Good value, and features, but the flow of the site leads to confusion.

We use Jamf to push applications, restrict certain features and streamline the setup process of our iPads. Jamf allows us to give students the App Store so that they can perform updates, while still preventing (discouraging) them from downloading non-school applications through a lock-down configuration. We also use Jamf to block several things, the ability to apply passcodes and the fingerprint lock. We also use it to shorten the setup process for students by excluding some of the setup screens.

Pros

I like the freedom there is to create configuration profiles, and manage groups. One of the features that we utilize the most are smart groups, to either organize mobile devices or to regulate iPad security (prohibit students from downloading apps, while still keeping the App Store available to them, and see who has downloaded restricted apps that we do not want to "publicize" to the point they will put them on their phones.

I do like the fact that a group of people can each be working in the same area, such as the same Configuration Profile, and we can still function, other software that we use only allow one user for the organization at once prohibiting multitasking.

One of the biggest reasons we continue to use this software rather than migrate the remaining portion of our organization to Mosyle (which offers quite a bit for free), is the customer support.

Cons

One thing that stands out is the organization of the product. Due to the varied ways to administer devices and applications, there are a few different screens to use. We have found that we have to visit several pages to accomplish one task, such as automatic update of apps in the system, to be pushed out into Self Service to groups. We have since switched from codes to Managed and found it less cumbersome, but having to visit student pages as well as the VPP assignments when there are changes that are not immediately pushed out has made the learning curve for some members of the department steeper than it needs to be.

We have occasionally experienced support advice that seemed like checking off a checklist of things to try before delving deeper into issues. We understand, having frequently done this with Apple and even our own users, however, sometimes, it seems like the checklist is more important than looking at the whole issue.

Finally, not quite a con, but we do not currently use Jamf for our Computers or Apple TVs because of the cost to benefit ratio not being justifiable. We keep things fairly open and would only really just use it to aid in set-up and some push of applications and updates, but not exhaustive.

Jamf is a growing company with a great product and amazing support, really listen to customers!

I could not do my job without this software. We are very limited in staff, time and money. Without Jamf Pro, we would not be able to effectively manage the fleet of iPads, MacBooks, iMacs and Apple TVs we have.

Pros

Jamf is a growing company with a great product and amazing support,
really listens to customers!
Pros: Jamf has been doing this the longest when it comes to Mac and
iOS device management. They are a relatively small, yet growing
company with Midwest values, that really cares about helping
organizations succeed with Apple.

They stand behind their product and their support is phenomenal! They
are passionate about giving back to the communities they are based in
(Chippewa Valley, Minneapolis, and offices around the world). They put
on the worlds largest user conference for Apple IT admins and they
have the largest user help knowledge base, jamfnation.com. They also
provide same day or prior support of major OS and iOS releases. They
are constantly refining the product and adding new features to it.

If you have an issue, Jamf support will bend over backwards to help
you, even if you're not a paying customer. They care that much about you
and the product. Also, the soon to be released version 10 will bring
many needed changes to the UI.

Cons

Jamf Pro is not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. For
instance it allows me to manage 6k+ iPads and over 2200 Macs, iMacs
and Apple TVs with a very small staff. The money we pay for the
solution is more than made up in the ability to manage all of these
devices successfully and with a limited staff. That being said, like
all software, Jamf Pro has issues. Sometimes these can be major
issues. However, Jamf is quick to throw dedicated support at these
issues and works hard to fix them. As mentioned above, they are
growing for sure and there will be some growing pains along with this
growth.

The update to the UI cannot come fast enough. Would like to actually
be able to pull usable metrics and reports from the product. The
logging errors could use more of an update or hotlinks to resolutions
(feature request maybe?), but this is more for on-prem hosting.
Overall though, it's a great product with a great company and team
behind it!

Pretty good management system for Macs. Don't even consider LANDesk.

Because it is a MDM solution that actually works, with reliable uptime and easy maintenance requirements, I am the hero for having pushed for JAMFPro.

