Recommendations Open-source / free patch-management tool?

Well then its half price! (Actually true on EP count, the 200 stay free, so they come off the top of your EP count, at 400 EP you would be paying for 200 EP and support on 400.) There are free solutions out there, but for free I always ask one to consider the long term. For instance we have people that pay for support on our free model, because free does not always mean what you initially pay, it means cost to support as well. When something is not working in the moment you absolute need it to, production support is simply a requirement for some people. Action1 is about security and peace of mind, if you are not patched, you are practically inviting compromise. But I get everyone has budgets, so while there are completely viable free ways to get things done, the long term questions almost always come down to support-ability, scalability, ease of use, and time saved. Then measured against results. So when doing a project this crucial, I would simply take free off the list of requirements, sure you can use it as a qualifier "As free or low cost as possible", but what you want is the correct tool for the job. I suggest you make plan, what you need, what you have, what you need to accomplish, any regulations you face, and management hurdles to meet your goals. And then choose the tool or tools that meet that need. The cheapest of that list, is the one you cannot afford to be without regardless of price. So often when IT is given the "You can have this as long as it is free" that argument, can score better financial investments in proper tooling. Free does not mean bad, paid does not mean good, effective is the measure, and the cost of the tools that do what you need is the price your org's management needs to reconcile not try and dodge.