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BMC Helix ITSM vs Freshservice vs Zoho Desk 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
5.9
BMC Helix ITSM offers good value and time savings, with automation praised and high stability, despite costly licensing.
Sentiment score
6.4
Freshservice offers significant ROI benefits with improved efficiency, though costs and user management are concerns for some regions.
Sentiment score
7.8
Zoho Desk offers ROI through cost-control and analytics, but requires expertise for optimal configuration and effective use.
The Zoho platform is powerful when used correctly, but without a specialist, it is not simple to configure and make full use of the tools.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
BMC Helix ITSM customer service varies widely, with premium support praised, but lower tiers face delays and inconsistent quality.
Sentiment score
6.4
Freshservice support is responsive and professional, but users note occasional navigation issues and delays in problem resolution.
Sentiment score
4.3
Zoho Desk support is praised for its quick response and reliability, despite occasional technical comprehension issues.
There are issues with misrouting and a preference for email rather than direct communication via phone calls.
However, they have improved over the period of two years.
We had a good experience with customer service, receiving a positive response from technical support.
the experience was satisfactory
I find the response time in emails to be very good, and the solutions provided are simple.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
BMC Helix ITSM is scalable and robust, suitable for diverse organizations, though customization can limit larger implementations.
Sentiment score
7.2
Freshservice offers scalable, cloud-based IT solutions with flexible licensing, though customization may be limited for larger enterprises.
Sentiment score
8.0
Zoho Desk is scalable, efficient for any company size, with high reviews despite minor ticket handling issues.
The product's scalability is adequate for us, yet its complex customization sometimes restricts extensive adaptability.
Freshservice is easy to use for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
BMC Helix ITSM is generally stable; initial issues may occur, but proper architecture enhances reliability over time.
Sentiment score
8.1
Freshservice is stable and reliable, with minor glitches addressed efficiently, ensuring robust performance and high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.2
Zoho Desk is praised for stability and reliability, with most users rating it 7-9, despite minor server issues.
I find BMC Helix ITSM stable, and that is why we have been with the product for the past 15 years.
Over the past five years, we have experienced no major issues or downtime during upgrades.
Freshservice is quite stable as they host it on AWS.
Freshservice provides a stable environment for our needs.
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix ITSM needs a more intuitive, customizable interface, enhanced reporting, better performance, support, documentation, and streamlined customization.
Freshservice faces issues with reporting, project management, customization, integration, asset management, support features, and performance for large users.
Zoho Desk users desire better integration, enhanced features, improved support, and customizable modules while finding pricing high.
BMC Helix ITSM is difficult for us to customize, and most customizations require vendor support, which leads to extra costs.
We lack access to a sandbox for in-house development, which was very helpful for hands-on work with new features.
There's limited experience with the CMDB or asset management features.
Asset management can definitely be improved because it doesn't pick up every single device on the network or every single piece of information.
There is a need for improvement in terms of automatic escalation to the next level if an issue is not resolved.
Zoho Desk could be improved by making it multi-tenant, as it is currently not suitable for service providers with multiple customers.
The main concern is the pricing of Zoho Desk, as I consider it to be on the expensive side.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find BMC Helix ITSM costly but cost-effective, requiring careful licensing analysis and negotiations to manage expenses.
Freshservice provides transparent, flexible pricing options praised for competitiveness, though considered expensive by some, ideal for various enterprise solutions.
Zoho Desk offers flexible subscription pricing, starting from $10 per user monthly, with variations based on package and region.
The pricing of BMC Helix ITSM and its implementation costs are quite high, including subscription and maintenance costs per year.
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
We pay a certain amount annually for the number of users, and as users increase, the cost increases.
The pricing for each user is around $350, with penalties if not all users in a company are licensed.
The price point is a concern.
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix ITSM is scalable, integrates easily, enhances management, and aligns with ITIL, offering advanced features and customization.
Freshservice offers incident management, automation, asset management, customization, scalability, ITIL compliance, with user engagement via Freshchat and APIs.
Zoho Desk offers a user-friendly interface, customization, integration, automation, and mobile access for seamless multi-channel customer service.
Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal.
These features are crucial as we complete the implementation and maintain data accuracy in the CMDB.
Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it easy to use for our enterprise-level company.
The most valuable features include ticket routing, automation in triage, data control, and flat licensing.
Maintenance is easy, and one person is sufficient for handling it, aided by a thorough handoff of key pointers facilitating easier initial setup.
The AI tool, Tele Zia, translates calls into bullet points, providing insights such as when to send emails or contact the customer based on previous conversations.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 7.1%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Freshservice is 4.2%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Desk is 2.5%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix ITSM7.1%
Freshservice4.2%
Zoho Desk2.5%
Other86.2%
Help Desk Software
 

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.
Trilochana Gouda - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth incident management and easy to use while needing better escalation management
We are using Freshservice for the IT ticketing system for business users We use the ticketing system primarily, which is very easy to use for all users. Freshservice is helpful, especially in incident management. Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it…
Babatunde-Olugbode - PeerSpot reviewer
End-to-end solution to manage customer support tickets and consolidate all communication channels into one platform
For me, the valuable features are related to customer engagement because I want to ensure I don't miss any customer inquiries, no matter the channel. For example, I haven't seen any other platform that consolidates all channels into one console. That's a valuable feature to me. Then there's the pricing, which is better than Zendesk. Zendesk charges in USD per user, per month, whereas Zoho let us pay in Naira (Nigerian currency). Zoho can also identify user locations, letting you leverage existing reviews. These are valuable features that many organizations have adopted Zoho Desk for. We can download the mobile app to see requests and respond from anywhere. It is one of the most improved applications and widely integrated systems I've worked with. You can virtually integrate it with almost anything, like Microsoft Teams and other data applications. The marketplace lets you find native integrations. For example, we have an organization that uses multiple systems and wants to ensure agents don't log in to multiple platforms to see emails. They have a native integration system that takes care of that and works seamlessly.
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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
19%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
7%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise54
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
 

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 ...
What do you like most about Freshservice?
The solution has been very helpful engineering insights into the client's environment. We have been able to manage c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Freshservice?
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Freshservice?
There is a need for improvement in terms of automatic escalation to the next level if an issue is not resolved. It sh...
What do you like most about Zoho Desk?
The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are archiving queries and analytics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Desk?
The pricing in Brazil is complicated due to the high exchange rate, with one dollar equaling six reais. Altasnet has ...
What needs improvement with Zoho Desk?
Zoho Desk could be improved by making it multi-tenant, as it is currently not suitable for service providers with mul...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
Flint
No data available
 

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
Intel, Sears, Daimler, Essilor, Aon Hewitt, Shop Your Way, CoffeeRocket
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.