Atera vs. ConnectWise Automate vs. Kaseya VSA

Atera is doing well in the monitoring part as it is informing the real time ping of running devices and if any device goes down, it is informing us on the real time. It is helping us to monitor the last reboot status, current logged in users, time zone, IP addresses and other things so that we can track our end devices status. In the patching part Atera is pathing our all devices with the notification stating user to restart device at their convenient time. It is also patching our third party applications. It is good in installing and uninstalling of the third party application but limited to availability in the Atera inventory. Atera is not good in some parts such as in the patching part of applications, sometime it fails to update all 3rd party applications that were not installed via Atera. It is not good if you have to transfer a file to multiple systems at the same time.

Incentivized

I recommend it to all IT colleagues; regardless of the size of the PCs with which you work most of the time, the application allows connection stability between computers that make it possible to continue working or taking care of the infrastructure from afar.

Incentivized

If the software functioned as it was intended, it would be probably a 7 out of 10. It lacks the majority of customization that SolarWinds N-central supplies, but also supports some customization that other solutions we have tried do not. Again, if the software didn't consistently break, the ability to implement automated scripting via PowerShell and the capacity to manage 10+ endpoints at once in different windows is great.

• Atera is very helpful in monitoring the servers and end-user devices for high CPU, memory, hard disk uses, and temperature monitoring.
• Atera is good at installing third-party applications and also helps to remove it from the end systems.
• Atera is perfect for patching as you can select the patches as per your need and reject those that are not required for you or going to disturb any of your internal applications.
• Atera is good for managing software inventory as it provides you with the complete software list that is used in your infrastructure.

Incentivized

• Desktop sharing / view with chat to the operator, file sharing and pass-through for keyboard strokes
• Computer/server monitoring with thresholds and warning
• Search - tracking down computers when you have many by name, logged in user, IP
• End user ticket raising is built into the tray icon which make access really easy

Incentivized

• Being able to see systems that are not within the local network allows us to be able to troubleshoot and work with the end users no matter where they are or where we are as it is cloud based.
• Several functions can be "automated" so staff do not have to keep going back and scanning for updates, push Windows updates and or push sensor updates.
• VSA offers a variety of system information about all of the assets that have the endpoints installed on them so we can easily see the system specs without having to actually connect to them and pull up the SysInfo on each unit.

Incentivized

• Atera does not yet have a MDM system, but I have been told that it is in the works!
• Sometimes getting around the admin section of the IT side of Atera can be tricky, but the webinars and chat support help.
• Many of the demo and onboarding agents are based in Israel, so it can be a challenge to find available times during the day while living in the United States.

• They have conflicting scheduling paradigms. When scheduling patching for clients, the 1st Friday is interpreted as the very first Friday of the month, even if this is the 1st of the month. For scripting, the 1st Friday of the month is interpreted as the 1st Friday of the 1st FULL WEEK of the month. This makes no sense to have two different interpretations, and makes it unreliable to schedule recurring scripts to fall when recurring maintenance does. The scripts need to be done manually because of this.
• There is no way to dictate reboot orders for patch policies. This tied directly in with my first point. We have some clients that require reboot orders. This is not possible without having different patch policies for each server and specifying a time this way. But, there aren't small enough increments of time to make this reliable, plus patching duration might vary. Excluding reboots with patching and scheduling reboot scripts fixes this. However, this can't be done once on a recurring schedule due to the different scheduling paradigms already discussed. We have to schedule these manually each month.

Incentivized

• Support - Like all other competitors support is OK but the product is robust enough to reduce support requirements.
• Customer Service - another team that is a bit poor especially when the issue involves multiple departments. Otherwise, the direct rep is very friendly and professional.

Incentivized

As of right now, we have found nothing that can offer as many features as Atera does along with the affordability. They are doing monthly releases each month and not just making small changes (shared scripting library, chocolatey support, Install packages, Splashtop SOS support, Scheduled tickets to name a few). The uptimes are great and accessibility to the dashboard has yet to be limited. We are a happy customer and bordering on fanboy status now

Incentivized

The primary reason for this rating is that ConnectWise Automate is currently so integral to our operations that moving away would involve more man hours than we would realistically have to invest. However, ConnectWise Automate is also completely capable of meeting all of our business needs and customizable to the point where if something is not meeting those needs out of the box, it can be modified to do what we want. From only installing software on machines if a different software package exists, to push a new version of that software is available, to check if credentials for user/machine have been updated to our new standards and then updating them if they have not, ConnectWise Automate is capable of doing everything we ask of it.

