7MS #275: Patching Solutions Bake-Off - Part 2

Brian Johnson -

This episode continues our series on comparing popular patching solutions, such as:

  • Ninite
  • ManageEngine
  • Ivanti
  • PDQ

Ninite

This week I focused on Ninite, and here's the TLDR version:

Pros

  • Does one thing (third party patching) and does it really well

  • Extremely affordable

  • User interface is clean, simple and really easy to use/learn

Cons

  • No "agentless" option - it's an agent or nothin'

  • I'm not sure if Ninite has the brand name recognition and reputation to be accepted/respected by large companies

  • I need to do more homework on how they pull down their packages...are they ripping apart packages and repackaging them at all? That could be a big avenue for side-loading icky stuff.

Patching solutions bake-off gist:

(This will be continually updated as I evaluate the various solutions)