No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow vs TOPdesk 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 April 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of BMC Helix ITSM is 4.9%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 12.6%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TOPdesk is 2.0%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow12.6%
BMC Helix ITSM4.9%
TOPdesk2.0%
Other80.5%
Help Desk Software
 

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.
MT
Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Seamless data integration and advanced automation improve service delivery efficiency
I think that nothing needs to be improved with the product; you just need the user to commit and spend appropriate time to overcome that learning curve. Once that is done, the product itself is pretty wonderful. I've seen a very nicely built interface with ServiceNow, and I've also seen the ugliest version that feels outdated. ServiceNow does allow that team to exist. They should modernize their fonts and their layout, the UI friendliness. They did introduce AI, chatbots, and AI on the back end, so that's wonderful and extremely useful if you train it. If you don't train it, it's pretty useless. Assessing the impact of ServiceNow's automation on service delivery times is complicated. The engineers who operate on ServiceNow find it isn't straightforward because the data set is accessible by everybody. The problem is that understanding how to manage that data set requires an enormous amount of engineering skill set to run the product. I would not hand the key to the customer; I would highly recommend that ServiceNow take control of that. Instead of offering support for the software, they should offer administrative support for the software. They should provide professional service or some kind of support system that allows us to use their product at a faster pace. I'm sure they offer something, but it's often outrageously expensive, or they rely on another company to resell their product and offer professional service. 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.
Martina Peneva - PeerSpot reviewer
People Technology Lead at Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Implement service management changes while addressing UI improvements
Topdesk's user interface makes it easy to handle requests and escalate them to other groups or reassign them when working on a single ticket. Additionally, the service management tool in HR allows for a change in delivering services, replacing email communication with ticket raising. The knowledge library enables the local HR to store and share relevant information and frequently asked cases, enhancing collaboration. The ticket system also facilitates escalating cases to other involved departments. IT, HR, and some other teams primarily use this system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With service requests, we have been able to give visibility to the business users."
"It is suitable for the present circumstances, providing reliability and adhering to the necessary procedures. Having ITSM and proper knowledge is essential for our work to be acknowledged and effectively contribute to the team's efforts. Utilizing ITSM ensures that our work, especially in chat windows and events from application support, is duly acknowledged. This is crucial for handling high-level events (HLEs) and maintaining accurate records. The system facilitates easy tracking, enabling managers and higher-ups to gather data for appraisals and other purposes efficientl"
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility, which allows us to customize it per our customers' requirements."
"Initial setup is straightforward, and if you follow best practices, then future enhancements will be smoother."
"You can do some customizing if you want, which is great; it's a very integrated solution with incident management, change management, release management, and asset management all working very well together."
"This solution provides complete incident management to our organization which has improved the organization."
"In general, for incident management, it's okay."
"The digital workplace is appealing."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the possibility of the application development cap so that we can digitize workflows."
"One of the biggest features is its flexibility."
"ServiceNow has enabled us to rapidly deploy Application Managed Services for new clients, with the ability to configure, extend, and tailor our ITSM Platform to meet individual client needs."
"Flexibility is the most valuable feature of ServiceNow, that is, being able to modify it to do what we need it to do."
"Very good incident management, chain management and problem management features."
"To me, just the initial interface is very intuitive and user-friendly and I think it's just going to be yards ahead of what we've been doing previously."
"I like the workflow functions that are available in ServiceNow and the ability to actually integrate all of the information that you have such as travel tickets or assignment tickets for your team, onto your dashboard, depending on your setup, or if you create a ticket and a dashboard for your team."
"The feature that I have found most valuable from ServiceNow is the ability to assign sub-tasks to different teams, including problem tickets and the regular and chain tasks."
"Change management is the most critical feature."
"Technical support is great and we have not had any issues with them."
"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is its ease of use if you have implemented it in the right way. If you're not implementing it in the right way, then it's very difficult."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ticketing feature."
"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is the reports."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the incident management module."
"Its ITSM approach is quite useful."
"It is an easy-to-use solution."
 

