Comparison
How Altivane Compares
Altivane beside PowerShell and the admin centres: what each needs, how each handles a change, and what each is best for.
Altivane compared with PowerShell and the admin centres
| What matters | PowerShell | Admin centres | Altivane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your computer, with a module for each service installed and kept up to date. | The browser. Nothing to install. | Install Altivane on your computer from its setup file. The main features need no other installation. |
| Getting into a tenant | Connect each module to the tenant, as an account or an app registration you set up. | Sign in to each admin centre, 1 tenant at a time. | Add the tenant once. Altivane registers itself with a certificate and the access you choose, and tests every service. |
| A record of changes | What your script logs, and the tenant's audit log. | The tenant's audit log. | A change log on your computer for each tenant, with the command, the values before and after, and who made the change, plus the tenant's audit log. |
| Reports | Exactly the columns you write, exported however you choose. | The built-in reports and exports of each admin centre. | Ready-made reports in an Excel workbook, with a sheet for each table and a list of items that could not be read. |
| Client documents | Built from your exports, manually or in a tool of your own. | Built manually from the exports. | A branded Word document for each client from a template, with a scorecard rating what the reports found, and an optional AI summary. |
| Repeating a task | A script you write, test and maintain. | Repeat the required steps in the admin centre. | Build a workflow on a canvas or start with a sample. |
| Running on a schedule | Task Scheduler with your script and stored credentials. | Opened manually. Some reports can be emailed on a schedule, such as the Defender portal's email and collaboration reports. | Task Scheduler runs Altivane's reports, documents and workflows without a window, signing in with the tenant's certificate. |
| Working with several clients | A loop in your script over the tenants it can connect to. | A separate sign-in or browser profile for each, or delegated admin links from Partner Center. | Choose a tenant from the list and work on each tenant separately. Documents and scheduled runs process selected tenants in turn. |
| Best for | A result in exactly the shape you need, a pipeline of your own, or a cmdlet nothing else exposes. | A quick look or a 1-off change in a tenant you are already signed in to. | Repeat routine checks, changes and reports for each client, with each change recorded. |
Altivane does not replace PowerShell or the admin centres, and every guide on this site shows its task all 3 ways.