Clarity SM vs Kayako vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus comparison

Broadcom and Kayako are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Broadcom is ranked #22, while Kayako is ranked #61. Broadcom holds a 1.6% mindshare in HDS, compared to Kayako’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Kayako users who would recommend it.

Clarity SM

Read 107 Clarity SM reviews

2,071 Views
1,615 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Kayako

Read 1 Kayako review

251 Views
241 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Read 70 ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus reviews

3,878 Views
3,219 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Clarity SM

Kayako

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Clarity SM, Kayako, and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software.

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

Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software

January 2026

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Helped 881,757 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Clarity SM is 1.6%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kayako is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is 3.8%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus	3.8%
Clarity SM	1.6%
Kayako	0.4%
Other	94.2%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Türker Kara

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…

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reviewer1712472

Operations and Support Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

Flexible, straightforward implementation, and helpful support

We are in the process of switching from Kayako to ManageEngine Desktop Central. We went through a full review of our service desk processing and one of the solutions we purchased was a ManageEngine Desktop Central. When we were looking at the integrations into the Kayako system and how it works, we found that ManageEngine Desktop Central did very similar things. It had better layers of classification, other templating, and additional features that we did not have with Kayako. Our service manager made the decision to switch at that time. My advice to others wanting to implement Kayako would be for them to plan out their service processes first, prior to trying to implement them in the tool. We made the mistake of jumping in too soon back 10 years ago. I started using it in a way that we could have tooled it in a different way to make it better. We could have had more implementation process information to make sure we received what we wanted to out of the solution. I rate Kayako an eight out of ten.

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Mostafiz Miah

Sr. Presales & Technical Lead at Elitbuzz Technologies Ltd

Automation has transformed daily request handling and now tracks every customer interaction

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus helps my team manage and resolve requests compared to previous methods as we previously managed things through paperwork and diaries. After deploying ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whenever any customer request comes, we provide the customer a product demo if they ask about the products. We then convert that request to a lead, which is converted to a demo, and then to the product POC, allowing us to follow up every stage of the requests. Everything can be tracked from ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whether at the closing stage or the initial stage. I use ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus daily in a unique way because previously everyone managed their own tracking system through their diary, but now everyone inputs data into this solution so that at the end of the day, we can get reports on how many leads we have taken care of and when they need to be taken care of. This information is visible from the ServiceDesk tool, and using the dashboard, we can easily identify it, providing an at-a-glance view. The best features ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers for my team include automating manual tasks, which allows whatever tasks we previously did manually to be converted into automatic tasks. Currently, they have also introduced Zia, a very helpful solution for us. Using Zia, we can search for anything, not only inside the tool but also outside, integrating it with ChatGPT and Teams, and it can integrate with other ManageEngine solutions as well as solutions such as Jira and ServiceNow. When we integrate our network monitoring solutions with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, it automatically raises an incident ticket and assigns it to the right team whenever any incident has occurred, which saves us time and reduces manual tasks. Previously, we had to communicate to the right people through mail or phone calls after an incident, but now the incidents are automatically converted and assigned to the relevant support groups along with the SLA. The integration with Teams allows us to raise tickets without logging into the portal, and we can see the ticket status and add comments through Teams, which is very helpful. Additionally, mail integration can automatically convert emails into tickets, adding further efficiency. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has positively impacted our organization, particularly in customer satisfaction. Previously, customers managed service requests, incidents, changes, and problems manually, but after integration, most of these processes are automated. This includes change requests that now follow a workflow based on organizational needs and ITIL best practices, making tracking incidents and requests much easier for end customers through scheduled reports.

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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

"The solution's back-end architecture is very good for end users."

"We are benefiting by being able to put time to what our technicians are doing."

"Solution is scalable. It does work. We can modify it up better to make it the way we want it to work. We have implemented it for larger and smaller companies."

"The fact that it aligns very well with ITIL. I think that's probably one of my favorite things about it, because it's following up a general best practice for service management."

