Your company needs new IT management software.
Maybe you’re a small business or an IT professional.
You’ve heard about two popular choices: Atera and Microsoft Intune.
But which one is right for your needs? This can be a real headache.
You worry about picking the wrong tool and wasting time and money.
It’s a common problem.
In this article, we’ll compare Atera vs Intune to determine which one best fits your needs.
This will make your choice much easier.
Overview
We’ve extensively tested both Atera and Intune.
Our goal was to see how they work in real-world situations.
This hands-on experience helped us create a fair and useful comparison for you.
Ready to see how Atera’s cutting-edge AI can transform your IT operations and save you money? Join the 1000s of businesses already benefiting.
Pricing: It has a free plan. Paid plan starts at $129/month
Key Features:
- Get top-tier Remote Monitoring
- AI Agents
- Seamless Patch Management
- Smart Ticketing & Helpdesk
Intune offers a powerful suite of features. Learn more about how its MDM and endpoint security can benefit your business. Click here to read the full comparison!
Pricing: It has a free trial. Custom quote available.
Key Features:
- Mobile Device Management
- Conditional Access
- Endpoint Security
What is Atera?
Atera is an all-in-one IT management platform.
It’s built for both Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and internal IT teams.
It combines tools for remote monitoring, helpdesk, and professional services automation.
Atera’s focus is on making IT work simple and efficient.
It’s a single platform for all your IT needs.
Our Take
Experience Atera for yourself! Join over 13,000 customers in 120+ countries. Reduce tickets by 35% with AI Copilot.
Key Benefits
- Boost team productivity by 11-13 hours each week on average.
- Achieve a 97% patch success rate for secure systems.
- Handle 6 million devices with ease.
- Generate scripts with AI Copilot that are 90% accurate.
- Resolve 50% of tickets automatically.
Pricing
Atera offers a free trial and a range of pricing options. Here is the breakdown:
- MSP Pro Plan: Starting at $129 per month
- MSP Growth Plan: $179/month
- MSP Power Plan: $209 per month
- MSP Superpower Plan: Contact for pricing.
- IT Department Professional Plan: Starts at $149/month
- IT Department Expert Plan: $189/month
- IT Department Master Plan: $219/month
- IT Department Enterprise Plan: Contact for pricing.
Pros
Cons
What is Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management solution.
It’s part of the larger Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
This tool helps you manage devices and applications.
It works on corporate-owned devices and personal devices (BYOD).
The goal is to keep your company’s data safe while letting people be productive.
Our Take
Take control of your endpoints. Unify device management and security with Microsoft Intune. Get started with a free trial today!
Key Benefits
Intune’s biggest strength is its deep integration with the Microsoft world. If your business already uses Microsoft products, Intune fits right in. Its core benefits focus on security and control.
- Unified Endpoint Management: Manage devices across all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
- Conditional Access: Enforce security policies that require devices to meet certain conditions before accessing company data.
- Endpoint Security: Protect devices with strong security features and seamless integration with Microsoft Defender.
- Mobile Application Management (MAM): Securely manage applications and company data on devices, even if they aren’t fully enrolled.
Pricing
Intune is available in a few different plans. Its pricing is per user, per month. This model works well if you have many devices per user.
- Intune Plan 2: $4.00/user per month.
- Intune Plan 1: $8.00/user per month.
- Intune Suite: $10.00/user per month.
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
When choosing an IT management solution, a side-by-side comparison is essential.
We have put both Atera and Intune through their paces to see how they perform.
Here is our detailed breakdown of their key features.
1. AI-Driven Automation
Atera stands out with its AI features that assist both technicians and end-users.
- Atera features IT Autopilot and AI Copilot. IT Autopilot is an autonomous IT agent that proactively resolves common issues without human intervention. This can include tasks like clearing disk space or rebooting a system. AI Copilot is a smart assistant for technicians, helping them draft SQL commands or summarize tickets. This frees up the technician to focus on more complex issues.
- Microsoft Intune also has some automation capabilities, primarily through policy-based management and scripts. While it can automate device configuration and app deployment, it lacks a comparable autonomous IT agent, such as IT Autopilot, or an AI assistant like AI Copilot to assist technicians with their daily tasks.
2. Remote Monitoring & Management
Atera’s core strength is its all-in-one RMM platform. It’s built to give you a single pane of glass for everything.
- Atera offers a full RMM solution. It provides proactive monitoring of your IT environment and a robust ticketing system for support. Atera users get a comprehensive view of their entire network. This helps them manage devices, assets, and alerts all in one place.
- Microsoft Intune focuses more on Unified Endpoint Management (UEM). It’s designed to manage macOS devices, Windows, and mobile endpoints from the cloud. Its primary goal is to enforce security policies and application access rather than full-scale RMM.
3. Security & Endpoint Protection
Security is a top priority for any organization. Both solutions offer protection, but in different ways.
- Atera offers a powerful security service and integrates with leading third-party security vendors. It helps protect your IT infrastructure from online attacks. If an admin is troubleshooting an issue where a user is unable to access a website, they might find a Cloudflare ray ID in the error logs. Atera’s tools can help them track and resolve the problem. The system will detect if a specific action has triggered the security solution, supporting the admin in quickly identifying why the user’s connection was blocked.
