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BMC Helix ITSM vs JIRA Service Management vs ServiceNow 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
5.9
JIRA Service Management improves efficiency and cost-effectiveness by centralizing processes, enhancing productivity, and optimizing resource management.
Sentiment score
6.5
ServiceNow offers long-term ROI through automation, integration, and cost savings, though implementation timelines vary among users.
Thanks to ServiceNow's end-to-end automation, we save five to ten days of cycle time for each invoice.
Application Development Associate & Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
General Manager at sPerception IT
ServiceNow offers a great return on investment because it saves us a lot of time and increases the efficiency of team members to complete their tickets and work on the PRBs to solve the root cause.
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ 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
6.0
Atlassian's support is generally effective and appreciated, but users note delays and seek improvements in communication and timeliness.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow offers responsive support and technical knowledge, though complex issues may face delays; satisfaction varies by interaction quality.
There are issues with misrouting and a preference for email rather than direct communication via phone calls.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
I have reached out to customer support whenever I face an issue in JIRA, especially when creating any automation.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Users can raise tickets for platform issues, workflow errors, integrations, or production incidents through ServiceNow's support portal.
Cloud Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
General Manager at sPerception IT
 

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
7.4
JIRA Service Management is scalable, adaptable, supports large organizations, integrates easily with third parties, but faces database performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow effectively scales for various business sizes, handling large user volumes efficiently, but costs and configurations may impact performance.
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.
It supports introducing new features or levels efficiently across our global locations, helping everyone stay informed.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
JIRA Service Management scales effectively as the number of users, projects, and work items increases.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management's scalability is excellent; I just need to submit an email to indicate how many licenses I want.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow's scalability is very good as it can be deployed in each environment.
Workload Automation at nab
 

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
7.8
JIRA Service Management is a reliable tool with consistent updates, minimal issues, and improved performance, despite occasional minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow offers reliable stability and scalability, with minimal disruptions or bugs quickly resolved by effective support.
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
There should be more governance for permissions and more options for customized access without frequently involving the admin.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
In terms of stability, JIRA Service Management is reliable day-to-day as long as the data is fed in correctly.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management is stable for my needs; I have not encountered any issues with reliability.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
It is a reliable cloud platform with good uptime and workflow performance, supporting business-critical processes effectively when configured properly.
Cloud Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix ITSM needs usability, performance, integration improvements, and better support to enhance user experience and affordability.
JIRA Service Management needs better integration, automation, and enhancements in usability, features, and resources for improved user experience.
ServiceNow improvements include cost reduction, intuitive interface, expanded AI, mobile functionality, better integrations, training, and enhanced customization.
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
JIRA's user interface needs training to understand and utilize.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
It remains one of the main barriers to using JIRA Service Management across our entire company.
GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA
We need to consider which AI tool would be most suitable for our project.
Database Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.
Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
My priority points for improvement are the UI glitches and modern AI technology integrations for faster incident management.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Team Lead at a tech vendor 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.
JIRA Service Management offers competitive pricing but can be costly, especially with additional plugin expenses and user-tier licensing.
ServiceNow offers high-value, comprehensive enterprise features, but costs may escalate with extensive use, posing challenges for smaller businesses.
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.
We used Jira's free version for some time.
Sr Test Lead at Emerson
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I also received support from JIRA support, making it a positive experience.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
ServiceNow does come with a price.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
ServiceNow PPM product to a competitive product like Jira, which is an Atlassian product, they were offering better functionalities at one-tenth of the price.
Senior Business Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix ITSM enhances service delivery and efficiency with flexible workflows, customizable dashboards, and strong integration support.
JIRA Service Management's key features include user-friendly interface, seamless integrations, customizable workflows, and efficient project management tools.
ServiceNow offers customizable integration, automation, incident management, and seamless workflows, enhancing productivity, communication, and asset management.
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.
JIRA itself is valuable for managing tickets, user stories, and pipeline.
GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA
For every task we are working on, the project manager can see the status once we update the stories mentioned.
Senior Software Engineer at Annalect
It is beneficial if someone is on vacation since others can follow up on the tickets.
IT Specialist at Allianz
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 5.5%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 6.9%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 14.2%, down from 23.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow14.2%
JIRA Service Management6.9%
BMC Helix ITSM5.5%
Other73.4%
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.
Sohaib Ahmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Service Delivery at quixel
Comprehensive workflows and data views have supported complex teams but still need cost improvements
JIRA Service Management is costly. The pricing structure needs improvement. When I add some plugins, I have to pay the cost for every user whether they are using it or not. For smaller companies, the detailed workflow editing and the kind of details that JIRA Service Management provides would be complex. For startups and smaller companies, JIRA Service Management would be complex. The cloud offering is easier because I don't have to manage the infrastructure. There are two templates of the project: company-managed and team-managed. Team-managed is a newer feature, which is good for startup-kind companies where they don't need control over data from multiple projects displaying in one dashboard. For startups, JIRA Service Management is somewhat complex with its schemes and everything. Capacity management should be improved in terms of additional features in the next release of JIRA Service Management.
Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Structured workflows have improved SLA compliance and now support prioritized incident handling
I think the licensing and pricing of ServiceNow is quite expensive compared to other tools. For large organizations, it is acceptable, but specifically for small and medium organizations to track incidents or change requests, ServiceNow is quite expensive. Sometimes performance can be slow when workflows and integrations are configured for complex tasks. For advanced customizations or advanced features which we rarely use, the documentation is not up to standard. The documentation needs to be improved for advanced customization features. However, the platform is stable overall and the features are quite good. The user experience and performance concerns I mentioned are areas I want to be improved. When many workflows and interactions are configured, performance is slow. For the features it is providing, it is quite expensive. If these performance features are improved, we can easily pay that price and get the return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

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 Business30
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise179
 

Questions from the Community

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 BMC Helix ITSM?
My thoughts on the pricing and licensing cost of BMC Helix ITSM are that it is flexible.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JIRA Service Management?
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I als...
What needs improvement with JIRA Service Management?
I feel JIRA Service Management could be better if the APIs from the sponsoring team provided more support and flexibi...
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into t...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow?
ServiceNow's pricing is fine. We have accounting for each headcount for ServiceNow, and the pricing is actually good.
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
JIRA Service Desk, Atlassian Jira Service Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
mgm technology partners, Telestream, Build.com, Zend Technologies, OfficeDrop, PGS Software, American Diabetes Association, NEPTUNE Canada
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: May 2026.
894,807 professionals have used our research since 2012.