Remote work is a present-day reality, where more and more people work on company-owned and personal Apple devices. They have become standard across enterprises for their feature-rich and user-friendly interface. Securing, updating, and managing Apple devices is of the utmost importance, giving rise to the need for a good Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution.
An Apple MDM solution simplifies the process of remote device management for Apple devices. There are many options for a solid Apple MDM solution, but this article will compare JAMF and Kandji to help you better decide on an MDM that suits your organizational needs.
Feature comparison- JAMF vs. Kandji
Security
JAMF and Kandji both have adequate support in terms of initial configuration management in devices that help avoid misconfiguration vulnerabilities. Let’s compare JAMF and Kandji in the aspect of device security.
JAMF
JAMF renders a comprehensive device management solution for an Apple ecosystem. It is equipped to protect critical data and boost employee productivity without dampening the excellent user experience provided by an Apple device. It provides endpoint security solutions to safeguard mobile devices through threat detection, protection from phishing and malware, and giving real-time risk insights.
JAMF also provides a synchronized gateway for users to reset their credentials, but the reliance on passwords is still a potential vulnerability. Passwords have to be changed frequently, leading to user fatigue. As time passes, these passwords tend to bypass best practices, making them easy to guess, access, and be duplicated by bad actors. Also, stealing credentials isn’t very hard. Network attacks on layer 2 like the Man-In-The-Middle (MITM), brute force, phishing, etc. can be orchestrated quickly.
X.509 digital certificates are the gold standard for managed devices on a network. A digital certificate secures a device automatically as it prevents the device from being vulnerable to credential theft due to public key cryptography.
Kandji
Kandji is a fast and efficient means to equip all your Apple endpoints against any vulnerability or threats. It has prebuilt security settings and templates compliant with the NIST, CIS, and STIG standards. You can customize these templates for different levels of users and control the levels of access.
Kandji provides complete visibility into your fleet of Apple devices that would help you keep a tab on all the devices, users, and applications accessed and the remediations conducted on these devices.
Application Management
Managing applications across a network is a critical operation of an MDM, as an organization would have tons of tasks and business-specific apps. JAMF and Kandji have excellent app management features. Let’s read about them here.
JAMF
JAMF uses Apple School Manager and Apple Business Manager as application management tools. JAMF helps distribute apps to designated users and devices that do not have an Apple ID. JAMF integrates with platforms like Google and Microsoft and third-party platforms like Freshservice, etc., for asset and analytics management.
JAMF integrates with ServiceNow to automate healthcare and higher education services.
Kandji
Kandji REST-compliant Application Management Interface integrates with almost 150 applications like the Apple Business manager, Slack, Microsoft 365, Drata, and Cloudflare. Kandji supports a Single Sign-on for all the apps across the network with the Kandji PASSPORT.
Kandji converts unmanaged app store apps to managed apps based on device licenses. As a user, you need to deploy the respective app into the blueprint to configure the app into your network.
User Experience
JAMF and Kandji have been rated highly efficient and user-friendly by users repeatedly.
JAMF rates a 4.75/5 on G2, and Kandji ranks a 4.8/5. Let’s see how JAMF and Kandji stack up against each other in user experience.
JAMF
JAMF offers all-inclusive User Endpoint Management with superior onboarding of enterprise apps and granular network control. Users also feel that their technical support is an excellent feature that respects their time and provides resolutions quickly, thus increasing productivity. The zero-touch setup makes it scalable and saves a lot of effort on raising and resolving IT tickets.
Real-time users also appreciate the Geofencing feature that facilitates setting up location-based policies. But some customers felt the need for a better onboarding solution for authenticating devices securely to the network.
Users also felt Jamf management becomes less stable once the endpoint devices increase in the network.
Kandji
Users appreciate the simple and easy-to-use interface, which makes the onboarding of devices a smooth experience. Kandji’s encryption-enabled storage, current remote software updates, and security against common vector attacks seem to have a lot of takers. Users also think highly of their unbeatable support, where they can find solutions beyond the product regarding wifi support and device setup.
However, some users felt the need for more support documentation. More thorough documentation could save time spent raising support tickets.
Pricing
JAMF
There are two pricing packages available in Jamf Pro; the first is for iOS, iPad, and Apple TV management, while the second includes pricing for macOS. JAMF offers a free trial, but the onboarding for devices is pretty tricky, and users have felt that the device management feature becomes quite unstable as more users are added to the endpoint.
Kandji
Kandji has flat-rate pricing and a monthly subscription model. It offers a free trial, and the price varies according to the number of devices. The cost differs for less than 500 devices, 500-5000 devices, and more than 5000 devices. The plans include a lot of exclusive features like onboarding support, Kandji migration agent, Single Sign-On, self enrollment service, and lift-off, which makes it a truly standalone product.
You can click here to learn more about JAMF’s pricing and how it compares to Kandji.
Rapid, Zero-Touch Enrollment and Onboarding for JAMF and Kandji MDMs
A robust MDM is an essential tool that prevents the misconfiguration of certificates for new users and the large fleet of devices in an organization. This is essential else it would lead to exposing the network to vulnerabilities. JAMF and Kandji both offer superior MDM solutions, but their onboarding processes could be more straightforward, as felt by users across enterprises. A friendlier onboarding experience is a feature desired by users and admins alike.
SecureW2’s onboarding solution for managed and BYOD devices helps deploy digital certificates to any MDM via API Gateways and addresses the entire lifecycle of certificates.
SecureW2’s onboarding solutions provide more certificate management features than any popular MDM solution.
Click here to learn more about our budget-friendly prices for your organization.
