BMC Helix ITSM vs N-able MSP Manager comparison

BMC and N-able are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. BMC is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8, while N-able is ranked #23 with an average rating of 7.0. BMC holds a 10.4% mindshare in HDS, compared to N-able’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of BMC users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of N-able users who would recommend it.

BMC Helix ITSM

Read 78 BMC Helix ITSM reviews

5,456 Views
3,489 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

N-able MSP Manager

Read 4 N-able MSP Manager reviews

315 Views
219 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

BMC Helix ITSM

N-able MSP Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

BMC Helix ITSM and N-able MSP Manager are IT service management solutions. BMC Helix ITSM is advantageous in feature richness for enterprises, while N-able MSP Manager is simpler, offering customer support and pricing benefits for small to medium businesses.

Features: BMC Helix ITSM provides advanced workflow automation, AI-based insights, and robust service request management, beneficial for detailed ITSM needs. N-able MSP Manager emphasizes easy ticketing, time tracking, and effective client management, ideal for minimizing complexity in support operations.

Room for Improvement: BMC Helix ITSM could simplify its implementation process and user interface for broader accessibility. It may also enhance mobile functionality and lower initial costs. N-able MSP Manager might improve by expanding its feature set, providing deeper analytics, and offering more customization options to better meet diverse needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BMC Helix ITSM requires complex deployment with support aimed at large enterprises. N-able MSP Manager offers a user-friendly, cloud-based model with responsive customer service suited to smaller businesses, emphasizing ease and minimal onboarding time.

Pricing and ROI: BMC Helix ITSM's pricing reflects its comprehensive features, targeting long-term ROI for large organizations. In contrast, N-able MSP Manager offers affordable setup and transparent pricing, appealing to budget-conscious businesses seeking quicker returns.

To learn more, read our detailed BMC Helix ITSM vs. N-able MSP Manager Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BMC Helix ITSM vs. N-able MSP Manager

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

BMC Helix ITSM

Ranking in Help Desk Software

4th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

N-able MSP Manager

Ranking in Help Desk Software

23rd

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

25th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 10.4%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able MSP Manager is 0.7%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Fairoz Gadad

Project Manager at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Development team is quick to address bugs or shortcomings in their product

BMC's technical support team needs to improve. Right now, the problem over here is we are not getting the exact answers on time. Their engineers are mainly based in the US or Israel, and we get comprehensive dedicated support. Some of the Indian customer service representatives are also outstanding. Unfortunately, in the past six months or seven months, I've been getting brand-new engineers. Either they're not entirely aware of most cases, or they don't know how to troubleshoot further. So for any product to be stable and work correctly, BMC must ensure that customer service is excellent. Even though if your product is a hundred percent, we'll have problems marketing it to our customers.

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Yazan Albaw

Customer Success Director at We Cybers

N-able MSP Manager centralizes service management, automates ticketing, and enhances client communication for streamlined IT operations.

For improvement, there's a feature I've already requested from N-able that I'd love to see in future releases. When adding a client, there should be a way to add multiple contacts under each client. Currently, we have to manually enter each contact’s details one by one, including their name, last name, password, and other information. It would be much more efficient if we could import contacts in bulk, perhaps using an Excel sheet or another import method. Additionally, it would be highly beneficial if MSP Manager could integrate with multiple RMM solutions. At the moment, we're limited to integrating with just one RMM, Expanding this capability would greatly enhance the versatility and value of MSP Manager.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Smart IT and the phone app are easily the most valuable features in reporting and tracking ongoing issues."

"Helix is more lightweight than these tools. It's a traditional tool that was developed more than 10 years ago. Ease of use is the operative word."

"What I have found to be the most valuable is that it offers the radius deployment package not only to the BMC cloud but also to the public cloud such as Azure."

"In BMC, you can do absolutely anything. You can customize, you can configure, and you can customize and develop pretty much anything."

"We find the incident management module the best. The reporting part is also useful. We use a feature called smart reporting, and it is very beneficial for us."

"It has been instrumental in aligning our service desk with the ITIL fundamentals and continuously improving the operating metrics of that area."

"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."

"The valuable feature for me is that it's a tool that allows me to track processes right from the initial user request."

More BMC Helix ITSM pros

"This is a premier product and it has been around for a long time."

"I am impressed with the tool's integration with our mail system."

"The best advantage for us, since we use all N-able products, is that the MSP portal centralizes everything."

"I like that you can do all the things with it. You can patch, and you can run the scheduled tasks. You can remote in, upload files, and download files. You can log onto a computer PowerShell, or command prompt, without having to log into RDP. I also like its ease of use."

Cons

"Maybe it could be more simplified and easier to change the reporting point of view, like from a different vendor to another."

"The dashboard can be better."

"Some parts of the solutions are using the old interface."

"Regarding reporting, when sharing information with leadership, we utilize BI support and data or more analytical tools. These tools provide accurate and comprehensive reports, covering various aspects. Reports are either sent directly through email or automated using scripts. It would be beneficial to integrate similar capabilities into BMC for future use. Many applications we work with already have a centralized virtual automation tool, such as Control M, but manual effort is still required. Improvements in automation for accurate and efficient reporting in BMC would be valuable."

"Adding additional fields does not work very well."

"Smart Reporting was added, then was purchased from another vendor. We have little ability to customize and correct issues due to this."

"It takes a long-time to plan and deploy the on-premise solution."

"The interface is somewhat dated as compared to technologies in use today."

More BMC Helix ITSM cons

"I'd like to see a way to import contacts in bulk using an Excel sheet or another import method."

