PDQ Deploy & Inventory vs Malwarebytes for Business

ManageEngine Endpoint Central

Action1

Endpoint Central (formerly Desktop Central) from ManageEngine is an integrated desktop & mobile device management application that enables the centralized management of desktops, servers, laptops, tablets & smartphones.

AI-powered platform that unifies identity, endpoints, and compliance—giving IT teams time and control back.

Action1 reinvents patch management with an infinitely scalable and highly secure platform configurable in 5 minutes that just works.

System Administrator

Honestly the only thing that i am not a fan of is there is not call in support.

IT Technician II

So far the customer support has been outstanding which puts it ahead of anything else i've used.

IT Analyst

Support is the best I've ever dealt with in 18 plus years of being in the industry, very responsive and extremely helpful.

PDQ Deploy is the best way to automate your IT management. Update third-party software, deploy custom scripts, and make impactful configuration changes in minutes. With 200+ ready-to-deploy applications right out of the box.

Active Directory Integration

Alerts/Notifications

Application Management

Approval Process Control

Asset Tracking

Automatic Patch Deployment

Automatic Scans

Backup and Recovery

Compliance Management

Customization

Dashboard

Data Import/Export

Data Security

Deployment Management

Device Management

Event Logs

Inventory Management

Issue Management

IT Reporting

Maintenance Scheduling

Monitoring

Network Wide Management

Patch Management

Patch Prioritization

Patch Testing

Prioritization

Real-Time Monitoring

Remote Access/Control

Remote Monitoring & Management

Reporting/Analytics

Scheduling

Status Tracking

Third-Party Integrations

Threat Intelligence

Reviews for PDQ Deploy & Inventory come from a wide variety of industries, including Education Management (11% of reviewers), Financial Services (6%), and Government Administration (6%). The most frequent use case for PDQ Deploy & Inventory cited by reviewers is IT management (70% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Most reviewers indicate that PDQ Deploy & Inventory delivers strong value for money, citing affordability and robust features, while some users report concerns about pricing inconsistencies and affordability for smaller organizations.

Value for money

PDQ Deploy & Inventory is an IT management program offering key features such as deployment management, patch management, automatic scans, automatic patch deployment, and compliance management, among others.

Proprietary

PDQ Deploy & Inventory

Windows

Web-based

NinjaOne

ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus

TeamViewer ONE

Atera

ConnectWise Automate

Pulseway

SolarWinds Patch Manager

Standard plan

Nonprofit/Schools/Small Business (<50 employees)

Enterprise

Corporate Director of IT

I would like the ability to connect 2 instances of PDQ Inventory to create a baseline configuration of each machine so that I can track and report changes.

IT Manager

Inventory, with it's customisable reports gives me an insight of my fleet of devices.

Without an efficient way to gather software and hardware info, then act upon it with relevant software deployments, we would need to add another staff member.

IT Support Supervisor

It's supposed to detect when a PC is online and then deploy the package.  

Systems Engineer

A huge travel saver as I do not need to be on site to push programs, add printers, etc.

I have to push WIMC to have accurate data.

You cannot imagine the ease of pushing out hundreds of updates while drinking your coffee in the morning.

Systemadministrator

The UI easy to understand, simple as it is.

Sr. IT Systems Engineer

They ONLY thing that I have found no way to do that would make things perfect, is to be able to pass a computer name or IP address variable to a custom PowerShell script or custom scanner.

This is a great solution to deploy software and scripts remotely.

Sometimes you will get a success message even though the task did not complete.

Technical Support Specialist I

Game changer on remote deployment and management.

Admin

Without agent installation on the Clients.

Ease of use and ability to do the tasks needed for managing devices.  

The ability to speed up new machine deployments and patching.   With PDQ deploy I am able to apply packages without monitoring and get a report of what was installed quickly while working on other tasks.

Senior Desktop Support Engineer

PDQ is an amazing tool that I could not live without, it provides the helpdesk with one click installation of custom MSI packages, pre-built MSI packages to make software deployment a breeze.

IT-Manager

PDQ allowed us for our medium-sized company to have a professional patch as well as deployment process. When users call as and tell as they need this and this special software and while we talk to them, we are able to deploy it to their computers, they are always very positively surprised by our excellent service.

We are using PDQ deploy to manage the installation, patching and uninstallation of software on around 100 systems (including Servers, Laptops and Desktops).

It automates the drudgery of setting up and subsequently updating devices for users in my organisation, allowing me to get on with value-added development work, enhancements to business systems etc.

It is helping us to automate our patching;  and remotely installing new software;  and updating systems on a number of devices at once. 

IT MAnager

both app are inteconnected and I can search and identify group of PCs and create a package in PDQ deploy to have them patch catch up.

Director of Information Security

Allows patches to automatically be pushed out afterhours to avoid any system downtime.

IT DIrector

I add them to my domain, Inventory picks them up on scan and adds them to a dynamic collection, Deploys heartbeat deployment for that collection pushes out the preconfigured list of apps/packages and generates a message on each machine when finished.

Ease of use, integration with other tools, price, functionality, the overall stability of both Inventory and Deploy and the integration of the two products.

Senior Technician

I echo my previous comment, i.e. this has been such a time-saver when ensuring we keep our endpoints current, and it makes it a lot easier to manage 100s of endpoints with literally the click of a button.

Helps us keep systems patched so that we are less vulnerable to security threats.

Analista de Infra

I think pdq need to use clients in the machines for better results in the deployment, sometimes the pdq have trouble finding the machine and freezes in the status "conecting" or return the error "The network path was not found" Maybe a client help mitigate this problem.

