SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS) vs. ISL Light

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
DameWare Remote Support from Austin IT company SolarWinds is remote administration software for the remote control of desktops, laptops, and servers behind or outside the firewall, allowing registry editing, restart services, logging activity, account and password management, and more. The mobile app also provides access from a phone or tablet. DameWare Remote Support licensing is per technician, the number of end-user remote machines is irrelevant; one technician may receive a license for…
$370
one-time fee
ISL Light
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
ISL Light is remote support and remote access software that enables SMBs and large enterprises to offer fast and efficient support and maintenance for Windows, Mac and Linux computers as well as mobile device support for Android and iOS.
$34.90
per month (billed annually) per concurrent user
Pricing
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Editions & Modules
Dameware Mini Remote Control
$370
one-time fee
Dameware Remote Support
$520
one-time fee
Standard
$34.90
per month (billed annually) per concurrent user
Self-Hosted
$44.90
per month (billed annually) per concurrent user
Premium
$54.90
per month (billed annually) per concurrent user
Enterprise (Managed Private Cloud)
$23,976
per year 20 concurrent users
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDameWare Remote Support and Mini Remote Control are licensed based on the number of technician users that use the software for remote administration. There are no limits or restrictions for the number of end-users supported or the number of remote endpoints/computers supported. As you buy higher counts of licenses, the per-seat pricing goes down giving you a reduced total price.ISL Online's pricing model considers the number of licenses purchased, which determines the maximum number of concurrent users within the organization. A concurrent user is defined as anyone running one or more sessions simultaneously from any device. There are no restrictions on the number of ISL Light users within a company or the remote devices managed. For example, with three licenses, an unlimited number of people in a company can use ISL Light and can access an unlimited number of remote devices, but only three users can use it concurrently. When one of these three users ends their session, a fourth user can begin their session, and so on.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Features
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
8.6
Ratings
6% above category average
ISL Light
7.8
Ratings
4% below category average
Screen sharing10.00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
File transfer10.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Instant message8.30 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication8.70 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers9.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session8.50 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile9.00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations9.10 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management7.20 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard8.20 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Session record8.50 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Annotations7.90 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts8.70 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control7.10 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Small Businesses
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.7 out of 10
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)ISL Light
Likelihood to Recommend
I feel like this is a very robust solution that I would recommend to anyone who relies heavily on remote support. Most of the colleagues I work with already use SolarWinds products to one extent or the other. I feel the price for the solution is very fair and a good value for the product.
Read full review
Perfect for remotely accessing user machines. Better than any of the competitors such as Anydesk etc. Feels a lot safer and the auto rollout makes it perfect for large organisations and small Cannot think of a case when it's less appropriate!
Read full review
Pros
  • DameWare Remote Support allows us to connect to the desktop of a user very easily and quickly. It can be configured to use different levels of security making it both fast and secure.
  • DameWare Remote Support can be deployed to all computers in the environment quickly using the built in capabilities of DameWare.
  • DameWare provides the ability to get system information as well using the full client not the mini remote control. This is handy in finding running services, events logs, etc and all based on our AD structure.
Read full review
  • Prikaz strani na kateri se nahaja uporabnik
  • Prikaz kontaktov uporabnikov
  • Zgodovina pogovorov s strankami
  • Možnost spreminjanja statusa dosegljivosti
  • Nalaganje datotek, zajemov slik,..
  • Klepetalnik, ki je enostaven za uporabo
  • Nas obvesti, da smo dobili sporočilo, tudi če smo izven klepetalnika
  • Display the page the user is on
  • Displaying user contacts
  • Customer conversation history
  • Ability to change availability status
  • Uploading files, capturing images, etc.
  • An easy-to-use chatbot
  • Notifies us that we have received a message, even if we are outside the chat room
Read full review
Cons
  • Connecting to last session is not always the last session.
  • Saving your position in the Personal Host List would be helpful. I have a folder structure 3 levels deep and when I'm going through a list of computers it is frustrating to have to browse down through the same levels each time.
  • When connecting to a host, an entry is saved in Saved Host List (even duplicates). I would be nice to have an option to save or not save like a quick connect option.
  • DameWare Mobile has separate password than desktop and cannot be linked to Active Directory password like desktop.
Read full review
  • Need a control toggle at least on AlwaysOn. User moves the mouse and you lose all control instantly.
