Best MDM Software: How to Choose

What actually differentiates MDM platforms

MDM platforms differentiate on eight things — and almost none of them appear on a pricing page. Before reading any vendor review, including the ones below, fix these criteria in order of importance for your estate, because a platform that wins on five of them and fails on the one you depend on is still the wrong platform. If you are new to the category, what MDM is and how it works covers the fundamentals first.

On cost: mainstream MDM pricing clusters around USD 1–8 per device per month depending on tier and volume (the pricing table below lists each vendor's published entry price). The bigger variable is rarely the headline rate — it is whether patching, remote access and reporting are inside that rate or sold as separate modules.

• Per-OS depth — ask exactly which policies are enforced on each OS you run, not which logos are supported
• Android enrolment mode — Device Owner unlocks silent app install, kiosk mode and strong restrictions; a personally-enrolled device unlocks far less. This single point decides most Android outcomes.
• Apple programmes — Apple Business Manager (now called Apple Business) and supervised enrolment change what is possible on macOS and iOS
• Patching — included, or a separate module with separate pricing?
• Remote access — built in, or a third-party tool you also pay for?
• Multi-tenancy — essential for MSPs; retro-fitting client isolation is painful
• Pricing model — per device or per user, and what happens as you grow
• Audit trail — you will need it for ISO 27001, SOC 2 or DPDP evidence

The best MDM software, platform by platform

Seven platforms cover the realistic shortlist for most teams: Microsoft Intune, Jamf, Scalefusion, Hexnode, ManageEngine MDM, Miradore and Infronest. Each entry below states what the product is genuinely good at, where it is limited, who it fits, and how it charges — the four things a feature grid never tells you.

Microsoft Intune

Strengths. Intune is the default choice for Microsoft-centric organisations, and on Windows it is the reference point every other vendor is measured against: full policy and configuration management, BitLocker, Windows Autopilot zero-touch provisioning, and conditional access tied directly into Entra ID so an out-of-compliance device can be blocked from Microsoft 365 automatically. Coverage extends to macOS, iOS/iPadOS, Android and (more recently, with a narrower feature set) Linux. Microsoft's Intune documentation is unusually complete, and the third-party knowledge base is the largest in the category.

Limits. Depth outside Windows falls away faster than the marketing suggests — macOS and Linux management are serviceable rather than deep, and policy sync delays are a recurring operational complaint. Intune is also genuinely complex: small teams without a dedicated endpoint administrator often struggle to use more than a fraction of it.

Who it fits and pricing model. Organisations already paying for Microsoft 365 with a mostly-Windows fleet. Licensing is per user, and several Microsoft 365 enterprise and business bundles already include Intune — check what your existing licence covers before pricing anything else. Standalone plans exist; published price varies — check vendor.

Jamf

Strengths. Jamf is the strongest Apple-focused MDM: the deepest macOS policy control available, mature iOS/iPadOS management, tight integration with Apple Business Manager for zero-touch enrolment, and a strong track record of supporting new Apple OS releases quickly. If your estate is Apple and your compliance posture depends on enforcing settings Apple only exposes through supervised management, Jamf is the safe answer.

Limits. It is Apple-only. There is no Windows, Linux or Android story, so any mixed estate needs a second management product and the reconciliation work that comes with running two consoles and two inventories.

Who it fits and pricing model. Apple-only or Apple-dominant organisations — design studios, media companies, startups standardised on MacBooks. Per-device subscription pricing across several product tiers; published price varies — check vendor.

Scalefusion

Strengths. Scalefusion is an India-based platform whose stand-out capability is Android Device Owner management: silent app installation, single- and multi-app kiosk modes, and strong lockdown for company-owned devices. That makes it a frequent shortlist entry for field-force, logistics, retail and frontline deployments where the fleet is rugged Android hardware rather than laptops. It also manages iOS, Windows and macOS, and local pricing and support are a practical advantage for Indian buyers.

Limits. Desktop management depth on Windows and macOS is lighter than the Android side, and lighter than Intune or Jamf on their home platforms. Evaluate it as an Android-first product that also covers desktops, not the reverse.

Who it fits and pricing model. Frontline, kiosk and field Android fleets, especially in India. Per-device tiers, billed annually and published on its pricing page (see the pricing table below). If you are comparing it against Infronest specifically, our Scalefusion comparison sets the two side by side.

Hexnode

Strengths. Hexnode offers some of the broadest OS coverage in the mid-market — Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, plus tvOS and Fire OS for signage and shared-screen use cases — behind a console that teams consistently find easier to learn than Intune. Kiosk and single-purpose device support is strong, and it handles mixed BYOD and company-owned fleets without forcing one enrolment model.

