloud attach. Cloud attach is a term whereby your SCCM is connected to your Microsoft Intune. Most people do not know about it, but I have deployed it for several organizations. Cloud attach and co-management work together so that your device is in SCCM, but some policies are pushed from Microsoft Intune. It is like two different solutions working hand in hand. That is what they call co-management. Microsoft Intune does not bring all of your endpoint and security management tools into one place, which is the goal and how it should be. However, as I mentioned, servers are not included. If we talk about end users, Microsoft Intune does bring all your devices together. In a typical enterprise environment, you have end users with workstations, laptops, company-issued phones, and bring your own devices. You can create policies for all of these. However, for the backend, your servers do not have much coverage. Servers are not really covered by Microsoft Intune in that way.

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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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VasilisGiannitsiotis

Senior IT at ITSolutions

Automation has streamlined complex financial workflows but still needs more intuitive orchestration

Something to improve in VMware Aria Automation would be related to VCF 9, as I do not know what it is trying to bring because they exposed it as the solution of everything. So VCF 9 will bring VCF Automation and VCF Operations, the new product line of VMware. I have not seen what this brings or what else it includes. Maybe in the area of vRealize Orchestrator, this would be beneficial because VRO can do everything. Perhaps a more user-friendly way to use that tool would be helpful because the possibilities there are endless. I am looking for more user-friendly navigation in VMware Aria Automation.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I appreciate how clear Microsoft Intune is."

"I can see that the patch management process is much improved with the bundled patch management option available in Microsoft Intune compared to the KPI deployment required by the other deployment solutions."

"The solution is fully integrated with the Microsoft platform and the Autopilot feature, which is a unique feature."

"The synchronization of Intune with other Microsoft solutions is a valuable feature."

"As the solution is a software as a service, the scalability is unlimited."

"I mainly use Microsoft Intune analytics for taking that data that exists and bringing it into Power BI dashboards to make it visible to our clients, showing them all the operating systems in their environment and where the latest patches are, and then from there creating plans."

"Microsoft Intune is a very strong and modern endpoint management solution, especially for organizations moving towards cloud and hybrid environments."

"Technical support, in general, has been quite helpful."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"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."

"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."

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

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

"We primarily use it for restoration services."

"The time for provisioning a VM for one of our clients was cut in half, and we can now provide a solution to a customer on the same day that the request is made, whereas previously it would have taken us days and we often found instances where errors were made or things were forgotten."

"We have faster delivery times through its automation."

"The repetitive tasks which took provisioning storage, network, and compute two to three weeks, now takes five minutes."

"The operations manager does a fantastic job on the front end because it includes on-premises and cloud use cases."

"The most valuable feature is the way that it plugs into our monitoring systems, and Infoblox and Puppet."

"We like vRA because it helps make systems available on time for our customers, on demand."

"I want to build automation that is intelligent, part of the fabric of our environment, and is somewhat self-sustaining. I think SaltStack can help me do this."

More VMware Aria Automation pros

Cons

"They can improve their MAM policies a little bit more and make them more granular. They should include more granular group policies. They are there, but they need to be more granular. Its stability should also be improved. It is not very stable. Sometimes, it shows some inconsistencies across tenants."

"My assessment of the user experience of Microsoft Intune is that it is sometimes good and sometimes poor, depending on Microsoft's infrastructure."

"Management of Linux devices from Microsoft Intune would be great. Then we can manage any device and not only Windows and Apple."

"There can be some added features, such as an improved dashboard. Any new feature that could be a benefit to our customers would be good."

"Currently, BitLocker does not support BYOD enrollment, which is a product limitation."

"The technical support from Microsoft is not good, they take a long time to respond to a case and they do not update you on what is happening on a case."

"However, with Microsoft, it takes a lot longer, and I’m not getting quick resolutions. Sometimes, I find myself bouncing around between different support groups."

"The solution could improve by having better integration with Apple."

More Microsoft Intune cons

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

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

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

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

"Automation: We want to be able to have a lot more preconfigured solutions."

"We did encounter some stability issues."

"More detailed documentation on implementing feature sets and more examples of real world processes would help."

"I know you can spin up virtual desktops in vRA, but they're not thin-provisioned. I don't know if that's because the other product, Horizon View, is there, but it would be nice to see more integration."

"Once you get in there and start to understand the product, it is more intuitive. However, for somebody coming in from the outside, it takes a while to understand it."

"It has some limitations for scalability, especially for remote data center management. For some components, everything need to be centralized."

"The solution could be lighter. As an administrator, I would like to simplify the number of services I need to deploy. They took a significant step in that direction by removing all the Windows dependencies that we had in the past, but there are still a lot of services consuming resources."

"The online documentation is lackluster at best."

More VMware Aria Automation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"It's monthly for us, but it's built into the license cost that we pay our IT each month. It's maybe 129 Kroner per head, which translates to £10. There are some additional costs. Our IT had to set up and configure their own server, so there is an extra cost for that, but I'm not sure what that costs."

"Microsoft Intune is expensive."

"Generally, we get favorable discounts, so it's not too bad. Obviously, we're looking at decreasing those wherever we can to bring value back to the public purse because it's all charity based. It's all publicly funded."

