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Cherwell Service Management vs IFS Cloud Platform 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
IFS Cloud Platform
Ranking in Help Desk Software
22nd
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
CRM (32nd), Customer Experience Management (10th), Field Service Management (2nd), ERP (20th), Activity Based Costing Software (10th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (3rd), Local Government CRM (13th), IT Asset Management (13th), License Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Cherwell Service Management is 1.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IFS Cloud Platform2.0%
Cherwell Service Management1.7%
Other96.3%
Help Desk Software
 

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.
Thangaraj Ramasamy - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Arcwide
Has supported project management and business customization through strong modular flexibility
The cloud feature in IFS Cloud Platform is predominantly valuable, especially the enterprise asset management module, which IFS has very good business into, along with strong finance, project management, and supply chain management modules; these are the major modules that are performing well with IFS, and the cloud options along with user-friendly customizations for any technical developments are additional advantages. The integration of IoT with IFS Cloud Platform is performing well, enabling us to integrate with predominantly any third party through the standard inbuilt connectors that are readily available, and if we need to customize the integration, we can certainly do that too.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."
"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."
"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."
"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."
"The dashboard and the reporting functionality are the solution's most valuable features."
"Implementing CSM has made us very efficient and we're now able to plan changes and the steps required for implementation."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is the distribution module."
"IFS Applications is based on industry standards that are using a multi-tier deployment model, making it much easier to integrate IFS Applications with other enterprise software packages, while its modern, easy-to-learn user interface offers many features for filtering, searching, and navigating."
"There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products. This makes the UI a little bit easier to understand."
"Pricing Matrix: Allowed us to implement a very complex go to market pricing model, allowing us to tailor pricing to individual customer requirements and implement an automated pricing model that maximized gross profit in a very competitive environment."
"The most valuable feature is the distribution module."
"Some of the strengths are Enterprise Management Solutions and the series of Management solutions which is number one in Gartner's report and has been for the last five years."
"There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products."
"IFS has been completely rebuilt, modernized, and cloud-based so we don't need bulky software installations."
 

Cons

"Areas for improvement would be the service catalog and customer catalog, which is not very 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."
"The solution could be more user-friendly."
"The support from the actual manufacturer is poor."
"We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges."
"The stability, specifically in the on-premises deployment model, could be improved."
"Agile delivery should be supported."
"We have upgraded to the latest version right now. We have issues with the quality. We tried to enroll in their Evergreen program which was meant to help us adopt any service update or anything that the tool’s providers come up with."
"The user interface can be improved. When you're clicking through the screens, there are some icons or symbols that really need updating and would be more useful and noticeable if they are aesthetically pleasing."
"Documentation-wise, they need more."
"I'm a business analyst, so I do a lot of customer-facing work. I take calls from businesses I have to troubleshoot. One thing that bugs me is the error messages you get from IFS. If I get an error message, I have to dig to find the cause because, often, the error message doesn't precisely describe the problem. It'll hint about where the problem lies, but you have to work to find the root cause. It doesn't help in my situation. You expect an error message to point to the field or what is causing the issue."
"The product requires heavy administrative work."
"The solution needs to improve its documentation and user-friendliness."
"Customization needs to be improved."
"It would be ideal if, in the future, the product could incorporate IoT and blockchain elements. We'd like to explore more of these types of features going forward."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For an ITIL user, the cost is probably about 50 bucks a month."
"The pricing of the solution may appear to be expensive for smaller companies with only tens of users; however, for larger and mid-size industrial companies, IFS is able to win deals and the pricing is competitive in the market."
"Licensing is on an annual basis, with no additional costs."
"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
"It is better to buy implementation services from IFS than from partners"
"Compared to SAP, the pricing for IFS Applications was very affordable. People using the solution would find that it's worth the money."
"There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
"The additional cost that comes with the solution includes the overhead of the people who are trying to fix the tool issues. These people are trying to reproduce the issue and report it to the technical support and testing with them which is huge. It is the cost of quality in the end."
"We pay for a license to use the solution, which is not very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
When it comes to AI, I feel that is the area where we expect something more from IFS Cloud Platform. They are working on IFS AI, but we have not explored much into that yet, and if they want to kee...
What is your primary use case for IFS Applications?
Currently, I am working with Arcwide, which is a service industry that predominantly focuses on IFS consulting, including IFS implementations, rollouts, upgrades, and support services.
 

Also Known As

No data available
IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ausenco, Highlights for Children, B/E Aerospace
China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Find out what your peers are saying about Cherwell Service Management vs. IFS Cloud Platform and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
893,915 professionals have used our research since 2012.