- Microsoft Intune is a robust security solution in its own right. It is deeply integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem, including Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Intune can use conditional access to block a user if they are unable to access a specific application or fill out a form. The system might show a Cloudflare Ray that was detected. This helps the IT team manage access based on device health and compliance. The system may have been triggered by an SQL command or malformed data to protect the network.
4. Patch Management
Keeping software updates current is crucial for security. Both platforms help you manage patches.
- Atera offers automated and customizable patch management for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This helps you deploy security updates and patches for third-party applications. It streamlines the entire process, so you don’t have to apply every patch manually. Atera’s automation can be set to run on a schedule, or a specific event can trigger it.
- Microsoft Intune can also handle software deployment and patch management, especially within the Windows ecosystem. Its integration with Windows Autopatch provides an automated, cloud-based approach to keeping systems up-to-date. However, managing patches for non-Windows devices can be less straightforward.
5. Troubleshooting & Diagnostics
Quickly diagnosing and resolving issues is a core part of IT management.
- Atera provides powerful remote access and diagnostic tools. If an admin sees that a user is unable to access a website, the logs might show a cloudflare ray id found with a blocked status. They can use Atera to investigate this issue remotely. This allows them to see the user’s screen and resolve the problem quickly. If they believe a certain word or phrase might be the cause, they can communicate with the site owner to let them know.
- Microsoft Intune relies on its deep system insights to troubleshoot issues. It can tell you why a device is non-compliant or why an application failed to install. For a blocked user, an admin might see an error with a Cloudflare Ray ID in the logs. They can use this information to determine if a security policy was triggered. The admin can then adjust the policy if it was blocking a harmless action.
6. Configuration & Policy Management
Both platforms allow you to enforce settings and policies across devices.
- Atera offers robust configuration options for managing devices and automating tasks. Its policy management is flexible, allowing Atera users to create custom rules and scripts. They can set up profiles to ensure that specific actions, such as new software deployments, are performed at a certain time.
- Microsoft Intune is a master of policy management. It’s designed to enforce device and application policies based on compliance rules. For example, it can require that all macOS devices have a password or that a specific app is installed. The platform is excellent for ensuring a consistent and secure configuration across a large number of endpoints.
7. Ecosystem & Integrations
The value of these platforms is often tied to how well they integrate with other tools.
- Atera is an all-in-one tool, but it also offers integrations with many popular third-party applications. This allows IT teams to extend their functionality as needed. The platform is designed for a broad range of use cases and is not tied to a single vendor.
- Microsoft Intune allows it to work seamlessly with Azure Active Directory. This provides a bridge between Atera’s RMM and Microsoft’s identity management. Intune is a native part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This means it works perfectly with Azure AD, Windows, and Office applications.
What to look for when choosing an IT Management Platform?
When choosing a platform, consider these points to ensure the best fit for your team.
- Mobile Functionality: Ensure the platform provides robust support for managing mobile devices and offers full remote access for technicians working on the go.
- User Interface (UI): Look for an easy-to-use interface that provides granular control without being overly complex or clunky.
- Ecosystem Compatibility: Make sure the platform has seamless integration with the tools you already use, especially microsoft products, to avoid disrupting your existing workflow.
- Reporting: The platform should provide clear, actionable insights and reporting on your IT environment, helping you make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Final Verdict
In our deep dive, both platforms showed clear strengths.
However, we found Atera to be the better choice for most IT professionals.
Its all-in-one approach and per-technician pricing make it easy to scale.
You get a full RMM and ticketing system in a single tool.
The Atera Microsoft integration works well, but Atera’s focus is on being a complete solution on its own.
With Atera, you can proactively resolve issues, like when a user’s ip address is blocked because of a security service to protect your network.
You can quickly see the actions that could trigger this block, including submitting a certain word or trying to phrase a sql command.
This kind of specific event is a real-world problem.
If this block was performed triggered by the security solution, you need to know why.
In these cases, Atera’s AI features truly shine, helping you get to the bottom of it faster.
You can use its tools to quickly email the site owner and resolve the issue.
We prefer Atera for its efficiency and its powerful AI features like IT Autopilot and AI Copilot, which help automate a lot of your work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Atera and Intune?
Atera is an all-in-one RMM solution for IT professionals and MSPs. It combines monitoring, a helpdesk, and automation. Intune is a Microsoft-focused UEM solution. Its main purpose is to manage devices and applications within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Can I use Atera and Intune together?
Yes. Many businesses use both. Atera can handle your RMM tasks, and Intune can enforce security and compliance policies. This lets you get the best of both platforms. You might even find that some functions, like agent deployment, can be automated between the two.
What about pricing?
Atera’s pricing is per-technician, which means you can manage unlimited devices for a fixed fee. Intune’s pricing is per-user, per-month. Atera’s model is often more predictable and can be more cost-effective for teams with a high number of devices per technician.
How does each platform handle security threats?
Each platform has a different approach. Intune is a powerful security service to protect your endpoints. Atera not only helps protect itself from online threats but also provides a full suite of tools to investigate issues. For example, if a user downloads a malicious file, Atera’s monitoring tools help you identify and stop the threat.
Why was I blocked from a website?
Your security system may have performed triggered the security solution to block you. Several actions that could cause this block, such as trying to access a restricted site. This is a safety measure using a security service to protect your network. If you believe this was an error, contact your IT administrator.
