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Freshdesk vs JIRA Service Management vs ServiceNow 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
Freshdesk boosts ROI with automation, reducing costs and enhancing productivity, service quality, and operational scalability effectively.
Sentiment score
5.9
JIRA Service Management improves efficiency and cost-effectiveness by centralizing processes, enhancing productivity, and optimizing resource management.
Sentiment score
6.5
ServiceNow offers long-term ROI through automation, integration, and cost savings, though implementation timelines vary among users.
People who initially find ServiceNow to be on the higher side, but when you do the value gain comparison in the next few years, you see that it does give you the returns, with the AI capabilities and everything it brings.
Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited
Automation of assigning tickets helps in reducing overall operational costs for the company, which frees up agents to do other complex and much-needed tasks.
Project Manager at Yohanna
I have seen a return on investment with Freshdesk, as there were definitely savings because we do not need to spend the lifetime of our customer success managers; we can just use this tool.
Head Of Product & Engineering (Cpto) at a real estate/law firm with 11-50 employees
Thanks to ServiceNow's end-to-end automation, we save five to ten days of cycle time for each invoice.
Application Development Associate & Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
General Manager at sPerception IT
ServiceNow offers a great return on investment because it saves us a lot of time and increases the efficiency of team members to complete their tickets and work on the PRBs to solve the root cause.
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Freshdesk offers responsive basic support with good documentation, but complex issues can be slow, averaging 8/10 ratings.
Sentiment score
6.0
Atlassian's support is generally effective and appreciated, but users note delays and seek improvements in communication and timeliness.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow offers responsive support and technical knowledge, though complex issues may face delays; satisfaction varies by interaction quality.
We have not needed to contact technical support, as Freshdesk has met our needs efficiently.
VP - Technology and Solutions at Ninth Dimension IT Solutions (P) Ltd
From my experience, once it is set up, we have never had problems.
Customer Success Manager at Mimshackworks Endeavors
The first-time response should be within 30 seconds.
NOC SOC ANALYST at SAVIC Inc.
I have reached out to customer support whenever I face an issue in JIRA, especially when creating any automation.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Users can raise tickets for platform issues, workflow errors, integrations, or production incidents through ServiceNow's support portal.
Cloud Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
General Manager at sPerception IT
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Freshdesk is scalable for small to mid-sized businesses but faces limitations with customizations for large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.4
JIRA Service Management is scalable, adaptable, supports large organizations, integrates easily with third parties, but faces database performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow effectively scales for various business sizes, handling large user volumes efficiently, but costs and configurations may impact performance.
Additional features like email, WhatsApp, and SMS ticketing, along with Slack integration, can be enabled as required.
VP - Technology and Solutions at Ninth Dimension IT Solutions (P) Ltd
For small to medium-sized businesses, you can look at Freshdesk, but for larger enterprise levels, you look at ServiceNow.
Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited
They can easily send an email to support, and a ticket gets generated for the IT person.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
It supports introducing new features or levels efficiently across our global locations, helping everyone stay informed.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
JIRA Service Management scales effectively as the number of users, projects, and work items increases.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management's scalability is excellent; I just need to submit an email to indicate how many licenses I want.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow's scalability is very good as it can be deployed in each environment.
Workload Automation at nab
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Freshdesk is praised for high stability, with occasional minor issues, quick resolutions, and generally excellent performance ratings.
Sentiment score
7.8
JIRA Service Management is a reliable tool with consistent updates, minimal issues, and improved performance, despite occasional minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow offers reliable stability and scalability, with minimal disruptions or bugs quickly resolved by effective support.
The goal is always to respond to customer tickets in a timely fashion, ensuring that customers feel seen and heard while also providing solutions.
Customer Success Manager at Mimshackworks Endeavors
After installation and continuous operation, I have encountered no problems.
Head Advisor Infrastructure Cloud Architect at Adrienutech
Freshdesk has been quite stable in the market.
Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited
There should be more governance for permissions and more options for customized access without frequently involving the admin.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
In terms of stability, JIRA Service Management is reliable day-to-day as long as the data is fed in correctly.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management is stable for my needs; I have not encountered any issues with reliability.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
It is a reliable cloud platform with good uptime and workflow performance, supporting business-critical processes effectively when configured properly.
Cloud Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco
 