  • Clipboard features are a bit wonky still, and your clipboard seems to get emptied a lot. So if you're trying to copy and paste you might lose something
  • Passwords for the systems are saved per machine, so if you work from multiple devices it can be tricky if you have complex passwords
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
We like DRS for remote support and have been using it for several years. It has made it easy to support our on network users when "hands on" support is required. We currently don't use DRS to its fullest simply because there are other tools that are easier to use, for instance we use AD Manager Plus to handle our AD tasks. I've not found DRS to be all that intuitive to use for anything other than remote support with the Mini Remote Control.
Read full review
We are renew the license for 10 years now and we do not see why would change that. It just gets better with every new version.
Read full review
Usability
It's effective and easy. It'll do what you want it to do as long as you don't expect the world. I expect it would be even better if you were a Solar Wind shop; for us this is the only thing we use from them, mainly due to price point on other components
Read full review
It is very easy to use. You hardly need any computer knowledge to learn how to use it, as everything is displayed in easily recognizable icons. Although its appearance does not look cutting-edge, it could have a more modern look, but it must be said that everything is understandable, and with just a couple of taps on each icon that appears, you already know what each thing is for, and it allows you to use it skillfully and fluidly. Everything is perfect in this regard.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Yes, always available.
Read full review
During the entere time of use, I have never come across any availability issues.
Read full review
Performance
The application always seems responsive to me
Read full review
High performance!
Read full review
Support Rating
I use a Samsung mobile device; DameWare Mobile was working and then after an Android update it started crashing. I reported the issue to DameWare and worked with the technicians and developers to gather data for them to correct the issue. They quickly published a beta release for me to test (which corrected the crashes) and then published an update to the Google Play Store.
Read full review
We had issues with mouse skipping on mobile devices. Support is immediatly availabe, they examined our case and in one of the new versions of the app this problem was gone.
Read full review
In-Person Training
It was excellent
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
The videos were more than sufficient to learn the product
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
It helps greatly if you know someone already using DameWare Remote Support. I was fortunate as my tech support guys were using it at their hospital and assisted me through the purchase, download and implementation of remote support. As well as, knowing how many licenses to purchase at the time. You have to make sure that anyone assisting in IT can have access to the program with their own license.
Read full review
It was so easy!
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
SCCM is pretty decent as a Remote Support tool, the main difference is that, as SCCM is much more, it takes long time to load and uses u lots of resources that are wasted if you only uses it to Remote. Dameware Remote Support is specialized software, so it is powerful enough for all your needs, while being light enough to barely make a dent on the system resources.
Read full review
In our specific case user console simplicity in ISL light is a major positive for ISL light. ISL always on agent for unattended access is vastly superior to TeamViewer's solution. TeamViewer has become bloated in recent years, changing things for the sake of changing them, rather than improving their offering. One advantage TeamViewer has is a copy-paste file function that does not require the use of cumbersome file transfer tool.
Read full review
Scalability
You get an 8 because of the constant initial freeze on most connections. Takes a reconnect to have it work.
Read full review
Easy to deploy onto new devices. Ability to group devices so they can managed remotely efficiently.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • DameWare has allowed us to maintain our non-traditional approach to IT support. It allows our administrators to work from anywhere and has extended their reach to clients domestic and abroad.
  • Return on investment was realized as soon as we purchased the licenses. We don't have to maintain a large office space or overhead costs due to the flexibility it allows our administrators.
  • First call resolution has increased drastically since implementing DameWare company-wide. The user no longer has to wait to reproduce an error. We can screen share and view it as it happens and mitigate the issues.
Read full review
  • We can now help our customers within minutes. Sending a technician could take hours or even days.
  • We can immediately help customers who are stuck and unable to refuel so that they can continue their journey.
  • We can now quickly resolve warranty cases, so that it hardly costs us any money.
Read full review
ScreenShots

SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS) Screenshots

Screenshot of DameWare Remote Support Management ConsoleScreenshot of Remotely Connect to Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X ComputersScreenshot of Over-the-Internet Remote Session via Secure Proxy ServerScreenshot of Connect to Remote Computers from iOS and Android Mobile Devices

ISL Light Screenshots

Screenshot of remote access control in ISL Light.Screenshot of unattended access setup. Access can be allowed to as many computers as desired.Screenshot of a connection with a remote client, which can be set up by sending an email or sharing a link.Screenshot of interactions with the Windows UAC on a remote device.Screenshot of the dual panel File Manager, used to transfer files.Screenshot of the web console where remote desktop sessions can be managed from a web browser.