Atera vs. HCL BigFix

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Atera
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Atera is presented as an Agentic AI platform for IT management, that offers a digital workforce of AI agents that proactively and autonomously support entire IT operations. Atera’s all-in-one IT management platform consolidates RMM, helpdesk, ticketing, and automation, so IT teams and MSPs can manage and protect infrastructure, automate tasks, and boost service quality by reducing downtime and improving SLAs. Atera has shifted focus from automation to AI-powered autonomy in IT. With…
$129
per month (billed annually) per user
HCL BigFix
Score 7.1 out of 10
N/A
BigFix, now supported by HCL Technologies since the acquisition of BigFix from IBM in 2018, is an endpoint management solution providing endpoint visibility and IT asset discovery, automated endpoint patching (BigFix Lifecycle and BigFix Patch) policy enforcement (BigFix Compliance), and software asset discovery for licensed and unlicensed software (BigFix Inventory).N/A
Pricing
AteraHCL BigFix
Editions & Modules
MSP - Pro
$129
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Professional
$149
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Growth
$179
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Expert
$189
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Power
$209
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Master
$219
per month (billed annually) per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AteraHCL BigFix
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsUnlimited devices.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AteraHCL BigFix
Considered Both Products
Atera
Chose Atera
Atera is well designed for remote monitoring and management purposes. The other tools, such as ManageEngine endpoint central, are more focused on managing the endpoints and applications, such as installation or removal of applications, and blocking or whitelisting applications.
A…
Chose Atera
We used Logmein for remote access and used another platform called Fresh Service for our ticketing. Logmein was okay but the ability for us to merge the two together, on top of all of the other features that Atera offers (reporting and monitoring!) has been game changing. We …
Chose Atera
I think Atera is the leader here. The aggressive pricing along with feature set is unparalleled in my opinion. They seem to be headed in the right direction and keep pushing the envelope in what the tool can do. The one thing lacking for me is the Apple integration into …
Chose Atera
Atera is very similar to Syncro in feature set and pricing, but we liked Atera just a bit better. (We switched from Atera to Syncro and then back to Atera, and have stuck with Atera for several years now.) Kaseya gave us bad vibes from their sales department and we ultimately …
Chose Atera
I also used other org suites, but Atera is the winner here. It offers services like IT service management, network monitoring, and billing. We get most of the service under one roof. Hence, Atera is the winner compared to other applications I have used.
Chose Atera
In my opinion, Datto is not a great company to partner with. In my experience, billing is crazy and when you call in for support you get sales.
Chose Atera
Atera Billing of per technician is a great way to save
Atera has 24/7 support that response in a matter of seconds
The Copilot that they have added recently is a game changer and will make anyone wants to associate themselves with Atera
Chose Atera
NinjaOne is a great tool for Remote management and patch management. However, Atera is more polished and gives better functionality for the end user side through things like work from home, and the support portal knowledge base. Also, when using NinjaOne, I don't remember there …
Chose Atera
ManageEngine Endpoint Central and GoTo Resolve
Chose Atera
Because Atera is a much more effective and efficient solution to manage all our IT operations, it automates each of our business processes. It offers us the best support to respond to any problem that may arise. I think Atera is much more cost-effective and reliable; its value …
Chose Atera
Comparison from ConnectWise and Autotask, Atera is more simplified, Cost effective and Integration RMM, PSA and automation features
Chose Atera
In my experience, Atera lured us in with the pricing per technician to try and save us money. They then proceeded to take features away and lock them behind higher-tiers. In addition, in my opinion, their customer support is atrocious. I think if you enjoy long times between …
Chose Atera
It is live in our organization and it works along with Atera in our organization, however I have more trust on Atera due to its stability and ruggedness, so Atera is the only choice most of the IT dept works on.
I would not comment on the ManageEngine PAM solution as I have less …
Chose Atera
The user interface is easier to navigate, and remote desktop capabilities for troubleshooting were the differentiating factor.
Chose Atera
Atera was very similar with Syncro but a bit more user friendly. There were a few features with Syncro I really liked that Atera does not have yet like custom reporting.
Chose Atera
Atera has so many features that are fully functional.
