JumpCloud Directory Platform Reviews

Pros

Rolling out the system was easy. Imported users from Google Workspace and we were good to go. Simple to use Web UI compared to other clunky products I have tested over the years.

Cons

Some UX components can be fine tuned. Nothing major to complain about. For example, Admins should be able to get Geolocation of the device's WAN IP. Features like Geofencing would be great. Visibility of all installed applications on the end point device would be useful for audits.
Admin/Sudo permission can include a scheduler or timer to auto disable.

Alternatives Considered

Jamf Pro and Workspace ONE

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Price, easy of use, support.

Pros

SSO integrations are incredibly easy to configure, no matter if you are using a prebuilt configuration or need to make a custom connector. Having SSO, LDAP, Radius, MFA in the same platform as device authentication and configuration policies is something I have not found outside of Microsoft AD and JumpCloud. There are remote management and monitoring tools out there that claim to do these things, but so far JumpCloud has proven to be incredibly simple. I am constantly amazed that my tests just work within the first few tries. I am used to Microsoft environments where testing gets very tedious and gives minimal feedback on how to make things work. JumpCloud supports MacBooks like a champion. If your office is heavily invested in MacBooks, and you are looking for an easy way to centrally manage authentication and hardening, JumpCloud is the tool for you. By far my favorite feature is "Submit an idea" right in the admin console. You get the sense that they really care about their admins and want to make a tool that is always getting better.

Cons

1) No nested user groups! I feel this is essential for identity and access governance.
2) The device policies that they have available cover a lot of the base security hardening needs, but I am excited to see just how much of the various supported OS jumpcloud will eventually be able to tap into. I would love to see JC mirror Active Directory Group Policies as much as possible, and continue to get more configurations added for MacOS.
3) iOS and Android devices are not able to be managed by JumpCloud, but I have been told this is coming by the end of 2021/early 2022.
4) Only TOTP MFA is supported for the admin console, and after getting SSO set up on a lot of tools the pain of that is getting to me, but I know they are working on this feature as well.
5) I personally believe that a remote desktop tool would make JumpCloud the king of IT tools.

Alternatives Considered

Jamf Pro, Google Workspace, Workspace ONE, Okta and Kaseya VSA

Reasons for Choosing JumpCloud Directory Platform

The criteria for my search was an IDP for SSO. Device management was a nice-to-have, down-the-road goal, and Microsoft AD was off the table. After finding JumpCloud it was a breeze to convince my higher-ups that Device Management could and should be a top priority along with identity and SSO. We were using Jamf for Macs, and had no central management for Windows devices. With jumpcloud those are all in one place.

Switched From

Jamf Pro

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Simple: Identity, access, device management all in one platform. Okta - only Identity. If you want to manage devices you need to integrate another platform. We wanted one tool. Jamf - No Windows support, no identity or access management. Google Workspace - No laptop support. Workspace One - Not an actual identity provider, device management was not as simple as JumpCloud. Kaseya - Clunky, heavily dependent on computers being tied to a domain, which we don't have.

Pros

The features seem straightforward, and I have heard no complaints from the users and security engineers.

Cons

I'm not entirely clear what it does, but maybe that's the point? It's supposed to work without hindering day to day activities.

Alternatives Considered

Rippling

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Rippling's MDM capabilities were subpar and difficult to manage. It slowed everyone's computers down, and it was difficult to enforce its download.

Pros

Jumpcloud has several features that will bring ease of use to you life. The simplicity of the system and the ease of understanding is key. Going from a brand name MDM to using Jumpcloud was super easy. The everyday management and the use of it, is definite stand out for me in terms of using Jumpcloud.

Cons

Jumpcloud has alot of items, some are less relevant. But one negative aspect, and this is getting better, is the possibility to push macOs application to users. This is still fiddly but I'm sure that Jumpcloud will come out with a solution.

Alternatives Considered

Jamf Pro

Reasons for Choosing JumpCloud Directory Platform

Fleetsmith lost all the great features and lost all capabilities of us using it.

Switched From

Fleetsmith

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

The company was smaller than Jamf and my experience is that smaller companies care more about customer feedback and ideas for improving the product, which is the case with Jumpcloud.

Pros

Jumpcloud has provided us with a full DaaS solution which we were able to scale easily, and have seen the benefits versus our prior environment. We are able to implement policies and enhance our security posture very easily by utilizing Jumpcloud. The SSO integration is a great feature which is included in the standard plan, and allows us to save money and resources on having an additional solution in our tech stack. The ability to manage all users and endpoints through the console allows for streamlined processing of requests through our Sys admin team.

