Our opinion is biased in favor of wyBuild. (No mother is going to call their child ugly). That being said, I'll try to answer with as little bias as possible.
I can eliminate ClickOnce right off the bat. ClickOnce cannot update files that need admin permission. And if you're updating a standard secure ASP.NET installation you need an updater that can handle updating admin files.
That leaves just 2 products.
AppLife vs. wyBuild
It's in bad taste to criticize one's competition publicly, especially if the competition is a smaller company. So I'll limit my criticism to this: AppLife update has very poor usability & quality control.
Can AppLife update ASP.NET applications? I don't know. The last time I tried AppLife I only tested it on very simple standalone applications.
Why to choose wyBuild over AppLife
Here's a quick and dirty list of things wyBuild features that are missing from AppLife:
- wyBuild is easy to use. (See the video tutorial, or read the step-by-step walkthrough).
- We have a generous 21-day trial that lets you build complete updates and even start distributing updates to your users. This means you can get the full sense of wyBuild without limitation and without opening your wallet. We're that confident you'll like it.
- Both the wyUpdate (the updater program you include with your app) and the AutomaticUpdater control are open source.
There's more to like about wyBuild, wyUpdate, and the AutomaticUpdater. You can skim the wyBuild product page or the feature list.
wyBuild, wyUpdate, and the AutomaticUpdater are used by both small upstarts all the way up to Fortune 500 companies. We've had no requests for a refund, and I can confidently say we have happy users.
Tell me if this is what you were looking for.