Intune vs. WSUS:What’s the Difference? Pros, Cons & Full Comparison

TL;DR

• WSUS is best for: On-premises, Windows-only, domain-based environments that need granular update approval and offline patching.
• Intune is best for: Cloud-first or hybrid organizations managing Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and BYOD devices.
• Infrastructure: WSUS requires maintained Windows Server infrastructure; Intune is a cloud-based service.
• Patch control: WSUS provides detailed update approval workflows, while Intune manages Windows updates through Windows Update for Business policies and update rings.
• Security: Intune offers stronger modern security capabilities through compliance policies, app protection, Microsoft Entra ID, and Conditional Access.
• Cost: WSUS is included with Windows Server but carries infrastructure and administration costs. Intune requires a subscription but reduces on-premises overhead.
• Microsoft roadmap: WSUS remains supported, but Microsoft has deprecated it and is no longer developing new features.
• Migration path: Organizations with complex or legacy environments can use Configuration Manager and co-management to transition gradually toward Intune.
• Overall recommendation: Choose WSUS for controlled, isolated Windows environments. Choose Intune for scalable, internet-connected, multi-platform endpoint management.

What is WSUS?

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is a free server role built into Windows Server. It enables IT teams to centrally manage and distribute Microsoft updates within the corporate network from an on-premises console. Instead of every device pulling patches directly from Microsoft, your WSUS server downloads updates once and pushes them out internally, with IT teams in full control of approving and scheduling patch deployment.

That said, Microsoft’s plans for WSUS have changed. On September 20, 2024, Nir Froimovici, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, officially announced the following on the Windows IT Pro Blog:

“Microsoft has announced deprecation of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Specifically, this means that we are no longer investing in new capabilities, nor are we accepting new feature requests for WSUS.”

This announcement confirms that WSUS has officially entered a feature-freeze maintenance mode. The company is not investing in new capabilities or accepting new feature requests for WSUS.

Then on September 25, 2024, Microsoft added a clarification, which stated that WSUS remains functional and fully supported with no scheduled removal date, including in Windows Server 2025. This affirms that the company will keep publishing updates through the WSUS channel and continue providing security and bug fixes.

These decisions by Microsoft have a direct impact on your long-term patch management strategy. It’s time to reframe the question from “which tool works better today” to “is it a good idea to keep building my patch management strategy on a platform that Microsoft has deprecated”.

How to Use WSUS?

Start by planning your infrastructure and resource requirements for WSUS. Determine where the WSUS server will be installed, how many client machines it needs to support, and what network capacity and bandwidth the rollout will require. Then follow these steps to set up and use WSUS. Initial setup will take 2 to 4 hours, assuming you already have a Windows Server machine ready to go.

1. Install the Windows Server Update Services role on Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, or 2025. Then install a SQL Server instance or the Windows Internal Database to store update metadata.
2. Configure WSUS to specify which products, languages, and update classifications to synchronize from Microsoft.
3. Use Group Policy to direct client machines to your internal WSUS server instead of Microsoft Update. To do so:

• Open the Group Policy Management Console, create a new Group Policy Object (GPO), and navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update. Specify your internal WSUS server URL here.
• Link the GPO to the appropriate domain or OU, so clients receive the policy.

4. Run the initial synchronization from the WSUS administrative console to download metadata from Microsoft Update.
5. Create computer groups in the WSUS console for testing updates and deploying them to production.
6. Review and approve updates and assign them to specific computer groups. Nothing is installed on a client until you approve it. For example, you can use Group Policy to enforce deadlines on installing approved updates or use servicing controls to pin Windows to a specific feature update version. You can also configure rules for auto-approving updates.
7. Monitor deployment status for updates and regularly perform maintenance tasks, such as cleaning up superseded updates.

WSUS Pros and Cons

Here are some strengths and weaknesses of WSUS.

What is Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-native endpoint management platform that is hosted on Microsoft Azure. It provides Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Mobile Application Management (MAM) to manage and secure devices and applications in your organization.