Limits. Advanced capabilities concentrate in the higher tiers, so compare the tier you would actually buy rather than the headline entry price. Per-OS depth is respectable everywhere but leading nowhere: an Apple-only shop gets more from Jamf, a Microsoft shop from Intune.

Who it fits and pricing model. Mid-market teams with genuinely mixed fleets who value time-to-value over maximum depth on any single OS. Per-device tiers with monthly or annual billing, published on its pricing page (see the pricing table below).

ManageEngine MDM

Strengths. ManageEngine's MDM (Mobile Device Manager Plus) manages Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Chrome OS, and carries two advantages the cloud-native rivals cannot match: a genuine on-premises deployment option for organisations that cannot put device management in someone else's cloud, and integration with the wider ManageEngine suite (service desk, patching, AD management) that many Indian enterprises already run.

Limits. The product makes most sense inside the ManageEngine ecosystem; as a standalone MDM its console and workflow feel utilitarian next to newer rivals, and you take on the suite's patching and upgrade cadence if you self-host.

Who it fits and pricing model. Teams already invested in ManageEngine tooling, and organisations with a hard on-premises requirement. Per-device licensing with cloud and on-premises editions; published price varies — check vendor.

Miradore

Strengths. Miradore is the simplest credible entry point in this list: quick setup, a clean console, coverage of Android, iOS, Windows and macOS, and a free tier that lets a small team get a real inventory and basic policies in place without a procurement cycle. For a company enrolling its first fifty devices, that low floor matters more than any advanced feature.

Limits. It is intentionally light. Advanced policy control, automation and reporting run well behind the platforms above, and growing fleets tend to migrate off it once compliance requirements harden — factor the future migration into the low starting cost.

Who it fits and pricing model. Small teams standing up their first MDM, or organisations that need basic inventory and policy without enterprise complexity. Free tier plus per-device paid plans; published price varies — check vendor.

Infronest

Disclosure: Infronest is our own product. We include it because it genuinely competes in this category; evaluate it with the same criteria as every other tool.

Strengths. Infronest manages Windows, macOS, Linux and Android through its own agents, and iPhone and iPad through native Apple MDM enrollment — with real Linux management (inventory, patching, scripting, policy) rather than a checkbox, and Android Device Owner support for kiosk and frontline fleets. The structural difference is that the Infronest MDM platform lives in the same tenant-isolated workspace as server monitoring, IT assets, helpdesk, patch management and VAPT, so a device, its owner, its tickets and its vulnerabilities are one record instead of five consoles. Every action lands in a full audit trail, and MSPs get genuine per-client tenant isolation rather than a filtered view.

Limits. iPhone and iPad are managed through native Apple MDM enrollment (a signed configuration profile and your organisation's own Apple push certificate); there is no Infronest iOS app. Apple specialists such as Jamf go deeper on iOS — zero-touch enrolment at scale, volume app distribution, Shared iPad — so an Apple-heavy fleet may still want one. Infronest is also a younger product than Intune or Jamf, with a smaller third-party ecosystem, and its 50-endpoint minimum makes it the wrong buy for a very small fleet.

Who it fits and pricing model. Mixed Windows/Linux/Android estates of 50 or more endpoints, MSPs, and teams whose real problem is tool sprawl rather than one missing MDM feature. Per-endpoint pricing, published openly on the pricing page: MDM Enterprise (device management with patch management) is ₹850 per endpoint per month with a minimum of 50 endpoints, or ₹999 per endpoint bundled with EDR. A 7-day free trial is available, no credit card required.

MDM software comparison table

The table below condenses the entries above to the four decisions that shortlist a platform: what it manages, who it is for, and how it charges.

MDM platforms compared on OS coverage, fit and pricing model

MDM software pricing compared

The figures below are the list prices each vendor publishes on its own pricing page, checked on 20 October 2026, before tax. Vendors change them often, so treat the table as a starting point and confirm the current figure before you buy.

Two things make a straight comparison harder than it looks. Intune is priced per user and is already included in several Microsoft 365 plans, so many teams own it without a separate line item. And the bundle differs: Infronest's MDM Enterprise price includes patch management, which several rivals sell as a separate module or tier.

MDM pricing compared: published entry prices on vendor pricing pages, checked 20 October 2026

• On raw per-device price, Infronest is not the cheapest option here: Scalefusion, Hexnode and Miradore all publish lower entry rates. Compare total cost instead — add the patching tool, remote-access seats and reporting you would otherwise buy alongside the MDM.
• Quote-based options (Jamf, Hexnode's top tier) can still be competitive at volume; ask for a written quote at your real device count.

