Intune Enterprise App Management vs App Store for Intune
Two ways to get third-party apps into Intune without packaging them by hand. One is Microsoft's add-on catalog. The other is a self-service catalog, approval workflow, and patching platform that runs in your own Azure tenant. They solve overlapping problems and they can run side by side.
Enterprise App Management details on this page come from Microsoft Learn as of October 15, 2026. Microsoft changes the catalog and licensing over time, so confirm current details there before you buy anything.
Up front: both stay inside Microsoft
Most comparisons on this site come down to where your data goes. This one does not. Enterprise App Management is part of Intune, and App Store for Intune runs in your own Azure subscription. Neither hands Graph permissions to a vendor cloud. The differences here are scope, workflow, and who does the packaging.
What each one is
Enterprise App Management (EAM) is a Microsoft add-on that gives Intune admins an Enterprise App Catalog: Win32 apps that Microsoft prepares, hosts, and keeps current. You pick an app from the catalog inside the Intune admin center, Intune prefills the install commands, detection rules, and requirements, and you assign it like any other Win32 app. Updates arrive three ways: auto-update for apps with a Required assignment, guided supersedence for everything else, or the vendor's own updater for apps that update themselves. It is available for Windows, is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 since July 2026, and is otherwise a separate add-on to Intune Plan 1 or Plan 2, standalone or as part of the Intune Suite.
App Store for Intune is a PowerStacks product that deploys into your Azure subscription. It gives employees a branded self-service catalog with requests and approvals, packages apps from the public WinGet repository or your own installers with PSADT, publishes them to Intune as Win32 apps through Microsoft Graph, reports install status back to the requester, and keeps deployed apps patched through your deployment rings.
Side by side
| Capability | Enterprise App Management | App Store for Intune |
|---|---|---|
| Who prepares the package | Microsoft. Catalog apps are prepared and hosted by Microsoft with prefilled install, detection, and requirement settings. | Your tenant, automatically. The installer is fetched from the vendor URL in the WinGet manifest, SHA-256 verified, wrapped with PSADT v4, and converted to .intunewin. |
| Catalog source and size | A curated list Microsoft maintains and extends over time. The current list is published on Microsoft Learn. | The public WinGet repository, over 12,000 packages, plus anything you upload. Search the catalog. |
| Your own installers | Not through the catalog. In-house apps go through the normal Win32 app process. | Upload an MSI, EXE, or zip. The portal reads the MSI property table, generates detection rules, and runs it through the same pipeline as catalog apps. |
| Updates | Auto-update is available for apps with a Required assignment and sends the new version to every targeted device at once, with no rollout rings and no rollback. Apps offered as Available use the "apps with updates" report and supersedence. Microsoft publishes service level objectives for how quickly updates reach the catalog. | New versions are detected, repackaged, and rolled out through your deployment rings, with health-gated progression and one-click rollback to a previous version. |
| End-user self-service | Apps assigned as Available appear in Company Portal. No request for unassigned apps, no approval step. | Branded catalog scoped by group. Users request, approvers decide in the portal from a Teams card or an Outlook email, and the app is deployed on approval. |
| Approval workflow | None. Assignment is the decision. | Multi-stage approvals with conditional rules on cost, category, platform, publisher, or requester's department. Every decision is recorded against a named approver. |
| Install status for the requester | Standard Intune app install reporting, and Company Portal shows per-app state to the user. No request-level status, because there is no request. | Pending, downloading, installing, installed, or failed, pulled from the Intune reporting API and shown to both the requester and the admin. |
| Windows Autopilot | Catalog apps can be selected as blocking apps in Enrollment Status Page and Device Preparation profiles, except apps with auto-update turned on. | Published apps are standard Win32 apps and can be used in Autopilot profiles like any other Win32 app. |
| Targeting by installed software | Standard Entra ID groups and filters. | Group Automations (preview, requires BI for Intune) keeps an Entra ID device group in sync with the devices that have a given app installed, so updates target only the devices that need them. |
| Platforms | Windows. | Packaging and patching: Windows. Self-service requests can also cover iOS, Android, and web apps that are already in Intune. |
| Licensing | Included in Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 from July 2026. Otherwise an add-on to Intune Plan 1 or Plan 2, standalone or in the Intune Suite. | Annual subscription sized to your environment, plus the Azure resources it runs on in your subscription. See plans. |
| Where it runs | Inside Intune. Package content is hosted by Microsoft. | Inside your Azure subscription. The App Service authenticates to Graph as a managed identity, so there is no client secret and no vendor service with access to your tenant. |
Which one fits
The honest answer is that they are aimed at different jobs, and the overlap is smaller than the names suggest.
Enterprise App Management fits well if
- ✓You already have Microsoft 365 E5 or E7, or the Intune Suite, so there is no extra cost
- ✓The apps you deploy are on Microsoft's catalog list and you are happy to check it as the list grows
- ✓Admins assign apps and users install them from Company Portal, and that is the whole workflow you need
- ✓You want Microsoft to own the package and the update testing
App Store for Intune fits well if
- ✓Users should be able to request apps, and someone should approve them, with a record of who did
- ✓Your app list runs into the long tail that no curated catalog covers, or includes your own installers
- ✓You want third-party updates rolled through deployment rings with rollback, which catalog auto-update does not offer
- ✓You want a documented API for automation and a product that stays inside your subscription
Using both
Nothing stops you from running both. They produce the same thing in the end, a Win32 app in Intune. Teams that already have the Intune Suite tend to keep the Microsoft catalog for the titles it covers and use App Store for Intune for everything else: the request and approval front door, custom installers, and the apps that are not on Microsoft's list. If you are weighing App Store against vendor-hosted patching products instead, see the Patch My PC comparison and the Patch My PC alternatives roundup.
Frequently asked questions
Is Enterprise App Management included with Intune?
Not with Intune Plan 1 or Plan 2 on their own. Since July 2026 Microsoft includes it in Microsoft 365 E5 and E7. For other plans it is a separate add-on, sold standalone or as part of the Intune Suite. App Store for Intune is a separate annual subscription that runs on Azure resources in your own subscription.
Does Enterprise App Management use WinGet?
No. Microsoft states that Enterprise App Catalog apps are installed directly by the Intune Management Extension and do not use WinGet. App Store for Intune builds its catalog from the public WinGet repository, verifies the installer hash against the manifest, wraps the installer with PSADT, and publishes it as a standard Win32 app.
Can end users request apps with Enterprise App Management?
Not through Enterprise App Management itself. It is an admin-side catalog. Apps you assign as Available appear in Company Portal for users to install, but there is no request or approval workflow. App Store for Intune adds a branded self-service catalog, requests, multi-stage approvals, and install status for the requester.
Can I use Enterprise App Management and App Store for Intune together?
Yes. They do not conflict. Both end up as Win32 apps in Intune. Teams that already license the Intune Suite often keep the Microsoft catalog for the titles it covers and use App Store for Intune for the long tail, custom installers, and the request and approval workflow.
Which one keeps my data in my tenant?
Both. Enterprise App Management is part of Intune. App Store for Intune deploys into your own Azure subscription, and no PowerStacks service holds permissions to your tenant or handles your app, device, or approval data; the portal reaches PowerStacks only for license validation, the catalog index, and package updates. Neither involves a vendor cloud holding Graph permissions to your tenant, which is the main concern with most other app management products.
Try App Store for Intune
Deploy it into your own subscription, point it at your Intune tenant, and let someone request an app.
Microsoft product details captured October 15, 2026 from Microsoft Learn. Verify current catalog contents and licensing with Microsoft before making a purchasing decision.