PDQ Deploy Reviews

A easy to use and reliable solution for small and mid sized companies

Comments: When we started to use this software, we did not have a solution to inventory and deploy softwares on your computers and servers, that is a powerful tool, with a very good price that really worths the investiment. We were able to keep all our computers and softwares updated, and we have pushed some Windows build updates through PDQ Deploy, which worked very well! If you do not have a inventory/deploy solution on your environment, and cannot spend so much money with it, go with PDQ without think twice, you will not regret!

Pros:

It is easy to implement, configure and to use it, everything on this software is so intuitive, even if you not read the manual you can do more than 50% of the software functionalities. The software has a wide variety of options to deploy softwares to your computers, also, if you spend a few bucks more, you can buy the PDQ Inventory, which works very well integrated with the Deploy solution.

Cons:

The error messages on the deploys are not so clear, it difficults the troubleshooting on the first time without some research.

Has proven it's worth

Comments: It has mostly been positive. There are a few pain points that we're still trying to figure out, such as stale DNS records for workstations. But besides this we're quite happy with the product.

Pros:

We've been using PDQ Deploy/Inventory for the past couple of years to manage our employee machines as well as our Windows servers. The ability to push out a new piece of software, or to patch older software with just a few click has been invaluable with how much time it's saved us.

Cons:

With a lot of our employee's working from home during and now after the pandemic, one short-coming of the software is that there is a complete lack of management for remote devices. If the workstation is not on the "local" network with the PDQ server it is impossible to manage. Having an agent that phones home to the PDQ server and handles all tasks would be the ideal solution to this.

Inexpensive Highly Customizable Management Suite

Comments: My overall experience with PDQ has been very positive. I used it at my previous job where I automated away all of our by hand processes. I started my new job, and the pandemic began. I championed the software as a lightweight means of managing VPN connected workstations. It was very well received by our team.

Pros:

I like that the inventory and deployment system are integrated. You're able to leverage vulnerability deployments against dynamically created groups that are constantly updated. I like the ability to schedule these tasks in a recurring fashion. It's more customizable and less cumbersome than other solutions we have used.

Cons:

I don't have a lot of things I dislike about the software. The biggest thing is that it is sometimes frustrating to work out how a script will behave when it is pushed from deploy. There are options to resolve this such as interactive mode, but it sometimes does not play nice with power shell scripts.

PDQ Deploy anomalies

Pros:

Simplify server management Saves on me sign in multiple times Repeat task on remote machines

Cons:

These features seem inconsistent: - Say you want to run a number on commands on a number of servers you cannot get a combined report of the output of all the commands. Often this is needed as the report may be input into further tools - You should be able to set default credentials for each computer you add manually which can be overridden from 'deploy one' - You should be able to group a group of computers like a tree structure eg. directory structure in Windows or UNIX - Computers should be able to be a member of more than one group. When you add a known computer to another group it should copy all these properties as default starting point - In new package, you should have the ability to not have to choose a step type but the commands the user types in most cases tell you what type of step it is

The one thing you got to have

Comments: Used it at previous job, and when I came discovered they had a competitor. Tried to learn the competitor's patch management and device management. It was a headache and time consuming. Got the boss to purchase PDQ and right of the bat, everyone could use it quickly and efficiently without reading a 100 page pdf on how to use it. So intuitive and easy to use. I use it daily to manage my computers and make sure everything is up to date. Boss has come to me a couple times asking for a list of XYZ, and expecting that it is a project for the rest of the day, I'm able to get that to him within the hour, sometimes in ten minutes.

Pros:

the dynamic collections you can make has been life changing. Able to create one on the fly and it continue to update and tell me if new computers have something unwanted on it, or computers that are missing important programs. I use it daily to check things. I also use it to quickly remote into computers. I have computers on the road and I have to jump in there sometimes remotely and need to be able to look at software lists quickly and a couple clicks my remote software is already connected. Or I can use pdq deploy to shoot out a program update or install something new. PDQ Deploy has all the right switches and knows exactly what to do with files to silently deploy practically anything. Testing is simple and easy and usually I have it tested and deployed within an hour. Saves me time everyday to quickly do what I need to do and have time to work on other projects. Support is also a godsend. Quick, easy, and friendly to the max!

