KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) vs. SysAid

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
KACE Systems Management Appliance
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Quest now offers the KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) as an IT Asset tracking and management appliance (also available as a virtual deployment if hardware requirements are met). Beyond discovery, inventory tracking and license management, KACE emphasizes automating software upgrade distribution with minimal end-user disruption, featuring remote replication for multi-site upgrades and rollouts. KACE SMA may be bundled with KACE Cloud Mobile Device Management (MDM) to form a complete UEM…N/A
SysAid
Score 8.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
SysAid is presented as comprehensive ITSM platform with generative AI baked into every element of service management. With a fully conversational experience wrapped into the UI, SysAid aims to empower organizations to unleash their full potential for productivity.N/A
Pricing
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
KACE Systems Management ApplianceSysAid
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional DetailsSysAid Copilot is available as an add-on for any plan. It bakes generative AI into every aspect of service management.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
IT Asset Management
Comparison of IT Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
8.6
12 Ratings
12% above category average
SysAid
-
Ratings
Software and hardware inventory tracking10.012 Ratings00 Ratings
License management9.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset lifecycle monitoring8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract management6.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset relationship management10.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
SysAid
8.4
154 Ratings
3% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.7154 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.0123 Ratings
Service restoration00 Ratings8.1106 Ratings
Self-service tools00 Ratings8.7148 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings7.9110 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.7123 Ratings
ITSM reports and dashboards00 Ratings8.7132 Ratings
ITSM asset management
Comparison of ITSM asset management features of Product A and Product B
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
SysAid
8.2
135 Ratings
0% above category average
Configuration mangement00 Ratings8.1126 Ratings
Asset management dashboard00 Ratings8.3132 Ratings
Policy and contract enforcement00 Ratings8.289 Ratings
Change management
Comparison of Change management features of Product A and Product B
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
-
Ratings
SysAid
8.5
123 Ratings
2% above category average
Change requests repository00 Ratings8.6114 Ratings
Change calendar00 Ratings8.094 Ratings
Service-level management00 Ratings8.8116 Ratings
Best Alternatives
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
Small Businesses
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Score 7.9 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.3 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.3 out of 10
Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(12 ratings)
8.7
(156 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(15 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(3 ratings)
8.8
(41 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(4 ratings)
9.1
(51 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(8 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(13 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.1
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(8 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)SysAid
Likelihood to Recommend
Quest
I think it has added value for any organization. It reduced our Tech Support cost by: -Supporting users anywhere -Reducing users downtime as well keep them informed with the status of their tickets -Managing software and hardware actively -Processing automation -deploy mass software installs, patching or updates - Provide approved software's to users to install without IT help
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SysAid Technologies
SysAid has been great in our management of handling tickets within our Helpdesk but has also allowed us to include other departments. Having work flows has helped us with onboarding and setting up approval process for phones and computers, along with auto prompting end user with additional required info for requests and incidents minimizing the back and forth communication for basic info.
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Pros
Quest
  • Inventory: KACE provides a ton of hardware and software inventory information that is easy to search, filter, and export. This is critical when we need to find the answers to questions about how many of such and such we have in our fleet.
  • Patch Management: We were using WSUS before and it was altogether too cumbersome. KACE has given us the power, flexibility, and verification we need to feel comfortable our patches are up-to-date.
  • Service Queue: We made KACE our help desk system and it does everything we need it to do. Great improvement over our old system.
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SysAid Technologies
  • Email integration. End-users can interact with the ticketing system exclusively through email, and admins can message exclusively within a ticket. All communications are linked directly to user accounts including SysAid admin accounts.
  • Ticket management is very customizable. You can add categories, statuses, action and communication automation, ticket sorting, and much more.
  • knowledge base links directly to tickets, so repeat issues are easy to solve.
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Cons
Quest
  • The KACE SMA needs a better way to handle different roles in the software so certain users can access or administrate certain parts of the software, but not the entire software installation.
  • The KACE SMA could improve the ticketing process of projects. The aspects of the title and some information do not always flow down from the parent ticket to its child tickets.
  • The KACE SMA could improve the UI of the software with the addition of different CSS color schemes.
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SysAid Technologies
  • There are still issues with how well the cloud version of SysAid performs. It can be slow at times. It can be offline every so often (very rarely).
  • There is a lot to learn with this solution so reaching out to their Support is crucial.
  • Cost. This is not the cheapest solution and cost is not an issue for us, but it might be for some companies. I think it is very reasonably priced and you get what you pay for.
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Likelihood to Renew
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
Having personally used SysAid for the past 10 years or so, when it was still in its infancy, the trajectory of its improvement and the pricing, there is no doubt that it will be soon an overall market leader, because whilst there other services with options that SysAid doesn't have or haven't mastered, they come at [an] eye-watering price, and in my comparison, for up to 300% more.
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Usability
Quest
Overall, the software is simple to understand and use. That said, most vendors have been slowly updating their user interfaces to HTML5 so that they have a clean updated look and feel. This is where KACE falls short in that the UI is great for a packaged software 10 years ago. This isn't a major limitation as the software is really meant primarily for technology users.
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SysAid Technologies
SysAid is easy to use and configure. There are some technical components to the configuration, but their implementation of the SysAid system allows for easy self-service. There was only one time that SysAid could not provide a solution to my direct need. We quickly found a workaround. The issue was integration with Microsoft Office 365 when it was first released. The connection between SysAid and Outlook was problematic. It was not long before SysAid had resolved the issue and provided that integration.
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Reliability and Availability
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
Ha habido pocas veces que no ha estado disponible pero siempre avisan con antelación cuando el servicio no estará activo por una situación controlada
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Performance
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
No, In my company it is integrated with the Control-M and when ever we receive any incident of the control M console, we receive a ticket at the same time on SysAid
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Support Rating
Quest
KACE does exactly what you need it to do, it maintains your computer environment. You can set patch schedules, inventory computers, setup software catalogs; basically everything you need to ensure the computers on your network are being actively managed. This is all with little need for constant configuration or updating the setup.
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SysAid Technologies
I have had nothing but positive experiences working with the SysAid support team. There are multiple pathways to request and receive support, which are all connected with each other. I get an efficient and effective response most of the time and when there is not immediately a good answer, they create a support request to follow up for resolution.
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In-Person Training
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
My team was greatly assisted and trained well. Despite the time zone difference the trainer made every effort to be available during times that were suitable for us and the assistance and help offered was extremely appreciated by my team. A wonderful experience by the team.
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Online Training
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
Training was well structure and delivered. Questions were thoroughly answered and any issues we had were provided with support and help.
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Implementation Rating
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
In the initial stage we implement separate SysAid servers for head and branch offices. When we managed to link up our offices via point to point VPN, we manage to console them into one server. All the assets and devices on branch office were divert back to the server in head office
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Alternatives Considered
Quest
We have selected this software because it rolls several different systems into one. We have a helpdesk system with this and an asset and inventory management system as well. We pay one price for the whole system instead of paying multiple companies different amounts that would have totaled more than we pay for the single system.
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SysAid Technologies
SysAid, compared to other helpdesk software, was reasonably cost-effective; they provided seamless integrations and were willing to redesign the software to meet our needs. One of their current features that is winning with my organization is the SysAid bot. This is a great idea, and we hope that in the future, we will be able to customize this to our organization's needs.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
When we purchase it, the plans were different and mainly we acquired lifetime licenses. in the past year, we migrated to the cloud version. In both cases, the pricing structure was accurate, although they could provide some extra flexibility to pay for exactly what we need in the business.
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Scalability
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
Le doy esta calificación porque los módulos que contiene se pueden usar para casi cualquier departamento, tanto gestión de tickets como inventarios de equipos, hemos utilizado una versión gratuita en Ingeniería para gestionar sus tiempos en las tareas asignadas, es lo único que utilizan pero podrían usar fácilmente el módulo de inventario para su herramienta y el módulo de proyectos también
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Professional Services
Quest
No answers on this topic
SysAid Technologies
Professional services is just that professional, i have had the opportunity to use this service on several occasions, a technical issue comes up, i made an appointment for one hour and i am contacted at the required time, the representative that hold of my system and goes through the problem while i look on so its also a learning process
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Return on Investment
Quest
  • KACE has saved us from having to spend several days of employee hours in crafting DVDs and duplicating them (100+ DVDs)
  • KACE has saved us on the postage required to send out those DVDs for every update (monthly) to all of our customers electronically
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SysAid Technologies
  • How easy it is to configure the app to our existing ITIL process. The ability to pick what services we would like to have as well as the ability to integrate using API as well as the marketplace.
  • Intuitive interface. Integration to Outlook. Easy reporting.
  • It has a very user-friendly interface and effective management capabilities.
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ScreenShots

SysAid Screenshots

Screenshot of IT Ticketing DashboardScreenshot of AI ChatbotScreenshot of Ticket JourneyScreenshot of Workflow DesignerScreenshot of Monitor & Fine TuningScreenshot of AI Case Summarization