We performed a comparison between AWS CloudFormation and AWS Systems 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."One of the standout features of Intune is its seamless accessibility to work data, eliminating the need to be tied to an office or a desktop."
"I would say the biggest benefit is the single-pane view. There's no jumping around multiple UI's to do your overall management."
"Intune's most valuable features are the device, compliance, and configuration policies."
"It is helpful for managing devices anytime and any place without requiring dependency on the local networks."
"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."
"Its security is most valuable. It gives us a way to secure devices, not only those that are steady. We do have a few tablets and other devices, and it is a way for us to secure these devices and manage them. We know they're out there and what's their status. We can manage their life cycle and verify that they're updated properly."
"The initial setup is not overly complex or difficult."
"I haven't used other mobile device management solutions, but compared to SCCM, we eliminate a lot of on-premises infrastructure and maintenance by using Intune."
"It allows defining the infrastructure as code using templates, which describe the desired state of the infrastructure."
"Scripting does what we need to reinstall something from scratch."
"AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources."
"What I found most valuable in AWS CloudFormation is its configurability. The solution is easy to configure. I also like its change management configuration because that's also good."
"The integration of the solution is very good."
"Since AWS CloudFormation integrates well with the AWS platform, it facilitates faster deployment. Building templates for AWS services within the solution is also straightforward, making the process easier."
"Automations make it pretty easy to provision AWS, development, or deployment environments."
"The solution has helped with automation. I don't have to worry about provisioning machines and ensuring everything is set up. AWS CloudFormation takes care of the entire infrastructure for me."
"The solution is user-friendly"
"Has a variety of automation options."
"With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems manually."
"When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud."
"Systems Manager has a feature where it analyzes the logs and gives us a performance overview in the form of a graph. We know when it's taking up more resources and when there are spikes, so we can predict the usability."
"AWS provides Auto Scaling groups."
"The solution's ability to scale is good."
"The solution could improve its flexibility."
"We faced issues with macOS support. The product should have better inventory and asset management."
"Sometimes, updating a client policy is very difficult. This needs to be improved."
"The pricing could be improved."
"Microsoft Intune has a latency response time issue. The latency has room for improvement."
"The product needs to upgrade itself when the server is overloaded."
"From a new user's perspective, it may be a little overwhelming because there are quite a few things to look at in the console, however, once you are sort of acclimated and are familiar with your core functions, it's fairly simple and straightforward."
"Intune has limited integration with non-Microsoft solutions."
"The product should be made cloud-agnostic, allowing users to deploy the same environment with minimal tweaks across different cloud platforms, similar to Terraform. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have the ability to manage templates outside of the AWS environment."
"What could be improved in AWS CloudFormation is its user interface, in terms of graphical design, I prefer WYSIWYG."
"The solution needs to offer better support to other cloud vendors."
"They could improve the product's capability to handle circular dependencies more effectively."
"Provisioning a large environment or a large number of services takes a bit more time than with Terraform."
"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."
"GUI could be improved by adding graphical components."
"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."
"Lacks sufficient integrations."
"The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required."
"We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves."
"The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts."
"AWS does not have EKS cluster backup."
"Additional features can be added as per customer requirements."
"The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement."
AWS CloudFormation is ranked 8th in Configuration Management with 28 reviews while AWS Systems Manager is ranked 6th in Configuration Management with 7 reviews. AWS CloudFormation is rated 8.4, while AWS Systems Manager is rated 8.0. 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 AWS Systems Manager writes "Offers a variety of automation options; simplifies governance and administration ". AWS CloudFormation is most compared with Spring Cloud, Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Microsoft Configuration Manager and Chef, whereas AWS Systems Manager is most compared with Microsoft Configuration Manager, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Red Hat Satellite, BigFix and Chef. See our AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems 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.