Cons:

Not much that I do not like. The new icons are weird and there are some bugs in pdq deploy that get updates stuck and they just sit in the list forever. Usually when I have a con come up in my mind, I find out that the feature request I thought of, is already in the system some where.

Great price for a product that does what it supposed to do. Love it!

Comments: Easy to install and collect asset inventory.

Pros:

Ease of install and use. Great inventory/asset management functionality.

Cons:

Can't manage remote devices at user's home that's not on the LAN/WAN (corporate network).

Great Product

Comments: It has been great. It is easy to use and navigate. It makes it easy to push out patches and software to computers. We no longer have to go to each computer to install products. The built in Vendors is such a great feature and one I use often, it saves me from having to go out and down load software from the Vendor constantly!

Pros:

It is easy to use and makes my job more efficient.

Cons:

I would like the Deploy and Inventory products in one interface. I understand though that people may only want one of the products. It would be nice to have them integrated together for those that use both products.

Quick software deployment and manage updates

Comments: It automatically keeps our environment up to date, without to much effort. We can leave it running knowing all clients will eventually be updated, by the packes you deploy.

Pros:

Schedule deployment, heartbeat option. When devices are alive packages will be installed instantly. Managing updates is great, while it automatically updates all schedules and deploy latest versions.

Cons:

I can't really think about a downside. Perhaps because computers need to be in the office or run over VPN in order to have it fully working. pc's changing IP addresses often have to be rescanned first.

Just Amazing

Comments: I love it.

Pros:

Ease of deployment of custom software, not managed by SCCM

Cons:

I only have 3 Cons:1. It is two seperate programs (Inventory & Deploy), and allthough there is some integration, we still need to synchronize variables manually.2. The missing ability to use LDAPS intstead of old deprecated LDAP.3. I would love to be able to put the databases on our Enterprise MSSQL Cluster Server, instead of these local SQLite databases.

Great software

Pros:

Just the ease of use and being able to build my own packages that fit our company

Cons:

just how heavily the software relies on DNS to find machines.

PDQ is awesome!

Comments: Everything about PDQ is amazing. Easy to use, its flexibility and continuing improvements. Really no bad things to say about it aside from keep it up and making improvements.

Pros:

PDQ is an easy to use tool to scan machines for information on each machine as well as deploying apps. We use it with our deployments to segregate different builds for machines. The ability to deploy powershell scripts, install .exe files and copy files is amazing and very easy.We also calls PDQs API to deploy different things making it a central hub for app deployment. The future will be making a service that users can just call PDQ to deploy an app to them.PDQ connect has a lot of promise, which will allow us to deploy apps that are not connected to our network. Giving us more control beyondAnother plan soon will be to use PDQ for software license counts.PDQ was also easy to setup and migrate to a new server when we wanted to increase the specs of the machine it was on.

Cons:

They are working towards it now, but the ability to deploy to machines beyond our network is amazing. Giving us information too and status updates on those machines so we can monitor them.Not a con but I do hope they continue adding to their PDQ inventory and API. A future request/project for us is to beable to use PDQ to keep an accurate license count of software. We have some long ideas but would love to use PDQ to keep tabs on everything for us rather than relying on basic data entry.

PDQ Deploy - Great alternative to SCCM

Comments: patch management, it asset management and remote monitoring, ...

Pros:

PDQ Deploy is a fantastic tool for patch management, IT asset management, and remote monitoring. It's user-friendly interface makes it easy to deploy software and patches to multiple computers at once, saving valuable time and effort.One of the standout features of PDQ Deploy is its ability to deploy software and patches to both on-premises and off-premises computers. This is especially useful for remote workers or branch offices that may not always have a direct connection to the company network.The IT asset management component of PDQ Deploy is also top-notch. It allows for easy tracking of software licenses and hardware inventory, making it a breeze to stay compliant with software vendors and ensure that all assets are up-to-date.In terms of remote monitoring, PDQ Deploy offers real-time monitoring of computers and the ability to remotely troubleshoot and fix issues. This is a huge plus for IT professionals who need to manage a large number of computers from a central location.When it comes to comparing PDQ Deploy to SCCM, it's important to note that PDQ Deploy is more focused on deployment and management of software and patches, while SCCM is more of an overall systems management solution. SCCM is generally considered to be more robust and feature-rich, but PDQ Deploy is much easier to use and is a great choice for small to medium sized businesses.

