Atera vs. ManageEngine Endpoint Central

For me, Atera has been a great tool that I added to my arsenal. I wanted something where I could manage my clients' Windows updates. As I used the software, I began to realize all of the various things Atera could do. Now it is a critical component of my business and I would not be able to properly function without it.

This software is suited in any environment where there are more end user than IT staff, which is pretty much everywhere. This becomes especially true in medium to large sized business and organizations. The amount of time saved (from IT Support and Administration but also from the end user's side) is simply incredible.In addition, Junior IT admins will find the automatic suggestions e.g. for optimal server configurations / setup quite useful.

The only scenario where I'm not sure the benefits will outweigh the costs are in very small businesses, where there are few end users and few PC's/Servers. In all other scenarios, this tool is truly invaluable, compared to the it's low financial cost. I would add that purchasing a perpetual license is also an option with this product and does make financial sense after 5 years or so.

• Easy to deploy, both in general or to a specific customer.
• Remote management tools that are in line with every other major solution out there.
• Real-time alerts that allow for easy monitoring of vital systems.
• Configurable threshholds on alerts so the system can be tuned to only notify when there is a problem according to certain metrics.

• Patch Management is very easy to use and deploy patches each month
• Inventory Reporting is straight forward with multiple premade reports available
• Remote Connections are very simple to use, it only takes 15 seconds to find and connect to a device.
• Software Deployment and the Self serviceportal give you multiple ways of deploying your apps.

• Ticket automation, more options to specific cases or conditions, and change client assigned to ticket, or be able to assign a ticket for the client without hassle of emailing them back or having to create a fake contact.
• Include notes for client that are not file attachments, maybe integration with a cloud service like Google Docs or OneDrive.
• Integration with other remote access tools would be helpful.

• More granular access level controls for technicians (restrictions for juniors) on the Mobile Device Management add-on
• Monitoring mobile data usage on mobile devices, this has been in the product pipeline for 5 years, but not yet implemented
• Ability to remotely support company-owned mobile devices with no end-user permission. End-user needs to allow the remote session, when sometimes that's what we don't want since we're doing an investigation.

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

The other tools we use do not have an inventory management tool. Also not many tools we use intergrate well with this product.

Responds well to basic needs: 1. Update 2. Image/Re-image endpoints 3. Mass deployment 4. Pop-Up communications

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.

The local distributor of the product is always available, however most support is received within an hour from India. We've had complex requirements and the support team went so far as to customize their mobile application to suit our unique needs. We honestly can't complain about any support we've received and it's always been very quick.

We had tried Syncro, Naverisk, Pulseway - dollar for dollar stack for stack, Atera blew them out of the water. Atera is easy to use, easy to manage, has flourishing facebook and reddit groups for support and they update their knowledge bases daily. Their communication and support has been bar none.

We chose ManageEngine Endpoint Central because of the reasonable price and the number of features offered compared to competitors. Many patch management software do not patch Linux machines while ManageEngine Endpoint Central did. Other software did not have the ability to perform pre or post-deploy tasks while ManageEngine Endpoint Central did. For these reasons, we chose this software. In addition, the ease of use, intuitive dashboards, and the ability to also have asset inventory made us decide on this software.

• The lack of cost per unit is a great asset. Our team consists of two members who really use the product, and the cost being per member means we can have hundreds of machines and still only pay for two users.

• Positive - Endpoint Central does a lot! Which gives it an amazing bang for the buck!!!
• Positive - Endpoint Central makes various IT management tasks easy.
• Negative - I have already mentioned this, but I can't tell you how important this is. Support - it is not great, when you get a ME tech that knows their area, then it is good to great! But it can take effort to reach that person, front line support does their best, but so many of my cases have involved more advanced support. This can take days for someone to get back to me, via email. Often I have open several cases on the same issue before reaching the correct solution.
• Lastly - I spent an amazing amount of time in 2021 basically testing the product. So much so that I used that as a negotiation to bring the price down when we renewed.
• I seriously considered other products at renewal time. But the discounted price did not come close to my time dealing with Bugs and low quality support.
• We stayed with Desktop Central because it was successful in deploying updates - all the rest we could consider a different product if needed.
• 2022 - as been much better, few bugs and support has improved, but there are still timely support issues.