Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Pandora FMS comparison

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3,675 views|2,781 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
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1,120 views|802 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Configuration Manager and Pandora FMS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Server Monitoring solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. Pandora FMS Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution doesn't require any maintenance from our end because it is a cloud-based solution and Microsoft takes care of everything.""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 tool's most valuable features are easy patch management and software deployment.""It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer.""This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system.""The solution effectively handles inventory management, deployment, and reporting.""We are happy with the collaboration of SCCM with Patch My PC, which allows us to do patch work.""I manage software updates and operating systems for devices, and within seconds, we can remotely deploy a system for, say, 2,000 devices. Not only that, but we can also deploy scripts and create comprehensive compliance rules."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager Pros →

"The solution has good dashboards and graphics.""What I value most about Pandora FMS is the simplicity of working with it.""Features I have found most valuable with Pandora are the personalized metrics and the simplicity of data.""It provides us with proactive monitoring and is very easy to configure and maintain.""Pandora FMS provides us with a general report (graphical) about all of the connected devices, which helps with planning new stations and tracking them.""This solution has screens that are easy to understand and provide a wealth of information.""The solution is so lightweight that with only 4GB of ram, it allows keeping track of up to two hundred agents from a single console.""It is easy to create your own custom modules if you just know a little bit of scripting. If you have unique requirements, you can just make your own modules. You can even grab checks from other vendors. There are open-source checks for various things such as SMTP, etc. There is a long list of different ones from Nagios. You can just use them, and within seconds, you get yourself a check that is monitoring whatever you need. It is really flexible. I guess that's why they call it Pandora Flexible Monitoring System (FMS). It is reliable. It does the job, and it alerts. It is also surprisingly feature-rich. Our network guy just recently asked about a particular protocol to monitor the bandwidth on the network, which is not a common protocol. When I looked it up, and I found that they cover it. It is very mature for a not-so-known product."

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Cons
"The solution is on-premises. The cloud version of the product, if a person needs to be on the cloud, would be InTune, which already exists as an option. SCCM doesn't need to offer cloud features for this reason.""I currently need to increase my compliance level in the patching processes which this solution could improve on.""With Microsoft Premier Support, you get what you pay for. There's Third Tier Support that you pay for. If you pay for that, you get excellent support, and if you don't pay for that, then you get the less experienced staff.""Initial setup was complex. There's a lot that goes into it.""Devices like smartphones and tablets are managed very well on VMware, however, they are absent in SCCM. I could configure iPad from the VMware site and it was done very easily. It should be just as possible on SCCM.""The solution does not support remote devices so the CMG is still required.""Based on my experience with SCCM 2016, the main, big issue is not having a good user-friendly environment. It needs much better GUI.""This solution should be simpler, and more consistent across modules/sections."

More Microsoft Configuration Manager Cons →

"I find that this software is resource heavy, and demands a lot of processing capacity.""Pandora FMS is an overall great monitoring solution, but it does not have a community that is as large as Zabbix or Nagios.""Their support is good, but it is just online communication. It would be great to be able to just call someone and talk to them instead of always writing. It works well for me because I am a decent communicator in email, but some people might find it difficult to describe in a written fashion and communicate with them that way. There is a learning curve to the interface, but once you get used to it, it is actually very powerful. They have a lot of options, but people struggle with the interface. They've improved it though, and it is getting better. They need to keep improving the learning curve to help buy-in. I'm the guy that manages it, so I'm comfortable with it. They can refine the upgrade agents to be easier. They can also do more refinement in end-user usability because not everyone is strong technically, and people who aren't strong technically might be averse to the product, even though it has come a long way. It has a complete GUI and everything.""It would be useful if Pandora FMS included an ISO image (or «software appliance») for each big company that leases virtual private machines (VPS), just like in AWS.""We would like the real-time monitoring of an interface to be improved within this solution.""An update to the Android app would be appreciated.""The price for Pandora FMS is expensive.""We would like to see improvement in the mainframe integration that this solution is capable of."

More Pandora FMS Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "Pricing and licensing are a downside of SCCM. It's expensive. I'd have to confirm this, but I think they changed the licensing to core-based instead of socket-based. It's not cheap, because you have to buy the software, you have to buy SQL. Another thing we learned from talking to Microsoft is that they provide you a license for SQL if you run it on the same box as the primary server. If you run it outside that box, you have to buy SQL. Microsoft does recommend you running it on the same box because of performance. But then, in order to run SQL, SCCM, and everything on the same box, you better have some resources. It's an expensive solution. There's no doubt about it."
  • "Overall, I think it's fine. It's pretty much in-line because there are ways to offset it with the Office 365 licensing."
  • "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."
  • "The licensing is good because they have various options, depending on what you are looking for."
  • "Pricing is negotiable with Microsoft, depending upon which of their packages you choose."
  • "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."
  • "Its price is okay because it is part of our licensing."
  • More Microsoft Configuration Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Only one payment and it includes support, updates, new versions, and access to the complete library of plugins except for SAP and z/OS."
  • "Pandora FMS is easy to implement and the pricing of licenses is competitive."
  • "You get the license and it includes updates, new versions, and access to the complete library of modules."
  • "My rule of thumb would be that if you need more than thirty agents, and you lack an automation tool such as Chef or Puppet, you will save a lot of time and money going to the Enterprise edition."
  • "In terms of money, the Enterprise version is the cheapest that I have found after a market study."
  • "The open-source version offers 100% functionality and the hardware requirements for a solution like this one are very modest."
  • "Growing the solution or migrating to the Enterprise version is easy, and various plans are available."
  • "The Open Source Community Edition is great to just explore the software, or use it on medium-sized infrastructures."
  • More Pandora FMS Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer: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 and… more »
    Top Answer:One of the standout features of SCCM is its application management capabilities. It allows us to create packages efficiently and deploy them to specific groups within our network. This streamlined… more »
    Top Answer:Features I have found most valuable with Pandora are the personalized metrics and the simplicity of data.
    Top Answer:Pandora is reasonably priced, and the cost depends on the environment.
    Top Answer:I would like for the solution to be faster and have a better tolerance between parallel servers for Pandora and Pest Control. In the next release, I'd like to see, when it comes to monitoring, the… more »
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 42 in Server Monitoring
    Views
    3,675
    Comparisons
    2,781
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    436
    Rating
    8.4
    12th
    out of 42 in Server Monitoring
    Views
    1,120
    Comparisons
    802
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    396
    Rating
    8.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM )
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Configuration Manager helps IT manage PCs and servers, keeping software up-to-date, setting configuration and security policies, and monitoring system status while giving employees access to corporate applications on the devices that they choose. When Configuration Manager is integrated with Microsoft Intune, you can manage corporate-connected PCs and Macs along with cloud-based mobile devices running Windows, iOS, and Android, all from a single management console.

