Managed Service Providers' Preferred Vendors — We Have the List

For the first time, the MSP Summit, in collaboration with Channel Futures, is releasing the year’s favorite technology vendors, suppliers and distributors selected by MSP 501 finalists and applicants.

As part of the 2024 MSP 501 survey, we asked all applicants to list the partners they work with in 10 categories. Our research has shown these represent the most strategic vendors, suppliers and distributors managed service providers build their businesses around externally to deliver customer solutions and internally to manage their business. 

We aggregated the scores of the accepted applicants who not only made the MSP 501 list but were also part of the Next Generation list (debuting in September) and the MSPs to Watch (debuting later in August). This amounts to well above 500 MSPs. We came up with the vendors and suppliers considered go-to-partners by the market’s highest-performing MSPs.

This is not a list of the highest revenue producing suppliers or market share leaders. These are the companies with which MSPs most often go to market with or use to manage their business in the case of PSA, marketplaces or distribution. Of course, the list does align with market share and revenue leaders in some cases. 

Preferred Vendors and MSP Partnerships Crucial to Success

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Omdia's Debbie Kane

“In today’s competitive channel ecosystem, identifying and selecting the right vendors to build and grow their business across a variety of technologies can be daunting for partners and difficult for vendors to differentiate themselves,” said Debbie Kane, principal channel consultant for Omdia, an Informa company. (Informa also owns Channel Futures.) “This new addition to the MSP 501 survey provides the broader partner community with a much-needed guide to identify the top ranked vendors, distributors and suppliers, voted by their peers, as well as a platform for these top-ranked vendors, distributors and suppliers to be recognized and awarded to this prestigious list.”

Vinod Paul, president of managed services for Align – No. 31 on the MSP 501 – said vendor selection is one of the most critical factors in Align’s success with clients. Align sells to the financial services vertical – mainly private equity, hedge funds, and other registered investment advisors. Those clients are heavy regulated, and demand their MSPs pick vendors that can meet those regulations. When picking a new vendor, he said Align must put vendors through the same operational due diligence that his customers go through when selecting an MSP.

Align's Vinod Paul

“Our clients go through tremendous due diligence from a vendor perspective,” Paul said. “They want to make sure we haven’t picked our vendors willy-nilly, that we put them through the ringer. They trust us that we pick the right vendors, but they want to know that we have the controls in place, and we’re putting our vendors through all the same due diligence they're putting us through.”

Align’s services are built around Microsoft technology, augmented with MDR, SIEM and SOC cybersecurity products. Paul said he has dropped vendors because they he felt they did not scale or innovate fast enough for his needs.

“If they don’t innovate, they are not going to be part of our future,” Paul said of the vendors he considers.

The top vendors not only innovate, but they do as much as possible to support MSP partners.

“We've had this incredible investment across managed services,” said Rodney Clark, Cisco SVP of partnerships and small and medium business. “It's something that we really decided to invest in a little over three years ago. And for us, it's today a $9 billion business where we've seen a set of services grow. We've got partners that are really leaning in and building these new practices based on our guidance and our investments. We’re really proud of that. That becomes a way that we continue to grow not only capability, but we also grow revenue.”

Top Preferred Vendor Lists

The top vendors and distributors used by 2024 MSP 501 winners include (in alphabetical order): Amazon, Blackpoint Cyber, Broadcom/VMware, Cisco, ConnectWise, Fortinet, HaloPSA, HPE (Aruba), Huntress, Ingram Micro, Kaseya (including Datto and IT Glue), Liongard, Microsoft, Pax8, SaaS Alerts, SentinelOne, TD Synnex and Veeam.     

We will recognize the top three vendors/distributors in each category at the MSP 501 Gala, Sept. 18, at the MSP Summit in Atlanta. The MSP 501 Gala will honor all the MSPs on the list, along with Special Awards for Executive of the Year, MSP of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Vanguard of the Year, among others.

Here are the top five vendors in each category, listed alphabetically:

Distributors, online marketplaces and or technology services brokerage firms used by MSPs to sell products and services:

Cybersecurity

SaaS Security

Network Monitoring

SD-WAN

Cloud Services/SaaS

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR):

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Software:

Professional Services Automation (PSA):

IT Documentation Platform: