Microsoft System Center vs. PDQ Deploy & Inventory

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft System Center
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft System Center Suite is a family of IT management software for network monitoring, updating and patching, endpoint protection with anti-malware, data protection and backup, ITIL- structured IT service management, remote administration and more. It is available in two editions: standard and datacenter. Datacenter provides unlimited virtualization for high density private clouds, while standard is for lightly or non-virtualized private cloud workloads.
$1,323
per month
PDQ Deploy & Inventory
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
PDQ.com headquartered in Salt Lake City offers PDQ Deploy, a software deployment tool used to keep Windows PCs up-to-date without bothering end users.
$1,575
per year per user
Pricing
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Editions & Modules
Standard Edition
$1323
Datacenter Edition
$3607
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPDQ was built by entrepreneurs & educators. Small businesses (<50 employees), nonprofits, and schools enjoy a 15% discount.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Best Alternatives
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

Action1
Action1
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

Action1
Action1
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

GitLab
GitLab
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(21 ratings)
9.7
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft System CenterPDQ Deploy & Inventory
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
For companies with more than 10 Windows devices and needing to standardize the OS, AV, access, share resources, and install software. SCCM is the way to go. This software is unnecessary if the business is all remote users and not in an office-type setting. There are cloud offerings or none to accomplish what a business needs.
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PDQ
PDQ Inventory is great if you have a local network of computers on or off a domain. As long as you have a way to log into them with common credentials. Great for large organizations, particularly ones interconnected with VPNs. PDQ Inventory isn't so great for PCs that aren't connected to the same LAN the server is on. (i.e. non-vpn remote users) They used to have a remote agent you could install, but it was removed after numerous issues.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • Allows the grouping of devices by user.
  • Allows controlling updates being deployed to user devices.
  • Allows for the repurposing of machines by being able to load new or updated software on machines that already are in the system.
  • Allows us the ability to wipe a machine clean and restore it back to the configuration that was assigned the machine.
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PDQ
  • Push out new software
  • Push out Updates to current software
  • Push out patches and updates that we don't have other ways to push out
  • Keep end-users updated with little involvement
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Needs web based storefront for requesting new software
  • Needs ability to manage the packaging work flow better
  • Sometimes is slow to download and there is no indication the entire catalog is being loaded, resulting in confused users not being able to find common software in the available list.
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PDQ
  • As good as there email support is.. would like a live operator option
  • Some updates are hard to understand when 5 versions of the same program exist
  • Thats about it, PDQ deploy is the best out there
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
PDQ
PDQ is very useful and one of the tools that we use a lot.
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Usability
Microsoft
It is not user-friendly for the most part. With IT infrastructure, sometimes it cannot handle excess requests. Every few months, you will need an upgrade in terms of server resources to keep up with incoming alerts and requests. This does not happen all of the time, but it does happen when there are too many requests.
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PDQ
Logical - If I want to do something with the software, it is quite clear on how I need to go about that. There isn't some weird process that is proprietary to just that vendor and is counterintuitive. What I want to see is displayed with just a couple clicks.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
If I had to dislike something about the system it would be how much it changes once you upgrade. This could be more of a problem of mine since I get used to one way and don't like it when it changes so much. I am enjoying the newest update, but it is a mess when you are actually going through the upgrades.
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PDQ
The built-in help menus and general ease of use render whatever systems support there might be almost irrelevant. There is stability in the system's simplicity; if you're in the position to use such a product, you're your own best friend. Simple web searches more often than not turn up the solution to any little niggles, such as what silent install switches specific applications require (a remarkably wide choice of options exist). System updates are timely and unobtrusive, installing in no time at all. Maybe I've just been lucky; if so, long may it continue!
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
We previously used a mix of FOG and Clonezilla to image machines. The biggest issues with these products is that changing one piece of the image required you to rebuild the entire image itself. These pieces of software also did not allow you to manage applications and Windows Updates, causing IT to have to constantly touch machines after they were imaged and update or manage them with a much more hands on approach.
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PDQ
This software was referred to us by an IT professional. Previously, we were installing the software with the help of remote desktop applications but it was very time consuming; it was wasting the user's time since he could not use his computer. After testing PDQ Deploy, we just never looked back.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • We have been able to automate our patch management, firmware and other security concerns.
  • We have a standardized "image" ensuring our setup is consistent across the enterprise. This alone has saved us in time to support and time to understand how to use our desktops.
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PDQ
  • Speed of deployment is very positive for new software setup, saving hours of testing and deployment locally
  • Made patching for large computer estate very efficient, another positive for staff not having to spend hours of patching individual machines
  • Works well for small team of IT's and again makes various repetitive tasks much easier
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ScreenShots