Cons

I don't like the lack of readily available reporting which can be generated directly from Jumpcloud. The data is all there, and we can get it through various extracts, but I would like to see some high quality embedded reporting with the ability to share and customize reports. I also want to see more integration with services like Slack.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Jumpcloud made the most sense based on the size of our user base, the cost of the solution, and our needs at the time.

Pros

Very simple, quick package install that takes seconds. I love that the agent runs as service with a tiny footprint. You make changes using the web console, and they propagate down within a minute. Password syncing is not an issue. Just as if you were using AD, password syncing works fast. I loved how easy it was to setup RADIUS for wireless. I had it up and running within a couple of minutes. Agent installation on our machines was either done by a small installer, or in the case of Linux, a simple copy-and-paste command pasted into the terminal.

Cons

No mobile app yet. I am hoping this will change in the future so I can make changes without having to log into the browser.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure

Reasons for Choosing JumpCloud Directory Platform

AD is a pain to manage, and did not allow syncing without using a VPN. The most important thing was the cross-platform support. They support Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Currently not an Azure customer, and Azure did not support Linux. I love the ease of use and not having to concern myself with maintaining infrastructure anymore.

Pros

What do I like best? I think the list goes on and on way too long for this. JumpCloud does everything I could think of. From LDAP, to IDP, to server authentication, to MDM and so much more. JumpCloud has helped Octane solve so many issues that I didn't even know I needed to solve. And on top of that their support team and our account manager are the absolute best.

Cons

The only thing I dislike about JumpCloud right now is that since we have so many bookmarks and SSO connections on the user portal, there is no favorites page on there for them to only star the applications they use daily. Its getting cumbersome to keep track and find the applications you need sometimes.

Alternatives Considered

Okta

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

JumpCloud is the best priced for all the features.

Pros

Jumpcloud offers 10 users free, forever!

Cons

Without paid support, it can be difficult to adapt to using Jumpcloud if you're not familiar with Active Directory and Group Policies.

Alternatives Considered

Okta and Ping Identity

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

After much investigation, I found that neither Ping or Okta could completely replace an on-prem AD server. Azure AD is much more difficult to use, especially in a mixed environment like we have.

Pros

I really love that this software allows us to take control over a wide variety of computers, provides a central IDP for LDAP and Radius and allows us to provision computers and users with ease.

Cons

At this point, I think the only thing I am missing is the ability to control apps outside of DEP with Macs (like Chrome and Google Drive). Also linux app control.

Alternatives Considered

OneLogin

Reasons for Choosing JumpCloud Directory Platform

Jumpcloud was more cohesive in product offering and is cloud based.

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Better computer control and provisioning across Linux, Windows, Mac.

Pros

I love the single source of truth in a cloud-native platform. For me, this feels a little like Git for Users/Devices in that I trust that this is where my users/devices live, not spread out across dozens of disparate systems. Also... dead simple ssh with mfa on Linux... MIND BLOWN!

Cons

Currently, there is no support for device management on Chromebooks or Android.

Alternatives Considered

OneLogin and Okta

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

JumpCloud had the features of the competitors I wanted, plus the device management features the others did not have. In the end I have ONE tool that does what it would take TWO tools to do with another platform.

Pros

The policy and directory features stand out. You can easily add a machine and take it away when necessary.

Cons

There is some functionality that I sometimes spend a lot of time to get working properly.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

I liked the end user experience and customer-first approacy.

Pros

I love that this DaaS product "just works" right out of the box. There is plenty of good documentation to read if you are cautious like me. I found that many features just worked and were intuitive to implement. We went from a small company that was ravaged by "password fatigue" - we separate passwords for everything with no central password app. It was a nightmare. After deploying Jumpcloud, we were able to make use of many of the features hidden in our networking gear. Within a month, we had unique (per user) credentials to get into everything. VPN, Wifi, NAS, System Accounts, Email...SSO. The password complexity is adjustable and can rotate. 2FA is simple to deploy and is icing on the cake. All of this in a Mac, Linux and PC environment....you really can't ask Active Directory to do that.

Cons

While the support for features and processes pertaining to Jumpcloud are documented well. At times the instructions can seem vague and maybe presume too much. However, support personnel are just an email away...they will help you "stick to the script", they are not however always well-versed in real scenarios you may have on your job-site. Nonetheless, I'll give them a C+ for walking through a couple nerve-racking installs the first time through.

