PatchPilot · Comparisons
A SysWard alternative for people who want one table, not a queue
SysWard is a good deal: five servers free, a dollar an agent after that, CVE matching with an exploitability-ranked queue, and a self-hosted appliance at the same price. PatchPilot is simpler and narrower — and, to say it up front, it will not be the cheaper one once the beta ends. Here is what you get for the difference, and when it is not worth it.
Side by side
| SysWard | PatchPilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | A patch queue: CVEs matched against installed packages and ranked by exploitability, grouped and scheduled rollouts with approval | One table: what is installed, what is pending, which of it is a security fix, what waits for a reboot, which release runs out of support |
| Distributions | Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS and Rocky | Debian, Ubuntu and apt-based derivatives, Raspberry Pi OS among them |
| How it runs | Cloud, or a self-hosted appliance — on-premises or air-gapped | Hosted only. Nothing to run but the agent, which talks outbound |
| Reboots | Shows which systems need one; no surprise reboots | Flags the machine on the dashboard. Never reboots anything |
| Price | Five servers free; then $1 per agent and month, cloud or appliance | Free during the beta. After it, priced per server in euros |
SysWard details as published on sysward.com on 25 September 2026.
When SysWard is the better choice
- Price decides it. SysWard's prices are published and low; PatchPilot is free during the beta, and its plans after it will cost more per server than SysWard's.
- You run RHEL, CentOS or Rocky alongside Debian and Ubuntu.
- You work through CVEs. A ranked queue of which vulnerabilities actually affect your packages is SysWard's centre; PatchPilot lists a server's CVEs, and whether its running kernel contains a kernel CVE's code, but keeps no queue: nothing is assigned, accepted or tracked.
- Nothing may leave your network. The appliance runs air-gapped. PatchPilot is hosted only.
When PatchPilot is
- You want to look, not to triage. One table that tells you where every server stands, without a queue to work through or groups to stage.
- The release matters as much as the packages. PatchPilot flags a server's release months before it stops getting updates, and keeps it flagged afterwards.
- Nobody is going to operate anything. One command on the first server, the first answer inside five minutes.
The short version
SysWard works a CVE queue across your fleet, cheaply. PatchPilot shows where each Debian and Ubuntu server stands, in one table, and installs its updates in a window you choose. If that is the job, PatchPilot is free during the beta. More on the PatchPilot home page.