Room For Improvement

Freshdesk users seek improved customization, analytics, performance, integration, pricing, UI responsiveness, and easier configuration for complex cases.
JIRA Service Management needs better integration, automation, and enhancements in usability, features, and resources for improved user experience.
ServiceNow improvements include cost reduction, intuitive interface, expanded AI, mobile functionality, better integrations, training, and enhanced customization.
Currently, some features like SMS or WhatsApp integration are only available to larger user groups, but even smaller teams should have access based on their specific needs.
VP - Technology and Solutions at Ninth Dimension IT Solutions (P) Ltd
The current integration is more complicated and doesn’t work as well.
Development Manager at Horizon Software
More automation would be beneficial, as it could greatly improve our efficiency and reduce manual tasks.
Call Centre Manager at a retailer with 51-200 employees
JIRA's user interface needs training to understand and utilize.
R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
It remains one of the main barriers to using JIRA Service Management across our entire company.
GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA
We need to consider which AI tool would be most suitable for our project.
Database Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.
Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
My priority points for improvement are the UI glitches and modern AI technology integrations for faster incident management.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Freshdesk's per-agent licensing is cost-effective, with enterprise plans at 79 Euros monthly, offering comprehensive features and negotiation options.
JIRA Service Management offers competitive pricing but can be costly, especially with additional plugin expenses and user-tier licensing.
ServiceNow offers high-value, comprehensive enterprise features, but costs may escalate with extensive use, posing challenges for smaller businesses.
Our organization pays about 200,000 Indian rupees per year for the license.
VP - Technology and Solutions at Ninth Dimension IT Solutions (P) Ltd
The pricing experience is relatively competitive, so it is cost-effective.
Project Manager at Yohanna
The setup cost and licensing are very good.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
We used Jira's free version for some time.
Sr Test Lead at Emerson
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I also received support from JIRA support, making it a positive experience.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
ServiceNow does come with a price.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
ServiceNow PPM product to a competitive product like Jira, which is an Atlassian product, they were offering better functionalities at one-tenth of the price.
Senior Business Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Freshdesk streamlines customer support with efficient ticketing, automation, omnichannel support, and analytics, enhancing satisfaction and operational efficiency.
JIRA Service Management's key features include user-friendly interface, seamless integrations, customizable workflows, and efficient project management tools.
ServiceNow offers customizable integration, automation, incident management, and seamless workflows, enhancing productivity, communication, and asset management.
These features drastically impact my day-to-day work and my team's efficiency by reducing the resolution time significantly, as issues that once took days to resolve are now handled in hours and even minutes.
Works at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Freshdesk has positively impacted my organization as it has saved a considerable amount of time and has enabled us to focus better on customers, which resulted in lesser churn.
Project Manager at Yohanna
Now, with Freshdesk, tickets can be easily assigned to any engineer, who will provide the cause, explain why it happened, and give us the answer on how they resolved the issue.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
JIRA itself is valuable for managing tickets, user stories, and pipeline.
GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA
For every task we are working on, the project manager can see the status once we update the stories mentioned.
Senior Software Engineer at Annalect
It is beneficial if someone is on vacation since others can follow up on the tickets.
IT Specialist at Allianz
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Freshdesk is 3.2%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 6.0%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 11.2%, down from 22.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow11.2%
JIRA Service Management6.0%
Freshdesk3.2%
Other79.6%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Gauri Thakur - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited
Integrated support workflows have provided a unified view but need broader enterprise flexibility
Freshdesk's scalability could be improved for larger businesses across departments. Its intuitive interface is appealing for small to medium-sized businesses. However, when you look at larger enterprise levels, ServiceNow operates more efficiently. This scalability is an area where Freshdesk could expand its offerings. Additionally, I don't have too much hands-on experience with Freshdesk ticket routing. I need to check with the service desk team if they've used it. Similarly, for analytics capability, I haven't explored much on Freshdesk, but I have done it for ServiceNow. I have seen a lot on ServiceNow and the BMC Remedy, so I can speak better for them. I haven't had the chance to look at it so much that I can do a comparison. I haven't had much experience with Freshdesk's reporting. Within its paradigm of customer service management, Freshdesk is quite scalable. But I've said that inter-department and the interoperability is better off in ServiceNow than in Freshdesk.
Sohaib Ahmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Service Delivery at quixel
Comprehensive workflows and data views have supported complex teams but still need cost improvements
JIRA Service Management is costly. The pricing structure needs improvement. When I add some plugins, I have to pay the cost for every user whether they are using it or not. For smaller companies, the detailed workflow editing and the kind of details that JIRA Service Management provides would be complex. For startups and smaller companies, JIRA Service Management would be complex. The cloud offering is easier because I don't have to manage the infrastructure. There are two templates of the project: company-managed and team-managed. Team-managed is a newer feature, which is good for startup-kind companies where they don't need control over data from multiple projects displaying in one dashboard. For startups, JIRA Service Management is somewhat complex with its schemes and everything. Capacity management should be improved in terms of additional features in the next release of JIRA Service Management.
Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Structured workflows have improved SLA compliance and now support prioritized incident handling
I think the licensing and pricing of ServiceNow is quite expensive compared to other tools. For large organizations, it is acceptable, but specifically for small and medium organizations to track incidents or change requests, ServiceNow is quite expensive. Sometimes performance can be slow when workflows and integrations are configured for complex tasks. For advanced customizations or advanced features which we rarely use, the documentation is not up to standard. The documentation needs to be improved for advanced customization features. However, the platform is stable overall and the features are quite good. The user experience and performance concerns I mentioned are areas I want to be improved. When many workflows and interactions are configured, performance is slow. For the features it is providing, it is quite expensive. If these performance features are improved, we can easily pay that price and get the return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise179
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Freshdesk?
I think the main problem with Freshdesk is the deep settings, interface, and analytics. When you need complex cross-f...
What is your primary use case for Freshdesk?
My main use case for Freshdesk is customer support tickets. A specific example of how my team uses Freshdesk for cust...
What advice do you have for others considering Freshdesk?
My advice for others looking into using Freshdesk is to consider that compared to Zendesk or Salesforce, where the se...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JIRA Service Management?
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I als...
What needs improvement with JIRA Service Management?
I feel JIRA Service Management could be better if the APIs from the sponsoring team provided more support and flexibi...
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into t...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow?
ServiceNow's pricing is fine. We have accounting for each headcount for ServiceNow, and the pricing is actually good.
 

Also Known As

No data available
JIRA Service Desk, Atlassian Jira Service Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember
mgm technology partners, Telestream, Build.com, Zend Technologies, OfficeDrop, PGS Software, American Diabetes Association, NEPTUNE Canada
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, Zendesk and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: April 2026.
894,807 professionals have used our research since 2012.