Pros

Jumpcloud is the chameleon that becomes one with any setup you throw it into.
Faster, easier and more accurate(because there is less human interaction to make those mistakes) as well as being as secure as you need it to be. With SAML 2.0, SSO and and MFA, you would be hard pressed to find an alternative so rich in features and option AND in the same pricerange as JumpCloud.
Managing users and machines over the internet as if they were on the domain. Adding/removing users, deploying scripts and software. User Account Management has made the need for VPNs and other fafferies totally redundant. Jumplouds agent will do all the lifting. You just tell it what you need. Once the user or machine checks in, the instruction is automatically actioned.

In one word: Brilliant!

Cons

There was a times when a users account that locked out took more time and effort to resolve than would without JumpCloud.

The alerting was also in need of review. Specifically, when a users account gets locked out, the process to get it unlocked could do with a tidy up.

Pros

JumpCloud solved a number of issues for us as we needed a cloud-based identity management and also a system management tool for our distributed workforce. The product has constantly been improving over the 2 years we have used it. Set-up is fairly easy and it was pretty simple to roll-out.

Cons

There are some limitations that I hope are improved as the product develops. MDM is currently limited in functionality, and the System Insights still require command-line input to gather detailed information. It doesn't not have commands that can run on a system automatically when joined which would be nice.

Alternatives Considered

OneLogin

Pros

Quite complete solution, pretty simple but comprehensive. Management of users, machines, groups, solid connections with o365, cloud RADIUS option... And constant service improvement, which is very important in the software industry.

Cons

Reliability of RADIUS service, addition of remote control.

Alternatives Considered

Okta

Pros

We needed to set up a Radius Server for remote authentication and authorizations. JumpCloud allowed us to set this up in a matter of minutes.

Cons

Setting up a list of allowed Radius Clients was counter intuitive. You're asked to enter the IP's of Radius SERVERS, but they mean Radius CLIENTS.

Pros

Jumpcloud aggregates several features in one place as a SAAS service. From managing users to deploying policies, software, ...
It's an easy way to start managing assets, from people to computers.
It provides a wide range of SSO allowing its use straightaway.

Cons

Jumpcloud attempts to support every OS (Mac, Linux, Windows) however it does not provide the same amount of functionality throughout all of those operating systems. Currently, Linux is behind with little functionality compared with the others. Also, the Command execution needs a lot of improvements to give an overall better experience.

Pros

Jumpcloud is a great alternative to Microsoft Active Directory, I've rolled out JC at several firms and enjoyed the simple to use and easy to deploy, yet powerful service they provide. A big plus is that JC is designed to be OS agnostic, so I can deliver the security, management, and scripting I need to endpoints and servers while allowing end-users to choose their preferred OS.

Cons

not much to add here, it does what its supposed to do.

Pros

Easy to manage companies remotely, and also when configuring computers.

Cons

Little bit price, when need only for authentication.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Easy to deploy.

Pros

JumpCloud is perhaps the most serious alternative on the market today to Active Directory. In addition to providing a directory service, it includes MDM, RADIUS, and plenty of other technologies that Active Directory does. I love having access to everything in one place with nothing to maintain.

Cons

It isn't Active Directory. JumpCloud is a great alternative to Active Directory, but when you're dealing with tools that are built specifically for Active Directory, you're still out of luck.

Pros

We like the ease of use for deployment and managing users in one place. We like the ability to add apps easily to single sign on

Cons

MDM for IOS/Android is Missing the mark. Jumpcloud is also missing several "one click" options to enable single sign on for some apps like Meraki etc.. I would expect a of an API solution for things like Meraki. The MDM options overall are lacking as in I am not able to push WIFI config via MDM which I consider a basic task.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure and Okta

Reasons for Switching to JumpCloud Directory Platform

Ease of deployment.

Pros

The UI is very clean aesthetically and easy to navigate. This makes identity management a whole lot easier.

Cons

Zero-touch deployment is not super simple to set up. I may need to contact support for assistance.

Alternatives Considered

Jamf Pro

Pros

The cloud based architecture is a great option for us were We do not intend to have another server set up internally for Identity Management

Cons

At the moment We are eyeing on using TrueNAS, but it seems some functionality for integration with Jumpcloud is depracted (samba legacy code), hoping there will be an alternative in the future for shared folder access and authentication

Pros

Simplicity, constantly enhancing UI, constantly enhancing features

Cons

Wish the SSO feature was more robust when we procured JumpCloud (we were an early adopter), as we would have possibly opted for it over Okta

Pros

The best part of Jumpcloud is the ease of use for setting up things that we need quickly.

Cons

There are offerings here that I know nothing or next to nothing about. ot the failt of Jumpcloud - I need to spend the time