Rather than living on a server in your data center, Intune runs in the cloud, so you can manage devices from anywhere with an internet connection. It eliminates on-premises server overhead and natively supports Windows 10, Windows 11, Apple iOS, iPadOS, Android, macOS, and Linux devices.

Intune comes with a paid subscription.

• Intune Plan 1 costs $8 per user per month (annual commitment) as a standalone subscription.
• Intune is included free of charge in enterprise bundles like Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($22 per user per month), M365 E3 ($36 per user per month), and M365 E5 ($57 per user per month).
  From July 1, 2026, Microsoft has raised the pricing for bundles, with M365 E3 now at $39 and M365 E5 at $60 per user per month.

Intune Features & Capabilities

Intune provides a wide range of features for managing, securing, and updating devices from a central cloud platform.

• MDM Cross-Compatibility: Intune can handle Windows, iOS, Android, and macOS devices from a central web-based console. You can apply settings, configurations, and profiles to Apple, Android, and Windows systems. Intune also offers limited support for Linux, which includes device enrollment, compliance, and Conditional Access.
• Data Protection Compliance: You can define compliance policies to enforce actions like encryption, minimum OS version, and screen lock before a device can access company files. This is useful for meeting frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Intune also continuously evaluates device compliance. If a machine falls behind your security baseline, the platform prevents it from accessing company resources (this needs integration with Microsoft Entra Conditional Access).
• Deploy Software, Updates, and Patches: Intune can distribute applications and OS updates remotely, so you can reach devices and keep them current even when there is no physical access.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): You can create application protection policies that control copy-paste, save-as, and screenshot behavior for corporate data. This keeps employees from copying sensitive information to unmanaged personal storage applications and devices.
• Office Mobile Apps Management: This function lets you manage Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint and other Microsoft 365 apps on personal mobile phones even when the device is not enrolled. In this way, an employee’s personal data stays private. You can also wipe corporate data remotely if an employee loses their personal phone.

How to Use Intune?

Before you start, make sure you have an Intune license assigned. Tenant activation takes less than an hour; total rollout time depends on your enrollment method and device count. The process involves these main phases:

1. Activate your tenant in the Microsoft Entra admin center and confirm that Intune licenses are assigned to your users.
2. Enroll your devices using any of these methods:

• Use Windows Autopilot for hands-free provisioning and automatic Intune enrollment.
• Enroll devices manually through the Company Portal app.
• Configure and manage bulk enrollment for large batches of corporate devices from the Microsoft Intune admin center.

3. Navigate to the Microsoft Intune admin center. Create configuration profiles, compliance policies, security baselines, and app protection policies. Configure Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra admin center. Then assign the appropriate policies to user or device groups for automated cloud-based enforcement.
4. Deploy apps to devices. For that, you can add apps to the Intune console and then assign them to specific user or device groups.
5. Track device compliance, application deployments, and update status from the Microsoft Intune admin center. You can also modify policies, troubleshoot issues, and wipe devices as needed.

Intune Pros and Cons

Intune has its strengths and weaknesses.

Intune vs. WSUS: Side-by-Side Comparison

Let’s start with a quick comparison between Intune and WSUS.

Device Management

WSUS manages Windows-only, domain-joined devices on a corporate network. Intune manages Windows, iOS, Android, macOS, and Linux, including personally owned BYOD devices. With MAM, you don’t even have to fully enroll a BYOD device to protect corporate data on it.

The bottom line: if your fleet includes non-Windows devices, WSUS can’t cover it. To patch a mixed device environment, you need Intune, or something like it, to complement WSUS or replace it.

Scalability

Microsoft documentation states:

“Although WSUS can support 100,000 clients per server (150,000 clients when you use Configuration Manager), we don’t recommend approaching this limit.”

In practice, performance starts to degrade well before that limit. Reasons can be attributed to server hardware (CPU, RAM, disk) constraints, SQL Server performance, and IIS configuration. Salability is limited by the hardware resources of the server on which WSUS is installed. To recover performance, you would have to deploy multiple WSUS servers that share a SQL database, tune SQL Server, and re-configure IIS settings.

