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Clarity SM vs SolarWinds Service Desk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 IT Service Management (ITSM)
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (18th)
SolarWinds Service Desk
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
16th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
3
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 SolarWinds Service Desk is 0.9%, 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 (%)
SolarWinds Service Desk0.9%
Clarity SM2.3%
Other96.8%
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…
Vaibhav Patkar - PeerSpot reviewer
CISO at Orient Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Improved service requests and network monitoring have increased efficiency but integration needs work
SolarWinds Service Desk is a recognized product across the world and a dependable product. Kaseya is somewhat dated, and SolarWinds Service Desk has better connectivity in terms of superior integration facilities compared to Kaseya. Additionally, SolarWinds Service Desk offers multiple options within the same tool, including ITSM as well as NOC and network monitoring capabilities. SolarWinds Service Desk has much greater acceptability in the market and a wide range of implementations and integrations with various tools and applications. Life becomes simpler when choosing a standard product, whereas Kaseya may not be as highly regarded in the market. SolarWinds Service Desk may have some flaws, but work is being done to address them. SolarWinds Service Desk is an affordable product. SolarWinds Service Desk is suitable for all customers ranging from small to enterprise. There are some small customers, and the primary usage is within the company itself, and then as customers require it, access can be provided to them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has allowed us to be more efficient in our problem and change management processes and procedures."
"All the interactions and orchestrations of every problem, we can analyze what happens in the organization and which kind of incident we have."
"For me, personally, the ease of interface is the most valuable feature."
"In combination with Automation for Cloud Services, it has increased the ability to dynamically allocate Virtual Machines for test and development."
"Customer service is excellent."
"The value for the clients is that you can save information in the application and get reports with that information."
"XFlow (Temperature) and Service Point together provided an extremely user-friendly and collaborative experience to the point of making it easy for all users of the product, whether end-users or analysts."
"That has been very good with the decision that we made because we've been able to upgrade the software versions in one month which is amazing."
"The solution is very stable."
"SolarWinds Service Desk is a recognized product across the world and a dependable product."
"What I appreciate the most about the product is that, as per the name given, it brings better visibility to the client in terms of their infrastructure, application, and performance."
 

Cons

"Initial setup was complex, but normal."
"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."
"CA develops and acquires enough tools and adds them to its solutions, but does not necessarily fully integrate them before releasing them."
"The Knowledge Management module in Service Desk Manager is cumbersome and hard to use."
"Rebuilding the visual interface in the same style using modern web technologies can extend the usability of the system for up to 10 years."
"Technical support is sketchy at best. I have an open ticket right now that has been open for a few weeks."
"Needs custom dashboards, without them it takes too long to view some information (though xFlow is an improvement)."
"If you're looking comparably and relatively across Service Catalog that runs in the process management space, CA fell behind."
"The integration with other applications can use improvement because, for example, it was nearly impossible to integrate SolarWinds Service Desk with monday.com because we had to get an add-on from Zapier."
"The primary concern so far is the integration part because of the APIs; this is the main area of concern."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"
"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 solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."
"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."
"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."
"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."
"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
Information not available
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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
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Service Desk?
The primary concern so far is the integration part because of the APIs; this is the main area of concern. Currently, the installation of SolarWinds Service Desk is simple, but the integration may b...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Service Desk?
SolarWinds Service Desk is used for ITSM and network monitoring purposes. The major use cases being utilized are from Kaseya itself; the same use cases that were previously implemented are being re...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Service Desk?
I think the pricing of SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability is now comparative and suited to our business model, which is the reason we have moved to that. It has actually helped my customers' tec...
 

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

 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Clarity SM vs. SolarWinds Service Desk and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.