ConnectWise Automate vs. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) vs. NinjaOne

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ConnectWise Automate
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
ConnectWise 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
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) is a monitoring and application performance management option, with the core datacenter and cloud-based systems monitoring.N/A
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
The NinjaOne Unified IT Operations Platform delivers endpoint management, autonomous patching, backup, and remote access. NinjaOne aims to give organizations' employees a great technology experience to work faster, smarter, and easier while IT teams modernize and improve efficiency.N/A
Pricing
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
Editions & Modules
Agents
$1.00-$6.00
per month/per agent
Implementation Fee
$700
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
Free Trial
YesNoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNinjaOne is a subscription typically billed annually and sold through channel partners. Monthly billing is nonstandard but billed on a case by case basis.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
Considered Multiple Products
ConnectWise Automate
Chose ConnectWise Automate
If we have to do it again, we would not choose to Automate due to the number of efforts and monetary investment (3rd party consultants) to implement it as well on going managing it. But, in comparison to the other RMM products we used in the past, Automate offers more …
Chose ConnectWise Automate
I have evaluated NinjaRMM, but it was after I was already familiar with ConnectWise Automate. While it seems like a good product, I found that ConnectWise Automate was more flexible in allowing me to make custom configurations to meet various business needs across different …
Chose ConnectWise Automate
Automate is one of the best when it comes to RMM-applications in terms of features and ability to execute, however, where it is weak is in the necessity for an SME to run and maintain it and while it is quick and gets the job done, it is difficult to stack it up to a full …
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)

