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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    ConnectWise Automate

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AConnectWise Automate, formerly LabTech, is a remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. It provides powerful automation to discover and manage devices, monitor for problems, and scripts repetitive action.

    $700

    HelpWire

    Score9.8 out of 10
    N/AHelpWire is remote access software for Windows, macOS, and Linux. IT teams and technicians can start sessions by sending a link, so the remote user clicks it and joins without creating an account or entering credentials. When follow-up is required, unattended access allows technicians to return to devices later without involving the remote user again. Sessions reconnect automatically after reboots. To keep remote access responsive, HelpWire uses direct…

    $0

    (for 1 remote connection at a time)

    Pricing
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Editions & Modules
    Agents
    $1.00-$6.00
    per month/per agent
    Implementation Fee
    $700
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details—The product is free of charge, no Ads, no extra fees
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Considered Both Products
    ConnectWise
    No answer on this topic
    Electronic Team
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    86%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    20 Answers
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    85%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    73%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Application Performance Management
    Comparison of Application Performance Management features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    8.5
    1 Ratings
    18% above category average
    HelpWire
    -
    Ratings
    Virtualization monitoring8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    IT Asset Discovery9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring Tasks
    Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    7.4
    22 Ratings
    4% above category average
    HelpWire
    -
    Ratings
    Remote monitoring10.022 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network device monitoring8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Activity Monitoring8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management Tasks
    Comparison of Management Tasks features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    7.8
    22 Ratings
    15% above category average
    HelpWire
    -
    Ratings
    Patch Management10.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based automation9.022 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remote Access
    Comparison of Remote Access features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    13% above category average
    HelpWire
    9.9
    8 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Attended device access10.01 Ratings10.08 Ratings
    Unattended device access8.01 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Mobile device access5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Virtual device access8.01 Ratings10.04 Ratings
    Multiple-display support9.01 Ratings9.78 Ratings
    Multiple concurrent sessions8.01 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    -
    Ratings
    HelpWire
    9.7
    6 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.76 Ratings
    Remote Administration
    Comparison of Remote Administration features of ConnectWise Automate and HelpWire
    Feature
    ConnectWise Automate
    -
    Ratings
    HelpWire
    9.3
    8 Ratings
    8% above category average
    File transfer00 Ratings9.38 Ratings
    Instant message00 Ratings9.38 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Small Businesses
    Panda Systems Management
    Score7.2 out of 10
    LogMeIn Rescue
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    N-able N-sight RMM
    Score7.4 out of 10
    BeyondTrust Remote Support
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    TeamViewer
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (59 ratings)
    9.8
    (8 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    Performance
    3.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ConnectWise AutomateHelpWire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    I use HelpWire for training new employees and fixing software issues. When a new hire joins, I can easily access their computer to help them set up their development environment and answer questions right away. It’s also a great tool for troubleshooting. If someone has a problem, I can log in to their computer, see what’s wrong, and help them fix it. HelpWire makes this process quicker and easier.
    Read full review
    Pros
    ConnectWise
    • 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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    • Cross-platform access for easy testing
    • Simple and quick to set up and easy to access
    • Excellent customer service with quick responses to any questions
    Read full review
    Cons
    ConnectWise
    • 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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    • Limited Features Compared to Paid Options: As a free software, HelpWire delivers impressive core functionality. However, it might lack some advanced features found in paid remote desktop software. These could include things like: 1. Unattended Access,
    • Advanced User Management: For larger teams or organizations, more granular user management controls might be desired. This could allow for assigning different access levels or permissions to different users within the organization.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    It's free, but I love their service, so I will buy their service if they introduce any paid program.
    Read full review
    Usability
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    HelpWire has been really great for me. It’s easy to use, works fast, and the chat helps a lot when talking to clients. And it’s free, which is awesome. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who needs remote support.
    Read full review
    Performance
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    ConnectWise
    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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    We felt a lag in movement of mouse on AnyDesk but on HelpWire we do not face any such issue. The movement of cursor and mouse is as smooth as working on your own system.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    ConnectWise
    • 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
    Read full review
    Electronic Team
    • a handy tool to simplify my work that I can use for free
    • Using HelpWire has made me more productive because I can focus on solving problems here and now, rather than wasting time on long explanations.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    ConnectWise Automate Screenshots

    Screenshot of Monitor: Find problemsProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot

    HelpWire Screenshots

    Screenshot of the HelpWire web interface, showing connected user's workstations with multiple displays and a live chat conversationScreenshot of the HelpWire Operator application window, with connected workstations and multi-display supportScreenshot of the HelpWire Operator application window, with opened chat side-panelScreenshot of the HelpWire Client application chat-window