Atera vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Atera
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Atera is presented as an Agentic AI platform for IT management, that offers a digital workforce of AI agents that proactively and autonomously support entire IT operations. Atera’s all-in-one IT management platform consolidates RMM, helpdesk, ticketing, and automation, so IT teams and MSPs can manage and protect infrastructure, automate tasks, and boost service quality by reducing downtime and improving SLAs. Atera has shifted focus from automation to AI-powered autonomy in IT. With…
$139
per month per user
KACE Systems Management Appliance
Score 8.6 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)
Features
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Atera
8.3
2 Ratings
19% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Virtualization monitoring10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Discovery6.62 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
8.7
119 Ratings
17% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Remote monitoring9.1118 Ratings00 Ratings
Network device monitoring8.4105 Ratings00 Ratings
Activity Monitoring5.72 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
9.1
118 Ratings
24% above category average
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
Patch Management8.4117 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based automation8.4103 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Access
Comparison of Remote Access features of Product A and Product B
Atera
7.8
1 Ratings
16% 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
11% 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
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User Ratings
AteraKACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(120 ratings)
10.0
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(68 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 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.
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Quest Software
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
  • 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.
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Quest Software
  • 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
  • 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.
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Quest Software
  • 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 Software
No answers on this topic
Usability
Atera
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.
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Quest Software
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 Software
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
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.
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Quest Software
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 Software
  • 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.