Pros

Fairly easy to figure out what it takes to make it work if you are of average intelligence for this sort of thing. In my case, it was difficult, until I figured it out. Patch management was the priority for us and it turns you have to be a little creative in trying to get the information extracted from the Macs (depending on the application) in order to determine if it needs to be patched. In another words, it's not as turnkey as much as I was led to believe. Support at JAMFNation is fantastic. Those folks have tackled most of the problems and that's where I located the scripts and other nuances required to make it work. No other resource like it. Newbies and super rockstars all contribute to make things work. JAMF staff also helpful. Make sure you contribute too!

Cons

For me personally, the required Jumpstart training you need to purchase didn't work so well. Did not know enough about what I was doing to ask intelligent questions. After the training, fighting the learning curve began. There are no step-by-step procedures (or friendly user manual) to help a newbie get the system up and running. Mind you I say this as a complete novice and not a very smart one at that.

Great Mac management software

Overall the experience has been extremely positive and I would definitely recommend Jamf, they are the best in the business. My only negative would be that they sometimes seem more interested in implementing new features than addressing known issues.

Pros

Jamf Pro is a very powerful tool with a rich feature set. There is a learning curve but the training available is excellent, providing you are in a region it is available.

We manage a global fleet of Macs and use a hosted cloud instance which allows us to install software, perform updates and just generally manage our Macs no matter where our users are.

The Self Service app gives our users the ability to install software when it suits them or run fixes to known issues without having to contact IT.

Cons

Support can be a bit slow at times, as we have a hosted instance when we call support we are often told we have to wait for someone from the cloud team to take a look and get back to us. Also since updating to v10 we have had performance issues because of a product issue which could be resolved by throwing more resources at the server but as we do not host it we do not have the control to do that. Apparently the problem has been addressed in the next release.

Good Product, Good Experience

The ability to manage a fleet of MacOS and iOS devices.

Pros

Jamf Pro works really well for managing a fleet of MacOS and iOS devices. The management console is easy to navigate and the feature set is clear. The ability to segregate administrators by using Sites is a nice feature for us. Integration with Apple's services is quite good and easy to maintain. We split our infrastructure across multiple hosts (database on one machine, a management point is on one host, the managed devices on another) is key for us. Also nice that the infrastructure runs on multiple OSes, we run ours on RHEL.

Cons

The issue was related to communication and to bug checking during an update. One update broke access to Active Directory based security groups. This broke many of our workflows for distributed administrators. Customer support was good for initial triage, but follow-up communication was poor. The issue was fixed in two later updates but we were not told that the issue was fixed. We thought it had been fixed but we had to call Jamf and explicitly ask for confirmation. Would have been nice if Jamf had proactively followed up on a support case to let us know the problem was resolved.

A partner and software and training that gives my staff super powers.

We are able to secure, provision, manage and support Mac users 24/7 and around the globe with this tool. We estimate we save 15 technicians and 8 full time support engineers and can use that funding and time to take on projects the business needs rather than manually managing our infrastructure and application suite. This is a massive difference in ability and why I feel JAMF gives my staff super powers to do more with less and raise the quality of our support all the while.

Pros

Jamf Pro is so powerful and simple and focused on letting us succeed, it's in a class of its own.
We've been in production for 6 years with major staff turnover and this company has continued to support us despite many chances where we might have dropped the ball. Professional services, quality of the code and stability of the platform are major factors that have made it successful in our specific challenging environment.

Cons

There is no downside we have faced. Release cycle is faster than we need, training and communications are above par for SAAS and functionality and value makes it a must renew each time we renew and re-evaluate MDM solutions.

The best for Apple device management

It is the best out there for Apple MDMs. That said, the field is still pretty bad. Not all of the issues are with Jamf, as Apple has certainly bungled a few things, like Apple School Manager. But if you're committed to the Apple way of life, Jamf is absolutely the only way to go, and has certainly made things easier on me since we switched from a competitor.

Pros

It does everything you need it to in terms of managing whatever you buy from Apple, with a focus on as much automation for mass deployment as possible. Since they focus on Apple, they have all the latest features available as soon as possible.

Cons

When things break, they can break badly, and a lot of solutions involve running command line scripts and requesting service restarts from support, so if you aren't willing to dig into these sorts of things, it might be difficult for you when support gives you this type of solution.

