Atera vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Atera
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Atera has harnessed AI to power their Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), Helpdesk, Ticketing, and automations platform—streamlining organizational IT management at scale with the proprietary Action AI™ solution. Atera's IT Copilot augments existing tech capabilities with AI auto script generation, ticket summaries, and recommended solutions. To learn more about Atera: www.atera.com Atera’s platform…
$167
per month per user
KACE Systems Management Appliance
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Quest now offers the KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) as an IT Asset tracking and management appliance (also available as a virtual deployment if hardware requirements are met). Beyond discovery, inventory tracking and license management, KACE emphasizes automating software upgrade distribution with minimal end-user disruption, featuring remote replication for multi-site upgrades and rollouts. KACE SMA may be bundled with KACE Cloud Mobile Device Management (MDM) to form a complete UEM…N/A
Pricing
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Editions & Modules
MSP - Pro
$129
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Professional
$149
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Growth
$179
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Expert
$189
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Power
$209
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Master
$219
per month (billed annually) per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsUnlimited devices.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Atera
10.0
1 Ratings
40% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Virtualization monitoring10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Discovery10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
9.4
104 Ratings
28% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Remote monitoring9.2103 Ratings00 Ratings
Network device monitoring8.491 Ratings00 Ratings
Activity Monitoring10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
8.9
103 Ratings
22% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Patch Management8.1102 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based automation8.088 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Access
Comparison of Remote Access features of Product A and Product B
Atera
7.8
1 Ratings
17% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Attended device access10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Unattended device access10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile device access1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Virtual device access10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple-display support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple concurrent sessions9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Management
Comparison of IT Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Atera
-
Ratings
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
8.6
12 Ratings
12% above category average
Software and hardware inventory tracking00 Ratings10.012 Ratings
License management00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Asset lifecycle monitoring00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings6.06 Ratings
Asset relationship management00 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Small Businesses
Panda Systems Management
Panda Systems Management
Score 9.4 out of 10
ConnectWise RMM
ConnectWise RMM
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.3 out of 10
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(106 ratings)
10.0
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(53 ratings)
8.6
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(5 ratings)
9.5
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Likelihood to Recommend
Atera
Atera is suitable for controlling and automating digital processes such as supplier and customer management. It is less useful when you need to integrate with other operating systems; I prefer to use it individually. Overall, Atera is fantastic and reliable automation software.
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Quest
I think it has added value for any organization. It reduced our Tech Support cost by: -Supporting users anywhere -Reducing users downtime as well keep them informed with the status of their tickets -Managing software and hardware actively -Processing automation -deploy mass software installs, patching or updates - Provide approved software's to users to install without IT help
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Pros
Atera
  • Remoting in from anywhere, even on my phone or tablet, has enabled me to quickly diagnose, or even fully resolve, problems.
  • The ticketing, once users are set up, is a breeze. It also keeps everything in one place for them.
  • With Atera the need to travel on-site has been dramatically reduced.
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Quest
  • Inventory: KACE provides a ton of hardware and software inventory information that is easy to search, filter, and export. This is critical when we need to find the answers to questions about how many of such and such we have in our fleet.
  • Patch Management: We were using WSUS before and it was altogether too cumbersome. KACE has given us the power, flexibility, and verification we need to feel comfortable our patches are up-to-date.
  • Service Queue: We made KACE our help desk system and it does everything we need it to do. Great improvement over our old system.
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Cons
Atera
  • Some basic functions need some extra work
  • Some basic things are behind paywalls
  • Feature board is not credible. Ideas taking very, very long to implement
  • Atera has no clear road map
  • SNMP monitoring needs a make over and needs more options
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Quest
  • The KACE SMA needs a better way to handle different roles in the software so certain users can access or administrate certain parts of the software, but not the entire software installation.
  • The KACE SMA could improve the ticketing process of projects. The aspects of the title and some information do not always flow down from the parent ticket to its child tickets.
  • The KACE SMA could improve the UI of the software with the addition of different CSS color schemes.
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Likelihood to Renew
Atera
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
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Quest
No answers on this topic
Usability
Atera
Atera has simplified remote monitoring for our organization by allowing our team members to access real-time alerts and automating administrative tasks easily. It has saved us a lot of time. Atera's overall usability is excellent. It helps us manage our tasks remotely. Thanks to the reports' easy customization and highly adaptable reporting structure, insightful information is obtained, and significant time is saved in our business process.
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Quest
Overall, the software is simple to understand and use. That said, most vendors have been slowly updating their user interfaces to HTML5 so that they have a clean updated look and feel. This is where KACE falls short in that the UI is great for a packaged software 10 years ago. This isn't a major limitation as the software is really meant primarily for technology users.
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Support Rating
Atera
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.
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Quest
KACE does exactly what you need it to do, it maintains your computer environment. You can set patch schedules, inventory computers, setup software catalogs; basically everything you need to ensure the computers on your network are being actively managed. This is all with little need for constant configuration or updating the setup.
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Alternatives Considered
Atera
It is live in our organization and it works along with Atera in our organization, however I have more trust on Atera due to its stability and ruggedness, so Atera is the only choice most of the IT dept works on. I would not comment on the ManageEngine PAM solution as I have less experience on it.
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Quest
We have selected this software because it rolls several different systems into one. We have a helpdesk system with this and an asset and inventory management system as well. We pay one price for the whole system instead of paying multiple companies different amounts that would have totaled more than we pay for the single system.
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Return on Investment
Atera
  • 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.
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Quest
  • KACE has saved us from having to spend several days of employee hours in crafting DVDs and duplicating them (100+ DVDs)
  • KACE has saved us on the postage required to send out those DVDs for every update (monthly) to all of our customers electronically
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ScreenShots

Atera Screenshots

Screenshot of Atera’s AI-powered solution.Screenshot of Atera's process automation.Screenshot of Atera's real-time monitoring, which gives visibility and control of the IT environment.Screenshot of Atera's ticketing, where users can deliver end-user support and issue resolution at scale.