Cherwell Service Management [EOL] vs Freshdesk comparison

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Ivanti and Freshworks are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Additionally, 80% of Ivanti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Freshworks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2026

Freshdesk and Cherwell Service Management compete in the service management sector. Freshdesk leads in pricing and customer support, while Cherwell Service Management offers strength in feature richness.

Features: Freshdesk offers an intuitive ticketing system, robust automation, and seamless integrations, suited for small to mid-sized businesses. Cherwell Service Management supports advanced customization, comprehensive IT service management solutions, and tailored features beneficial for large organizations.

Room for Improvement: Freshdesk could enhance its feature depth for more complex environments, improve reporting options, and extend on-premises support. Cherwell requires more user-friendly interfaces, simplified deployment processes, and cost-effective solutions for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Freshdesk's cloud-based model simplifies deployment with responsive customer support, ideal for fast implementation. Cherwell offers both cloud and on-premises options, demanding more setup resources but providing flexibility for enterprises needing complex infrastructure.

Pricing and ROI: Freshdesk delivers cost-effective pricing plans that quickly achieve ROI, particularly for smaller businesses. In contrast, Cherwell involves higher initial costs justified by a feature-set that large businesses leverage for significant operational improvements.

To learn more, read our detailed Help Desk Software Report (Updated: August 2026).

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Help Desk Software

August 2026

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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

Automation Anywhere

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

Management Consultant at Accenture

Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions

Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.

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Thobile Moeketsi

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.

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Gauri Thakur

Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited

Integrated support workflows have provided a unified view but need broader enterprise flexibility

Freshdesk's scalability could be improved for larger businesses across departments. Its intuitive interface is appealing for small to medium-sized businesses. However, when you look at larger enterprise levels, ServiceNow operates more efficiently. This scalability is an area where Freshdesk could expand its offerings. Additionally, I don't have too much hands-on experience with Freshdesk ticket routing. I need to check with the service desk team if they've used it. Similarly, for analytics capability, I haven't explored much on Freshdesk, but I have done it for ServiceNow. I have seen a lot on ServiceNow and the BMC Remedy, so I can speak better for them. I haven't had the chance to look at it so much that I can do a comparison. I haven't had much experience with Freshdesk's reporting. Within its paradigm of customer service management, Freshdesk is quite scalable. But I've said that inter-department and the interoperability is better off in ServiceNow than in Freshdesk.

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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

"Automation Anywhere is a decent competitor and gives a better solution."

"We have solved many problems we had in the past before using Automation Anywhere, mainly we saved a lot of time and money, we reduced and minimized the risk of human errors and got rid of all the manual repetitive tasks so we can focus on the core of our business."

"It helps with the speed on improving processes and the results of those processes."

"The capacity to use Automation Anywhere in the cloud is the most valuable feature."

"Because while the platform is feature-rich and easy to use, it is the skill of the coder that determines how well the platform is leveraged."

"The features that help us satisfy the needs of the customer to overcome mundane activities using task bots and meta bots are the most valuable along with the rich controls in the control room. The developer team is able to capture all the necessary steps without much hassle with the visual designer and the ability to test each step of automation has helped in delivering error-free automation to our customer."

"My experience with the deployment of the solution is positive; it's fast, and we have not encountered any problems related to that."

"It's very easy to use and all of the employees can easily get involved in the process, whether they are a developer, support, or have an HR background."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."

"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."

"Its integration features, orchestration features, and discovery tools are the most valuable. It is also pretty stable, and it can be as scalable as you want."

"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."

"All our activities are carried out in the one place."

"We use the solution every day and quite extensively."

"The dashboard is very useful to get a quick overview of current tasks."

"The dashboard and the reporting functionality are the solution's most valuable features."

More Cherwell Service Management [EOL] pros

"Freshdesk has played a huge role in allowing me to deliver solutions to my customers in a fast, timely fashion, which is why it rates high in my books."

"These features are easy to use, and the filtering is really good, providing a good overview of active tickets and who's working on them."

"It's free of charge for us. For our scale of business, it's very important. We don't have a lot of tickets."

"Our customer service is built around it, and has been for years."

"The most valuable features of Freshdesk are the automation of tickets to assign them to different agents, and the managing of documents is easy."

"Freshdesk is very easy to use and understand; it has one of the best ticket systems that is easy to understand and provides the best visibility to customers."

"Freshdesk has positively impacted our organization by improving our customer relationships."

"I like that it's very user-friendly. The way they designed this application, any layperson can just do some drag and drop actions and use it. It's not that difficult. It's also easy to implement. The most important thing is, you don't need to go to this application to create a ticket. You just send out an email, and the ticket is created automatically. I have never seen a feature like this before."

