ScreenConnect vs. N-able N-central

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ScreenConnect
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
ConnectWise ScreenConnect is a remote support, access, and meeting solution. With it, users can utilize remote support and access to repair computers, provide updates, and manage machines. Users can also conduct online seminars and presentations using remote meetings.
$39
per month
N-able N-central
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
MSPs and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex networks remotely. N-central provides visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users: 1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers and workstations—and troubleshoot. 2. Stay on top of threats with features like MFA, antivirus, integrated endpoint detection and response, data backup, disk encryption, email protection,…N/A
Pricing
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Editions & Modules
One
$39
per month
Standard
$59
per month
Premium
$69
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Considered Both Products
ScreenConnect
Chose ScreenConnect
Connectwise Control is orders of magnitude cheaper than LogMeIn while having all the features we need from both LogMeIn Central and LogMeIn Rescue. It also doesn't have the obnoxious issues experienced with TeamViewer. After 50% price increases year over year with LogMeIn, we …
Chose ScreenConnect
They are similar solutions that both provide value and have their benefits and issues. ConnectWise Control provides a slightly more robust solution and is slightly easier to manage. The biggest differentiation comes from the integration into ConnectWise Manage, which is more …
Chose ScreenConnect
It was really a cost search. We were looking for a program that provides the capability of ScreenConnect at a reasonable cost.
N-able N-central
Chose N-able N-central
We chose SolarWinds N-Central because of the integration with ConnectWise Manage, it allows us to automatically create tickets and helps us be more efficient. We really liked the engineers that were able to coach us in migrating from our old system and teach us all the best …
Features
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
ScreenConnect
8.2
624 Ratings
2% above category average
N-able N-central
-
Ratings
Screen sharing10.0594 Ratings00 Ratings
File transfer8.6567 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant message8.2499 Ratings00 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication7.074 Ratings00 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers5.8309 Ratings00 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session10.0600 Ratings00 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile7.4388 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations9.7516 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management8.6172 Ratings00 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard8.5478 Ratings00 Ratings
Session record7.8314 Ratings00 Ratings
Annotations8.0265 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts8.3188 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control7.0397 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
ScreenConnect
-
Ratings
N-able N-central
7.3
6 Ratings
1% below category average
Remote monitoring00 Ratings9.56 Ratings
Network device monitoring00 Ratings8.26 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
ScreenConnect
-
Ratings
N-able N-central
8.9
7 Ratings
20% above category average
Patch Management00 Ratings8.97 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Small Businesses
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.7 out of 10
Action1
Action1
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
Score 9.3 out of 10
Action1
Action1
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
Score 9.3 out of 10
TeamViewer
TeamViewer
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(624 ratings)
8.4
(25 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(40 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(53 ratings)
7.2
(7 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(63 ratings)
1.0
(8 ratings)
Online Training
7.5
(24 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(20 ratings)
8.4
(2 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ScreenConnectN-able N-central
Likelihood to Recommend
ConnectWise
We often need to create an ad-hoc session with a device that is not under our management. We find ourselves doing this more than ever in the COVID world. Many people are working from home on personal machines with their employer, our client's permission and we are facilitating more support for these personal machines. Connectwise Control [(formerly ScreenConnect)] gives us a robust resource to control the device, navigate anywhere we need, execute various commands, and engage in an on-screen chat with the client. The session is very simple to create and very user-friendly to initiate. We do not recommend it for Android, Apple, or Chromebook applications. There is little to no support for these platforms.
Read full review
N-able
N-Able is perfect for an MSP environment. It gives all the standard functionality an IT professional needs out of the box and can be configured to show almost anything required. For example, we have configured a dashboard to show when our backups need attention for each customer. This is achieved by running a small script on repeat via N-Central everyday/evening, and the result gives us information on the dashboard to help us identify exactly what is working and what needs looking into.
Read full review
Pros
ConnectWise
  • The interface is easy to use and makes sense. It's easy to understand how to organize a large number of machines involving multiple clients. But, it's also applicable for smaller set of machines too.
  • The connection speed is very quick. I've used solutions in the past that take a variable amount of time to connect, or they just take a long time every time. Control is quick every time. It doesn't get in the way of being able to support the machines on the other end.
  • The connections are reliable. I haven't experienced random disconnects throughout hundreds of instances. It was a breath of fresh air coming from the previous solution we used. I consider Control a gold standard for what a great remote connection solution can be.
Read full review
N-able
  • Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
  • Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
  • Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.
Read full review
Cons
ConnectWise
  • I'd like to see the ability to selectively log off the remote machine via a button on the toolbar. Currently it's a setting to always lock on disconnect, or never lock on disconnect, requiring the tech to manually lock the machine if called for at the end of a session. Its a small time save that would add up!
  • The chat feature could be expanded to be a lot more useful. Allowing clients to start conversations, and have conversations ping an email address if no one is monitoring the dashboard would be extremely valuable.
  • Some clarity on licensing when providing host-passes to guest technicians would be a boon, especially for one-off support sessions with vendors.
Read full review
N-able
  • Customer support just points to online guides and I feel they aren't helpful.
  • During the trial they turn on a lot of features. In my experience, if you play around with the features, they charge you for them. Keep this in mind if you move forward with N-Able - they will charge for "trialed" services.