Incentivized

Excellent product with easy learning curve

Incentivized

Atera's remote monitoring feature is one of it's best features. The laptops and servers we used it on responded quickly to our administrative task requests and made our work light. We were able to increase the resources, manage patches, windows updates and quite a few other tasks remotely and that too 24×7.

Basic use of the product is fairly easy. Information about the machines you manage can be found in customizable dashboards, which can be unique for each user, and, therefore, properly suited to the users' needs/job function. This is not a 10 because some of the interfaces are very clunky (Patch Management), and some features are not intuitive and not well documented (reporting). Scripting and Patch Management have a fairly steep learning curve (For structure in patch management and syntax in scripting), but once learned, they work well.

Incentivized

I think this is a solid tool for enterprise IT, however it would be higher if Kaseya VSA addresses the areas raised around recent stability, their support team, multiple session & screen support etc. It does do it's main job and allows an easy way for IT to operate and is mostly fine.

Incentivized

It used to be great, but then they broke reporting, speed and responsiveness with version 11 and the new Patch Manager. It's really bad and their support people are way behind on fixing so many bugs. They have really gone downhill. If they don't get it together soon, we'll start looking around.

Incentivized

Atera support provides answers to my questions lightning fast. They have never left me feeling like I'm out there on my own. I can ask questions by email, or by chat, or by opening a ticket with them and they are always on it quickly. They also have a forum where other Atera users can help you if you need it, and you can also add feature requests via the forum.

Incentivized

ConnectWise Automate lets you manage more endpoints, with enhanced productivity and improved service, all without increasing expenses. It can manage patches and updates across thousands of computers. We also use it for customized monitoring and alerting on workstations and servers. Monitoring is really robust and granular. It does a great job of gathering a TON of data about the network, and that data is searchable. There are a bunch of different reports built in. Integrates with Manage, Control, and other applications. It does a ton of stuff out of the box, and has endless customization options.

Incentivized

It was lots of back and forth email communication whenever I tried to solve my connection issues. I would send them detailed logs of the date, time, computer, and more of when I was experiencing connection issues. All I would get is an email back a few days later saying that they didn't find an issue in the service

Incentivized

The Online training has been re-done and needs a lot more work. When you look at training in different roles, it shows a lot of the same topics but no explanation to what is different about them. Several times that topics are the exact same, but they make you re-take the same information for a different topic, instead of marking that you have already completed that portion of training.

Incentivized

The implementation was performed by the system administrator so I don't have much insight into this

Start small and learn the in's and out's before making policies and rolling things out company wide. Ask the questions of why if you don't agree with something or your company does things a different way. Usually they are done a certain way for a reason. Start simple with roll out and slowly enable or add on the functionality that is needed.

Incentivized

Because Atera is a much more effective and efficient solution to manage all our IT operations, it automates each of our business processes. It offers us the best support to respond to any problem that may arise. I think Atera is much more cost-effective and reliable; its value is justified with each function and satisfies all our business needs and requirements.

Incentivized

I believe the monitoring and alerts in Continuum command is better, but [ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech)] does have stronger scripting, and perhaps a better interface. N-Central is inferior on all fronts to both. I did not make the purchasing decision. I would myself likely pick Continuum if I had to make a on the spot choice.

Incentivized

There are other products that do some of what Kaseya does, but I've not personally worked with another product that does everything Kaseya does. Sure there are plenty of remote control products, but products that do as much as Kaseya are few and far between. Hard to go wrong with the sheer scope of functionality!

Incentivized

• The intuitive user interface has enabled both users and support technicians to familiarize themselves quickly with the functionality, and the learning curve is less.
• Some features need to be accessed through documentation; they're not available directly on the dashboard.
• Sometimes, internet access plays a significant role, whereas low connectivity is a hindrance.

Incentivized

• We found we were able to provide good monitoring of our customers sites which was an objective. However, that came at a significant time investment that never seemed to be finished.
• We were able to negotiate a price that worked for us for an up-front purchase which was nice.
• We found the pricing to be very competitive.
• Bottom line for us was despite the pros of the product, we found other RMM solutions to be a better overall "value" due to not having to dedicate technicians to maintaining the product.

Incentivized

• It has increased the efficiency of operational tasks for our technicians
• It has change the speed at which we are able to deploy updates and software patches
• It caused us to spend additional money on more security tools due to concern from breaches

Incentivized