Microsoft System Center vs. Pulseway

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft System Center
Score 8.2 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
Pulseway
Score 8.9 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Pulseway is an IT monitoring and management solution that enables users to monitor, manage and control all systems and servers from a smartphone, tablet or browser. For system administrators, Pulseway sends a notification, so they can see an issue and sort it in seconds. Pulseway features: Automation: Auto-remediation workflows, so that IT issues are fixed before users even notice them. Mobile Access: Customers can monitor, manage, connect with…
$0.80
per month per installation
Pricing
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Editions & Modules
Standard Edition
$1323
Datacenter Edition
$3607
Enterprise
$0.80
per month per installation
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—No hidden fees or contracts. Term-based discounts.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Considered Both Products
Microsoft System Center
Chose Microsoft System Center
The versatility of the suite of application provided by the Microsoft experience center was way above the other competitors , it helped gained leverage over the other products in the market . That why we made the decision of choosing Microsoft system center as a infrastructure …
Pulseway
Chose Pulseway
Pulseway has the most features, the best looking app with the best design and better usability than any others we evaluated. We liked the uniformity of the app design across all platforms (Windows, Android, Apple) and the notifications displayed on each platform. The price was …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
Score 7.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(20 ratings)
8.0
(12 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.6
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft System CenterPulseway
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
We used a product before that was designed to prevent users making changes and saving files to the desktop computer. This required a renewal of the license. By using SCCM in our environment we were able to discontinue using that product because SCCM allows us to completely restore a machine back to the original configuration. We have taught our users to save their individual work on either a network drive or a cloud drive. By doing this, if we do a re-image of their machine they have lost no data, and it makes for a faster resolution. In some instances having a computer in our SCCM environment it can become cumbersome when creating new users for very specific purposes. It can be done by creating new organizational units and applying new policies but when in a pinch it can be frustrating. For the most part we have tried to make "new" purpose images and groups to at least accommodate a quick install.
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Pulseway
If you have to manage a large number of computers, especially spread over multiple clients or a large physical area. This is one of the main products that allows us to act as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and actually manage our clients devices and not just react to issues as clients call them in. Clients really love the proactive approach it allows us to take.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • Provides our users the ability to deploy and manage our own datacenter based on defined software with understandable solutions for storage, compute, networking and security.
  • We are able to update at once all the computers from all departments without having to install the OS on every computer.
  • It allows us to have everything in one place for database management and datacenter inspection as well.
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Pulseway
  • It monitors computers and notifies us of any issues with any computer.
  • It allows remote control of computers, such as requesting a computer to reboot itself.
  • It is very highly configurable to monitor exactly what we need to monitor. For example, on server, we can have it notify us any time the server is shutdown or rebooted. On the other hand, for a desktop computer, we don't have to be bothered with notifications when a user decides to reboot his computer.
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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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Pulseway
  • It would be nice if they increased their scope of supported third-party apps.
  • It would be great if they would create an ios app for their ticket system.
  • If they could possibly build in a location service for tracking devices, that would be helpful.
  • If they had two-factor authentication, it would be nice.
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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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Pulseway
Pulseway is very user friendly. The system is labeled in terms and grouped together by function so that anyone can understand and locate the functions that they need. We use this system to monitor a file server that we have that can have an unstable power supply. This allows us to easily see that the system is offline and get it back to operational with minimal downtime.
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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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Pulseway
I haven't really needed much support for Pulseway, so I can't really say a whole lot about their support. Pulseway has been pretty much trouble-free for us. There are regular updates and new features. The updates never seem to break anything or cause problems. It just works.
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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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Pulseway
Pulseway has the most features, the best looking app with the best design and better usability than any others we evaluated. We liked the uniformity of the app design across all platforms (Windows, Android, Apple) and the notifications displayed on each platform. The price was a major contributor to our selection of Pulseway compared to the competition.
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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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Pulseway
  • Problems can be dealt with more rapidly because I have access to systems from anywhere. I don't have to carry a computer with me nor do I have to find a location with potentially non-secure wifi to gain access to my systems.
  • I can handle 99% of my system admin tasks using Pulseway and never have to touch a system or connect to the console.
  • Pulseway gives so much control over a system that I don't need to spend extra money on other software to perform management tasks.
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ScreenShots

Pulseway Screenshots

Screenshot of Cross-device functionalityScreenshot of Auto-Remediate IT IssuesScreenshot of Visibility Across the Entire NetworkScreenshot of Remote Control to Any SystemScreenshot of Systems and Application patchingScreenshot of Detailed Custom Report