Lansweeper vs. Snow License Manager

Because of its slowdown as we have acquired more equipment, I think LANSweeper may be better suited for smaller environments. We have 3000+ users and over 1500 devices on our WAN. It has shown considerable performance issues as we have grown. Maybe moving it to a full blown SQL instance will make things a bit better. But as it stands, it has gotten tiresome waiting for it to update and refresh.

Incentivized

In large organizations especially with extensive networking among branches, Snow License Manager provides comprehensive information for software application management and acquisition. Users can be given privileges in Snow License Manager commensurate with their job profile. In smaller organizations it could be oversized. Snow License Manager has a stiff learning curve requiring dedicated human resources to grasp, implement and deploy. For small organizations that could be too costly in terms of initial costs and the time the user needs to become proficient

Incentivized

• Lansweeper is grabbing lots of data from the machines without slowing the network and the client machines. We can easily get all the installed software data, hardware and linked hardware and all the user you can grab from the AD (computer and user).
• Lansweeper can now scan Windows, Mac and Linux with an agent installed (or not if you want that the server is the one pulling the data).
• The web interface is really friendly user and offers lots of possibilities to personalize your dashboard as you see fit.
• Reports engine is really powerful and easy to monitor your machines and also your security issues.

Incentivized

• SLM finds installations of software reliably.
• SLM determines the usage of applications, web apps, and the users who employ them.
• SLM Reports help management determine current and future application usage.
• SLM notifies when forbidden programs are installed.
• SLM provides complete license management.

Incentivized

• Ease of use - pushing software can be a complicated process.
• Detecting assets sometimes means going to each machine on opening ports on the firewall.
• Reporting can be hard to figure out but you can ask on their forum. I find that a lot of my questions already have been asked.

Incentivized

• Standard applications reports i.e. reports of applications flagged as denied on the allowed list. This would make the reporting and scheduling automated rather then being manual.
• License / Agreement email notification with to users who do not have access to Snow License Manager with predefined text messages i.e. informing users what they need to do as next steps. The text can be updated based on privilege's set up on Snow License Manager e.g. Snow License Manager administrator
• Standard report which returns empty container application records
• schedule email of dashboards
• ability to record application versions greater then 0.x.x in the SRS library. This is critical to tracking of applications where the latest version.
• consistency of labels of columns through the various reports
• The ability to select and move multiple columns at the same time when building or updating a report .
• one report which shows a application, user, computer, if the application requires a license and which users have a valid license for the application.

Incentivized

The price to function scale is so far towards function it would be stupid to get rid of it

Incentivized

Snow License Manager is an integrated part of our Licensing Compliance software solution. It does help us manage current license needs and actual license usage, as well as inventory shadow IT usage. The nice side effect of being able to see hardware specifications and keeping track of hardware usage by users is a bonus!

Incentivized

We currently have the on-premise solution, which is very good indeed. If we were starting working with Snow now, we'd probably select the Atlas (SaaS) managed platform. This would reduce/remove work required to keep the Snow servers up-to-date with Windows and software updates.

Incentivized

Never had issues in this area. Always up and running

Incentivized

It took some growing pains and SNOW fixed performance issues for their product, but never had any issue with it

Incentivized

Lansweeper offers a variety of customer support options (including KBs for self-serve and get in touch with them via email), and most importantly, it's a matter of dialing within their allotted supporting time frames. However, I always make sure to provide the following information:

- Screenshots of the issue (if available).

- Program Files (x86)/Lansweeper/Service/Errorlog.txt, as present on your Lansweeper server.

- If it exists, the error log present in Program Files (x86)/Lansweeper/Website/App_Data.

Incentivized

Support for the most part is responsive, but there are times when it takes more time than I would like to resolve. But then, most of the time it is related to growing pains and the fact I do not have a Dev/Test environment to test items and upgrades before going to Production

Incentivized

Love it, and I got to go to Sweden

Incentivized

It went well, we took out time and verified each step as we went

Incentivized

Lansweeper is DRAMATICALLY cheaper than KACE and provides the same level of reporting and inventory of asset data. Where KACE outshines Lansweeper, is Lansweeper has a very minimal software deployment system that requires clients to have direct access to a common file share. KACE allows you to upload files directly into it's environment, and assets can download over HTTPS those files for installation anywhere. Spiceworks was a great inventory and helpdesk system for free - but the product I feel has gone stale and not nearly as powerful as it use to be - for that reason Lansweeper appears to have taken up the charge and utilized a lot of Spiceworks was going for

Incentivized

All the top tools out there do the same sort of job, one quarter product A has a new service and within the next 3 quarters the other all have that service, some vendors innovate, other just buy in and integrate (to varying levels of success), and Snow License Manager does a bit of both. One area we did look at was the manpower that comparable business took to run those services and Snow License Manager came out with the smallest overhead, this meant that we could direct more money to the use of the tool, rather than making to tool work.

Incentivized

Not quite sure I understand the deployment question. We deployed company wide

Incentivized

• I would consider that ROI has been achieved - it wasn't expensive. However, Spiceworks could have done the same for free.
• Too much manual intervention. Not strong beyond basic Microsoft products so we had to keep an eye on everything.
• Great sniffer of hardware on the network including switches, routers, printers.
• Lack of features that are essential for enterprise ITAM.

Incentivized

• Utilization statistics have helped us to eliminate unused licenses and software.
• The central repository has eliminated the multiple spreadsheets and folders, which also reduced the amount of time our asset manager spends looking up information for others.
• The computer software mapping has helped our staff during computer upgrades. It allows them to see what software is installed on a current workstation without having to go and inspect the old computer itself. They can now look up the software that needs to be added to the new workstation, saving time.

Incentivized