IT AI Index
Index › IT operations and endpoint › September 2026 Edition

Patch management

Asked as “patch management tool”, and as “OS and third-party patching solution”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 52 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Action1
Contested
27% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessAction168%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-marketAction127%ContestedThis pageEnterpriseMicrosoft Intune13%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Action127%2%42accepted challenger
02Automox19%11%36accepted challenger
03ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus17%6%33accepted challenger
04NinjaOne13%8%38accepted challenger
05Syxsense6%0%15accepted challenger
06Heimdal4%0%16accepted challenger
07Microsoft Intune2%12%16accepted challenger
08Windows Server Update Services2%59%17criticized challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13Ivanti0%33%12criticized challenger
11Tanium0%13%15accepted challenger
12Atera0%9%11accepted challenger
09ManageEngine Endpoint Central0%8%12accepted challenger
10Patch My PC0%8%13accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Action1 vs AutomoxAction1 vs ManageEngine Patch Manager PlusAutomox vs ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Action127%
02Automox19%
03ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus17%
04NinjaOne13%
05Syxsense6%
06Heimdal4%
07Microsoft Intune2%
08Windows Server Update Services2%
09ManageEngine Endpoint Central0%
10Patch My PC0%
11Tanium0%
12Atera0%
13Ivanti0%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2 and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Windows Server Update Services
59%
10 of 17 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“WSUS has limitations including Windows-only infrastructure, manual catalog management, limited automation, lack of native support for many third-party vendors” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
Ivanti
33%
4 of 12 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Ivanti Products — High Caution ... Multiple critical vulnerabilities in recent years suggest systemic security challenges” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Kaseya VSA
50%
4 of 8 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Steer clear of **SolarWinds** and **Kaseya**” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Microsoft Configuration Manager
57%
4 of 7 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“SCCM is prohibitively expensive ... leading to high costs for operation and maintenance” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

63 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 753 links across 190 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

heimdalsecurity.com
vendor site · Heimdal Security35 answers · 45 citations · 10 models
motadata.com
vendor site · Motadata32 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
learn.g2.com
31 answers · 31 citations · 11 models
gbhackers.com
27 answers · 27 citations · 8 models
acronis.com
vendor site · Acronis26 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
cyberpress.org
23 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
mspcompared.com
20 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
ninjaone.com
vendor site · NinjaOne19 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
expertinsights.com
vendor site · Expert Insights19 answers · 19 citations · 8 models
thectoclub.com
15 answers · 18 citations · 8 models
pdq.com
vendor site · PDQ13 answers · 15 citations · 9 models
manageengine.com
vendor site · ManageEngine12 answers · 17 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