No answer on this topic

NinjaOne
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne is much more modern both in it's "look and feel" but also in it's functionality. Connectwise feels dated and doesn't work as well. It feels more clunky. NinjaOne has more options, less complexity to do more powerful tasks.
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne has the most rounded set of features however I believe all of the programs have there own plus and minus points. We use a mixture of programs however NinjaOne is the most heavily used.
Chose NinjaOne
Both of the prior solutions we have used were incredibly slow and clunky compared to NinjaOne. The learning curve on both were also dramatically higher. Things that took us years to get working, or were not able to get working at all, took weeks/months with NinjaOne. It has …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne's user friendly interface was immediately appealing to a team that that needs to be able to pickup a tool and know how to run with it at first exposure. From the moment we started using it, we would often be able to navigate the platform with a common sense approach …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne feels like a smaller company, and I mean that in a good way. Their support is quick and helpful and because of our size we are escalated directly to their level 2 support. Our account manager is eager to assist and get ideas/issues to the right people and put those …
Chose NinjaOne
Prior to NinjaOne, our IT management was a blank slate. We knew we needed something, and we wanted to ensure we were making the best decision for our organization. We attended demos and talked with sales reps, sales engineers, etc. At the end of the day, it was the relationship …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne has a much better web interface than Automate, in terms of both usability and function. The endpoint search function in NinjaOne is very good with results, and each endpoint agent page has a great overview of the endpoints health, NinjaOne event history, etc. The …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne offers the same feature set that the big players offer, for a fraction of the price. when looking at RMM solutions, there are several large companies out there that claim that they do everything well, but what we have found is that they often do many things, but not …
Chose NinjaOne
Ninja is much easier to use that anything I've worked with in the past. We selected Ninja because we felt the learning curve for the team would be the fastest, and the roadmap for the product shows its evolving quickly. Can't say that for many of the other platforms I've …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne was cheaper and had a more robust platform. Other competitors didn't offer the same number of features or customer support.
Chose NinjaOne
Hands down the performance and features of NinjaOne is what puts the in front of the pack. They are not perfect, no RMM is, but they are up at the top. Being able to quickly navigate the system, access computers, and deploy policies makes our team more effective and our clients …
Chose NinjaOne
NinjaOne blows Connectwise out of the water. You can take a college kid right out of school and put them in front of NinjaOne and they will have no issues at all. IT is that easy to use! Connectwise on the other hand uses an academy to get you trained and ready. Yeah if you …
Features
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
ConnectWise Automate
8.5
1 Ratings
19% above category average
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
6.4
23 Ratings
19% below category average
NinjaOne
-
Ratings
Virtualization monitoring8.01 Ratings7.021 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Discovery9.01 Ratings2.119 Ratings00 Ratings
Application monitoring00 Ratings5.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Database monitoring00 Ratings8.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Threshold alerts00 Ratings10.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive capabilities00 Ratings6.821 Ratings00 Ratings
Application performance management console00 Ratings3.020 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration tools00 Ratings5.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Out-of-the box templates to monitor applications00 Ratings7.821 Ratings00 Ratings
Application dependency mapping and thresholding00 Ratings5.919 Ratings00 Ratings
Server availability and performance monitoring00 Ratings8.122 Ratings00 Ratings
Server usage monitoring and capacity forecasting00 Ratings8.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
ConnectWise Automate
7.4
22 Ratings
1% above category average
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
-
Ratings
NinjaOne
9.3
63 Ratings
24% above category average
Remote monitoring10.022 Ratings00 Ratings9.360 Ratings
Network device monitoring8.021 Ratings00 Ratings8.455 Ratings
Activity Monitoring8.01 Ratings00 Ratings9.147 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
ConnectWise Automate
7.8
22 Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
-
Ratings
NinjaOne
8.7
62 Ratings
21% above category average
Patch Management10.021 Ratings00 Ratings9.461 Ratings
Policy-based automation9.022 Ratings00 Ratings8.861 Ratings
Remote Access
Comparison of Remote Access features of Product A and Product B
ConnectWise Automate
8.0
1 Ratings
19% above category average
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
-
Ratings
NinjaOne
-
Ratings
Attended device access10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Unattended device access8.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile device access5.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Virtual device access8.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple-display support9.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple concurrent sessions8.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
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User Ratings
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(59 ratings)
8.0
(26 ratings)
9.3
(68 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.9
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(5 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.3
(10 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
3.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(14 ratings)
9.0
(9 ratings)
1.0
(6 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ConnectWise AutomateMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)NinjaOne
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
More appropriate for:
  • Pure Microsoft ecosystem environments (Windows Server and SQL server) and the most common Linux and UNIX platforms.
  • Environments where cost is less of a factor than settling on a single platform for monitoring
  • Environments where the administrators are familiar with the setup and installation of SCOM.
Less appropriate for:
  • Pure UNIX/Linux shops, especially versions not supported out of the box by SCOM.
  • Shops that cannot afford the engagement to setup/configure and maintain on a continuous basis.
  • Shops that cannot dedicate personnel to the care and feeding of SCOM, especially when supporting larger environments.
Read full review
NinjaOne
Well suited for support and management of a large fleet of endpoints, particularly across multiple regions and locations. Its well suited for MSPs for this reason. Its also effective for managing patching and updates for server infrastructure, where some other products are unable to manage. Its useful being able to access these features across multiple networks and domains. There is an option to monitor network equipment such as switches, but it didn't provide any information that wasn't already provided in the switches cloud portal.