Also, their marketing can be very deceptive, with their analysis on costs phrased as to make apples-to-oranges comparisons and obfuscate their competition's benefits.

Macs Managed

We have used this product for 5 years and have loved it. It allows us to focus on our people and not worry about Did that printer get installed? We know it is going to happen. We can automate a ton of stuff and not worry about it. We know it will work and we can manipulate thousands of computers in seconds in real time.

Pros

It does everything that Apple lets them do. Save money and time by having less IT support staff and your staff feels like they have the power to manage themselves and not need to reach out to IT and feel frustrated when it takes too long to respond.

The community is a huge plus as you can normally get hard questions answered by pros who are happy to help at no charge.

Support is great as well. Things do break, but they are there to help.

Cons

Cost is a factor as it is continuing to go up.
It can be very complex and hard to understand some of the more useful features as there are a ton of hoops to jump through to get everything working and if something breaks it can take a while to figure it out.

I've been a huge fan of Jamf since we started using it about five years ago!

Ease of management for laptops and iPads, amazing product support when issues arise, and even though I'm not the money guy it appears to be well worth what we do pay and includes tiered levels so that as we increase the number of devices in our district we pay a little less per unit. I also love JNUC as an educational and networking resource.

Pros

It's terrifically easy to use. The absolute best thing about it, however, is that other people think I'm a wizard at how quickly they get results when they need something. They can literally request an app and in most cases have it assigned within less than 2 minutes of me getting notification.

Cons

The Java component. I know it's necessary for some reason or another, but java has been an absolute terror for us in the district for various reasons (not all related to Jamf). That said, yesterday our java version on the JSS server updated all by itself and things went south very quickly. A quick support chat session with Jamf and we were back up and running after reverting to the old java.

Jamf Pro Review

I haven't found anything truly comparable. I just wish Apple would have done what JAMF does out of the box for Apple products.

Pros

Jamf is simply one of the best management platforms to manage Apple devices. This include macOS and iOS devices. You can push anything out to these units from software installs to printers. I use mine to perform zero touch installs for my users. They get their MacBook Airs. They are already joined to the domain as they take the shrink wrap off the box. This is possible due to the close relationship Apple and JAMF has. It does take some setup to get there though.

Cons

It is expensive. They just started to enforce their 50 unit minimum. They charge a boot camp fee to get you setup which is extremely expensive but it is worth it. JAMF is powerful and you want a good foundation in order for it to be effective. You have to be willing to put the work in and learn it for it to be beneficial.

Supporting a rapidly growing Internet startup in multiple locations

Doubled size of Mac fleet in nine months while simultaneously improving app standardization, device security, and offering end users the ability to proactively manage their own systems - as the single IT resource for the organization.

Pros

Easily write, test, and implement policies to proactively support Mac desktop and laptop users
Zero-day support for Apple software and hardware releases
Simple DEP and VPP integration with excellent documentation
Outstanding customer support
Large and active user community with a strong commitment to sharing solutions and ideas

Cons

STILL no effective built-in software patching tools
Long-standing UI quirks and obsolete JSS interface
Not enough functionality to track changes over time (show me adoption rates of new software titles for a given smart group, etc)
Rudimentary support for user notifications still requires extensive scripting to be effective
Mandatory JumpStart training a waste of money for experienced Jamf admins

JAMF made supporting macOS/iOS devices enjoyable...and that was not an easy feat.

We were able to reach device management parity with our Windows environment. Reduced IT staff time needed to perform one-off administration of macOS/iOS devices.

Pros

Flexibility, extent of system management capabilities, technical support, ability to create "sites" for de-centralized IT teams that allow them to administer their own devices. Really, the list of what it can do goes on and on.

We run SCCM for management of our Windows devices. JAMF allows us to reach management parity for macOS/iOS devices.

Cons

Some high level computer management functions (packages, scripts, printers, etc) are centralized and cannot not wholly distributed/de-centralized to departmental IT teams (eg. each IT team will see and potentially be able to change these items).

Not an issue with the software itself, but a challenge and consideration we had to take into account when implementing in our unique support environment.