learn.g2.com/best-patch-management-software
31 answers · 11 models
heimdalsecurity.com/blog/automated-patch-management-software
30 answers · 9 models
motadata.com/blog/best-patch-management-software
28 answers · 10 models
gbhackers.com/best-patch-management-compared-2
27 answers · 8 models
acronis.com/en/blog/posts/best-patch-management-software-and-tools-2026
26 answers · 10 models
cyberpress.org/patch-management-by-business-size-2
23 answers · 10 models
expertinsights.com/it-management/the-top-patch-management-software-for-busi…
18 answers · 8 models
mspcompared.com/best/patch-management
16 answers · 7 models
ninjaone.com/blog/best-patch-management-software
12 answers · 7 models
pdq.com/blog/best-patch-management-tools
12 answers · 8 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best patch management tool for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which OS and third-party patching solution would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top patch management tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best patch management tool for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a patch management tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which patch management tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Two alternativesAutomox, NinjaOne
Automox, ManageEngine Patch Manager PlusChanged
Two alternativesWindows Server Update Services, Windows Update for Business
no first choice
Seven alternativesAcronis Cyber Protect, Automox, Ivanti Neurons, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Microsoft Intune, PDQ Connect, Tanium
Windows Server Update Services
One alternativeManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Configuration Manager, Windows Server Update Services
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Configuration Manager, Microsoft Intune
Two alternativesAutomox, ManageEngine Endpoint Central
ManageEngine Patch Manager PlusChanged
One alternativeMicrosoft ecosystem
no first choiceAction1
Three alternativesMicrosoft Intune, Windows Autopatch, Windows Update for Business
against: ManageEngine Endpoint Centralno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashAutomox
Four alternativesAction1, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, NinjaOne, PDQ Connect
against: Microsoft Configuration ManagerNinjaOneChanged
Four alternativesAction1, Automox, Microsoft Intune, Patch My PC
NinjaOne
Five alternativesAction1, Automox, Ivanti Neurons for Patch Management, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, PDQ Connect
Action1
Five alternativesForeman / Katello, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory, Windows Server Update Services, Winget
Action1, Automox
Four alternativesMicrosoft Intune/Autopatch, NinjaOne, PDQ Connect, Patch My PC
against: PDQ Deploy & Inventory, Windows Server Update Servicesagainst: Ivanti, Kaseya Ecosystem, SolarWinds Patch Manager, Windows Server Update Services
Perplexity SonarManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Three alternativesAutomox, Heimdal, Syxsense
against: Action1Windows AutopatchChanged
Three alternativesUbuntu Server, Windows 11 Pro, Windows Server
no first choiceagainst: Atera, Datto RMM, SolarWinds Patch Manager, SyncroAction1
Two alternativesManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Microsoft Intune
no first choiceagainst: ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Microsoft security solutions, Winget
Grok 4.1 FastNinjaOne
Two alternativesAction1, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
against: Microsoft, TaniumAutomoxChanged
Three alternativesMicrosoft Intune, NinjaOne, Windows Server Update Services
NinjaOne
Four alternativesAction1, Automox, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, Patch My PC
Action1
Two alternativesManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory
against: Automox, Comodo, NinjaOne, PatchMon CE, SpacewalkNinjaOne
Three alternativesAction1, Automox, ManageEngine
against: Automox, Ivanti, Kaseya VSA, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Mistral SmallManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Syxsense
Three alternativesAction1, Heimdal, NinjaOne
ManageEngine Patch Manager PlusChanged
Two alternativesHeimdal Security, Syxsense
NinjaOne
Five alternativesAutomox, GFI LanGuard, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Connect, SolarWinds Patch Manager
against: Microsoft Configuration ManagerAction1
One alternativeManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
against: Windows Server Update Servicesno first choiceagainst: Patch My PC Home Updater
DeepSeek V4 FlashAutomox
Three alternativesAction1, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, NinjaOne
AutomoxHeld
Four alternativesAction1, Heimdal, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, NinjaOne
against: Patch My PCNinjaOne
Eight alternativesAction1, Automox, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, Microsoft Intune / Configuration Manager, PDQ Connect, PDQ Deploy & Inventory, Qualys, Tanium
Action1
Three alternativesManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory, Windows Server Update Services
against: Automox, NinjaOneAutomox, NinjaOne
Three alternativesAction1, Heimdal, ManageEngine
against: Microsoft Intune, Taniumagainst: ConnectWise ScreenConnect, Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM) / Connect Secure / CSA, Kaseya VSA, ManageEngine (Zoho) – Patch Manager Plus / Desktop Central / ADSelfService Plus, SolarWinds Orion, Windows Server Update Services
Llama 4 MaverickHeimdal, ManageEngine, Syxsense
One alternativeNinjaOne
Heimdal, ManageEngine, SyxsenseHeldno first choiceAction1
Two alternativesManageEngine Endpoint Central, TeamViewer
no first choiceagainst: Ivanti, ManageEngine
Qwen 3.7 FlashManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Four alternativesAction1, Heimdal Security, NinjaOne, Syxsense
NinjaOneChanged
Four alternativesDatto RMM, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory, Windows Server Update Services
against: Windows UpdateAction1, NinjaOne
Four alternativesAtera, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, PDQ Connect, SolarWinds Patch Manager
against: Windows Server Update ServicesAction1
Four alternativesAtera, Avast Business Patch Management, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Windows Server Update Services
against: SolarWindsno first choice
One alternativeMicrosoft Intune
against: Automox, Kaseya VSA, NinjaOne, SolarWinds Patch Manager
Kimi K2ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Four alternativesAction1, Automox, Heimdal, Syxsense
Action1, AutomoxChanged
One alternativePatch My PC
against: Microsoft Intune/SCCMAction1, NinjaOne
Four alternativesAutomox, ManageEngine Endpoint Central / Patch Manager Plus, Patch My PC, Tanium
against: Microsoft IntuneAction1
Three alternativesAtera, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory
Action1, Automox
Two alternativesManageEngine, NinjaOne
against: Ivanti, Microsoft Configuration Manager, Spacewalk, Windows Server Update Services
GLM 4.7 FlashXNinjaOne