    New features of Configuration Manager, such as the support of Windows 10 in-place upgrade, co-management with Microsoft Intune, Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise Servicing Dashboard, integration with Windows Update for Business, and more make deploying and managing Windows easier than ever before.

    Pandora FMS is a monitoring as a service (MaaS) solution that is ideal for companies with at least 100 or more devices. Instead of multiple, difficult-to-integrate monitoring systems, Pandora FMS is an all-in-one solution that is easy to use. The software is able to untangle complicated technology infrastructures to easily identify the root cause of issues in order to find the most efficient solution. It does so by analyzing everything in your system, from databases and applications to services and desktops, as well as communications.

    Pandora FMS Features

    Pandora FMS has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Application Monitoring (APM)
    • IoT monitoring
    • Log collection
    • Inventory
    • Issue management / ITSM
    • Mainframe monitoring
    • Network monitoring
    • Remote control
    • Synthetic monitoring
    • Service oriented monitoring
    • Server monitoring
    • User experience monitoring
    • Virtualization & cloud

    Pandora FMS Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Pandora FMS. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Comprehensive overview: Pandora FMS provides a comprehensive overview of your system to make troubleshooting easy. It also provides all the tools to monitor and analyze an extensive range of data, from traffic to connectivity.
    • Easy forecasting: With Pandora FMS, you can use your network diagram for forecasting solutions, which gives you the necessary info you need to perform maintenance. 
    • Proactive solutions: Issues are proactively addressed. Pandora FMS provides alerts 24/7 so you can deal with problems before they grow even bigger. This also helps your organization eliminate any down time. 
    • Solve future problems: Another benefit of implementing Pandora FMS is that it enables you to optimize your services to ensure that future issues are minimized. In addition, they offer around-the-clock monitoring and automated solutions. As a result, the solution enables you to operate your organization with maximum efficiency all the time, saving you money and time. 
    • Personalized service maps: Pandora FMS allows you to create detailed, personalized service maps that can help you identify any shortcomings in your system and address them as soon as possible. 
    • SLA and availability reports: With Pandora FMS, you receive critical alerts when SLA levels aren’t met, which also helps you understand when your applications and systems are not meeting your business goals.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Pandora FMS solution.

    PeerSpot user Marc C., Systems Analyst at a university, says, "It is easy to create your own custom modules if you just know a little bit of scripting. If you have unique requirements, you can just make your own modules. You can even grab checks from other vendors. There are open-source checks for various things such as SMTP, etc. It is really flexible. It is reliable. It does the job, and it alerts. It is also surprisingly feature-rich. It is very mature for a not-so-known product."

    Another reviewer, Alexandre J., comments, “What I value most about Pandora FMS is the simplicity of working with it. The speed of locating problems and to be able to solve them quickly, so that it affects our client's network infrastructure as little as possible, is very valuable.

    Thanks to Pandora FMS we have everything unified in the same point and it is highly efficient.”

    Sample Customers
    Bank Alfalah Ltd., Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, Dimension Data, Japan Business Systems, St. Lucie County Public Schools, MISC Berhad
    Rakuten, Prosegur, Repsol, Teléfonica, Allianz, Ottawa Hospital, Hughes
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Insurance Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company23%
    Healthcare Company15%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Educational Organization10%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise69%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise66%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business61%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise49%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. Pandora FMS
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. Pandora FMS and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Configuration Manager is ranked 2nd in Server Monitoring with 78 reviews while Pandora FMS is ranked 12th in Server Monitoring with 22 reviews. Microsoft Configuration Manager is rated 8.2, while Pandora FMS is rated 9.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Configuration Manager writes "Affordable, easy to use, and easy to understand". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Pandora FMS writes "The open architecture is easy to extend and enhance". Microsoft Configuration Manager is most compared with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, BigFix, Tanium and Microsoft Intune, whereas Pandora FMS is most compared with Zabbix, Wazuh, PRTG Network Monitor, Nagios XI and Centreon. See our Microsoft Configuration Manager vs. Pandora FMS report.

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    We monitor all Server Monitoring reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.