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BMC Helix ITSM vs Freshservice 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.4
BMC Helix ITSM offers technical reliability, financial benefits, and user satisfaction, though ROI clarity and cost savings proof vary.
Sentiment score
6.5
Freshservice increased efficiency and reduced workload while improving SLA compliance and resource use, despite licensing cost challenges in HR.
Sentiment score
6.0
SCSM offers high ROI by saving time via remote operations, despite reporting issues and limited feature enhancements.
Faster resolution means the average ticket resolution time decreased by roughly twenty-five to thirty percent since alerts are automatically converted into tickets and routed to the right team.
Security Engineer (SOC) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Automation has contributed significantly, resulting in reduced resource counts, which equates to savings in money and time.
Technical support manager at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
With using Freshservice, only two technicians are needed per one shift, but without Freshservice, for the same company size, we need about four technicians per shift, so it saved money and time.
Systems Engineer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
BMC Helix ITSM's customer service is skilled but inconsistent, needing improved communication, responsiveness, and accent comprehension.
Sentiment score
6.8
Freshservice support is generally efficient and professional, though complex issues and communication can sometimes pose challenges.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft's SCSM support is responsive and professional, but users cite inconsistent resolution times and reliance on partners.
There are issues with misrouting and a preference for email rather than direct communication via phone calls.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
Ultimately, we saw a 77% reduction in average resolution times with a return on investment realized within 6 months.
IT Service Delivery Manager at Symposiam
However, they have improved over the period of two years.
IT & Operations Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Their documentation is also good, making setup easy without needing frequent support requests.
Security Engineer (SOC) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Response times are slow, and engineers often lack the necessary product knowledge.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
When we get up to Microsoft, I would rate it an eight or nine.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
BMC Helix ITSM is scalable for enterprises, despite challenges, offering flexibility and positive feedback on handling large user bases.
Sentiment score
7.3
Freshservice scales efficiently with added licenses, supporting growth with cloud benefits, though customization and costs may limit larger enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.2
SCSM is scalable, adaptable, integrates well, but may have issues with slowness and complexity in larger implementations.
The product's scalability is adequate for us, yet its complex customization sometimes restricts extensive adaptability.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
As our organization has grown and ticket volume related to AWS resources increased, Freshservice handled the extra load without any performance issues.
Security Engineer (SOC) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It offers global performance with multi-region data centers to ensure faster responses while adhering to strong security and compliance standards such as GDPR and SOC 2.
IT Service Delivery Manager at Symposiam
Freshservice is easy to use for scalability.
IT manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
BMC Helix ITSM is praised for stability, performs well with proper implementation, and has minor application-specific concerns.
Sentiment score
8.2
Freshservice offers stable performance with minimal downtime, few issues, and reliable cloud hosting on AWS, ensuring consistent uptime.
Sentiment score
7.3
SCSM is highly reliable, with improved stability in recent versions and performance rated between eight and ten.
I find BMC Helix ITSM stable, and that is why we have been with the product for the past 15 years.
Associate Director at a media company with 10,001+ employees
Over the past five years, we have experienced no major issues or downtime during upgrades.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
The service runs smoothly most of the time, and performance has been consistent even when ticket volumes and AWS alerts are high.
Security Engineer (SOC) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Freshservice is quite stable as they host it on AWS.
IT & Operations Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Freshservice provides a stable environment for our needs.
IT manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The SCSM is stable.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix ITSM needs usability, performance, integration improvements, and better support to enhance user experience and affordability.
Freshservice users seek improvements in reporting, automation, integrations, and customizations to enhance usability and effectiveness for larger enterprises.
SCSM's Self-Service portal is criticized for lack of usability, integration, mobile support, and user-friendly features.
BMC Helix ITSM is difficult for us to customize, and most customizations require vendor support, which leads to extra costs.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
We lack access to a sandbox for in-house development, which was very helpful for hands-on work with new features.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
There's limited experience with the CMDB or asset management features.
IT Technician at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Asset management can definitely be improved because it doesn't pick up every single device on the network or every single piece of information.
IT & Operations Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Reporting is useful, but the customization is still restricted, and it would be great to build more detailed reports that combine multiple data sources, especially for cloud-related operations.
Security Engineer (SOC) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have to always try to hire some maintenance hours from external companies to fix small things that maybe would be faster if we could get it in-house, but because of the lack of information, we lose a lot of time solving some small problems.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

BMC Helix ITSM is costly but offers reliability and features that large enterprises find justifiable, with careful license management.
Freshservice offers flexible, competitive pricing with tiered plans, varying costs, and value without hidden fees.