Applications support and administration

Phenomenal integration with external scripting languages like powershell and batch.

It is a critical component in our Inventory and Security Patching process.

Sys Admin

The hard part consists of getting all the machines to talk to each other and then figuring out the silent command -line statements that are needed to install the software.  

Information Technology Manager

Now with PDQ Deploy, we are able to easily update only specific software programs across all areas, irregardless of the overall software image in use.

It is mainly intended to only inventory and patch Windows products.

Network Admin

It works hand in hand with PDQ Inventory and using the two together we are able to pretty much automate software deployments.

Technical Specialist

I love using PDQ as It helps me a lot to manage a large number of users in one go no matter if they are in the office or working virtually.

IT Technician

Good integration between the prodcts (Deploy and Inventory).

IT manager 

PDQ simplify software deployment and updates, helped manage devices and setup new machines in no time at all.

Lead Infrastructure Analyst

There's usually prebuilt installation packages for installations which for most of our 'basic' apps we like to use and it saves time for us to create and manage these items.

IT Admin

I think with PDQ for deployments and patching, and MDT for imaging, I'd feel like I have my computer imaging and management well under control.  

Being able to see the individual steps of the install and where they fail is critical in order to deploy our apps to new and old hosts.

IT-Administrator

The only thing i d like to change would be a possibility to have a function so i can decide which downloads i d like to. As we are german users sometimes its annoying to manually add german software downloads for deployment.

Ability to target by queries, OUs or just about anything.

It has built in scheduling to ensure all machines across our entire network have all the right software and are always up to date.

Problem Setter

Sometimes some error occurs in the deployment that is not so clear...

IT Manager Servers & Support

PDQ Deploy can take care of the monotonous IT Admin work, especially keeping software packages up to date, with ease.

Cannot manage OS updatesOnly works on internal network/VPN - not cloud basedPdq inventory is a separate program, not integrated

Director -IT

It would be nice if the software was intelligent enough to deploy when a machine comes online after a trigger is set, instead of manually setting the trigger or setting up scheduled to redeploy.

PDQ is a massive time-saver - it allows me to manage way more devices than I could manually.

We've been using PDQ Deploy/Inventory for the past couple of years to manage our employee machines as well as our Windows servers.

Application Support

During Covid, we used PDQ deploy extensively to deploy/update and correct issues with all of our Working from home users.

Deployment

Users report PDQ Deploy & Inventory simplifies patch management by offering prepackaged updates for major applications and maintaining an up-to-date repository. Reviewers indicate the ability to automate, schedule, and customize patch deployments is a significant advantage. They find integration with PDQ Inventory helpful for dynamic targeting and reporting. They say PDQ Deploy & Inventory saves time compared to tools like SCCM or WSUS, and appreciate remote patching, hands-free updates, and the wide array of supported third-party applications. Of the 72 PDQ Deploy & Inventory users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Patch Management, 86% rated this feature as important or highly important.

Push Updates

Software Updates

Time Saver

Training and Learning Curve

Update Scheduling

Value

Silent Install Switches

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

NordVPN

NordVPN is a VPN cloud security service which encrypts all internet traffic to ensure confidential business data is protected from third parties

ESET Endpoint Security

ESET Endpoint Security is a network monitoring solution, which helps businesses manage processes for detecting threats, blocking targeted attacks, preventing data breaches & providing protection against ransomware. It lets users monitor behavior of malicious processes and decloak memory segments.

Owner

Malwarebytes' customer support can be slow at times; rely on community forums for quicker assistance.

Sr. Analyst

I also really like Malwarebytes support team.   Whenever you have an open ticket, you get to talk to an actual person and you will get the help you need.  

IT Support Technician

We have been using Malwarebytes for a while now, their EDR services is quite handy, along with Ransomware Rollback which is quite amazing in case of a critical event happening with one of our endpoints.

Malwarebytes is a network security software that enables businesses to identify and detect potential cyberthreats across networks or enterprise servers. The cloud-based Malwarebytes Nebula platform lets administrators gain visibility into threat patterns from the centralized dashboard.

Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Activity Monitoring

Activity Tracking

AI/Machine Learning

Anomaly/Malware Detection

Anti Spam

Anti Virus

Application Security

Automatic Backup

Disaster Recovery

Endpoint Protection

Event Analysis

For MSPs

HIPAA Compliant

Network Provisioning

Network Security

Projections

Ransomware Protection

Real-Time Reporting

Remediation Management

Reporting & Statistics

Risk Assessment

Risk Management

Secure Data Storage

Secure Login

Server Monitoring

Threat Response

Troubleshooting

Two-Factor Authentication

Vulnerability Scanning

Reviews for Malwarebytes for Business come from a wide variety of industries, including Information Technology and Services (12% of reviewers), Computer Software (6%), and Education Management (5%). The most frequent use case for Malwarebytes for Business cited by reviewers is computer security (63% of reviewers).

Reviewers appreciate the free version’s basic protection and manual scans, and some users say the paid version’s advanced features justify its cost. However, some reviewers find frequent upgrade prompts intrusive, and say the paid version feels expensive.

Malwarebytes for Business is a computer security solution offering key features such as threat response, anomaly and malware detection, antivirus protection, data security, vulnerability scanning, and real-time monitoring, among others.

PDQ Deploy & Inventory vs Malwarebytes for Business Comparison (2026)

PDQ Deploy & Inventory

Malwarebytes for Business

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives