Apple devices aren’t centrally managed by default — each Mac, iPhone, and iPad functions as a standalone piece of hardware. For businesses, this creates a gap: IT teams need a way to enforce security policies, push updates, and support employees at scale.
That’s where Mobile Device Management (MDM) comes in. MDM platforms give organizations direct control over employee devices, enabling IT teams to set up, secure, and manage them remotely. These solutions can vary in scope — some focus on Windows, others on Mac — so choosing the right platform depends in part on the makeup of your device fleet.
For Mac environments, two providers stand out: Jamf, the established market leader known for its depth and breadth of coverage, and Kandji, the modern challenger known for its simplicity. Both deliver the same foundational features: zero-touch deployment across Apple operating systems, direct integrations with identity and productivity tools, and alignment with common compliance frameworks. How they do this varies: Jamf emphasizes customization through smart groups, extension attributes, and script-driven automation, while Kandji takes a no-code approach that is quick to adopt but less flexible as needs become more advanced.
In this article, we’ll provide a detailed comparison of Jamf and Kandji — highlighting where they overlap, where they diverge, and how each approaches integrations, pricing, target audiences, and compliance support.
Despite their differences in philosophy, Jamf and Kandji share core capabilities:
On paper, either tool can help an organization achieve compliance and manage Apple devices at scale. The real difference lies in how they help you get there — and whether their approaches hold up as your environment grows.
Below, we’ll dig into how Jamf and Kandji differ across four key areas: onboarding, customizability and policy management, operating system support, and pricing. Each of these factors can influence how easy a platform is to adopt and how well it supports your organization as it grows.
Kandji is designed for easy setup, shipping with more than 200 prebuilt automations that handle common MDM needs like password policies, WiFi settings, and app deployment — no custom scripting needed. This plug-and-play model stems from Kandji’s origins as a consulting team that saw how much setup work other MDMs demanded, and set out to remove the need for deep technical expertise.
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While Kandji is often described as the “automation leader,” that label can be misleading — most MDMs automate similar tasks. The real differentiator is Kandji’s no-code interface, which makes those automations accessible to non-technical admins.
Jamf takes an un-opinionated approach to MDM, offering the tooling to fully customize devices from scratch rather than relying on prebuilt automations. Its focus on open source tooling and extensibility means that anything possible in Kandji — and far more — can also be achieved in Jamf. The trade-off is complexity: Jamf can be challenging to implement without technical expertise.
To address this, organizations often turn to orchestration platforms like Zip Security, which configure Jamf with a Kandji-like simplicity while bundling it with other essential security tools, or hire consultants to handle deployment. These options make Jamf’s flexibility accessible without the prohibitive costs that can be associated with implementation, onboarding, or initial setup.
Jamf is built for scale, giving IT teams the ability to apply both universal settings and device-specific configurations. Its Smart Groups let admins assign policies based on attributes such as role, department, or hardware specs — for example, deploying a sales analytics tool only to managers, or installing Photoshop only on devices with 32GB+ RAM. This prevents bloat and ensures each team gets the right tools and restrictions.
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Beyond Smart Groups, Jamf collects detailed inventory data by default (hardware, OS, apps, profiles, and more). For anything else, Extension Attributes allow admins to script custom data points — like capturing a device hostname or syncing multiple LDAP group memberships into a single field.
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Together, Smart Groups and Extension Attributes give Jamf near-limitless flexibility. Organizations can define policies for all devices, subsets of users, or highly specific configurations, while monitoring virtually any attribute across their fleet.
Kandji organizes devices through Blueprints, which assign automations by role or department. While simple to set up, Blueprints are static — devices can only belong to one profile, with no further tailoring based on specs, location, or other attributes.
Unlike Jamf, Kandji also lacks support for custom attributes, which limits flexibility as environments grow more complex. This rigidity is why many developers, even when offered steep discounts, stick with Jamf or migrate back after outgrowing Kandji.
Kandji supports only the most recent versions of Apple operating systems across macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and visionOS. This approach simplifies management and reduces the risk of legacy vulnerabilities, but it can be restrictive for organizations that rely on older apps or need to stagger OS upgrades over time.
Jamf supports provisioning on both the latest and older macOS versions, which is critical for organizations tied to legacy software that may not run on modern OS releases (e.g., video editing software). Like Kandji, Jamf recommends staying current for security reasons, as it gives IT teams the flexibility to manage gradual transitions.
Jamf is primarily Apple-focused, but it can also provide partial Windows support through Microsoft Intune. In this setup, Jamf shares Apple device data with Intune, giving Windows-heavy organizations visibility into their Apple inventory. This integration is most useful when organizations are primarily Windows-heavy, with Apple devices making up a small part of the fleet.
Pricing comparisons between Jamf and Kandji are often reduced to the average cost per device, which we’ve included below. But per-device pricing is only part of the picture. Businesses also need to consider onboarding costs — minimal with Kandji, but more significant with Jamf unless you dedicate internal bandwidth or use a partner like Zip Security to manage setup. There are also ongoing management costs: With both platforms, IT teams must monitor devices to ensure compliance, though Zip can ease this burden by automatically remediating drift. Finally, organizations should weigh not just current needs but also future requirements. Many teams eventually outgrow Kandji, and the cost of migrating to a more flexible solution like Jamf later can be substantial.
Kandji’s pricing is not public, but Vendr data estimates that it costs around $4-8 per device. All core features are included without needing to piece together add-ons. For organizations that want predictable budgeting and minimal configuration overhead, this simplicity can be appealing. The automation built into Kandji can also translate into lower operational costs by reducing the amount of manual IT work needed to keep devices compliant and secure.
Jamf’s pricing is public, where macOS costs $10 per device and mobile devices cost $5.75 per device; they also offer a $4 per device discount to small businesses.
The pricing varies depending on deployment size, feature requirements, and whether you opt for cloud or on-premises hosting. Some advanced capabilities may require additional Jamf products, which can increase the total spend. While this may raise the upfront cost compared to Kandji, Jamf’s extensive customization options can deliver value in environments where fine-grained control is necessary, especially if they efficiently achieve compliance with complex regulations.
Jamf is the better fit for organizations that need flexibility and fine-grained control. Its Smart Groups, Extension Attributes, and support for legacy operating systems make it ideal for complex or growing environments. While Jamf requires more effort upfront, this can be offset by orchestration platforms like Zip Security, which streamline setup and ongoing management.
Choose Jamf when:
Kandji is designed for speed and simplicity. With its 200+ prebuilt automations and no-code interface, it’s fast to deploy and easy to manage. For some organizations, Kandji checks the boxes: they need a more common setup, value a straightforward system even if it’s limiting, and don’t need any bespoke configurations. In other words, for a “cookie-cutter” organization, Kandji is likely the ideal solution.
In short, choose Kandji when:
Zip Security isn’t an MDM itself — we’re an all-in-one IT and security platform that deploys and manages industry-leading tools on behalf of organizations. We eliminate complexity through software automation, ensuring there’s no need to choose between what’s easiest and what’s best.
We support both Windows and Mac device management, automating deployments in Intune (the market leader for Windows) and Jamf simultaneously. Beyond MDM, we deliver best-in-class Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) through CrowdStrike and enable compliance with standards including SOC 2, NIST 800-171, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and more.
By integrating directly with identity providers, we provide a single solution for visibility and control across devices, identities, browsers, and endpoints. Acting as an extension of internal teams, we deliver real-time visibility while handling the heavy lifting in the background — making enterprise-grade security accessible to organizations of every size.
Jamf and Kandji both deliver strong Apple MDM capabilities, but they serve different audiences. Kandji shines with speed and ease of use, while Jamf offers the flexibility enterprises need to scale securely. For most organizations thinking beyond the short term, Jamf is the safer bet — especially when paired with orchestration platforms like Zip Security that remove the setup and management burden. Kandji has made impressive progress and could become a more formidable competitor if it closes the gap on customization, but for now, Jamf remains the more future-proof choice.