  • In my experience, some services that you're being charged for can't be disabled or monitored by you or your team. You only see them on the monthly invoice.
  • In my opinion, the "Scripting Automation" doesn't provide value. You're either going to be writing your own batch or Powershell to make scripting work.
  • In my opinion, monitoring software deployments is painful.
  • The default monitoring template can't be duplicated, edited, or referenced. You'll find that the default monitors in an unusual way and will throw needless recurring alerts into your ticketing system. To avoid this, you need to create a template from scratch which takes many hours to set up.
  • In my opinion, they're more concerned about a quick buck than customer service. "Buyer beware" company.
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Likelihood to Renew
ConnectWise
I would recommend this product for both internal remote control of end user workstations and remote access to other clients over the internet. It provides a secure and feature rich product that allows me to complete any necessary tasks without ever leaving the office. I will continue to renew as I'm eager to see what they do next. I would however wish the cloud service had a better API to work in conjunction with team collaboration or chat services to make it easier to connect with end users who use multiple workstations. (Slack or Stride provide this functionality)
Read full review
N-able
Overall we have liked our solar winds experience, however, as our company has grown to support larger enterprises, this product does not have the functionality that our teams need in order to fully support them. The lack of granularity with backups and lack of ability to support nutanix environments is slowly drawing us into the use of other tools.
Read full review
Usability
ConnectWise
On the whole SC is a very powerful tool that is a vital part of the IT service arsenal. On-site visits are an "emergency" only type of scenario. Just "showing your face" is not winning any browny points for me. If my client sees my face, it's usually just to upgrade hardware or to deal other aspects of business. SC provides me and my client the bulk of the info I need to get projects done.
Read full review
N-able
The user interface is fairly straight forward, with logic groupings for objects. I did not deploy this software, but am one of the daily administrators. Once you get the correct agent package (Which can be a challenge) the integration into AD is not bad. The UI could be more customized, but that may have been a design choice.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
ConnectWise
In my 5 years of using the product, I am only aware of one time when the service was down and is was due to a backbone outage upstream.
Read full review
N-able
No answers on this topic
Performance
ConnectWise
It performs well. It also has full control over windows security and does not get hung up like GoToMeeting when trying to install remote software at the prompt to install as admin / override. I have used TeamViewer, WebEx, LogMeIn and GoToMeeting. This is by far the best at spontaneous, remote control. It is also very easy to get a novice user connected to the session.
Read full review
N-able
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
ConnectWise
There have been two times when something has went wrong and I needed immediate assistance in order to be able to use Screenconnect to be able to help clients and response has not been immediate. The response time has been within 24 hours. Both times if there had been easier to navigate self help I would have been able to help myself. With better self help and a speedier response it would definitely be a 10 as they always respond and help. Just a little more difficult or slow than it should be at times
Read full review
N-able
Every time we have reached out to SolarWinds they are quick to respond, even offering support chat 24/7. Their support team is great and works with you to find solutions to issues. They have taken items we had issues with before and used those to create updates so that the issue is handled better in the future.
Read full review
Online Training
ConnectWise
I find ScreenConnect to be very simple and effective overall, with the main problem being that a number of my clients can't download the app due to existing firewalls and so on. Otherwise it does its job well, and I'm happy with it.
Read full review
N-able
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
ConnectWise
ConnectWise has done everything they could to help us in any situation. Great support team and their new updates are always providing features that we need. Its a simple solution that works the way we need it to. Their legacy pricing model is still much better than their subscription based model however it is still fair pricing
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N-able
Make sure if you your using a vm you follow the instructions for provisioning to the letter or it will be starting from square one
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Alternatives Considered
ConnectWise
I have worked with Citrix, AnyDesk, LogMeIn, VNC Connect, and many others. I ultimately installed ConnectWise as a self-hosted solution, based on the incredible list of features and capabilities, and the pricing at the time. I continue to use the product as it is still one of the best solutions out there and is certainly capable of growing and expanding to meet the needs of my business.
Read full review
N-able
Our version of SolarWinds was old and running on old hardware, but it was way easier to setup and do things with. It did not do everything N-able does such as patch management, or at least we didn't have a module to do so if one existed. However it definitely seemed easier to use and possibly more stable.
Read full review
Scalability
ConnectWise
I have used multiple remote desktop support software in the past (Bomgar, Team Viewer, Logmein and Join.me) and this is far the easiest of the bunch to use. It is very easy to create a session and easy to maintain remote desktops from their access view (where you install the software and can get in at any time) I highly recommend this product from ConnectWise!
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N-able
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
ConnectWise
  • Instead of waiting 30+ seconds to initiate sessions, they initiate and display a desktop in two or three seconds. The amount of frustration this avoids is immeasurable.
  • Once installed it doesn't need more handholding, i.e., having the remote enter a username/password. It is always just there.
Read full review
N-able
  • We have lost hundreds of hours on the phone/emailing support with no resolution for any of our issues
  • We had to move all of our services away which was very painful
  • Staff satisfaction was low having to deal with this company
Read full review
ScreenShots

ScreenConnect Screenshots

Screenshot of the guest page, where end-users enter a code to join a session with a technicianScreenshot of connecting from a Windows machine to a macOS machineScreenshot of the Extension Marketplace, where administrators can install and configure new features and integrationsScreenshot of the Access view of the Host page, where a technician can connect to unattended machinesScreenshot of the toolbox menu, which allows technicians to store and run executables, scripts, and other frequently-used filesScreenshot of the Host page, where a command can be run directly without connecting to the machine

N-able N-central Screenshots

Screenshot of N-able N-central DashboardScreenshot of Remote desktop access with Take Control