Five alternativesAction1, Heimdal Security, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, Microsoft Autopatch / Intune, Motadata ServiceOps
NinjaOneHeld
Three alternativesHeimdal Patch & Asset Management, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, Syxsense
Action1, Automox, NinjaOne
Ten alternativesAcronis RMM / Cyber Protect, Datto RMM, Heimdal, Kaseya VSA, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, Microsoft Intune, N-able N-central, PDQ Connect, Patch My PC, Tanium
Action1
Two alternativesManageEngine Patch Manager Plus, PDQ Deploy & Inventory
against: OPSI, Windows Server Update Servicesno first choiceagainst: LogMeIn Resolve, Microsoft Autopatch / Intune, N-able N-central, Windows Server Update Services
MiniMax M2.5Ivanti Neurons for Patch Management, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
Five alternativesAWS Systems Manager Patch Manager, Microsoft Configuration Manager, Microsoft Intune, Red Hat Satellite, SolarWinds Patch Manager
against: OpenSCAP + Ansible, Windows Server Update Services, Windows Update for BusinessAutomoxChanged
One alternativePDQ Connect
NinjaOne
Seven alternativesAction1, Automox, HCL BigFix, ManageEngine Endpoint Central, Microsoft Intune, Patch My PC, Tanium
Action1
Three alternativesAtera, Avast Business Patch Management, ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
no first choiceagainst: Kaseya VSA, SolarWinds
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:39yes188 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:30no04 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 14:04yes919 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:28yes206 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:24yes3421 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:19yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:16yes1815 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:03yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:54yes533 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:09yes823 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:19yes8112 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:02no073 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:26no06 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:55yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:35yes1122 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:14yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:10yes2011 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:04yes106 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:13yes1720 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:36yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:43no047 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:54yes1127 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:09yes1726 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:10yes960 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:43yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:27yes1113 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:41yes2028 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:11yes2011 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:42yes1813 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:34yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:37yes1625 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 13:45yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:53yes549 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:03yes931 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:55yes7258 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:56yes1430 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:52no05 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:14yes26 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:46yes1622 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 14:09yes204 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:21yes1710 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:41yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:17yes1012 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 14:06yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:29yes533 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:43yes515 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:47yes2353 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:12yes513 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 09:44no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:02no06 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:41yes1023 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:31yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:09yes1110 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:43no09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:48yes1624 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:46yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:17no038 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:24yes1430 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:39yes883 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:48yes522 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:15yes2816 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:21yes48 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:54yes1723 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:43yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 09:56yes4016 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:56yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:05yes2837 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 13:26yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:17yes2080 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:11yes3038 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:04yes2422 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:16yes2147 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Datto read as Datto RMM
Kaseya read as Kaseya VSA
PDQ Deploy read as PDQ Deploy & Inventory
PDQ Deploy (Free Version) read as PDQ Deploy & Inventory
SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) read as Microsoft Configuration Manager
Unresolved, counted raw
AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager
Acronis RMM / Cyber Protect
AlmaLinux
Apple Configurator
Canonical Landscape
Comodo
Foreman
Foreman / Katello
Google Cloud Asset Inventory + Patch Management (Beta)
Heimdal Patch & Asset Management
Ivanti / Heat / Shavlik (Legacy Leaders)
Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM) / Connect Secure / CSA
Kaseya Ecosystem (VSA / Datto RMM)
Landscape
ManageEngine (Zoho) – Patch Manager Plus / Desktop Central / ADSelfService Plus
Microsoft ecosystem
Microsoft security solutions
OPSI (Open PC Server Integration)
OpenSCAP + Ansible
PDQ Deploy & Connect
Patch My PC Home Updater
PatchMon CE
Pulp
Rocky Linux
Shavlik/NinjaOne
Ubuntu Server
Windows 11 Pro
Windows Server
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in it operations and endpoint

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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