We performed a comparison between AWS CloudFormation and Microsoft Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Configuration Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The overall user experience is quite nice. I have no complaints from end users regarding their devices enrolled in Intune."
"One of the most valuable aspects of Microsoft Intune is its seamless integration with Azure Active Directory, offering capabilities akin to Group Policy Objects."
"The key benefit of Intune is its integration with the Microsoft ecosystem."
"I like how Microsoft Intune lets me lock down the email profile and make it accessible only on certain devices."
"Users can make screenshots, and devices only need the minimal version of iOS."
"It is quite policy-enabled, so you can build pretty much any policy to manage remote endpoints."
"We have a BYOD policy, and this solution helps us manage our devices."
"The conditional access policies that we set up are very useful."
"Automations make it pretty easy to provision AWS, development, or deployment environments."
"The integration of the solution is very good."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"The most valuable features of AWS CloudFormation are all the resources documentation is located in one location, simple resource reverting, and ease of use of the full package for new users."
"The nested stacks would be one of the more valuable features."
"Versioning makes our work easy."
"There is a cost-benefit to using CloudFormation that comes about because of the automation that it provides."
"With CloudFormation, there is no need to use complicated coding."
"The product is very stable compared to older versions."
"With the right administrator, application deployment can do wonders."
"SCCM is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is patch management."
"The most valuable feature of SCCM is the application distribution."
"Automation of operating system, application, and update deployments massively reduces IT operations effort."
"The solution effectively handles inventory management, deployment, and reporting."
"With the SCCM inventory, we found a lot of rogue applications. We were able to identify them, find out who was running them, and either put them on our application list or remove them."
"The reporting and cost have room for improvement."
"Intune has limited integration with non-Microsoft solutions."
"There should be more focus on mobile device security and integration."
"There is no catalog for mobile access management (MAM) security."
"Intune's reporting and logging could be improved. When troubleshooting, it's difficult to collect the logs and determine what's happening. If I want to filter out the compliant devices, I can see it from the logs, but I would like the option to drill down further."
"Once it's configured it is unobtrusive, but it does take some hands-on to configure and deploy it properly."
"While Intune works perfectly well, the only potential downside is that the deployment could be a bit complex for some users."
"It would really be helpful to have the option to manage server operating systems as well, like Windows Server, at least. That way, we could scrap the use of SCCM, which requires a lot of on-premises infrastructure."
"Including certain examples of templates would be advantageous."
"For improvement, it's crucial that AWS provides options in terms of computing services, DB related services, and machine learning solutions. If I'm not hands-on with a particular service, like machine learning applications, I struggle to write the CloudFormation code."
"AWS CloudFormation allows you to use the code templates written in JSON and YAML, but not directly in Python. Adding this feature would be beneficial."
"The solution must enable more hands-on designing of the templates."
"If Amazon could extend CloudFormation to other cloud platforms, that would be good. Currently, it is only limited to AWS."
"The speed of the replication process could improve. It can take some time to replicate that could use a speed increase."
"The code we write in AWS CloudFormation is pretty big compared to Terraform. We need to have more modules in the solution. A library should also be there where we can save code lines. A dashboard feature would be good for designers."
"CloudFormation is not particularly good at handling cross-account dynamic references. If you try to refer to an object that CloudFormation has created in a separate AWS account, it tends to fall apart. That's because it is a byproduct of the multi-tenant configuration. This is the most glaring shortcoming in my perspective because you can't dynamically reference objects in other accounts that CloudFormation has created, but it is not a shortcoming that you can't overcome. This is the only pain point that I've come across that didn't have a workaround natively. Sometimes the confirmation is slow, and it could be faster. The downside to CloudFormation when you're fully embracing it is that the AWS services do not get released immediately fully CloudFormation enabled. If you need to use the latest AWS service that just got announced or reinvented, you're not going to be able to continue with CloudFormation for the first X number of months. This is because they develop the products separately, and then they hand it to the CloudFormation team, which later on develops a CloudFormation integration. So, if you need to be on the newest thing AWS has, CloudFormation is often going to be a constraint that prevents you from doing that."
"The ability to integrate MDM would be great."
"In spite of us being a premier customer we find the support unsatisfactory."
"The product needs to improve scalability."
"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."
"I currently need to increase my compliance level in the patching processes which this solution could improve on."
"Built in PowerShell cmdlets would be a nice feature because managing clients remotely can be a pain without knowing the WMI calls to run."
"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."
"There's no way to say, "I want this maintenance window to be on the second Tuesday of the month." It's strict. This window is this and that's it. You can't fluctuate."
More Microsoft Configuration Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →
AWS CloudFormation is ranked 8th in Configuration Management with 28 reviews while Microsoft Configuration Manager is ranked 2nd in Configuration Management with 78 reviews. AWS CloudFormation is rated 8.4, while Microsoft Configuration Manager is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of AWS CloudFormation writes "Pretty easy setup with great automations for provisioning that save time and money". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Configuration Manager writes "Seamless system updates, useful integration, and reliable". AWS CloudFormation is most compared with AWS Systems Manager, Spring Cloud, Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Chef, whereas Microsoft Configuration Manager is most compared with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, BigFix, Tanium and AWS Systems Manager. See our AWS CloudFormation vs. Microsoft Configuration Manager report.
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We monitor all Configuration Management 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.