More Freshdesk pros

Cons

"Commands in Excel, Outlook, and Word automation are very limited and hence facing difficulties automating complex requirements for the above applications with V11 version."

"The cost of this solution can be improved."

"The help Automation Anywhere offers during setup isn't great for smaller companies like ours."

"Triggers work in the attended mode on Automation Anywhere. I would love it if we could use triggers in the unattended mode too. This way we can use the feature more in our IT sector. E.g., when any service or folder is accessed by unauthorized person, we want to be able to get an immediate trigger, even on "out of office", this would be helpful for my organization."

"New versions keep coming up. The challenge for us is to have the downtime to do the migrations. This could be improved upon. We would like fewer version changes and upgrades happening to the application. While the downtime is not that much, depending on the business processes, there are times few critical processes are running on a daily or hourly basis. We would expect the downtime to be even less for them."

"They should do more on the cognitive side. If they can keep adding more features, that would be their greatest advantage."

"We have a few issues which have persisted. These end up restarting the machine. We are hoping in version 11.3 of Automation Anywhere, our compatibility and infrastructure issues will be resolved."

"The price is a little high and could be reduced."

More Automation Anywhere 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 solution could be more user-friendly."

"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."

"Agile delivery should be supported."

"Application service mapping, GRC, SecOps, and things like that need improvement."

"They need to improve their mobile interface, as well as features regarding the extension of the mobile access to the end user."

More Cherwell Service Management [EOL] cons

"It should enhance its service and its reporting capabilities."

"It's a heavy app with lots of APIs, third-party integrations, etc. They should make it lighter."

"Freshdesk could improve its capabilities. It's missing the article formatting, and the overall look and feel make it not easy to use. The administration instructions on how to manage the automation, capability, and integration with third parties, such as chat or bots, are very important in these types of solutions."

"Improvement can be done with the overall look, and fields like Query Type can be shown at the home page itself."

"Asset management and branding are two areas in the solution that have scope for improvement."

"Technical support is not the best. It could be much, much better and offer better support to users."

"They were just constantly trying to get us to implement break fix after break fix after break fix instead of putting us on the right product in the first place. It wasted a year's time and money."

"We have many cases where a ticket comes in, and it ends up having multiple team members working on it. It would be really nice to be able to assign a single ticket to multiple people, rather than having to create the parent-child hierarchy that they have set up. It generates a proliferation of tickets that I really don't want to have. Having to jump from a parent to one child and then to another child makes it harder for me to be able to see the entire case from end to end. A simple example is our new hire process or our termination process. We have people who leave. We also have people who come on board. We have got multiple people participating and doing things related to the leaving or onboarding process. Currently, I have to go to different tickets to be able to see whether all tasks are really done or not. If I could assign lots of people to one ticket, it would be really nice."

More Freshdesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Automation Anywhere is competitive... Pega is somewhat comparable, but Pega also requires a lot more infrastructure and a lot more experience to get up and running."

"The product’s pricing is reasonable."

"The cloud-based version comes at an increased cost, although our clients are happy with the new features and have not complained about the pricing."

"The pricing of AA is similar to UiPath."

"We have saved a lot of money on taxes based on the stuff that we run."

"Licensing for Automation Anywhere (AA) is paid on a yearly basis. Out of all the RPA tools, it has the most value for money, e.g. what you pay is what you get."

"The setup and licensing cost is affordable, and it is not exaggerated like UiPath."

"We generally follow the Gain-Sharing Pricing model, which enables the customer to start getting the RPA benefits right from day one of their implementation."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"For an ITIL user, the cost is probably about 50 bucks a month."

"It was definitely not expensive. It was two grand or maybe three grand total for a year. It has just straight and simple standard licensing fees. There is no additional fee."

"Freshdesk was the best solution with the best price. It was cost efficient and included all the features that we needed."

"The pricing is pretty manageable and acceptable."

"It is costly."

"The best system plan is enterprise. It costs basically 79 Euros per agent per month when it's billed annually and 95 Euros per agent per month when it's billed monthly."

"We pay approximately $70 per agent to use Freshdesk. We have 10 agents, which is approximately $700 or $800 per month. It is a fixed license, there are not any additional fees."

"The price could be better, but it's okay. Compared to ServiceNow and JIRA, Freshworks offers a competitive price. There are also additional licensing costs because you need Microsoft Outlook. Each new email account costs around $15 to $19."

"We use a combination of Freshdesk, Freshservice, and Freshchat. We use the whole suite. Weirdly enough, we pay more for Freshdesk than we do for Freshservice. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of pricing. You can get different bundles, and you can always move to different plans that are standard. Freshservice can go anywhere from $19 up to $120 per agent, per month. There is such a wide range, and it is very customizable to your needs."

More Freshdesk pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

11%

Construction Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	158
Midsize Enterprise	82
Large Enterprise	558

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	30
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	13

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.

