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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
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
Hornbill Systems Supportworks
Ranking in Help Desk Software
34th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
31st
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 May 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Clarity SM is 2.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hornbill Systems Supportworks is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Clarity SM2.3%
Hornbill Systems Supportworks1.3%
Other96.4%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

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…
it_user1262703 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Desk Team Leader at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
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

"Compared to others, I like the ease of Service Desk; it's easy to maneuver around in, it's very user friendly, and things make sense where some other products we looked at were very confusing."
"It is a one stop shop with the service catalog integrated with IT panel to the Service Desk, and it is very nice to be able to use because the workflow is all-in-one for the same product."
"One of it's kind."
"The solution is highly stable; we are using the high availability product for our application server, and the program server is enough for our organization, allowing us to use the application in over 70 countries where it works well for us."
"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."
"Ability to write macros, which can in turn trigger some condition or could be conditioned to basically trigger notifications, the workflow desk, or web calls. It is huge benefit to customize it."
"The most valuable features for me are the scalability of it, its ability to bring in everyone at one time, and all the data-related functionalities."
"It is easy to tell what needs fixing and the priority of things."
"We've definitely seen an ROI; we've had the system in place for eight years, and it's provided a solid platform for us to deliver our services during that period."
"It is quite user friendly to use and has a lot of very useful features that makes the analyst/technician's life easier."
"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 periodically run into issues with the stability of the application."
"CA develops and acquires enough tools and adds them to its solutions, but does not necessarily fully integrate them before releasing them."
"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."
"We need financial solutions for all projects we undertake, and Service Desk currently doesn't offer this."
"The UI needs to be upgraded."
"I’d say it's been OK, not great, but it's determined by the servers."
"Improvements would include simplification in the user interface, being more expandable, better documentation. The user interface is fairly cluttered, and we can update it the way we need to, but it just seems dated."
"CA tools can be very useful when you have the right vendors on board, otherwise it becomes a disaster for your organisation."
"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."
"Customer Service: I'd rate it as a 5/10 or 6/10."
"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 think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
"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
Financial Services Firm
30%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise66
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: May 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.