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

"If you're subscribing to Premium or E3, there are no additional costs for Intune, it's included."

"While Microsoft charges for actual usage, it lacks discount options."

"Microsoft Intune is reasonably priced for large organizations that already have Microsoft Enterprise licenses, but it is less affordable for smaller businesses."

More Microsoft Intune 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."

"The solution is free of cost."

"Customers say this solution is costlier compared to its competitors."

"It is an expensive product. After VMware's acquisition by Broadcom, there was a rise in the price of VMware Aria Automation."

"From the customer perspective, the value was worth it."

"We have seen significant ROI. We used to have physical servers, it took 90 days to get a server, order it, buy it, and get it in. We have it down to 10 minutes, building a server with virtualization, and now that's too slow. So, we let the customer do it at their speed. Therefore, it is pretty much up in a couple of minutes and they have a server."

"This is an expensive product and the high price is starting to become an issue for us."

"We do plan to see ROI with any new implementation of new technologies being implemented within our environment."

"From a budget point of view, the pricing is a bit on the higher side."

More VMware Aria Automation pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

No data available

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	192
Midsize Enterprise	62
Large Enterprise	185

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	131

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 ...

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 ...

What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?

vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything y...

Is there any way to try VMware Aria Automation for free?

When it comes to VMware Aria Automation, you have three choices for free runs: Hands-on Lab (HOL) Advanced lab A fre...

Which sectors can benefit the most from VMware Aria Automation?

I was looking at VMware Aria Automation case studies recently and I got the impression that three main kinds of compa...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Configuration Management

Download SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor report

Download VMware Aria Automation product report

VMware Aria Automation

May 2026

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

SolarWinds SCM

VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack

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

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor offers a comprehensive solution for tracking and managing server configurations. It provides visibility into configuration changes, helping IT professionals ensure compliance and prevent unplanned downtime.

Designed for IT teams prioritizing server performance and uptime, SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor delivers detailed insights into configuration changes and deviations. By automating the tracking process, it minimizes manual errors and accelerates troubleshooting. Customers rely on it for maintaining compliance with internal policies and external regulations. This tool not only monitors servers but also provides alerts and automated workflows to resolve configuration issues promptly, enhancing efficiency and service delivery.

What are the key features of SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor?

Configuration Change Monitoring: Tracks all server configuration changes in real-time to detect unauthorized or unintended modifications.
Compliance Reporting: Offers detailed reports to ensure compliance with industry standards and organizational policies.
Alerting System: Provides customizable alerts to notify IT teams about critical configuration changes.
Historical Comparison: Allows users to compare current configurations with past setups to identify variances.
Automated Workflow: Simplifies the process of managing and resolving configuration issues with automated tasks.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Improved Uptime: By quickly identifying and rectifying configuration issues, reduces server downtime.
Enhanced Security: Detects unauthorized changes, preventing potential security breaches.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces manual effort and the associated costs with automated monitoring and reporting.
Regulatory Compliance: Facilitates adherence to legal and industry regulations, minimizing compliance risks.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology leverage SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor for stringent compliance requirements and to maintain high performance standards. Its role in swiftly identifying deviations from required configurations makes it invaluable for sectors where data integrity and availability are critical.

SolarWinds

VMware Aria Automation is known for its automation capabilities, integrating with VMware and third-party tools to enhance workflow efficiency, save time, and manage resources effectively.

VMware Aria Automation offers a diverse set of features including a self-service portal and a streamlined user-friendly interface, which make it ideal for organizations aiming to automate virtual machine provisioning. The platform supports extensive automation capabilities across multi-cloud environments, featuring flexible blueprint designs and comprehensive integration with platforms like AWS, Azure, and ServiceNow. Though improvements are desired in areas like logging, template management, and vCenter integration, its robust framework facilitates IT infrastructure services, disaster recovery, and development operations. It is specifically beneficial for orchestrating workflows, automating routine tasks, and managing workloads efficiently in private and hybrid cloud environments.

What are the most important features of VMware Aria Automation?

Self-Service Portal: Empowers users with easy access to resources and tools needed for automation.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and usage for both technical and non-technical users.
Extensive Automation Capabilities: Streamlines VM deployment and processes across various platforms.
Integration with VMware and Third-Party Tools: Enhances workflow automation and extends functionality.
Flexible Blueprint Designs: Allows for customized and scalable deployment solutions.

What are the benefits and ROI users should consider?

Efficiency: Reduces manual workload, leading to time and cost savings.
Scalability: Supports dynamic growth and resource management.
Enhanced Workflow Automation: Improves process efficiency with comprehensive integrations.
Customizable Orchestration: Enables tailored solutions that meet specific requirements.
Resource Management: Efficiently utilizes resources, reducing waste and optimizing operations.

VMware Aria Automation is implemented across industries for automating the provisioning of virtual machines and managing cloud environments. It is used in sectors requiring efficient server deployment, network configurations, and seamless integration with tools such as AWS and Azure. It aids in reducing manual efforts, supporting IT infrastructure services, and enhancing disaster recovery protocols.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Information Not Available

Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual

SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor vs. VMware Aria Automation