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What needs improvement with Freshdesk?

I think the main problem with Freshdesk is the deep settings, interface, and analytics. When you need complex cross-f...

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What is your primary use case for Freshdesk?

My main use case for Freshdesk is customer support tickets. A specific example of how my team uses Freshdesk for cust...

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What advice do you have for others considering Freshdesk?

My advice for others looking into using Freshdesk is to consider that compared to Zendesk or Salesforce, where the se...

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Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automation Anywhere

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Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

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AutomationEdge vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 3% of the time

Appian vs Automation Anywhere

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ServiceNow vs Cherwell Service Management [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Cherwell Service Management [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

Freshservice vs Cherwell Service Management [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

Ivanti ITSM vs Cherwell Service Management [EOL]

Compared 6% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Cherwell Service Management [EOL]

Compared 4% of the time

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ServiceNow vs Freshdesk

Compared 10% of the time

Zendesk vs Freshdesk

Compared 6% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Freshdesk

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs Freshdesk

Compared 4% of the time

IFS Cloud Platform vs Freshdesk

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

September 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

IT Service Management (ITSM)

August 2026

Cherwell Service Management [EOL] report

Download Cherwell Service Management [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Freshdesk

September 2026

Download Freshdesk product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

No data available

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

Ivanti

Demo not available

Freshworks

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

Cherwell Service Management is designed to provide scalable and stable support for IT processes. Enhancing reporting and management interactions, it benefits departments with its integration features, knowledge base, and open architecture.

Cherwell Service Management simplifies task and resource management for organizations handling incident, problem, and change management. With its robust framework, hospitals manage clinical and non-clinical incidents, while integration options like Azure facilitate ITSM and CMDB discovery. The platform's strong reporting capabilities support recording incidents and changes, enabling diverse enterprise applications. Enhancements are needed in areas like agility support and JIRA integration.

What are the key features of Cherwell Service Management?

Dashboard: Offers quick task overviews for enhanced productivity.
Reporting Functionality: Simplifies data analysis and communication.
Self-Service Capabilities: Empowers users to resolve issues independently.
Integration and Orchestration: Ensures seamless connectivity with other tools.
Change Management: Provides stability in adapting processes.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating Cherwell Service Management?

Scalability: Supports growth and adaptation in IT environments.
Knowledge-Based Feature: Facilitates improved decision-making and compliance.
Functional Dashboards: Allow interactive data exploration through drill-down features.
Ease of Use: Open architecture benefits diverse departmental needs.

In hospitals, Cherwell Service Management handles both clinical and non-clinical incident management with integrations like ink cartridge tracking. Middle-sized teams increase efficiency in task management, while companies utilize its CMDB discovery for ITSM needs. Modernization is essential for mobile interfaces and VPN access, ensuring improved user interaction.

Ivanti

Freshdesk enhances support operations with features like a centralized ticketing system, omnichannel communication, and seamless tool integration. It addresses customer queries and automates processes, driving efficiency and satisfaction.

Freshdesk offers robust capabilities for managing customer support, enhancing efficiency through automation and integration. Its streamlined ticketing system centralizes queries from multiple platforms, including email, chat, and social media. Features like a knowledge base help reduce repetitive inquiries, while its easy integration with tools such as Slack and Jira supports effective team collaboration. However, users seek improvements in customization flexibility, scalability, and pricing for advanced features. Performance issues may arise with high volumes, and there's room for improved API limits and cloud availability. Freshdesk's automation and communication abilities make it crucial for both internal IT and external customer service, ensuring seamless resolutions and SLA compliance.

What Features Stand Out in Freshdesk?

Ticketing System: Centralizes customer interactions for streamlined management.
Omnichannel Support: Integrates communication platforms for consistent service.
Automation: Reduces manual tasks, boosting efficiency.
Knowledge Base: Decreases repetitive inquiries with self-service resources.
Tool Integration: Connects seamlessly with platforms like Slack and Jira.
Analytics & Reporting: Tracks performance for informed decision-making.

What Benefits Should Users Look For?

Improved Efficiency: Automation and centralized systems enhance support speed.
Customer Satisfaction: Consistent and responsive service elevates user experience.
Scalability: Adapts to growing support needs with integrations and customization.
Reduced Manual Effort: Automates repetitive tasks, allowing focus on complex issues.

Freshdesk is widely adopted in industries like IT and customer service, where efficient issue resolution and communication are critical. By converting emails to tickets and automating assignments, companies enhance their response times and maintain SLA compliance. Its integration capabilities support diverse tools, facilitating a multi-channel approach for superior customer experiences.

Freshworks

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

Ausenco, Highlights for Children, B/E Aerospace

Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, Zendesk and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: August 2026.

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