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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Apple Remote Desktop

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/AApple Remote Desktop (ARD), from Apple, is a remote administration tool for managing Apple computers running OS X across a network.

    $79.99

    one-time fee

    Pulseway

    Score7 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Pulseway is an IT monitoring and management solution that enables users to monitor, manage and control all systems and servers from a smartphone, tablet or browser. For system administrators, Pulseway sends a notification, so they can see an issue and sort it in seconds. Pulseway features: Automation: Auto-remediation workflows, so that IT issues are fixed before users even notice them. Mobile Access: Customers can monitor, manage, connect with…

    $0.80

    per month per installation

    Pricing
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprise
    $0.80
    per month per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsNo hidden fees or contracts. Term-based discounts.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Considered Both Products
    Apple
    No answer on this topic
    Kaseya
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    82%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    60%
    Would buy again
    3 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    64%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Remote Administration
    Comparison of Remote Administration features of Apple Remote Desktop and Pulseway
    Feature
    Apple Remote Desktop
    6.9
    28 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Pulseway
    -
    Ratings
    Screen sharing7.828 Ratings00 Ratings
    File transfer7.827 Ratings00 Ratings
    Instant message7.123 Ratings00 Ratings
    Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication5.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access to sleeping/powered-off computers8.921 Ratings00 Ratings
    Over-the-Internet remote session7.122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Initiate remote control from mobile4.07 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remote management of servers & workstations8.523 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remote Active Directory® management7.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Centralized management dashboard6.718 Ratings00 Ratings
    Session record7.811 Ratings00 Ratings
    Annotations3.57 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring and Alerts6.714 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-platform remote control9.08 Ratings00 Ratings
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    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
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    Score9.6 out of 10
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    Score7.4 out of 10
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    BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
    Score9.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.0
    (28 ratings)
    6.4
    (13 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    7.6
    (7 ratings)
    7.8
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.6
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Apple Remote DesktopPulseway
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Apple
    I would rate this higher if I was confident that Apple is continuing to develop this utility. It has only received minor updates for quite a long time, and is not featured much in any of Apple's online material. It really is a useful utility, but it is starting to show its age and is fraying a bit around the edges in some respects. It could be very useful when integrated with the various MDM solutions (in our case, Jamf Pro) especially when an engineer needs to force something immediately and can't wait for a check-in, and also can't depend on the end user being able to (for instance) do a sudo jamf policy or sudo jamf recon.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    If you have to manage a large number of computers, especially spread over multiple clients or a large physical area. This is one of the main products that allows us to act as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and actually manage our clients devices and not just react to issues as clients call them in. Clients really love the proactive approach it allows us to take. Sadly as we became more familiar with options out there we found this area lacking and what was actually holding us back.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Apple
    • Automator Actions: This is a very cool feature and cost saving as it reduces human effort by automating the workflow of tasks.
    • Curtain Mode: This lets you block your local user's view of the desktop while performing administrative tasks.
    • Spotlight Search: It can perform lightning fast searches on machines using the spotlight search feature of OS X and thus saves a lot of time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    • It monitors computers and notifies us of any issues with any computer.
    • It allows remote control of computers, such as requesting a computer to reboot itself.
    • It is very highly configurable to monitor exactly what we need to monitor. For example, on server, we can have it notify us any time the server is shutdown or rebooted. On the other hand, for a desktop computer, we don't have to be bothered with notifications when a user decides to reboot his computer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Apple
    • I would like to see more included Unix scrips that can be pushed to clients.
    • Inclusion of a way to remote control or screen share with Windows machines would be useful, as I manage a handful of Windows machines. While this would be possible using VNC on the Windows machines, including the ability to connect using Windows terminal connections would be awesome, for me.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    • It would be nice if they increased their scope of supported third-party apps.
    • It would be great if they would create an ios app for their ticket system.
    • If they could possibly build in a location service for tracking devices, that would be helpful.
    • If they had two-factor authentication, it would be nice.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Apple
    It is a fairly unique tool in the level of integration it has with Apple Desktop products. It definitely needs some engineering attention, and it should be expanded to the iOS arena. It is not perfect, but it is very useful and fills an otherwise fairly empty niche in the support toolkit realm. The built-in screen sharing app in macOS handles the direct screen control or viewing function fairly well, but it does not have all of the other mass control features that Apple Remote Desktop supplies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Apple
    It can be more usable, and if you are not in the Apple ecosystem, most likely you haven't even heard of it. Does it need improvements? Absolutely. Will it get improved? Most likely not. I believe this app is just part of the system app, which is nice to have, but any user will most likely choose some other option from the available apps.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    The tool is easy to use however it is can be daunting with the amount of features available in it. Last I checked, their knowledge base was not very expansive and they relied a lot on the changelog for how to do some stuff. This can make it hard to learn how to do some more advanced things like the automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Apple
    When i have needed support it was for Hardware not the software itself
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    I have never had to use the support for Pulseway. However, when initially starting out, we would receive emails every so often asking how we are doing and if there is any support that they can provide. I would imagine that any request would be supplied with the same great support!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Apple
    Very quick and easy install with no real issues
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Apple
    I would feel much more comfortable having one of these alternative solutions as our Remote Desktop management tools. Each has their drawbacks and expenses associated with them, but we simply have too large of a deployment to not be considering alternatives. If it is the only solution you can afford, it is OK to start here. I could see where this would have a return on investment, but it is really only suitable for a very small and localized scale. If employees are at all mobile, the duct taping of products necessary (VPN, distribution points, script repositories) would be very cumbersome.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    Pulseway has the most features, the best looking app with the best design and better usability than any others we evaluated. We liked the uniformity of the app design across all platforms (Windows, Android, Apple) and the notifications displayed on each platform. The price was a major contributor to our selection of Pulseway compared to the competition.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Apple
    • Apple Remote Desktop has a positive return on investment because for the expense to the school, the value it brings to teachers is important. The return on improved student performance is very difficult to measure financially, but there is a definite return.
    • The overall objective of education is to increase student learning, ARD does that phenomenally. Parents see the tool used and are impressed at what the capabilities of the tool can do and how it impacts how active their students are as well as how well they can learn.
    • One negative impact is that teachers rely too much on this tool rather than on actually teaching sometimes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kaseya
    • Problems can be dealt with more rapidly because I have access to systems from anywhere. I don't have to carry a computer with me nor do I have to find a location with potentially non-secure wifi to gain access to my systems.
    • I can handle 99% of my system admin tasks using Pulseway and never have to touch a system or connect to the console.
    • Pulseway gives so much control over a system that I don't need to spend extra money on other software to perform management tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Pulseway Screenshots

    Screenshot of Cross-device functionalityScreenshot of Auto-Remediate IT IssuesScreenshot of Visibility Across the Entire NetworkScreenshot of Remote Control to Any SystemScreenshot of Systems and Application patchingScreenshot of Detailed Custom Report