Automox is an endpoint management solution from the company of the same name in Boulder. Cloud-based and globally available, Automox enforces OS & third-party patch management, security configurations, and custom scripting across Windows, Mac, and Linux from a single console. With it, IT and SecOps can gain control and share visibility of on-prem, remote and virtual endpoints without the need to deploy costly infrastructure. Automox aims to reduce corporate risk while raising operational…
$1
per month per endpoint
JumpCloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
JumpCloud® delivers a unified open directory platform used to securely manage identities, devices, and access across an organization. With JumpCloud, IT teams and MSPs enable users to work securely from anywhere and manage their Windows, Apple, Linux, and Android devices from a single platform.
$11
per month per user
Pricing
Automox
JumpCloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Device Management
$11
per month per user
SSO
$13
per month per user
Device Management + Identity
$15
per month per user
Core Directory
$15
per month per user
JumpCloud Platform
$22
per month per user
JumpCloud Platform Prime
$27
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Automox
JumpCloud
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
Automox can patch macOS, Windows, and Linux endpoints with PatchOS, an offering at $1 per endpoint/ month with an annual commitment.
The Automate Essentials or Automate Enterprise packages are for scaling IT automation, endpoint configuration, and software updates.
Modules are available with Automox Assist, a one-on-one remote endpoint control and assistance for helpdesk technicians.
The reason I would score it a nine is because of the inability to “run as.” Since it only runs as a system, this makes some tasks impossible. It would be beneficial to have an encrypted set of credentials in the UI that we can use to “run as,” and also the ability to run as the current user with elevated permissions would be nice. In terms of patching, Automox does a good job, and being able to use Automox to run PowerShell on a computer without needing to open up ports for WinRM is a great feature.
JumpCloud is least suited in situations where you have few devices, but lots of users. JumpCloud heavily focuses on the "One-User-One-Device" type of use, and does lack some of the features things like Active Directory is better suited for when having multiple users accessing one machine. Their Powershell APIs are fantastic and getting only more powerful. Lots of features are hidden behind these APIs, so admins not as familiar with Powershell would have more issues leveraging these tools. BYOD deployments are amazing, especially for macOS devices that are using Apple Business Manager and can leverage Zero Touch deployments. It is especially good at handling mixed systems, whereas other options, such as Jamf, are really suiting only for macOS, or Intune is more suited for Windows; JumpCloud managed to handle both systems well.
User Management - The ability to control our users and set password/polices is made easy in the JC console
Device Management - Using JC each user is assigned to their own device with only the rights to do their job - When elevated rights are required, this is done simply via the JC console for the period of time required
SSO - Using JC's SAML SSO integrations we are building out our SSO offering and this is making for a much simpler daily user experience
I would like to see more detailed error messages when a patch fails. Perhaps at which step it failed at, downloading, installing, etc.
It would be helpful if we could see what stage of installing or downloading a patch is at through a percentage or status bar instead of a vague "Installing..." message
It would also be helpful to have a way to kill or end scripts that are stuck instead of waiting 24 hours for them to automatically end. Something like an "End all actions" button for endpoints on our side would be extremely helpful when testing a script that had a bad line or action in it.
SSO via OpenID - Opening up their SSO from just SAML to including OpenID (OAuth) would allow us to make more use of the service and to also incorporate it into some internal testing suites
Time Limited User Elevation - The ability to time limit a users elevation of privileges would be a great addition
Extending device management to include LPA - Least Privilege Access is becoming a bigger ask from our external auditors - Being able to do this via JC would be amazing
Automox has excellent dashboards that help to identify key performance indicators of where your patching program stands, what to prioritize, and what issues you have. Where Automox struggles is easily identifying what issues are preventing successful patching, seeing what manual patches are successfully installing/not installing, and easily remediating issues with installation issues.
It's simple. I like how JumpCloud keeps things simple. Similar to Apple's ecosystem, they give you what you want with some extra features and bells and whistles but it doesn't take a large instruction manual to use it. They have the support system and KB articles to back up their product and learn about a feature and how to implement it
In my experience, they were responsive but the fixes were more like bandaids than a fix for the underlying problems which they admitted were on their end.
I have rarely contacted support. When I have, the responses were within expected time frames, and easy to access. Community support is incredible, both from the JumpCloud representatives, and the user base community at large. The support pages on the website also are typically very well written and strike a nice balance between having the technical information needed, and also being easy to understand for the small business types that might not have as much of a technical background as an IT Admin.
Automox is able to scale better than PDQ Deploy. We were happier with the 3rd party software patching since we have a lot of different software we use across departments. PDQ deploy required a lot more manual intervention to stay on top of deployments. Automox just ended up being a timesaver for us in the end.
Some features would make more sense for us to be bundled by machine, instead of the user. We have fewer machines, and multiple users log into one machine, so doing something like paying per user for services like Patch Management are difficult to warrant the cost. I also feel a more complete package that includes common addon features; Patch Management and Password Manager, would be an improvement. It would also be nice if we could change packages, addons, and other billing services via self-service instead of reaching out to our account manager.
We used to use a different patching solution and since switching to Automox, I have been able to cut the amount of time I spend on vulnerability management by 50% or more. I love how "set it and forget it" some of the policies can be. I love how simple it is to keep an eye on things.