"The tool needs to improve its customization of the user interface."

"What I would like to see is a simplified solution that is packaged better, where you can easily implement or turn on the functionality that you need."

"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be. There is too much work involved to get what you want. Most times, you have to call them to customize some stuff. I just don't like that part. They need to work on their reporting. They have a way to go."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"There are licenses to use this solution."

"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."

"The price of BMC Helix ITSM could improve their price."

"BMC is a little bit cheaper than ServiceNow, but BMC doesn't have the same capabilities in its entry-level product at the moment. The basic version does not have the DWP features that most of our customers are requesting."

"While purchasing, try to negotiate on per user licensing costs, associated maintenance, and purchase 20% more then what you think you should have. Bulk is always cheaper."

More BMC Helix ITSM pricing and cost advice

"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten since it's not the cheapest one in the market."

"I don't know the exact cost, but I know it's reasonable. Its cost of entry is not bad. I've had other organizations sign up for it. I don't know how much they paid, but it wasn't bad. You charge for every object. You charge for AV, and you charge for servers. There is a charge for everything or every object in that. I know we make money from it, but I don't know what it is."

"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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 operations, any arising issues, be it security concerns or issues within depart...

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What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?

In User Group sessions held by BMC in India, I mentioned the challenges with vast documentation, making it difficult to find the right information quickly. The recent move to a new platform is bene...

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What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?

I am currently working as a BMC Remedy developer. I have been working for over ten years on the BMC platform. My company uses BMC Helix ITSM for IT service management processes.

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What do you like most about N-able MSP Manager?

I am impressed with the tool's integration with our mail system.

See all answers

What needs improvement with N-able MSP Manager?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for N-able MSP Manager?

At We Cybers, we utilize multiple N-able products, including RMM, EDR, and Passportal. N-able MSP Manager seamlessly integrates our ticketing system with both RMM Insight and N-central, enabling au...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 3% of the time

Zendesk vs BMC Helix ITSM

Compared 3% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs BMC Helix ITSM

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SolarWinds Web Help Desk vs N-able MSP Manager

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BMC Helix ITSM

April 2025

Download BMC Helix ITSM product report

Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software

April 2025

Download N-able MSP Manager product report

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy

SolarWinds LOGICnow, SolarWinds MSP Manager

Overview

BMC Helix ITSM is a cutting-edge IT service management platform that leads the service management industry. It is built natively for mobile with an intuitive, beautiful, people-centric user experience that makes your whole organization more productive. This platform leverages artificial intelligence to automate and streamline various service management processes. In doing so, it will ultimately make your organization more efficient. This simple-to-use platform is capable of handling even your organization’s most advanced management requirements.

BMC Helix ITSM is a predictive platform that does not simply wait for problems to occur. The advanced analytics software aims to improve your organization’s efficiency by spotting weak areas and then proposing solutions. This platform can improve your resource deployment efficiency by as much as 45% .This is why it is trusted by corporations across a variety of industries.

Key Features

Some of BMC Helix ITSM’s key features include:

Solves service issues in a way that makes you more efficient. BMC Helix ITSM employs advanced analytic software that searches for areas where your organization can drive efficiencies to provide the best possible service.
Groups issues that recur in a way that streamlines both analysis and incident management. It uses artificial intelligence to identify and solve groups of incidents in real time. The AI automates these processes, which can prove both tedious and time-consuming.
Securely and seamlessly provides services across multi-cloud environments with “a single pane of glass” interface. This allows you to be highly flexible. You can configure your services in a number of different ways without having to worry that your multi-cloud environment won’t be able to support your service management.
The ability to view all of your management data in a way that provides you with clear insights into your system’s management. BMC Helix ITSM enables you to create custom reports and dashboards. This makes it possible for you to see any and all significant trends in your operations and services data.

Reviews from Real Users

BMC Helix ITSM’s software stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two of these are the robust activity tracking features and the lightweight nature of the solution.

A PeerSpot user who is a technical Program Manager and Site Lead at a computer software company notes the nature of Helix’s task tracking when they write, “The most valuable features I have found are the activity logs. Additionally, the other features where you are able to continuously address issues and are able to annotate notes inside to convey them to the customer. The customer can read the notes and are able to know where you are in the procedures and process of fixing the problem for them. It has a good interactive piece for dialogue with customers where you do not have to interact with them personally, but they can do it on their own just by going into that activity log. This is great for the customer to have the ability to find out how things are being progressively taken care of.”

Another PeerSpot user, who is a Practice Director of Global Infrastructure Services at a computer software company, notes, “Many other tools are similar. I've used these tools and find that they meet my requirements. Helix is more lightweight than these tools. It's a traditional tool that was developed more than 10 years ago. Ease of use is the operative word.”

BMC

Managing your business and providing excellent support shouldn’t bog you down. MSP Manager’s ease of use will free your team to deliver on your promise of great service.

Intuitive, lightweight ticketing with seamless RMM and N-central^®platform integrations.
Painless time tracking with convenient timers and functionality for recurring tickets and appointments.
Closed-loop email with automatic ticket monitoring and routing, with a streamlined Microsoft 365 setup via OAuth.
Complete customer and knowledge management with a branded portal.
Accounting integrations with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero.

N-able

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University

Longleaf Systems, ITproMedia, Choice Technology, Halski Systems, Allixo Technologies, Nettech, Concept Technology

Buyer's Guide

BMC Helix ITSM vs. N-able MSP Manager

April 2025

Free Report: BMC Helix ITSM vs. N-able MSP Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Helix ITSM vs. N-able MSP Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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