Affordable Alternatives for Software Inventory and Windows Patch Management

Action1 is worth evaluating. It’s focused more on patching and endpoint management than a full RMM, but the package catalog is strong, automations are straightforward, and deployments tend to be fast. It can work well alongside Intune, and the free tier may cover a smaller initial deployment.

You could also improve the Intune setup by deploying updates in staged rings: a small pilot group, then a broader test group, followed by the general user population. It won’t solve every issue with slow deployments or limited third-party patching, but it can make patch management safer and more predictable.

PDQ Deploy and PDQ Inventory are excellent if most of your devices are on-premises and reachable over the network. They’re easy to use, have strong inventory features, and the combined licensing is relatively affordable for a small IT team. For remote devices, their cloud-based agent is the more appropriate option, though pricing is generally per endpoint.

Ansible can handle Windows updates and third-party application updates with a few well-designed playbooks. It’s a good low-cost option if you’re comfortable maintaining the automation yourself, but it won’t provide the same polished software catalog or reporting experience as a dedicated management platform.