Puppet Enterprise vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Puppet Enterprise and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Microsoft, HCLTech and others in Configuration Management.
To learn more, read our detailed Configuration Management Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 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
"We can manage and standardize security across your environment, identify problems, receive alerts, and so on. That's its purpose, and that's also why it's so good.""The synchronization of Intune with other Microsoft solutions is a valuable feature.""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.""The product has eased the deployment of Microsoft apps to the devices. We can manage it properly. We can control it and push the updates. Another company helped us with the deployment. However, we can do it internally.""We use a local Active Directory, but we weren't able to manage all our on-site systems without a solution like Intune, and we needed to deploy software like VPNs and other things. It's seamless now to to this through Intune.""The ability to manage devices with different sets of policies is most valuable.""It's easy to manage and easy to configure.""There has been a noticeable increase in productivity for both my organization and clients."

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"The main purpose for this automation tool would be: deploying, controlling, ordering change for the system and IT Infrastructure.""The most valuable features are the agent, high load balancing, and overall robustness and features.""The versatility is great.""Anything that we manage through Puppet always runs perfectly.""Puppet3 and 4 series provides optimum deployment solutions for infrastructure and applications.""Puppet Enterprise is a stable solution.""Puppet Enterprise has reduced the time of production changes or environment changes.""Puppet Enterprise has good functionalities."

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"The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide.""Its main functionality is highly beneficial as it centralizes the management of configuration items across the network.""The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and best practices. Automation capabilities have greatly impacted workflows, enabling tasks such as configuration backups, template deployment, and firmware upgrades to be automated, thereby streamlining processes and saving time. Compliance reporting features provide valuable insights into network compliance, offering pre-built security audit reports and customizable options to meet specific requirements.""What's nice with NCM is you can set up policies that you can then check against the configs to ensure that your device configs adhere to a baseline or standard that you've set in place.""The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability.""It is a stable solution.""The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices.""We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."

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Cons
"While Intune works perfectly well, the only potential downside is that the deployment could be a bit complex for some users.""The synchronization could be improved.""They should make it easier to order it, however, that's generally true for everything from Microsoft.""The initial setup is a little bit complex.""It would be better if they can reduce the cost of the license.""Additional application deployment options e.g. MSI deployment with more complex parameters or additional side-by-side files, and non-MSI deployment options.""The closest Microsoft Intune can be to GPOs, the better. There needs to be more granularity on application deployments. However, they have done better recently with the application deployments.""The UI is not user-friendly and has room for improvement."

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"There's a lot of scope for enhancement on the DevSecOps side. They should definitely include features for compliance, for both the Linux and Windows side of the devices, as well as for network devices. Compliance is something they need to work on.""Puppet Enterprise is more complex and difficult to configure.""The solution has really complex code, you have to understand the Ruby language. However, once you know the code then you can move ahead without any problems.""Puppet Enterprise should improve the general extensibility for places where they can't install it.""At the beginning the initial setup was kind of complex.""We would like Puppet to add more integration for applications.""It's a bit of a pain point to make sure that everything works once we've upgraded it because Puppet has been evolving pretty fast."

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"The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates.""The solution could improve by being more secure.""Releasing a product compatible with operating systems other than Windows would be advantageous.""When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing.""The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance.""The interface of solar winds could be improved.""I would like to see more integration tools. Something like dialysis, for example.""The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Consider the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite rather than choosing specific sub-components, e.g. only Microsoft Intune."
  • "There is a cost benefit of using Microsoft Intune because of the packaging with other Microsoft products."
  • "Microsoft Intune is a cost effective choice. It is less expensive than other products on the market."
  • "The purchase of the product was handled by someone else."
  • "I have no comment on pricing of the solution."
  • "The product is offered as part of a Microsoft standard bundle. The pricing can be competitive to Airwatch, and Maas360."
  • "For Microsoft 365 E5 clients, cost is not an issue as this product is one of the benefits."
  • "The price of Intune is included with the license for Office 365, so we don't have to pay anything extra for it."
  • More Microsoft Intune Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The main thing that we noticed when we switched from the enterprise version to the community version was the difference in cost — the infrastructure is pretty expensive."
  • "Depending on the size of the organization there is a point when the price of Puppet Enterprise should be lower. However, they provide really good functionality, features, and capabilities."
  • "Puppet Enterprise’s pricing is competitive."
  • "Puppet Enterprise can be an expensive solution for smaller businesses."
  • More Puppet Enterprise Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."
  • "You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."
  • "There is a license for the use of this solution and it is priced well, there is a lot of value for the money."
  • "I have a yearly subscription."
  • "In Africa, the cost is a major factor in decision-making for many companies. As a result, some companies may choose cheaper solutions, even if they are open-source, over more expensive ones, such as SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. However, as an engineer, I believe that the functionalities and services offered by SolarWinds justify the cost. Nonetheless, many companies in Africa may still view the prices as unaffordable."
  • "There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."
  • "The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions."
  • "We have to pay additionally for its support and maintenance."
  • More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes it… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of… more »
    Top Answer: Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also… more »
    Top Answer:Puppet Enterprise is a stable solution.
    Top Answer:Puppet Enterprise can be an expensive solution for smaller businesses.
    Top Answer:Puppet Enterprise should improve the general extensibility for places where they can't install it.
    Top Answer:Its main functionality is highly beneficial as it centralizes the management of configuration items across the network.
    Top Answer:SolarWinds may initially appear cheaper than it is. Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable… more »
    Top Answer:Releasing a product compatible with operating systems other than Windows would be advantageous. Currently, using it on… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
    Puppet
    SolarWinds NCM
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Intune is a comprehensive cloud-based service that allows you to remotely manage mobile devices and mobile applications without worrying about the security of your organization’s data. Device and app management can be used on company-owned devices as well as personal devices.

    In an increasingly mobile workforce, Microsoft Intune keeps your sensitive data safe while on the move. Microsoft Intune makes it possible for your team members to work anywhere using their mobile devices. Microsoft Intune provides both the flexibility and the control needed for securing all your data on the cloud, no matter where the device with the data is located.

    Microsoft Intune Device Management Key Features

    With Microsoft Intune Device Management you can:

    • Ensure devices and apps are compliant with your security requirements.
    • Rapidly deploy and authenticate apps on all company devices.
    • Remotely access devices to troubleshoot issues or to remove data from them.
    • Generate reports for all devices in the system.
    • Monitor the way users access and share information to protect company information.
    • Set rules and configure settings on personal and organization-owned devices to access data and networks.
    • Create user groups and device groups, allowing you to rapidly access many users and devices simultaneously.

    Mobile Application Management

    Mobile application management in Intune is designed to protect your organization’s data at the application level.

    With Microsoft Intune Application Management you can:

    • Configure apps to run with specific settings enabled.
    • Update existing apps that are already on the device.
    • See reports on which apps are used and monitor their usage.
    • Selectively wipe organization data from apps.
    • Add mobile apps to user groups and devices.

    As part of Microsoft's Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) suite, Intune integrates with Microsoft Entra ID for access control and with Azure Information Protection for data protection. It also integrates with Microsoft 365 Applications.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Microsoft Intune stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to secure all devices under its management and the flexibility that the solution offers its users.

    A computing services manager notes, "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 head of IT engineering at a financial services company writes, "The one feature we find most useful is the Mobile Application Manager. There are two types: we have the complete MDM and the Mobile Application Manager (MAM). We don't give our users phones, it is their own personal phone, and we need to allow them to have access to the company details on their phone. We need to create a balance between their own personal data and the company data. We deploy the Mobile Application Manager for them so that we won't be able to interfere with their own personal data."

    Puppet Data Center Automation helps sysadmins automate configuration and management of machines and the software running on them. With our software, businesses can make rapid, repeatable changes and automatically enforce the consistency of systems and devices, across physical and virtual machines, on prem or in the cloud.

    Before you monitor your network, configure it! A reliable and secure network starts with carefully planned, executed, and monitored network configuration and change management. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) saves time and improves network reliability and security by managing configurations, changes, and compliance for routers, switches, and other network devices from Cisco, Juniper, HP, Dell, Brocade, Aruba, Rukus, and more.
    Sample Customers
    Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
    Los Alamos National Laboratory, GitHub, IP Commerce, Cedexis, Spiceworks, Server Density, Swisstopo, Chockstone, Constant Contact, NICS, Citrix
    United Lincolnshire Hospitals, Air Rarotonga, NetSuite, Thai AirAsia, REA Group, 335th Signal Command, Agilisys, Marine Expeditionary Force
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Energy/Utilities Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization23%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization40%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company25%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Sports Company13%
    Healthcare Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Government13%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise47%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business69%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise23%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise46%
    Large Enterprise44%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise64%
    Buyer's Guide
    Configuration Management
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Microsoft, HCLTech and others in Configuration Management. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Puppet Enterprise doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be ranked in Configuration Management with 12 reviews while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is ranked 10th in Configuration Management with 21 reviews. Puppet Enterprise is rated 8.2, while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Puppet Enterprise writes "A set-it-and-forget-it management solution". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager writes "Network configuration is done well; great pricing". Puppet Enterprise is most compared with Red Hat Satellite, AWS Systems Manager, Microsoft Configuration Manager and BigFix, whereas SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is most compared with Cisco DNA Center, Cisco Prime, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, OpenText Network Node Manager i and VMware NSX.

    See our list of best Configuration Management vendors.

    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.