OpenText Server Automation vs Microsoft Desired State Configuration

OSOpenText Server Automation8.8Visit Microsoft Desired State Configuration8.2Visit

Higher score OS OpenText Server Automation #4 in Configuration Management Tools 8.8/10 Pricing on request ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit OpenText

vs

Microsoft Desired State Configuration #10 in Configuration Management Tools 8.2/10 Open source ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Microsoft DSC

• OpenText Server Automation fits best

  Large operations needing provisioning and remediation

• Microsoft Desired State Configuration fits best

  Developers needing portable declarative configuration

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Side by side

Feature	OSOpenText Server Automation 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Microsoft Desired State Configuration 8.2/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.2
Ranking	#4 in Configuration Management Tools	#10 in Configuration Management Tools
Best for	Large operations needing provisioning and remediation	Developers needing portable declarative configuration
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	Pricing on request	Open source
Free plan	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Support	Email, Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs	Docs
Integrations	4 integrations	4 integrations
Built for	Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features OpenText Server Automation 4/4 · Microsoft Desired State Configuration 4/4
Drift detection	✓	✓
Patch management	✓	✓
Policy as code	✓	✓
Compliance reporting	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Self_hosted	Self_hosted
Agent model	Both	Not checked yet
Supported platforms	Windows Server, Windows, Linux, UNIX, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Debian, Oracle Linux, VMware ESXi	Linux, macOS, Windows
Our review
Pros	Provisioning, configuration, patching, compliance, and remediation in one product Manages Windows, Linux, and UNIX across physical and cloud environments Discovers unmanaged agentless servers and supports agent deployment	Runs agentless across Linux, macOS, and Windows Supports JSON and YAML configuration documents Compares configuration drift against desired state
Cons	Pricing uses a contact-sales model rather than published plan details The listed integration ecosystem centers on OpenText, Ansible, and Chef The product is available through a web platform rather than native desktop apps	Does not cover patch management Does not provide compliance reporting Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership
Our verdict	OpenText Server Automation is built for enterprise teams managing server lifecycles across heterogeneous environments. It covers operating-system provisioning for bare-metal and virtual servers, centralized configuration management,… Read the review →	Microsoft Desired State Configuration (DSC) is an open-source, self-hosted configuration management platform for developers and administrators who need portable declarative configuration. Its current DSC 3.x implementation is a standalone… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• OpenText Server Automation — where it wins

  • Provisioning, configuration, patching, compliance, and remediation in one product
  • Manages Windows, Linux, and UNIX across physical and cloud environments
  • Discovers unmanaged agentless servers and supports agent deployment

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing uses a contact-sales model rather than published plan details
  • The listed integration ecosystem centers on OpenText, Ansible, and Chef
  • The product is available through a web platform rather than native desktop apps

• Microsoft Desired State Configuration — where it wins

  • Runs agentless across Linux, macOS, and Windows
  • Supports JSON and YAML configuration documents
  • Compares configuration drift against desired state

  Where it doesn't

  • Does not cover patch management
  • Does not provide compliance reporting
  • Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership

• OSOpenText Server Automation8.8/10 · Pricing on request

  A broad platform for provisioning, patching, compliance, and remediation across heterogeneous servers.

  Visit OpenTextFull verdict →
• Microsoft Desired State Configuration8.2/10 · Open source

  A portable, open-source DSC CLI for defining and comparing machine state.

  Visit Microsoft DSCFull verdict →