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BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow vs Zendesk 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
6.6
ServiceNow enhances efficiency and cost savings, providing ROI within a year, despite initial costs and adoption challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
Zendesk enhances organizational efficiency and productivity, reducing costs despite licensing fees, with varied but significant financial benefits.
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.
Manually, there are huge numbers that come up because these integrated tools help organizations make the right decisions with all the information in one place, while manual methods lack visibility.
 

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
6.9
ServiceNow support is praised for responsiveness and resources but experiences mixed reviews due to delays and inconsistencies.
Sentiment score
6.3
Zendesk excels in responsiveness and issue resolution, though reliance on documentation may delay human support replies.
There are issues with misrouting and a preference for email rather than direct communication via phone calls.
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
I have contacted them four to five times over the past two years, and they have been quite helpful.
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
Their support team from Zendesk is excellent, similar to what you have in Freshdesk.
 

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
7.4
ServiceNow is scalable and effective for global operations, though performance issues and pricing concerns exist for some users.
Sentiment score
7.4
Zendesk scales well for various team sizes; praised for customization, integration, though challenges include data backup and departmental customization.
The product's scalability is adequate for us, yet its complex customization sometimes restricts extensive adaptability.
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
The scalability of Zendesk is still in the same range as Freshdesk.
 

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
7.7
ServiceNow is widely praised for its stability and reliability, with efficient support and minimal downtime, making it dependable.
Sentiment score
7.7
Zendesk is stable and reliable, despite occasional outages, making it ideal for small businesses and startups globally.
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.
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
ServiceNow is stable enough.
The stability has been quite reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix ITSM needs a more intuitive, customizable interface, enhanced reporting, better performance, support, documentation, and streamlined customization.
ServiceNow needs to enhance user interface, licensing, support, integration, and analytics to improve user experience and satisfaction.
Zendesk users face challenges with interface clumsiness, slow performance, customization, integration, and pricing, affecting overall usability and efficiency.
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.
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.
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Their customer support could make it a great solution, not just product support but also their relationship with partners and training initiatives in different regions.
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find BMC Helix ITSM costly but cost-effective, requiring careful licensing analysis and negotiations to manage expenses.
ServiceNow is costly with complex licensing, requiring negotiation and flexibility, especially burdensome for small and regional businesses.
Zendesk pricing varies, perceived as high, but offers value and flexibility; negotiation advised for larger teams to optimize costs.
The pricing of BMC Helix ITSM and its implementation costs are quite high, including subscription and maintenance costs per year.
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
ServiceNow does come with a price.
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix ITSM is scalable, integrates easily, enhances management, and aligns with ITIL, offering advanced features and customization.
ServiceNow offers flexible customization, fast development, and strong integration, enhancing efficiency across IT, HR, and finance with robust reporting.
Zendesk offers user-friendly integration, robust features, and valuable tools, enhancing efficiency and streamlining customer support processes effectively.
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.
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
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 allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
The benefits I have seen from using Zendesk include faster response times.
 

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 ServiceNow is 17.3%, down from 25.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.6%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow17.3%
BMC Helix ITSM7.1%
Zendesk4.6%
Other71.0%
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.
Nikhil Gohil - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables effective incident management and seamless workflow automation with valuable mobile accessibility
I haven't thought deeply about improvements for ServiceNow or what might be missing right now. There are so many modules and features in ServiceNow that I haven't explored them all, so it's hard to say what might be missing or should be improved. I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies.
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication
Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo, enhancing our workflows.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Performing Arts
6%
University
5%
 

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 Business54
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise163
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise11
 

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 ...
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 do you like most about Zendesk Support?
I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?
Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for mo...
What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?
I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate mor...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
No data available
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

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    
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.