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BMC Helix ITSM vs Cherwell Service Management vs SCSM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 8.1%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cherwell Service Management is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SCSM is 1.6%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix ITSM8.1%
SCSM1.6%
Cherwell Service Management1.3%
Other89.0%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Ameet Darole - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for user ticket management, incident management, and event management
We had a manual event management process and a separate monitoring tool called Dynatrace. The alerts generated did not flow to the ITSM tool. With BMC Helix ITSM, the alerts flow and auto-route to respective technical support. If the alerts are resolved, the ticket will be automatically closed. So, the workload and automation are much better now. BMC Helix ITSM is a fast platform, so it is quite manageable. I would recommend BMC Helix ITSM to other users because it is a good solution. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Thobile Moeketsi - PeerSpot reviewer
Having everything in one location has significantly improved our efficiency and reporting
We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges. Even though it uses our Windows login, we still have to be on VPN. The product should be able to log tickets directly from system to system. We haven't got there yet and I'm not sure it's possible but it would determine the product's capability to integrate with other systems.
LuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Current setup enables smooth problem-solving but lacks comprehensive guidance and local support
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring us to hire external companies for maintenance hours to fix small issues that could be resolved faster in-house if we had better information. We have been looking for an upgrade version, but finding local service has been difficult. It has been challenging trying to get things done. Speaking with the Microsoft office, we found there are no local companies with substantial experience with SCSM. What we have now was installed five or six years ago. It has been difficult to change configurations and look for upgrades, even with all the manuals. Our office is considering moving away from SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft. For me, it has been a good tool to get help and solve internal problems in the office. It is a very good tool, but the difficulty in getting local service or more information is pushing us to look for another tool.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It provides a good user experience."
"This product has helped us to maintain our OLAs (Organisation level Agreements) and SLAs (Service Level Agreements) by tracking incidents, requests, problem records, and change requests, all in the form of tickets."
"It's one of the top solutions on the market for ITSM capabilities."
"Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal."
"The solution's most valuable features are automation and orchestration."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM are the service level management, configuration, and reporting tool."
"Provides a clean front-end for our users to log requests and has rich ITSM functionality."
"Reports have helped us to improve our IT processes. The main benefit is providing the right information to our decision makers."
"All our activities are carried out in the one place."
"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."
"The dashboard is very useful to get a quick overview of current tasks."
"Its integration features, orchestration features, and discovery tools are the most valuable. It is also pretty stable, and it can be as scalable as you want."
"The dashboard and the reporting functionality are the solution's most valuable features."
"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."
"The support from Microsoft is good and we also have local support on the ground in Nigeria."
"For our cloud-based deployment of SCSM, the Autopilot is the best feature."
"SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune."
"The reporting is very good."
"The solution is quite easy to integrate with other Microsoft products."
"We use SCSM to manage all of our IT operations, including incident and service requests and problem management."
"The solution's setup process is relatively straightforward due to the familiar deployment steps similar to other Microsoft solutions."
"Many more features than other comparable products."
 

Cons

"Its performance can be improved. Sometimes, there is a performance issue, and it is a little slow and difficult on the usage side. It would be beneficial for us if there is a lighter version of this solution. There is also a limitation on the number of columns and memory for extracting a report, and this functionality can be improved. We would like to have better integration and UI in this solution. The user interface should be easy to navigate. Its integration with other tools, such as SharePoint or Jira, can also be improved, which would be beneficial for us. In terms of new features, there should also be a mobile version. The desktop version is available, but the mobile version is not available, which is one of the challenges that our team has. For users who work on Remedy and who raise the ticket, it would also be very beneficial to have some chatbot features."
"I would like to see the BMC add advanced DWP features and customization to the standard package. Furthermore, BMC does not have any leverage for non-IT services, so it would be nice if BMC could integrate something like HR Change Management into ITSM itself."
"Encountered issues with scalability and stability."
"The user experience could be better."
"We found that there was numerous issues upgrading from 8.1 to 9.1 in that all our licenses were broken for almost a year and a half. We chased down a total of 14 hotfixes, patches, and service packs before things were finally resolved. During that time, said "fixes" also broke other things, so it was quite the sore spot with management for some time."
"BMC Helix ITSM could improve by having a cloud version. They are working on it which is a good thing because their competitors, such as ServiceNow, already provide cloud services."
"There are plugins to the solution that have come onto the market, so the solution should also be updated in terms of administration to increase efficiency."
"Smart Reporting was added, then was purchased from another vendor. We have little ability to customize and correct issues due to this."
"The stability, specifically in the on-premises deployment model, could be improved."
"Areas for improvement would be the service catalog and customer catalog, which is not very user-friendly. The shopping cart experience is also terrible - you submit and go straight to the cart, you can't continue shopping or see your overall cost."
"Access is only available if we're on VPN."
"Application service mapping, GRC, SecOps, and things like that need improvement."
"The solution could be more simple. For example, it takes a lot of work to create reports. It runs on Microsoft SQL queries. Creating custom reports on ManageEngine takes less work from the administrator."
"The product needs to improve its integration with other tools. It also needs to have a better UI and a simple dashboard."
"They might be looking for additional functionalities that SCSM could integrate."
"The major issues with SCSM include its severe slowness, especially on the client side, and the lack of comprehensive reporting tools."
"Better integration with other services in Azure is needed because everything is moving from on-premises to the cloud, and as an integrator, we have to help our clients with the migration."
"It would be better if they had a portal for administrators. It would help me use it from anywhere and connect to any device from anywhere. I can administer the solution without a VPN."
"I have found SCSM not adequate enough to carry out some functions."
"We would like to see a web-based interface that works on mobile devices."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is too expensive for a small business."
"We did not compare the price of BMC Helix ITSM to other vendors. However, it has a mid-range price."
"It is costly, but it is well worth it."
"If Customer and IT agents are happy, that is one of the greatest ROI. However, one of the major factors is Leadership, because at the end they have to justify the cost."
"I am not sure the exact price we pay for the solution but I know it is in the high seven-figure amount annually."
"If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
"Just make sure you really sit down and look at what you will be using per user, therefore you will not be surprised with a big bill. You do not want every user having every license, it really is not needed."
"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."
"For an ITIL user, the cost is probably about 50 bucks a month."
"The platform is competitively priced."
"I would rate the pricing as two out of five."
"The price of the solution could be better. My organization has an enterprise annual license with Microsoft which provides us support."
"The price should be lower."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"It comes free with the enterprise agreement that we have, but the expense really is in having to buy another product to sit on top of it to make it work properly. You wind up having to buy additional support and additional product with their own support and maintenance costs on top of that."
"The license for SCSM is cheap."
"Licensing can be complex and confusing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Legal Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
26%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise54
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Helix ITSM?
If we consider major players like Ford or BMW, their core focus is manufacturing products like cars. To ensure smooth...
What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
Currently, we are not utilizing the AI functionality in BMC Helix ITSM as we are still in the roadmap and development...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
We use BMC Helix ITSM for the complete end-to-end ITSM suite, mainly for ticketing and service management. BMC Helix ...
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Earn 20 points
What do you like most about SCSM?
The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?
I am not sure about the pricing as I do not have experience with it.
What needs improvement with SCSM?
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more informat...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
No data available
System Center Service Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
Ausenco, Highlights for Children, B/E Aerospace
Fibabanka, UMC Health System
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, BMC Helix and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.