Cons

"It needs a more organic workflow, so every field you create is labeled throughout the stack. BMC has a few products that they try to bundle together. Generally, that solution works. BMC should take a step back and think about the overall solution—not only ITSM but also CTI Integration along with chat. They have all that, but it's not an end-to-end holistic solution with the added reporting analytics."
"Needs less infrastructure requirements."
"Functionality-wise, it falls short of our expectations."
"The documentation could improve in BMC Helix ITSM."
"Customer service is average."
"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."
"The interface should be more user-friendly, and the customization should be easier."
"The interface is somewhat dated as compared to technologies in use today."
"It's a very complex tool with a lot of different pieces and it takes a lot of different people to support it because everyone has to be specialized in their own piece."
"ServiceNow doesn't cater to the Middle Eastern market."
"There are a few things that it needs to improve, like automation of most things out-of-the-box. For example, when it comes to cloud management, we are still going with manual intervention. Instead of that, if we had an out-of-the-box feature available, that would be great."
"We don't have a huge amount of password reset requests, but the minimum package of resets that ServiceNow offers is much more than we need."
"if I consider from the IT operations management side, ServiceNow is pretty premature on some things, especially the discovery, while the other tools like Micro Focus and BMC Remedy, those that have been in the market for quite some time. ServiceNow is evolving itself in the discovery piece of the future."
"There is a need to learn scripting because as in the case of all the ITSM tools, scripting is needed for customization. If you're not very comfortable with scripting, then you may feel that you cannot do everything in ServiceNow without learning scripting."
"We've been through about four different vendors over the three and a half years. Some of that code has been problematic for us."
"When we are using the solution on mobile phones on their networks the performance is reduced with a delay of approximately 8 seconds."
"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."
"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."
"All companies have processes that need to be adjusted. When you have a change, you need to name it, and many companies have a set of changes you can use. It would be helpful if there were more space in TOPdesk to name the change or use metadata to record the kinds of changes."
"Change management implementation, facility management, and making reservations on assets can be improved."
"In some fields, it's just not good enough."
"It is time-consuming to add new users."
"From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement. It sometimes takes many steps to do something simple, like creating or moving a knowledge item."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We did not compare the price of BMC Helix ITSM to other vendors. However, it has a mid-range price."
"If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
"The solution's pricing should come down."
"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."
"I am not sure the exact price we pay for the solution but I know it is in the high seven-figure amount annually."
"BMC Helix ITSM is a very cost-effective solution."
"The price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"It is costly, but it is well worth it."
"$230 per user."
"The price of this solution is expensive."
"The mandatory minimum is US$ 20,000 for licensing."
"The setup cost is high compared to others, especially when the scope is not fixed."
"ServiceNow is an expensive solution."
"It is fairly expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten. The pricing for ServiceNow is based on a SaaS platform with annual contracts. However, it may not offer much flexibility for adjusting usage in the short term."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive."
"The cost of the solution on a yearly basis is $20,000. Technical support is not extra. It's included in the yearly cost. Updates are also included. The solution is good at keeping its product up to date."
"Compared to other products in this segment, I think that they are priced well and not too expensive."
"TOPdesk's pricing is cheaper than Jira's."
"The solution is inexpensive compared to competitors."
"There are three fee options to choose from for a company and these options compared to market prices are very high. For example, if I use one of the first options for 10 assets, then it costs 20,000 Euros. If you went to competitors, then you pay less."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
885,444 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction 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 Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise168
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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 do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TOPdesk?
The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive.
What needs improvement with TOPdesk?
From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement, as some tasks like creating or moving a knowledge item within t...
What is your primary use case for TOPdesk?
I use Topdesk to change the way we deliver our services in HR to the business. Instead of writing an email to a parti...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
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    
City of Amsterdam, University of Edinbroughm, IKEA, KLM Catering Services, FloraHolland, BOVAG, PostNL, Total, Hilton, Oce, Canon, Agip, Compass Group, Serco, Danone, BMW, Eneco, And many more.
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: March 2026.
885,444 professionals have used our research since 2012.