Cons:

One potential downside of PDQ Deploy is that it may not have as many advanced features as other systems management tools, such as SCCM, which can be a limitation for larger organizations with more complex needs.

PDQ Deploy is wonderful for Windows networks

Comments: Overall, I absolutely loved PDQ products when paired in a mostly Windows environment. My needs were simple, and PDQ worked wonderfully. You can test out both PDQ Deploy and Inventory before you buy, and I highly suggest you do so. It is one of the fastest, most lightweight products I've ever used, and I'd recommend it in almost all scenarios where Windows is your main OS.

Pros:

PDQ Deploy and Inventory are one of the absolute best if you have only Windows based end machines in your network. It is really, really fast, and well laid out. I doubt you'll have to read the manual in most cases. The resource usage of PDQ products is extremely light and not demanding.

Cons:

It's really made for mostly Windows based networks, and works best when all machines are on-prem, or connected via VPN in my experience. If you need really complex IF / THEN type deployment or patching on other OSes, you may wish to look at BigFix.

Times Saver and Stress Relieving

Comments: Speed and ease of deploying machines with all the necessary software in bulk allows me to work on other tasks as installs are done. Being able to restart services from a GUI or manage with MMC without requiring physical access or running shell scripts allows me to be proactive and on task. Just brilliant!

Pros:

I use this software every day and between Deploy and Inventory, Latest release and scheduling, New system installs they pretty much make my work automated and remote. I could write a book to be honest. The hardest part was getting the upper management to approve the licensing costs. The second year i asked i had figures for ROI for 2 admins. It was a no brainer for the fiscal staff.

Cons:

I honestly cant come up with any improvements.

For Easy Deployment and Version management use PDQ

Comments: Deploy has been fantastic to use, removing old VNC clients post-pandemic and adding a free to use version was already built in for RealVNC and TightVNC (Free)

Pros:

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. Using deploy we can edit each individual step in order to make deploys run smoothly.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.

Cons:

Using it without PDQ Inventory is slightly more involved. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to merge the two apps together somewhere down the road as they're both powerhouses in management.

Easy to get started with - lots more features once you're up and running!

Comments: PDQ is a massive time-saver - it allows me to manage way more devices than I could manually. 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. PDQ gives me the peace of mind that my endpoints are updated, secure and all offer the same experience to my users.

Pros:

I took over at an organisation with a fleet of servers, laptops and desktops that had been poorly maintained - each seemed to have a random selection of applications on an unpatched OS and there was no central knowledge of what was installed where. I was also on my own so didn't have time to investigate each endpoint individually - PDQ made it easy to automatically catalogue and then remediate all the issues out there - from the comfort of my desk!

Cons:

There's nothing that I don't actually like about PDQ - my only issue is that I haven't had time to investigate all its many options and features! It was easy to get up to a good baseline and then I guess I didn't further my knowledge of its capabilities - that's all on me. Reading this questionnaire, it's clear it can do way more than I was aware of.

Must have part of large network

Comments: I've used it for a large portion of my career. Always been essential.

Pros:

The multitude of deployment options. Built in or downloadable uninstalls for almost everything. Running powershell commands on 2000 pcs couldn't be easier.

Cons:

Sometimes I wish there was a client option for the occasional DNS issues.

Simple, functional, reliable

Comments: PDQ Deploy is an excellent value. I've used it at previous jobs and have introduced it in every new job. The amount of time saved is staggering.

Pros:

The reliability and ease of use of PDQ is great. I also love the ability to customize and create packages. If you can script it, you can deploy it.