Enterprise buyers find SCSM pricing competitive but complex, influenced by licensing models, integration requirements, and additional support costs.
The pricing of BMC Helix ITSM and its implementation costs are quite high, including subscription and maintenance costs per year.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
Switching from previous ITSM tools has led to a 50% reduction in licensing costs.
IT Service Delivery Manager at Symposiam
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
IT Technician at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
The price was very comfortable for our organization to proceed with the migration from Freshdesk to Freshservice.
Technical support manager at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix ITSM enhances service delivery and efficiency with flexible workflows, customizable dashboards, and strong integration support.
Freshservice enhances IT operations with user-friendly features, seamless integrations, automation, and efficient asset management, boosting productivity and SLA compliance.
SCSM is a scalable, user-friendly IT service management platform with integration, reporting, and security features ideal for ITIL processes.
Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
These features are crucial as we complete the implementation and maintain data accuracy in the CMDB.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
The most valuable features include ticket routing, automation in triage, data control, and flat licensing.
IT Technician at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it easy to use for our enterprise-level company.
IT manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Overall, Freshservice provides cutting-edge AI automation for agents and end-users, effortless no-code workflows and ITIL-aligned operations, robust asset, incident, change, problem, and major incident management backed by the live CMDB, unified service desk with self-service and multi-channel support, and strong analytics reporting features, making it a powerful tool for any IT function.
IT Service Delivery Manager at Symposiam
SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
If it is correctly configured, you can access and give service quickly to all the end users.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 5.7%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Freshservice is 4.2%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SCSM is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Freshservice4.2%
BMC Helix ITSM5.7%
SCSM1.9%
Other88.2%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

KN
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
Self-service portal significantly reduces resolution time and transforms service process with advanced features
We initially had a lot of tickets generated via the service desk through calls and emails. Now, we have almost moved out of email creations by introducing the DWP features on the Studio pages, with about 90% of the tickets coming in via our self-service portal. Recent upgrades offer different types of views for particular business lines, which was missing earlier. The new landing pages have allowed us to add banners, images, and internal videos, encouraging most customers to use these DWP self-service features. Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal. Additionally, the availability of knowledge articles, chatbots, and the new Helix GPT feature has improved service processes.
RF
IT Service Delivery Manager at Symposiam
Automation and AI have transformed our service delivery and have made IT support faster and more efficient
I always keep up with Freshservice's roadmaps and new features. Freshservice has been very good at listening to feedback and adding those feature requests into their next iterations. I wish they would offer more granular data export options for utilizing in Power BI, along with predictive analytics for capacity planning and SLA breaches to enable more proactive support management and reduce firefighting. While the dashboards are effective, some users find custom reporting limited compared to ServiceNow or Jira. I would also appreciate deeper integrations, especially for niche apps requiring development coding work to enable advanced orchestration. Native integrations for DevOps pipelines such as GitHub Actions and Jenkins, along with stronger API flexibility for complex workflows, would enhance functionality. Although the CMDB and asset management are solid, they do lack advanced dependency mapping compared to other enterprise tools. My wishlist includes automated impact analysis for changes and improved visualization of asset relationships, enabling quicker resolutions from an agent's perspective when alerts come in. I acknowledge that Device42 may enhance this, but it is an extra cost beyond what we already pay. While Freddy AI is excellent for triage and suggestions, some users desire more proactive automation, such as predictive ticket routing based on historical patterns and AI-driven capacity forecasting. Lastly, the pricing tiers might seem rigid for mid-sized teams, so a more granular add-on option for features such as Device42 or pay-per-use for orchestration workflows could be beneficial.
LuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Construction Company
13%
Government
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise55
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
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?
Although BMC Helix ITSM is a strong enterprise platform, there are areas where it could be improved. One key area is ...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
My main use case for BMC Helix ITSM is validating and automating core ITSM workflows, such as incident, change, and s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Freshservice?
I do not have any experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing, as it was assigned to the infrastructure team.
What needs improvement with Freshservice?
Freshservice has an AI agent that needs improvement for finding knowledge base articles. When issues or incidents are...
What is your primary use case for Freshservice?
Freshservice is used to redirect ticket handling and acknowledge tickets and incidents received. Tickets are redirect...
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...
What is your primary use case for SCSM?
In my job, I work for the city where we have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft. We have Office, Word, PowerPoint...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
Flint
System Center Service Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Western Carriers, Judson University, Golf Canada, Travix, Proxama, Paymentez, Ready Auto Transport
Fibabanka, UMC Health System
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.