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Clarity SM vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks 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

Clarity SM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
24th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Hornbill Systems Supportworks
Ranking in Help Desk Software
37th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
38th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Clarity SM is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hornbill Systems Supportworks is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Türker Kara - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
it_user1262703 - PeerSpot reviewer
Excels in call logging and call flows but is limited in terms of scalability
I'd advise others to map their processes out before starting with the solution. Hornbill has recently generated a new version of its product and it meets some of the requirements that we would have been looking for. It's a bit more scalable, a bit more responsive to a customer-focused model for support, and they've improved a lot of things like process flow and self-service. In terms of rating the solution, it's difficult to grade. It really depends on the size of the organization that's trying to use it as that tool. One of the reasons why we're looking to shift is because we've grown quite a bit over the years that we've had it, which makes it difficult for it to meet our demands. However, for an organization the size of what we were when we started our journey with it, I'd rate it ten out of ten. Where we are now, with our company size and needs, I'd rate it six out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool itself is valuable as a result of all its features combined. Therefore, I have found that there is no feature more valuable than another."
"Self-service interface means people can check their own tickets."
"Clarity is flexible to implement and integrate. It gives the developer or consultant a broad space to work and customize based on what the customers want."
"Our users access it via the web. We have external and internal sources, and we're now introducing the mobile app portion so our computer engineers can respond to tickets remotely."
"It has allowed us to be more efficient in our problem and change management processes and procedures."
"Logging every action in Service Desk Manager (SDM)."
"We have decreased training and talk time, and all those good stats, just by reusing information, not reinventing it, every time we get a call."
"All the interactions and orchestrations of every problem, we can analyze what happens in the organization and which kind of incident we have."
"The solution's business process flow is quite strong. Its reporting is quite good. The standard, basic ITSM functionality like call logging and call flow, for example, are areas the solution really excels in."
 

Cons

"We talk a lot about the idea that Service Desk Manager should be more "service" oriented, not just ticket oriented."
"We just upgraded about a year and half ago and it was painful. We had the testing of the dev environment, and then testing of the production environment, so it was two weekends out of my life. And stuff broke."
"They need to improve the High Availability, and the native integration between CA Service Desk Manager, CA Process Automation, CA Service Catalog and CA Unified Self-Service."
"When I am reviewing an incident, sometimes there is too much information on the same screen and it is difficult to discern what is of value."
"The CA products integrate well together but I would like to see better integration with third-party solutions."
"The product needs to have a better user experience in the interface and mobile functionality.​"
"Needs custom dashboards, without them it takes too long to view some information (though xFlow is an improvement)."
"The SDM administration and customisation needS deep information about architecture and vendor support continuously."
"It's worked well for us for a significant period of time. However, we are kind-of outgrowing it at the moment. We're struggling a bit with making it meet our requirements."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."
"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."
"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."
"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."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"
"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."
"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."
"Our organization pays about $40,000 annually. There are ongoing consultancy costs and if we want to change anything, we're charged a day rate. Other than that, there are no other extra costs involved in working with the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Also Known As

CA Service Desk Manager, Clarity Service Management, CA Service Management, Unicenter Service Desk, CA SDM, CA Service Catalog, CA Business Service Insight
Supportworks
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco G&T Continental City of Perth, FEMSA, Fujitsu, Manpower, Muslim Commercial Bank - MCB, Punjab National Bank, Santa Clara County Social Services, Stefanini
Aylesbury Vale District Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Clarity SM vs. Hornbill Systems Supportworks and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.