Atera is easy to use.
Chose Atera
Atera is way more user friendly , it has a smooth learning curve and the pricing is favorable. Atera also has a lot of features that make it superior. They even have additional features like the ticketing system that was a pleasant surprise to have. Overall Atera stands out at …
Chose Atera
Atera's pay-per-technician pricing just made sense for us. They don't nickel-and-dime either. NinjaOne, by contrast, was over twice as expensive to start out, but they wanted to charge extra just for a ticketing system and many other things.
Chose Atera
NinjaOne is a great platform but is simple overall versus Atera. Atera is so feature rich that it can be overwhelming at times but is worth the learning curve. Take time to go through the onboarding, reading the help articles, and even reaching out to support directly through …
Chose Atera
Atera pulls the best features from the above systems I have previous experience in and unites them in an All-in-one solution that simplifies and improves everyone's experience.
Chose Atera
Atera was the clear winner for us. The interface and tools were very easy to learn and setup. Atera's licensing incorporates good feature sets and value levels.

Some of the other products were difficult to setup and lacked good flow between tools. The value proposition was …
Chose Atera
In comparing Atera with similar products I've used or evaluated, like SolarWinds, ConnectWise, and Kaseya, Atera stands out for its user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness. While SolarWinds offers robust features, it can be overwhelming and pricey for smaller setups. …
Chose Atera
Atera was more cost effective, easy to deploy and had all the features and tools we needed. It's still a little rough around the edges but we can work around those considering its a fraction of the cost compared to others.
Chose Atera
This Year I started an IT company and was in need of monitoring and PSA software. In the past I've worked with Datto, Datto RMM and Ncentral so one of these would be a logical choice for me to choose. However their pricing is from a different world. For a starting company, …
HCL BigFix
Chose HCL BigFix
We have significantly enhanced our ability to patch desktops, including laptops, desktop, cloud, virtual machines and other mobile devices used by end-users. BigFix's endpoint management functionality allows us to seamlessly patch a wide range of operating systems, such as …
Chose HCL BigFix
The functionality seemed greater and the pricing was more advantageous for the firm at the time of purchase. The decision was made due to our business relationship with IBM, the demonstrations provided by several former users of BigFix and the expansive feature set that can be …
Chose HCL BigFix
We used Spiceworks in small scales. BigFix is more enterprise-ready and able to support a large environment like ours. It also offers functions that are not available in Spiceworks.
Chose HCL BigFix
Although it lacks the ability to deploy agentless scanning or patch deployments it makes up in its real-time data of devices do to the use of agents. Compared to our other patch management software Ivanti we believe that it fills the role of workstation management better than …
Features
AteraHCL BigFix
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Atera
10.0
Ratings
31% above category average
HCL BigFix
-
Ratings
Virtualization monitoring10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Discovery10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
9.4
Ratings
24% above category average
HCL BigFix
-
Ratings
Remote monitoring8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Network device monitoring9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Activity Monitoring10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
8.9
Ratings
18% above category average
HCL BigFix
-
Ratings
Patch Management8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based automation7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Access
Comparison of Remote Access features of Product A and Product B
Atera
7.8
Ratings
14% above category average
HCL BigFix
-
Ratings
Attended device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Unattended device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile device access1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Virtual device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple-display support7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple concurrent sessions9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
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User Ratings
AteraHCL BigFix
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AteraHCL BigFix
Likelihood to Recommend
Atera is doing well in the monitoring part as it is informing the real time ping of running devices and if any device goes down, it is informing us on the real time. It is helping us to monitor the last reboot status, current logged in users, time zone, IP addresses and other things so that we can track our end devices status. In the patching part Atera is pathing our all devices with the notification stating user to restart device at their convenient time. It is also patching our third party applications. It is good in installing and uninstalling of the third party application but limited to availability in the Atera inventory. Atera is not good in some parts such as in the patching part of applications, sometime it fails to update all 3rd party applications that were not installed via Atera. It is not good if you have to transfer a file to multiple systems at the same time.