MDM for small and mid-size businesses in India

Most MDM shortlists are written for enterprises with a procurement team. A 30-person company or a 200-device mid-size business has different constraints: the budget is fixed in rupees, there is rarely a dedicated endpoint administrator, and the same two or three people also run the helpdesk and patching. Fit depends mainly on fleet size and OS mix:

• Under 50 devices — start with a free or low-cost tier: Miradore's free plan covers up to 50 devices and ManageEngine's free edition up to 25, and if you already pay for Microsoft 365, check whether your plan includes Intune. Infronest is not built for this size: MDM Enterprise has a 50-endpoint minimum, so a 20-laptop office would pay for 30 devices it does not have.
• 50 to a few hundred endpoints on mixed Windows, macOS, Linux and Android — this is where Infronest fits: ₹850 per endpoint per month including patch management (₹42,500 a month at the 50-endpoint minimum), with the platform plans adding helpdesk, IT assets and monitoring in the same workspace.
• Android-heavy frontline fleets in retail, logistics or field sales — Device Owner enrolment and kiosk mode matter more than the per-device price; Scalefusion, an India-based vendor, and Infronest both support them.
• Apple-heavy teams — an Apple specialist such as Jamf (quote-based) goes deeper on Mac, iPhone and iPad than any cross-platform tool on this list.

Three questions to ask before you sign

Whichever platform you shortlist, ask: is the quote in rupees and what does GST add, where is device data stored, and does the audit-log export give you the evidence you need for DPDP Act and ISO 27001 reviews.

See Infronest MDM pricing →

Questions vendors do not volunteer

Every platform above will pass a demo. The questions that separate them are the ones the demo script avoids — ask each of these in writing and keep the answers for the contract stage.

• 'Supports Linux' — does that mean full policy enforcement, or inventory and scripts only?
• 'Supports Android' — under which enrolment mode, and what breaks on personally-owned devices?
• 'Includes patching' — OS only, or third-party applications too? See what patch management involves for why the difference matters.
• 'Remote access included' — attended only, or unattended for servers as well?
• 'Unlimited devices' — check whether reporting, retention or API calls are what is actually metered.
• Ask for the audit-log export format before you sign; that is what your auditor will ask for.

Which MDM fits which team

Match the platform to the estate, not the review score. The pairings below resolve most shortlists, and our MDM best practices checklist covers what to do in the first ninety days after you pick one.

• Microsoft-centric office, mostly Windows — Intune
• Apple-only design or media company — Jamf
• Frontline, kiosk or field Android fleet — Scalefusion or another Device-Owner-strong platform
• Small team enrolling its first devices — Miradore, upgrading later if compliance hardens
• On-premises requirement or existing ManageEngine suite — ManageEngine MDM
• Mixed OS estate that also needs monitoring, tickets and patching — a unified IT platform such as Infronest rather than a standalone MDM
• MSP managing many clients — prioritise genuine multi-tenancy and per-client reporting above feature lists

Conclusion

Infronest manages Windows, macOS, Linux and Android devices, plus iPhone and iPad through native Apple MDM, in the same tenant-isolated workspace as server monitoring, IT assets, helpdesk, patch management and VAPT. For teams whose real problem is tool sprawl rather than one missing MDM feature, that consolidation is usually the bigger win.

Start a 7-day free trial at infronest.com — no credit card required.

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Sources

The standards, official guidance and vendor documentation below back the product, method and pricing-model claims in this article. We link them so you can check the claims rather than take them on trust.

• Microsoft Learn — Microsoft Intune licensing plans and options: Intune Plan 1, Plan 2 and Intune Suite, and Intune's inclusion in Microsoft 365 bundles such as E3 and E5.
• Microsoft Learn — Operating systems supported by Microsoft Intune: Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, Android, ChromeOS and Linux (Ubuntu LTS and RHEL only).
• Android Management API — Enroll and provision a device: fully managed versus work-profile devices, and provisioning that starts on a new or factory-reset device.
• Apple Platform Deployment — About Apple device supervision: supervision of organisation-owned devices, applied automatically through Automated Device Enrollment.
• ManageEngine — Mobile Device Manager Plus: supported operating systems, and cloud and on-premises editions priced per device.
• Miradore — Plans & Pricing: a free plan for up to 50 devices, plus per-device Premium and Premium+ plans.

💡 Written by the Infronest Product & IT Operations Team. We build MDM agents for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, so the per-OS caveats below come from implementation, not brochures.