SolarWinds Patch Manager is compared to Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) patch management. Patch Manager provides simplified centralized patching of Microsoft and third-party applications across many endpoints. It extends WSUS with features like dynamic patching, scheduled reboots, reporting, and inventory. Customer testimonials praise Patch Manager for reducing patching time and not requiring complex scripting like some competitors. Resources are provided to learn more about Patch Manager.

1. Author
Jennifer Kuvlesky
SolarWinds Patch Manager Compared to
WSUS Patch Management
Keep Patching Simple & Affordable
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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2. Agenda
» Patching Simplified – SolarWinds Patch Manager
» SolarWinds Patch Manager High Points
» SolarWinds Patch Survey
» WSUS Vs. SolarWinds Patch Manager Comparison
» Dashboard
» What IT Pros say about Patch Manager
» Helpful Resources
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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3. Patching simplified with SolarWinds Patch
Manager
At SolarWinds, we keep things super simple right from:
Download Install From Purchase Daily Use
Our newly acquired product, SolarWinds Patch Manager, has all
these characteristics.
If your goal is to Keep Patching Simple and affordable choose:
SolarWinds Patch Manager, the champion solution for patching
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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4. SolarWinds Patch Manager High Points
» Reduce time from weeks to minutes for patching physical &
virtual Windows® desktops & servers with pre-built, tested
patches from vendors such as Adobe®, Apple®, Google®,
Mozilla®, Oracle® & others
» Decrease security risks & service performance degradation
by controlling when & where patches are applied
» Pass audits & demonstrate compliance with out-of-the-box
reports & dashboard views
» Turn your WSUS or System Center Configuration Manager
environment into a powerful patch management solution
» Patch Manager provides the best ROI with agentless
architecture, mass scale, and ease of use – no scripting or
professional services needed
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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5. SolarWinds Patch Survey
We recently surveyed the patch management community and got
some interesting data back regarding what applications users patch
with different tools. The majority of respondents patch Microsoft with
WSUS, and secondly System Center Configuration Manager.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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6. WSUS Users Patching 3rd Party Application
Over 40% of WSUS users do not patch 3rd party applications, and 35%
use scripts or perform patching of 3rd party apps manually.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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7. WSUS – SolarWinds Patch Manager
Comparison
SolarWinds
Capability WSUS
Patch Manager
Yes, via WSUS & SCCM.
Centralized & automated Patch Manager
Yes, Microsoft only
software installation leverages this robust
feature of these tools.
On Demand Patching N/A YES
Microsoft & 3rd party
Hardware inventory
Application Inventory applications, hardware
limited, no software
inventory inventory, disk space &
other metrics
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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8. WSUS – SolarWinds Patch Manager
Comparison
SolarWinds
Capability WSUS
Patch Manager
Reporting – visibility into Yes. Custom reporting
what needs to be requires no SQL
LIMITED
patched/what has been programming or
patched. scripting
Filtered Views N/A YES
Scheduled Approvals YES
N/A
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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9. WSUS – SolarWinds Patch Manager
Comparison
SolarWinds
Capability WSUS
Patch Manager
Yes. Provides
Provides notification
Notification of failed information via the
but no information why
updates client log file as to why
the update failed.
the update failed.
No. WSUS does allow
some primitive patch Yes, push patches at
scheduling. E.g. Pick a discrete times to
particular hour of the accommodate
day, and optionally a different time zones
Patch Scheduling
single day of the week, and network impacts
and hope the target of patching large
machine is actually numbers of endpoints.
powered on at that
time.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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10. WSUS – SolarWinds Patch Manager
Comparison
SolarWinds
Capability WSUS
Patch Manager
3rd party pre-built & Yes. for most common
tested packages
N/A applications
Wizard driven. Includes
PackageBoot™ for
Custom package creation
N/A complex before and
after deployment
scenarios (Java).
Client health diagnosis & Repair WMI, WUAgent,
remediation N/A and Configuration
Manager Agent.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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11. Complexity Reduction with SolarWinds Patch
Manager
Patch Manager is a great add-on for any WSUS environment. The top Patch
Manager features which have benefited customers patching Microsoft
applications include
Scheduling
Reporting and
Filtering capabilities
Customers patching 3rd party applications appreciate the pre-tested & pre-built
3rd party applications as well as the ability to create custom packages and
perform pre-and post deployment scenarios.
A Customer had testified that, he reduced the time it took to patch Microsoft
applications using WSUS by 50% with SolarWinds Patch Manager.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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12. Simplified Patch Management
SolarWinds Patch Manager simplifies many of the steps in the patch management process – from
research, to scheduling, to deployment, to reporting and more - saving you hours of time and making
it easier to keep hundreds or hundreds of thousands of servers and workstations patched and
compliant.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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13. Centralized Patching of Microsoft Servers and
Third-Party Apps
SolarWinds Patch Manager enables you to deploy and manage both third-party applications and
Microsoft patches, from a central point of control, across tens of thousands of servers and
workstations. Microsoft SCUP and complicated scripting NOT required.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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14. Pre-Tested, Pre-Built Packages for Common
Apps
SolarWinds builds, tests and automatically delivers packages for common third-party applications
which can then be quickly and easily deployed using Microsoft WSUS or Microsoft SCCM.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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15. Advanced Before-and-After Package
Deployment Actions
SolarWinds Patch Manager’s PackageBoot™ allows you to create advanced before and after
package deployment scenarios to ensure that even the most complicated patches (such as Oracle
Java) get deployed successfully – without complicated scripting.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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16. Flexible Patch Scheduling
Schedule patch approvals and deployment of updates within maintenance windows.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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17. Extends Microsoft® WSUS
SolarWinds Patch Manager works with and extends Microsoft WSUS to give you more control and
power over the patch management process with dynamic patch management, immediate updates,
scheduled reboots, easy reporting, full asset inventory, and more.
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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18. What IT Pros say about SolarWinds Patch
Manager
“It used to take four hours per patch for packaging and testing and about a week to deploy
each patch,” said Jay. “Now with Patch Manager, it takes an hour tops - It is incredible.”
- Jay Harper - IT Network Administrator, Terminix Service, Inc.
“I’m very happy with this software and the support services offered. I’m not
sure how Solar Winds taking over will affect the company. In the short term,
though, I’ve seen that there has been a large price decrease (almost 50%!)
and a couple discounts added on. This will definitely decrease some
headaches I’ve gotten from working with other products that either require
an agent, or haven’t been updated since 1998. The key thing for me with this
software is the third-party packages, but I’m not going to complain about
better reporting and more granular control”
- Lauren Malhoit, TechRepublic
“What I especially liked about Patch Manager was that it is a big time saver.
The software didn’t have a steep learning curve and it didn’t require third
party patches to be manually packaged like some competing solutions do.”
- Brien M. Posey, WindowsNetworking.com
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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19. Helpful Resources
We invite you to learn more about SolarWinds Patch Manager
Watch Video Test Drive Live Demo
Ask Our Community Download 30-day Free Trial
Whitepaper Explore Features
Top 5 WSUS Diagnostics Issues Solved!
FREE tool for WSUS
Administration
Click any of the links above
SOLARWINDS PATCH MANAGER COMPARED TO
WSUS PATCH MANAGEMENT
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20. Thank You!
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