"It gives us one central location to know, not only who is contacting us, but what they're contacting us for, what application they're contacting us for."

"It also provides the front end for the employees too. It's pretty basic, but it gives them the means to reach out to IT so they don't have to pick up the phones."

"You can customize it and make it work to the client's needs."

"The value for the clients is that you can save information in the application and get reports with that information."

More Clarity SM pros

"The most valuable feature of Kayako is its flexibility. We can do anything we want with it, which is nice."

"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is meeting all my needs, it is a good solution. The integration and security are good. The solution is under-friendly."

"What I found most valuable in ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is its ticketing function plus change management, which helps us monitor all service requests within the team and even extend the requests to level two support."

"ServiceDesk Plus manages all our requests, both internal and external requests, for not only ticketing but users' requests."

"I like that ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has everything and can be integrated into a single product like SAP. It has also got operations, helpdesk, MDM, and everything integrated. Multiple products can be integrated into one product. You don't have to go for them separately. I also like that they have many partners in India who can come to the site and complete installations."

"CMDB as a baseline, incident management, service request management, and license management are valuable features. It offers really interesting features for complete use in an enterprise. You have one platform, and you could set up different service functions for HR, engineering, or another team in the same platform."

"The solution overall has been quite stable."

"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is change management."

"It was easy to implement. I didn't have a hard time. It was very quick, around 10 to 20 minutes."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pros

Cons

"There are some issues regarding the knowledge base and the configuration manager."

"We would like more information about all the configurations that we have on our infrastructure side."

"It doesn't yet have the ability to integrate with other products."

"If I had to choose, it would be more around the user interface than the mobile experience."

"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."

"We would like to see them revamp, or rework, a lot of their configuration management database structures. We hear that is on the horizon."

"Compared to some of the other products, I think we are bit behind."

"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."

More Clarity SM cons

"Some of the reporting in Kayako could be improved. It only has two levels of classification and if there were additional levels added for reporting purposes it would be awesome for our environment."

"There are some performance issues. The solution we used before this ran through a centralized server for remote control and it was much more responsive than this one is. There is a bit of a lag with the remote control option."

"The reporting capabilities are not as good as Ivanti's. So, ManageEngine could certainly improve on that."

"Improvement is needed in the Software Assets Management functionality."

"The product's asset management tool needs improvement."

"The licensing model should be more flexible."

"ManageEngine has developed and implemented new features in its cloud version. I would like to see the features extended to the on-premises version."

"The UI for the app needs improvement."

"Compared to other ITSM tools, ServiceDesk will have to step up their knowledge base tools. If they could make it open enough to be integrated with other applications or other systems it would be very useful."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."

"The pricing is based on a subscription model."

"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."

"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."

"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."

"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"

"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."

"Kayako is a highly affordable solution."

"The prices are attractive. Customer can use a subscription if they do not have enough budget."

"The price is much better than other products so pricing is rated an eight out of ten."

"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus' price is very reasonable."

"We use the cloud model, which is subscription-based, and each year, the subscription fees seem to go up, making it a more expensive solution."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"It is cheaper than the competitors."

"Cost-wise, we're quite happy."

"Its price is very lucrative. It would be great if the price can come down, but overall, its price is great. It is half or maybe one-third of the price of other market leaders."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Marketing Services Firm

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Performing Arts

Media Company

No data available

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	66

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	19

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

The platform's most beneficial features are incident management, change management, request management, and asset man...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

Regarding pricing, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers three editions: Standard edition, Professional, and Enterpris...

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What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

Currently, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a mature solution, and I do not think major improvements are needed, as i...

