Every few weeks a Dubai business asks us to settle this argument. The IT manager wants Intune because everything else is Microsoft. The design team wants Jamf because they run Macs and have heard Intune treats them as second-class. Both positions have some truth in them, and the honest answer depends on facts about your fleet rather than on which product is better.
Start with what you already own
This is the step most comparisons skip, and it decides the question more often than any feature. Intune is bundled into Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3 and E5. If your business holds any of those, you are already paying for it whether or not anyone has switched it on. Jamf is always a separate purchase.
We audit licence entitlements before recommending anything, and it is common to find a client about to buy a device management platform they already own. That does not settle the argument on its own, but it does mean the comparison is rarely like for like on cost.
Where each one genuinely wins
| Situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mostly Windows, some Macs | Intune | One console, one identity, and the Macs get perfectly adequate management |
| Mac-first or design-led team | Jamf | Deeper Apple-specific controls and faster support for new macOS features |
| Heavy iOS and iPadOS fleet | Jamf | Apple device workflows are its whole reason for existing |
| Already on Entra ID and Conditional Access | Intune | Compliance state feeds straight into sign-in decisions |
| Small team, no dedicated admin | Intune | Fewer moving parts if Microsoft 365 is already being administered |
| Education or creative studio | Jamf | App deployment and self-service are noticeably better on Apple |
The Apple gap is smaller than it was
The common objection to Intune is that Apple support lags. That was a fair criticism several years ago. Today Intune handles Apple Business Manager enrolment, configuration profiles, compliance policies and app deployment on macOS and iOS competently. What Jamf still does better is depth: newer macOS management features usually arrive there first, and its self-service portal is genuinely better for users.
So the question is not whether Intune can manage Macs. It can. The question is whether the extra depth Jamf offers is worth a second platform, a second licence and a second console for your particular fleet.
Two consoles is a real cost
If your Mac count is small and your admin time is scarce, running two platforms is usually a worse outcome than accepting slightly shallower Apple management in one.
Running both is legitimate, but be deliberate
Larger organisations do run Jamf for Apple and Intune for Windows, with both feeding compliance state into Entra ID. That works. It also means two sets of policies, two upgrade cycles and two places to look when something is wrong. Choose it because your Apple estate genuinely justifies it, not because nobody wanted to make a decision.
How we actually decide
- Count the fleet properly, split by platform and by corporate versus personally owned
- Check existing licence entitlements before pricing anything new
- Ask who will administer it day to day, and how much time they really have
- Identify any Apple-specific requirement that Intune genuinely cannot meet, rather than assuming there is one
- Pilot with a cross-department group before committing the whole business
Not sure which fits your fleet?
Tell us how many Windows and Mac devices you have and what Microsoft licences you hold. We will audit the entitlements and give you a straight recommendation, including when that recommendation is to stay with what you have.
