Apple Remote Desktop vs. SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apple Remote Desktop
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
Apple 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
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere provides help desk technicians a simple, cloud-based, remote-support solution to easily access endpoint devices. It features diagnostic and troubleshooting tools to help resolve issues more quickly. Using a laptop or a mobile app users can access end-device details, running sessions, and deep registry editing capabilities. The user can record sessions, add notes, view reports, and create customized surveys for additional end…N/A
Pricing
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Features
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
Apple Remote Desktop
6.2
26 Ratings
25% below category average
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
4.8
14 Ratings
50% below category average
Screen sharing9.026 Ratings8.014 Ratings
File transfer9.025 Ratings5.114 Ratings
Instant message9.021 Ratings8.013 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication8.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers7.020 Ratings1.210 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session9.020 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile4.17 Ratings3.210 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations6.222 Ratings5.113 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management7.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard1.917 Ratings5.113 Ratings
Session record4.210 Ratings5.110 Ratings
Annotations1.36 Ratings3.06 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts1.613 Ratings1.210 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control8.88 Ratings3.211 Ratings
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User Ratings
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
Likelihood to Recommend
6.3
(26 ratings)
8.0
(14 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(5 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(4 ratings)
8.1
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple Remote DesktopSolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)
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.
Read full review
SolarWinds
I think for ANY environment it's worth taking it out for a test drive. It's very powerful, especially when using the agent to connect to sessions where the end user doesn't need admin rights but when not in a VDI environment it likely would perform better with its built in functionality to ask for elevation. It is really powerful, even with the ability to run command line scripts without the user seeing (kind of a built in psexec) and it does work with Mac and Linux to some degree too so it really is worth trying out regardless of your environment. It may be just what you're looking for and the sales folks at DRE are not pushy at all, at least in my experience, and give great advice even at the expense of selling less licenses!
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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.
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • Remote control is solid, rarely loses connection
  • Allows for control of the desktop prior to login
  • Allows for scripts to be executed in the background without disturbing users
  • Allows for batch rollout of scripts across multiple machines
  • Allows us to see the end users' desktop - as opposed to RDP
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.
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SolarWinds
  • Connectivity to a helpdesk/knowledgebase would be nice feature so users can do self-help
  • Offering a branded version of the client/agent would be a nice touch for businesses
  • A web-only version of the technician console for remote support would be a nice feature
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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.
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SolarWinds
No answers on this topic
Usability
Apple
Once it is set up, it is quite straightforward to use. However, currently, it requires both a script to run to set up permissions and controls, AND a command from the MDM to authorize it to be active. The MDM management command is manual. This is not conducive to an automated workflow, and sometimes gets forgotten. Then, the endpoint is not contactable until someone realizes that the MDM command was not sent or was not successful.
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SolarWinds
It's a good tool overall, but could be better.
Read full review
Support Rating
Apple
When i have needed support it was for Hardware not the software itself
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SolarWinds
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere is an easy to use software package. The manuals are easy to understand, and the installation is simple and straightforward. The Maintenance and support costs are relatively reasonable, and we maintain support and maintenance strictly for the upgrades rather than support. Over the years, SolarWinds has released numerous feature enhancements to the software package, making SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere indispensable on our network.
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Implementation Rating
Apple
Very quick and easy install with no real issues
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SolarWinds
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.
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SolarWinds
We basically selected this for our one of the SolarWinds Project. In that we needed to take remote session and screensharing and do the analysis and troubleshooting. In our initial analysis itself we got the excellent result, and it was too quick. We were very much inspired from this. Later on, we started using SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE) for almost all the projects of SolarWinds. Highly appreciated, thanks team.
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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.
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SolarWinds
  • seamless installation of MSI or EXE
  • No Codes to enter when installing agent
  • Agent automatically connects to cloud dashboard
  • our deployment tool has messed up a couple of times, so agents get uninstalled or not installed when this occurs, and we can't see a computer in the dashboard
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ScreenShots

SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE) Screenshots

Screenshot of Fast remote controlScreenshot of Live chatScreenshot of Remote desktop on mobileScreenshot of Reporting engineScreenshot of Secrets vaultScreenshot of Session information details