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
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Allows us to visualize our systems in a single interface and see the status of health as well as relevant performance metrics.
  • A flexible and powerful interface with active alerting covering domain controllers, SQL servers, etc...
  • Allows you to customize your views and workspaces for specific tasks and needs.
  • Reporting is powerful and flexible.
Read full review
NinjaOne
  • Remote connections: the NinjaRemote client is spectacular and very easy to use and navigate. It quickly connects to customer systems so my engineers are able to work. As a bonus, they also offer a really good mobile app to connect to client systems.
  • Antivirus: Bitdefender Endpoint Protection is built directly into the NinjaOne portal. This makes deploying and maintaining AV very easy.
  • OS Patching: NinjaOne makes it very easy to handle patching across multiple clients and locations. It is very easy to use and doesn't take long to set up.
  • Support: NinjaOne support is always very prompt and helpful.
  • Documentation: the NinjaOne Dojo is a one-stop shop for all of your FAQs, guides, and forum needs. You can find almost anything here to help you deploy and maintain NinjaOne.
  • Automation Library: NinjaOne comes preloaded with a large number of ready-to-go automations. They also provide you with a scripting module to create your own.
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • One of the biggest drawbacks to SCOM is the sheer scope and complexity of the system. This can be a pro and a con. The system is very customizable, what you put into it is what you'll get out of it. That said, the learning curve is fairly steep. An organization needs to be committed to putting time and resources into SCOM to get the most out of it. I've heard stories from colleagues of several different companies that invested in SCOM and then abandoned it due to the excessive time and care required.
  • SCOM is expensive. Not only is the enterprise licensing costly, SCOM requires it's own servers, operational and warehouse databases to be maintained.
  • The OOB SCOM reports are a bit clunky and feel outdated.
Read full review
NinjaOne
  • NinjaOne does support Mac, however I would like to have more options for automation and scheduled task on Mac devices.
  • I would like it if NinjaOne also provided an MDM solution.
  • It would be nice is NinjaOne could integrate a PAM solution as well.
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager is tightly integrated to Microsoft Windows servers os monitoring with great product support.
Read full review
NinjaOne
We already did. After evaluating many platforms, we found the cybersecurity of the company, its development direction, and the performance of the platform to be far superior at its price point.
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Ease of Use and user friendly dashboard
Read full review
NinjaOne
NinjaOne is easy to use, intuitive, and provides great value for our organization specifically with inventory tracking and patch management. There is also a wealth of control from an RMM perspective that we have over our fleet of hardware as well as customer websites. The communications with our account representative is outstanding as well. I'd highly recommend for organizations to engage with NinjaOne, and this is from a user who's used other RMM's and related software offerings at different MSP's. Go NinjaOne!
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
ConnectWise
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
NinjaOne
Availability is very good
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
NinjaOne
The software loads quickly for the most part
Read full review
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.
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Microsoft
Hard to get support. The product is not being actively developed anymore, so it is hard to get new features for the product.
Read full review
NinjaOne
Ninja support has always been top notch. They have always been responsive and efficient both in troubleshooting issues or talking to me at a high-level about on-going improvements or needed changes. Both sales and Technical support has been good and I've been very pleased with the Customer service we have received from Ninja
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In-Person Training
ConnectWise
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
NinjaOne
Easy to learn and all of the functions and features were easy to learn. Once I started learning all of the features and functions, it made my everyday tasks much easier and more productive. The user interface is very easy to use. If I did have any questions, the Ninja Dojo was a big help.
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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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
NinjaOne
It was nice and self paced learning. The sections were easy to understand and the functionality was very worthwhile. The online training was very easy to learn and intuitive. I did not feel the need to ask for any clarification or assistance with any of the sections. I am still learning a lot of the functions but fined it very easy to use.
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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.
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Microsoft
Easy to install with intuitive interactive interface during the installation process a and integration to MS SQL was smooth
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NinjaOne
Use of Organizations and locations
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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.
Read full review
Microsoft
We used Altiris and WSUS and in the beginning Altiris had the better admin interface than SCOM, but it is no longer the case as SCOM has refined their admin interface. Altiris still has better and more robust group assignments for management roles and those two other tools can better manage non Windows OS devices than SCOM but for a large enterprise Windows shop, if you can afford it, SCOM is the way to go.
Read full review
NinjaOne
NinjaOne has the most rounded set of features however I believe all of the programs have there own plus and minus points. We use a mixture of programs however NinjaOne is the most heavily used.
Read full review
Scalability
ConnectWise
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
NinjaOne
Overall the software is very reliable
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • It has allowed us to provide an Enterprise Event/Alert management solution to the Global company
  • It has taken a long time to get it to provide valuable alerts and information, lots of user resources and investment.
  • It assists with 24/7 monitoring and out of hours support
Read full review
NinjaOne
  • Allowed us to use our full IT staff in remote offices to troubleshoot
  • The quick site response times helps reduce the time spent trying to find, connect, and fix systems
  • The ease of use creates confidence from our users that we can quickly fix their problems from anywhere in the world.
Read full review
ScreenShots

ConnectWise Automate Screenshots

Screenshot of Monitor: Find problemsScreenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

NinjaOne Screenshots

Screenshot of the NinjaRMM dashboardScreenshot of the NinjaRMM mobile appScreenshot of NinjaRMM automationScreenshot of NinjaRMM device detailsScreenshot of NinjaRMM network monitoring - NetFlowScreenshot of NinjaRMM virtual machine monitoring