Intune, by contrast, auto-scales dynamically through Microsoft Azure to meet any enterprise endpoint count. And you don’t even have to worry about managing server hardware and databases.

Deployment / Implementation

To set up WSUS, you have to build local infrastructure, provision storage, and fine-tune Group Policy Objects. Quick-start checklist covers:

• On-prem Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, or 2025
• SQL Server or Windows Internal Database
• Group Policy configuration
• About 2 to 4 hours for initial installation and configuration

Intune runs as a SaaS application. It replaces GPOs with cloud configuration profiles which can be applied to remote users through a secure internet connection. Quick-start checklist covers:

• Access to the Microsoft Intune admin center (through the Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Entra admin center)
• An assigned Intune license
• Less than an hour to configure your Intune tenant and begin enrolling devices, since there’s no server to build and no database to deploy

Platform & OS Support

Here is a platform support matrix for WSUS versus Intune.

Version minimums are subject to change; check for the latest.

Cost

Comparisons stop at: WSUS is free, Intune costs money. That’s technically true but not very useful.

• WSUS appears free because it comes bundled with your Windows Server license, but it has a high total cost of ownership. You must pay for server hardware, SQL Server licensing, storage, backup power, and the admin hours spent on maintenance.
• Intune uses clear subscription models. Plan 1 starts at $8 per user per month standalone. And if your organization already has a Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Microsoft 365 E3/E5 subscription, Plan 1 is effectively paid for.
• If you need more than the basics, Plan 2 and the Intune Suite are separate add-ons that stack on top of Plan 1. Plan 2 adds $4 per user per month for specialty and shared-device management. The Intune Suite adds $10 per user per month and bundles premium tools like Remote Help, Endpoint Privilege Management, Advanced Analytics, and Cloud PKI.

WSUS can be a cost-effective choice for SMBs. But as your environment grows, the time and resources needed to maintain the infrastructure can outweigh the savings from using a ‘free’ tool. Intune can therefore be a more viable option, especially if it’s already included with your Microsoft 365 licensing.

Security

WSUS has no native conditional access, no compliance policy enforcement beyond update delivery, no built-in encryption management, and no modern security integrations. It simply delivers packages to devices regardless of their physical security state. Intune, on the other hand, evaluates devices for compliance, manages BitLocker encryption, and enforces app protection policies. It can also link with Microsoft Entra ID to block non-compliant devices from accessing your network. If your organization wants to enforce zero-trust or meet frameworks like SOC 2 or ISO 27001, Intune comes out ahead.

What is SCCM? (When to Consider a Third Option)

System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), now called Microsoft Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr), is an endpoint management system for complex hybrid environments.

If your organization has complex on-premises patching needs, ConfigMgr might be a better option than choosing between WSUS and Intune. In addition to patch management, it can handle software deployment, OS imaging, third-party software patching, hardware and software inventory, and detailed reporting. ConfigMgr uses WSUS under the hood for its Software Update Point role, so you may treat ConfigMgr as an extension of WSUS.

However, if you want to migrate to a cloud model but cannot do it quickly due to legacy workloads, you can implement co-management to bridge the gap between WSUS and Intune. Co-management lets you run ConfigMgr and Intune side by side and concurrently manage Windows devices using both.

Co-management is Microsoft’s way to help organizations migrate from WSUS to Intune. In co-management mode, a device stays enrolled in both ConfigMgr and Intune simultaneously, and you decide which platform owns each workload. As Microsoft puts it:

“When a Windows device has the Configuration Manager client and is enrolled to Intune, you get the benefits of both services. You control which workloads, if any, you switch the authority from Configuration Manager to Intune. Configuration Manager continues to manage all other workloads, including those workloads that you don’t switch to Intune…”

This provides a safe transition path to gradually shift workloads from one platform to the other instead of forcing one disruptive cutover date.