Read full review
BigFix is well suited for patch review and deployment, but there are key features that can definitely be improved. An example is that if a specific patch is deployed, but a cumulative update that contains that patch is not deployed, the system still shows the patch as outstanding or not implemented. Another area for improvement is the customization of BigFix. The tool has many uses and can be extremely helpful, but the amount of knowledge required to customize the solution is significant and customized scripts or "fixlets" need to be created. If common things could be pre-packaged and provided to the customer community, it would allow for an easier deployment and use of the tool.
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Pros
  • Remoting in from anywhere, even on my phone or tablet, has enabled me to quickly diagnose, or even fully resolve, problems.
  • The ticketing, once users are set up, is a breeze. It also keeps everything in one place for them.
  • With Atera the need to travel on-site has been dramatically reduced.
Read full review
  • Custom patch packages are easy to set up and allows for use with a repository.
  • Asset management by use of agents is simple and allows for user assignment by the device.
  • Reporting has a large variety of templates.
Read full review
Cons
  • Some basic functions need some extra work
  • Some basic things are behind paywalls
  • Feature board is not credible. Ideas taking very, very long to implement
  • Atera has no clear road map
  • SNMP monitoring needs a make over and needs more options
Read full review
  • No console for macOS
  • No easy setup UI for macOS users
  • Patching can be complicated if you don't understand relevance
  • Patching can be complicated it you don't understand scripting
  • Could be better in helping with CIS Benchmarks
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
As of right now, we have found nothing that can offer as many features as Atera does along with the affordability. They are doing monthly releases each month and not just making small changes (shared scripting library, chocolatey support, Install packages, Splashtop SOS support, Scheduled tickets to name a few). The uptimes are great and accessibility to the dashboard has yet to be limited. We are a happy customer and bordering on fanboy status now
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Atera has a user-friendly interface that improves navigation. Support staff can quickly access real-time alerts and remote devices and manage tickets without much training. ​Atera’s usability has positively impacted our organization by increasing operational efficiency and improving response times to resolve issues.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Atera support provides answers to my questions lightning fast. They have never left me feeling like I'm out there on my own. I can ask questions by email, or by chat, or by opening a ticket with them and they are always on it quickly. They also have a forum where other Atera users can help you if you need it, and you can also add feature requests via the forum.
Read full review
While some support calls are quickly responded to, many times our engineers have been pointed to collaborative web sites such as Bigfix.me for solutions or the option of engaging professional services has been proposed. While this may seem like a good way to drive business, it is not seen as efficient a support process as could be provided to the customer base.
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Alternatives Considered
Atera is well designed for remote monitoring and management purposes. The other tools, such as ManageEngine Endpoint Central, are more focused on managing the endpoints and applications, such as installation or removal of applications, and blocking or whitelisting applications. Atera is well structured for core monitoring and management purposes. It works like a well designed monitoring tool and at the same time works as a well designed management tool. Price point of Atera is very low as compared to other applications and the main part is that it does not cost you for the number of devices it covered, instead it will cost you on the basis of admin licenses you have. You can have one license and under that you can manage thousands of devices. Apart from this, Atera has a lot of tools that are integrated with it, and they are really useful.
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We have significantly enhanced our ability to patch desktops, including laptops, desktop, cloud, virtual machines and other mobile devices used by end-users. BigFix's endpoint management functionality allows us to seamlessly patch a wide range of operating systems, such as Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS, and Linux systems, ensuring comprehensive patch management across IT infrastructures. We have established a track record of delivering secure and hassle-free patching solutions to our clients
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Return on Investment
  • It helped us considerably increase the pace of onboarding people.
  • Deployment of updates was easier and seamless compared to before the Atera phase.
  • It was easier to control employee laptops to troubleshoot issues remotely since most of our employees worked from home.
Read full review
  • Overall, the product helps achieve the security posture mandated by HIPAA for our organization.
  • It is a decent inventory management solution, and provides IT leaders with useful information for decision making.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Atera Screenshots

Screenshot of Atera’s AI-powered solution.Screenshot of Atera's process automation.Screenshot of Atera's real-time monitoring, which gives visibility and control of the IT environment.Screenshot of Atera's ticketing, where users can deliver end-user support and issue resolution at scale.