Product Comparison: RMM Software 2016
By The Business Solutions Network
Which RMM is right for you? We compared eight of today’s leading platforms to accelerate your decision making.
It’s been a few years since we conducted our first product review and comparison. In the time since, our methods have been refined, and the pools of products have grown. In last year’s comparison of RMM solutions, we reviewed five offerings. This year, we have eight products in our lineup:
- Autotask Endpoint Management
- AVG Managed Workplace
- Comodo ONE
- ConnectWise LabTech
- Continuum
- LOGICnow
- N-able by Solarwinds
- Vigilix
DataMAPt and Kaseya were invited to participate, but declined. Two interesting additions to this year’s comparison are Comodo and Vigilix. Comodo, known for Internet security and being the current leader when it comes to issuing SSL certificates, has a free RMM, service desk, and patch management offering, Comodo ONE. This is the only free product in our lineup. Vigilix stands apart as the only product designed specifically for one market, the point of sale space. We’ll get more into what that means later in the article.
NOC Services
Time and time again, we’ve heard from MSPs (managed services providers) how valuable and important NOC (network operations center) services are to their businesses. Of the products in this evaluation, we have a mix of NOC offerings. Autotask, Comodo, LOGICnow, and Vigilix do not offer NOC services. AVG’s NOC services are provided by AVG itself with support by third-party vendors. Its NOC locations are in North America, the United Kingdom, and the Nordics. ConnectWise has its NOC located in Canada. Continuum’s NOC offering relies on a third party located in India, while N-able also uses a third party with locations in the U.K. and North America.
Pricing is all over the board, with most vendors preferring to not disclose the exact cost. AVG shared that the company offers two levels of NOC and help- desk services, with prices starting from $2.75 per device per month. As with last year, Continuum is the only RMM provider that includes NOC services for no additional cost — a clear differentiator.
Agent vs. Agentless
In case you’re new to these solutions, to monitor network devices, RMM tools can either use agents (small programs that capture key metrics and report back to a central host), are agentless, or use a combination of both. Generally speaking, agentless monitoring is like a probe that hunts around the network looking for information on the network. It’s sufficient at capturing basic information, but when you need more detailed information such as bios version, service tags numbers, and warranty details, agents provide the additional functionality to get the job done.
Autotask, AVG, ConnectWise, LOGICnow, and N-able all offer both meth- ods of monitoring. The others offer agents alone. None of the products in this review are agentless only, as we’d expect from tools of this caliber.
Pricing
Autotask Endpoint Management — Autotask charges a single monthly charge per device, which is the same regardless of device type and includes the full range of RMM functionality. There are no hidden extras and no additional modules that cost more.
AVG Managed Workplace — Per device subscription.
Comodo ONE — As mentioned earlier, Comodo ONE has the distinction of being a free tool for IT solutions providers. The product includes Comodo Remote monitoring/management, service desk, and patch management.
ConnectWise LabTech — LabTech offers tiered agent-based pricing. More agents equate to a lower per-agent cost. There is a minimum 12-month commitment, with reduced pricing for longer commitments (e.g., 24 or 36 months). Additionally, there is no difference in pricing between servers and nonservers.
Continuum — Continuum partners will need to meet a $250 per month minimum, but beyond that there are no limitations or long-term contracts. Pricing is done on a per-agent basis and billed month-to-month. Partners can choose from three different server care levels, which offer varying degrees of NOC support.
LOGICnow — LOGICnow’s pricing structure is per device. The company charges you for the number of devices and additional features you are using per month along with a monthly platform fee. The company stresses that they will not force you to purchase any licenses that you are not going to use.
N-able by Solarwinds — Undisclosed minimum commitment, but completely a la carte.
Vigilix — The pricing structure for Vigilix is based on the volume of agents and modules active during any given month. Because Vigilix is for teams that support POS (point of sale) solutions, the company has pricing that reflects a scenario where there are high-impact back office systems that need to be monitored with lower impact terminals and other devices that are less mission-critical. Vigilix’ representative explains that while the company works with each customer individually on their ramp-up plan and schedule, they have found success in requiring a minimum up-front commitment, with incentives, to deploy the solution to 25 or more locations. Once the first six months are complete, the model will shift to paying only for actual usage based on where and what functionality is enabled.
Other Notes, Special Features, And Functions
Autotask Endpoint Management — Autotask’s strategy seems to be to keep it simple with its Endpoint Management platform. While the solution incorporates the full spectrum of RMM capability — audit, monitoring, management, remote support, and reporting — there are no additional baked-in features such as antivirus. Rather, like many other RMM providers, the company is relying on integrations between its software and antivirus and BDR (backup disaster recovery) solutions. That said, Autotask Endpoint Management does include a screen-share technology, called Splashtop, to give MSPs remote control of end-user desktops.
AVG Managed Workplace — AVG also has a remote control function at no additional cost, which can reduce an MSP’s expenses if they’re already paying for a remote control tool. Other notable additions since last year’s review include integrated backup and disaster recovery, AVG Device Manager for Mac OS X (monitoring and management for roaming Mac OS X laptops), and integrated antivirus enhancements (methods to prevent unauthorized modification or removal of antivirus by end users).
Comodo ONE — The free Comodo solution includes service desk, inventory management, patch management, mobile device management, mobile application management, security management, local and cloud backup, and quote management.
ConnectWise LabTech — ScreenConnect enhancements in LabTech now support Mac agents and allow for control of access modes and deployment exclusions. Web Control Center now uses free integrated ScreenConnect Remote Access for LabTech users and end users and allows for integration of ScreenConnect Remote Support. In addition, ConnectWise has added LabTech Ignite Management Packs, which provide preconfigured out-of-the-box monitoring solutions for database, Web/proxy, and email/messaging servers.
Continuum — One of Continuum’s biggest benefits has to be its free NOC service. Continuum says its platform comes preconfigured to start diagnosing issues immediately, and the NOC resolves up to 90 percent of alerts generated, helping partners significantly reduce day-to-day maintenance of the platform and cut back on ticket and alert volume. Needless to say, such a situation would allow you to focus on growth and strategic initiatives.
LOGICnow — The LOGICnow RMM product gives you access to a suite of solutions, including antivirus, unattended remote access (Take Control), patch management (Microsoft and third party), Web protection, managed online backup, app/services control, mobile device management, MAX Risk Intelligence, MAX Backup, MAX Mail, and MAX Service Desk.
N-able by Solarwinds — Antivirus, patch management, and backup services are all integrated into the N-central platform. In January 2016, the company released N-central 10.1. The new version features integration with SolarWinds N-able MSP Manager, the company’s born-in-the-cloud IT service management platform. Beyond the integration with MSP Manager, N-central 10.1 offers a number of additional enhancements.
Vigilix — While the other platforms included in this comparison might very well meet your needs, Vigilix holds the distinction of a 100 percent focus on POS. In addition to remote monitoring, data collection, and automation critical to teams trying to support POS systems, Vigilix provides a remote access solution called POS-Connect (designed to allow the merchant to be able to check all the boxes required for PCI-compliant remote access), an offsite cloud-based backup solution, and features for POS-specific challenges (for example, helping manage file transfers between stores and home office for centrally managed item and menu solutions).
Conclusion
There are no winners in this comparison. That was never our intent. Rather, the best option for you is going to come down to your specific needs and those of your customers. You might really need support for Mac or an on-premises install, or maybe free NOC services are a must-have. This article can serve as your initial bit of research. From here, you’d be wise to speak with peers about what they’re using.