SCCM Features

Prominent SCCM features include:

• Integration with Microsoft 365 Cloud: You can link your local Configuration Manager site to your cloud tenant using Cloud Attach. This unlocks cloud-powered insights and helps organizations migrate gradually to the cloud.
• Business Intelligence & SSRS Reporting: The platform uses built-in SQL Server Reporting Services to generate customized hardware inventory and patch compliance reports. This is particularly useful for organizations that face regular security audits.
• Operating System Deployment Services: IT teams can use advanced task sequences to automate bare-metal deployments, full OS imaging, and reimaging. This is essential for organizations that regularly provision or refresh large fleets of Windows devices on a schedule.
• Endpoint Security Management: SCCM enforces security baselines and Microsoft Defender antivirus policy for on-prem endpoints, a much needed capability for regulated industries that can’t rely on cloud-based controls alone.
• Remote Location Access to Resources: Configuration Manager can use a Cloud Management Gateway (CMG) to safely patch remote endpoints over the internet. Meanwhile, on-prem distribution points allow branch offices to download content locally instead of over a slow WAN link.

SCCM Pros and Cons

Like all other tools, SCCM has its strengths and weaknesses.

WSUS vs. Intune vs. Third-Party Alternatives

WSUS and Intune are not your only options. If they do not satisfy your patching needs, a handful of third-party platforms can help, especially around third-party app patching and simpler cloud-native deployment.

Action1: A Cloud-Native Patching Specialist

If WSUS feels outdated and Intune’s patching options look limited, try Action1. It is a cloud-native patch management and remote monitoring (RMM) platform offering:

• Quick setup
• Multi-OS and third-party app patching
• Support for mixed environments containing Windows, Windows Server, macOS, and Linux endpoints regardless of their location or VPN status
• Real-time vulnerability visibility and automated remediation

If third-party software and multi-OS patching is your main pain point, Action1 can address it effectively without you having to maintain local servers and troubleshoot databases.

Yet, Action1 does not provide Mobile Device Management (MDM) features, data loss prevention (DLP) profiles, and mobile app provisioning for iOS and Android fleet. For that, you still need Intune.

Action1’s free tier allows you to manage up to 200 endpoints with no feature restrictions. This is a generous offering for T teams and MSPs looking for alternative endpoint tools. Or for organizations looking for a lightweight complement to Intune for third-party app patching.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is WSUS being deprecated?

WSUS is officially deprecated as of September 2024. Microsoft has placed the tool into maintenance mode and confirmed that it will not add new features or accept feature requests. However, WSUS will continue to receive bug fixes and security updates. It will stay functional and supported for the lifecycle of the Windows Server versions that include it.

Can WSUS and Intune be used together?

Yes, WSUS and Intune can run in parallel. For that, you have to configure co-management through Microsoft Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM and MECM). This specific configuration lets you shift device workloads from WSUS to Intune gradually, managing some devices with WSUS and others with Intune at the same time during a phased migration.

Do I need a license to use Intune?

Yes. Intune requires a paid subscription. You can purchase Intune Plan 1 for $8/user/month as a standalone subscription. Intune is also included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, M365 E3, and M365 E5, so organizations already on these plans get Intune with no added costs.

What is the difference between WSUS and Windows Update for Business?

WSUS is an on-premises server that downloads Microsoft updates from Microsoft and distributes them to managed devices on an organization’s local network. Windows Update for Business (WUfB) is a cloud-based service that instructs devices to fetch updates directly from Microsoft’s servers. Intune uses WUfB to configure update rings, deployment policies, and compliance settings.

Should I migrate from WSUS to Intune?

You should migrate to Intune if you need to manage non-Windows devices, support a distributed remote workforce, want to move toward cloud infrastructure, or already own Microsoft 365 enterprise licenses (which already include Intune). WSUS remains relevant for Windows-only, air-gapped, isolated, legacy. and highly regulated environments that require local control over update approval and distribution.

Conclusion

There’s no universal right answer between Intune and WSUS. The right tool depends on your fleet, your budget, and how much of your infrastructure you want to keep on-premises. The following matrix can be a good starting point.

Decision Matrix: Which Tool Is Right for Your Organization?

Not sure which path fits your environment? Start by auditing your current device mix and set up a free trial account of Microsoft Intune today to test cloud deployment.

Discover our complete WSUS Setup Guides