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Comparisons

JIRA Service Management vs Clarity SM

Compared 20% of the time

ServiceNow vs Clarity SM

Compared 9% of the time

Vision Helpdesk vs Clarity SM

Compared 7% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Clarity SM

Compared 6% of the time

Freshservice vs Clarity SM

Compared 5% of the time

More Clarity SM Competitors

ServiceNow vs Kayako

Compared 52% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Kayako

Compared 48% of the time

More Kayako Competitors

ServiceNow vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Compared 14% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Compared 8% of the time

SCSM vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Compared 5% of the time

SysAid vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Compared 5% of the time

LiveChat vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Compared 5% of the time

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM

February 2026

Download Clarity SM product report

Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software

January 2026

Download Kayako product report

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

January 2026

Download ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus product report

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

No data available

Overview

Service desk capabilities, an integral part of the CA Service Management solution, can enable you to deliver efficiencies in IT service management to business consumers, power users and decision makers. Mobility and collaborative self-service capabilities provide a modern user experience for accessing services and performing tasks, which can help drive user adoption, satisfaction and productivity.

Learn More: https://www.ca.com/us/products...

Broadcom

Kayako is a powerful customer service and support platform that gives your team the tools they need to communicate with customers across live chat, email, facebook and twitter.

Our approach brings every interaction your customer has with your business into Kayako and presents your agents with a comprehensive customer journey. This gives your team the context they need to immediately respond and support customers in a way that’s quick, accurate and personal.

Kayako is used by over 130,000 customer support pros in businesses of all sizes around the world, including Peugeot, NASA, Fedex, and GE.

Kayako

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus (MSP) is a comprehensive help desk tool that has built-in asset and project management. MSP can be deployed in the cloud or on premises. The solution enables its users to track configuration changes, map relationships, and view graphical displays of data for more informed decision making.

The two main focus points of MSP are IT request tracking and asset management. MSP’s integrated centralized management console enables technicians and system administrators to efficiently resolve complex issues and keep track of their organization’s needs and ensure constant availability.

With MSP's automation of multiple service desk processes, you can easily save time by automating repetitive and simple tasks such as task assignment, notifications, and categorizations. The automation of multiple processes helps reduce errors and lower costs while ensuring a fast turnaround of ticket handling processes.

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Features and Benefits

MSP has a wide variety of features to help you optimize your help desk management:

Dynamically update workflows: Create visual change workflows on a drag-and-drop canvas and customize these workflows on demand according to your organization’s needs.

Implement your workflow’s actions: Define actions such as notifications, switches, and automatic updates and approvals throughout the lifecycle of your workflow.

Flexible role administration: Provide custom viewing, editing, and approval access levels to various stakeholders and users.

Perform seamless integrations: Integrate with popular third-party products and access them from your IT help desk console.

Rapid troubleshooting: Improve your customer service by communicating with users by launching remote sessions directly from their tickets to quickly resolve their issues.
Control end-user workstations: Trigger software installation and removal on remote workstations from within the management console.

Automatic anomaly notification: Resolve issues before they affect your enterprise. Automatically receive notification when a performance anomaly is detected in your servers or applications.

Auto-assign tickets: The technician auto-assign tool, which can be set up using a load balancing algorithm, eliminates the need to assign tickets to technicians manually. This helps ensure that tickets are distributed to technicians fairly and on time.

Automatic notifications and reports: Set up a notification system to guarantee that the necessary notifications reach stakeholders on time, and that customers are kept updated regarding the status of their tickets. In addition, schedule reports to be sent to users periodically.

Implement your custom code: Program flexible automation enhancements with your own custom scripts and run them directly from the main dashboard.

Customize templates: Create custom and user-friendly templates using the solution’s simple drag-and-drop canvas.

Reviews from Real Users

MSP stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its comprehensive workflow management toolset and the flexibility it offers its users.

Mykola S., head of global IT delivery at Acino Pharma AG, writes, “CMDB as a baseline, incident management, service request management, and license management are valuable features. It offers really interesting features for complete use in an enterprise. You have one platform, and you could set up different service functions for HR, engineering, or another team in the same platform.

ManageEngine

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

Toshiba Canada, Disney, Avast, Namecheap, Texas Tech University

Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates

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

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