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Cherwell Service Management vs Clarity SM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Cherwell Service Management
Ranking in Help Desk Software
29th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
25th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Clarity SM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
18th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Cherwell Service Management is 1.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Clarity SM is 2.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Clarity SM2.3%
Cherwell Service Management1.8%
Other95.9%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Thobile Moeketsi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Sasria SOC Ltd.
Having everything in one location has significantly improved our efficiency and reporting
We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges. Even though it uses our Windows login, we still have to be on VPN. The product should be able to log tickets directly from system to system. We haven't got there yet and I'm not sure it's possible but it would determine the product's capability to integrate with other systems.
Türker Kara - PeerSpot reviewer
Application & Software Architect at Turkiye Finans Participation Bank
Quite good back-end architecture for end users but the API is very, very bad
Our company uses the solution for system, program, service request, change, and knowledge-based management.  We perform CMD authorizations and use a lot of integrations for our in-house or third-party applications. We also use Salesforce automations and Microsoft orchestrations.  We have about…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its integration features, orchestration features, and discovery tools are the most valuable."
"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."
"We use the solution every day and quite extensively."
"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."
"The best feature is the ability to create functional dashboards, where the IT manager can interact with its data through the dashboard using the drill down feature."
"All our activities are carried out in the one place."
"Implementing CSM has made us very efficient and we're now able to plan changes and the steps required for implementation."
"The dashboard is very useful to get a quick overview of current tasks."
"The new xFlow interface that was introduced for Level 1 analysts really helps the them to achieve the best and fastest result for their users/customers."
"The biggest strength of Service Catalog is that it's integrated with other solutions on the CA platform."
"That has been very good with the decision that we made because we've been able to upgrade the software versions in one month which is amazing."
"The most important part is the user experience, as CA Service Desk Manager provides a great and helpful experience with constant updates and always thinking about and looking out for the user."
"Within the first calendar year of deploy, the incident manager was able to strategically set and meet the field support goal of responding and resolving 25% of incidents remotely."
"With its scalability and ability to connect with various systems, we have been able to exchange data with several systems automatically."
"I would highly recommend to install CA, not only the CA Service Desk Manager tool, but the overall value that CA portfolio products can bring."
"I’ve implemented, configured and managed this system for hundreds of clients and I trust it."
 

Cons

"We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges."
"The support from the actual manufacturer is poor."
"The stability, specifically in the on-premises deployment model, could be improved."
"Agile delivery should be supported."
"They need to improve their mobile interface, as well as features regarding the extension of the mobile access to the end user."
"Access is only available if we're on VPN."
"Areas for improvement would be the service catalog and customer catalog, which is not very user-friendly. The shopping cart experience is also terrible - you submit and go straight to the cart, you can't continue shopping or see your overall cost."
"Application service mapping, GRC, SecOps, and things like that need improvement."
"One of the issues that exists, and I don't know you can really call it an issue, but it's not there yet, it needs to be tighter integration between PAM and Service Desk and they understand that, because the PAM engine for driving business automation and workflows is so critical to our business and keeping us on schedule and doing things."
"We would like to see them revamp, or rework, a lot of their configuration management database structures."
"The cost of this solution is too high, which is why we're leaving."
"The initial setup can be complex, especially if you want to track and notify on a variety of granular controls. However, the vendor oversells how easy it is and the training from CA is terrible."
"I would like to see the API cleaned up. Right now, because of the way CA works, they combine a lot of applications. But the API is a mess, it's hard to navigate, hard to figure out."
"The monitoring tool is in need of improvement."
"UI is not perfect, but maybe with Jaspersoft."
"Just little technical tweaks here and there. Like more options. For example "Organization." We wanted that to be available inside the change order, as well as the ticket and the request. And that's not available."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For an ITIL user, the cost is probably about 50 bucks a month."
"Clarity offers a perpetual license. Customers purchase the license once and then pay for maintenance. CA provides a subscription model as well. Both models are available for our customers."
"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."
"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
"There is a subscripted needed to use Clarity SM. The price of the solution could be less expensive. ServiceNow is less expensive and BMC Helix is priced similar to Clarity SM."
"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"
"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."
"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise66
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA Service Desk Manager, Clarity Service Management, CA Service Management, Unicenter Service Desk, CA SDM, CA Service Catalog, CA Business Service Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ausenco, Highlights for Children, B/E Aerospace
Banco G&T Continental City of Perth, FEMSA, Fujitsu, Manpower, Muslim Commercial Bank - MCB, Punjab National Bank, Santa Clara County Social Services, Stefanini
Find out what your peers are saying about Cherwell Service Management vs. Clarity SM and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.