Clarity SM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

Broadcom and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Broadcom is ranked #26, while SolarWinds is ranked #18 with an average rating of 9.0. Broadcom holds a 1.0% mindshare in HDS, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Clarity SM

Read 107 Clarity SM reviews

467 Views
255 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Read 7 SolarWinds Web Help Desk reviews

588 Views
292 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Clarity SM

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Clarity SM and SolarWinds Web Help Desk compete in IT service management. Clarity SM has advantages in pricing and support, while SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers superior features.

Features: Clarity SM provides strong ticket management, automated workflows, and a user-friendly interface. SolarWinds Web Help Desk includes comprehensive asset management, detailed reporting capabilities, and advanced customization options.

Room for Improvement: Clarity SM could enhance its reporting features, expand integration capabilities, and improve the depth of customization. SolarWinds Web Help Desk may benefit from simplifying its on-premises installation, enhancing its user interface, and offering more economical scaling options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Clarity SM is known for its simple cloud-based deployment and responsive customer service. In contrast, SolarWinds Web Help Desk has a more complex on-premises installation but provides extensive documentation to support users.

Pricing and ROI: Clarity SM offers lower initial setup costs, resulting in a favorable ROI with its economical scalability. SolarWinds Web Help Desk requires a higher upfront investment but delivers value through a rich toolset for long-term benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Clarity SM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

April 2025

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Helped 852,780 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:

Categories and Ranking

Clarity SM

Ranking in Help Desk Software

26th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

IT Service Management (ITSM) (28th)

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

18th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Clarity SM is 1.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Web Help Desk is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Shadi Shaar

Healthcare Informatics Consultant at Dammam University

Supports case and incident reporting with responsive support

Some features in the product are supposed to run. However, if they don't, it may require some time to configure or fix them, such as asset management. We have been struggling with asset management in SolarWinds Web Help Desk. The software offers a range of features that we haven't fully utilized, such as inventory management and an approval system. While we are utilizing the asset management functionality, there have been some defects that need addressing. Some users prefer to have another big interface, but unfortunately, this option is not available in SolarWinds Web Help Desk.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"It has a good GUI interface."

"Time sheets are a powerful tool."

"Self-service interface means people can check their own tickets."

"It has all our configurations. All our infrastructure configurations are on a single pane of glass to view, allowing for one single point of information."

"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."

"We can search open and closed cases to find what we have done in other incidents."

"As of late, I really like the BI functions."

More Clarity SM pros

"It has a pretty good search function. If you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field. If I do a search on the request field and just put in some terms I'm searching for, I can usually find the ticket that I'm looking for."

"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."

"It is easy to use."

"SolarWinds is scalable as far as adding devices and servers."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the assets management module."

"SolarWinds supports case and incident reporting. This includes logging incidents and tracking them efficiently. Additionally, it is compatible and approved by the ITIL foundation and standards, meeting world-class standards."

Cons

"The SDM administration and customisation needS deep information about architecture and vendor support continuously."

"We need a mobile solution. We are not using any mobile functionality for the product, but we think that this necessary."

"The API is very, very bad so we developed our own."

"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."

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

"More user experience in the look and feel of the application. "

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

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

More Clarity SM cons

"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."

"We would like to see automation included in the next release. We would like to eliminate the L1, and L2 support, by at least 80%. To do this, we need automation with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in combination with ML (Machine Learning)."

"The interface feels clunky to me compared to some other systems that I've used. I used ManageEngine Service Desk prior to this at my previous job and that had stuff like categories that we use that I don't see in SolarWinds."

"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."

"This solution needs to have mobile application support added."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"The pricing is based on a subscription model."

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

"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."

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

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

"They charge by the technician. It costs $117 per technician per year."

"When you compare with ManageEngine and ServiceNow, SolarWinds is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

67%

Retailer

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

SolarWinds Web Help Desk is a case management system. Each user logs their concerns or problems into the portal, which are then assigned to one of our support engineers responsible for managing the...

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What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

SolarWinds Web Help Desk could be beneficial for generating automated responses, such as ONIQ. Since we receive multiple cases from similar backgrounds, it would streamline the process if the syste...

See all answers

Comparisons

ServiceNow vs Clarity SM

Compared 100% of the time

More Clarity SM Competitors

Zendesk vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 24% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 21% of the time

ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 21% of the time

N-able MSP Manager vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 19% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 14% of the time

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM

May 2025

Download Clarity SM product report

Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software

May 2025

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk 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

SolarWinds Web Help Desk simplifies service management with unified ticketing, asset, knowledge, and change management. Key features include:

Maintain asset inventory by managing the use, availability, and health of IT assets, and tracking this over time.
Control change management, It regulates and manages change requests through automated approval workflows and panel voting options.
Employs robust reporting and monitoring using a built-in reports and dashboards to track ticket status, technician performance, and customer support needs.
Automate ticketing management that Automate service request management through ticket creation, assignment, routing, and escalation.
Centralize your knowledge management, Leverage a built-in help desk knowledge base to create and maintain KB articles and promote end-user self-service for common issues.
Meet your SLAs, it has "SLA breach approaching" notifications and date-specific SLA reminder alerts that help customize escalation and de-escalation workflows.

SolarWinds

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

Instacart

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

April 2025

Free Report: Clarity SM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

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