Cons:

I still like the idea of PDQ Link, or similar software. During the pandemic, a lot of our machines were never on our local network, so PDQ Deploy and Inventory had limited use for us. We had no way to deploy software to users unless their machine was back on our network. Even when users are using a VPN to connect to our network remotely, deployments still don't work (probably something on our end). I am currently looking at other options like FileWave to do off network support and inventory.

PDQ Deploy is a Stellar Product

Comments: 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.

Pros:

This has saved us so much effort in maintaining the integrity of our software products on our domain endpoints. In addition to the pre-built library, it has been a godsend to be able to create customized packages and get them deployed quickly. When we were hit with Hafnium on our Exchange server and moved to O365, I created a customized package to remove our previous suite and get out the latest O365 suite to our endpoints with about an hour's work on PDQ Deploy.

Cons:

Nothing comes to mind, to be perfectly honest.

Deployment with ease.

Comments: It makes updating so much less time consuming and gives a proper overview about the installation states. Also using the integration with PDQ Inventory keeping software up to date that was installed later on manually on some machines also works. So if you for example installed an Adobe Reader manually that still can be updated by the software once it identified it. Update scheduling works like a charm.

Pros:

Finally a product that does what it's supposed to do. And it's actually good at what it's doing. It is highly flexible. So if you just want to copy some files that works with this product as well as installations that do checks on dependencies. It has an own repository where already configured application installations exist. It can have schedules, it can deploy to one or more machines. You can group installations. It integrates nicely with PDQ inventory. What else to say than this is just great software for a reasonable price. It does what it is intended for and more.

Cons:

I think there are no real cons worth mentioning. Just try and buy this software you will not regret.

PDQ deploy - Nice to have

Pros:

All the capacities to deploy all kind of software, patchs or other and the way you monitoring these actions

Cons:

Sometimes it's difficult to synchronizes with pdq inventory

Time & Sanity Saver!

Comments: From day one this software has been rock solid in all of the applications we use it for. We had a critical piece of software we needed installed immediately and I was able to setup a schedule to attempt to install the software every 30 minutes across my entire network, multiple locations throughout the state. This helped ensure that every machine received the software as we sometimes have trouble getting GPO installs to work in every office. Since then I have relied of PDQ for all of my install and updates. I've even started creating my images with the bare minimum of software and just use PDQ deploy for the last mile.

Pros:

PDQ is incredibly simple to setup and use. It has streamlines rolling out new software and updates, I often use it over GPOs because I know it works 100% of the time.

Cons:

I haven't found anything I do not like about PDQ deploy. It fills the role I had intended to use it for perfectly.

Deployment Solution

Comments: It's great for remotely deploying software and patches. Saves a lot of time and effort because you don't have to go to an end user computer or try to connect with them somehow to install anything, you can just set up a package to deploy silently with no user intervention.

Pros:

The best part of PDQ Deploy is the ability to deploy software and updates/patches to computers on our network. Pretty easy to figure out how to build a deployment package and works exceptionally well. Also easy to understand.

Cons:

I really have no cons to speak of other than sometimes we cannot connect to a computer to perform a scan or deployment but that isn't really the fault of the software, that's more of a network issue. We have users working from home using vpn and deployments fail for them sometimes.

I wish I knew about this software sooner

Comments: PDQ has made my PC rollout process easy and more importantly, consistent. All my systems go out configured correctly now. I have reduced human error to almost 0.

Pros:

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

Cons:

I have no complaints at all. I really like this software.

PDQ - Solid Patch Management for Less!

Comments: Fantastic. it's allowed me to automate and manage a 1200+ machine network that was near impossible before I had PDQ to help. Plus, it's priced amazingly compared to other solutions.

Pros:

PDQ's ease of use combined with the sheer number of features is staggering (in a good way!) It's super easy not just to deploy patches but also to automate command line and scripting across many machines at once. The automated package library is huge and makes my life much easier.

Cons:

I don't have anything bad to say about PDQ. Any issue I've had was solved within hours and their customer support is top notch.