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Freshdesk vs ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Freshdesk is 3.2%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 21.2%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Bharanidharan K - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly interface but needs enhancement in ticket tracking and response times
There is no room for improvement in Freshdesk. We can set a time period for particular employees as something that could be better. For example, if some new employees are unfamiliar with Freshdesk, it should be more user-friendly. They need to give shortcut keys to use the ticketing portal. If some users don't know how to generate a ticket, providing them with a help desk or tutorial portal would be useful for the end-user.
reviewer2650164 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manual ticketing features hinder workflow, but cost-effective ticket management is ensured
We just use it because it's more trouble to rip it out than to replace it with a more expensive tool. I would not recommend this product to others. If budget is a concern, it might be suitable but it doesn’t excite. Hence, I would rate it a four out of ten.
Nikhil Gohil - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables effective incident management and seamless workflow automation with valuable mobile accessibility
I haven't thought deeply about improvements for ServiceNow or what might be missing right now. There are so many modules and features in ServiceNow that I haven't explored them all, so it's hard to say what might be missing or should be improved. I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Freshdesk provides a plain vanilla solution, making it user-friendly and less complex."
"There is the option to create different roles for specific users. We make use of groups for each customer service team which has been very effective. We are able to apply different sets of rules for each group which determines how they interact with customers and escalate issues."
"I used Freshdesk for communication with the clients, such as real-time chats."
"Some of the best features of Freshdesk include automation, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive support options that enhance our workflow."
"The ticketing system is smooth, but since we use a free version, we do not have many facilities available."
"Its simplicity is most valuable. It is easy and simple, and it requires negligible training effort. I don't spend all my time goofing around trying to find stuff in the ticketing system."
"The most valuable features of Freshdesk that I have found useful are the quick and automated customer handling that uses AI and self-service options along with collaboration tools, which I plug into Slack, allowing my developer team to know directly what errors come from the main core of our website."
"Freshdesk significantly improved our customer issue resolution process. We can now easily record and track all customer requests, ensuring that no tickets are lost."
"The product teams are continuously on the products trying to improve them. If, for example, I ask for a change to be done in the software, the chances are in the next release it's going to be done and incorporated. It's this personal touch that I like."
"We have found the reporting in this product to be very useful."
"The most valuable features are the ITIL compliance and billing."
"Their tech support has been talking to us about expanding features like integrations with Microsoft Teams."
"ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus works fine as a help desk software and is relatively inexpensive."
"The product is very scalable and stable when used as a help desk once it is built out."
"The solution has very good automation tools."
"​The workflow capability for easy setup is powerful."
"Identifies better ways to license software or eliminate unused software to save money."
"The most impactful feature in our day-to-day operations is the ticket status, which provides crucial visibility into the progress of each resource or incident."
"The thing that I like most about it is the easy integration with the CMDB. I'm able to look at the CMDB for applications and develop my assessments and attestations based on the application and point them at that application owner. So, I can really automate the whole thing."
"The workflow makes things extremely efficient and it improves effectiveness."
"Operations and maintenance costs have been reduced using this solution. We have been able to deliver faster solutions to our customers and track progress using live data."
"It offers enhanced and efficient communication between the requester and the four pillar EDR through an online chat platform."
 

Cons

"With the advancements in AI now, I will say Freshdesk should consider integrating more AI, but so far, I am satisfied with every single feature."
"Having so many tags makes everyday work a lot more complicated, and a lot more time-consuming."
"The billing issues I have with Freshdesk are in terms of additional users getting subscribed without my intervention."
"I would like to see a little bit more color in the solution."
"The solution's inbound calls could be improved."
"I would like on-the-go translation,"
"We have many cases where a ticket comes in, and it ends up having multiple team members working on it. It would be really nice to be able to assign a single ticket to multiple people, rather than having to create the parent-child hierarchy that they have set up. It generates a proliferation of tickets that I really don't want to have. Having to jump from a parent to one child and then to another child makes it harder for me to be able to see the entire case from end to end. A simple example is our new hire process or our termination process. We have people who leave. We also have people who come on board. We have got multiple people participating and doing things related to the leaving or onboarding process. Currently, I have to go to different tickets to be able to see whether all tasks are really done or not. If I could assign lots of people to one ticket, it would be really nice."
"Freshdesk's major drawback is its limitation in integrating tools for App Store and Play Store reviews, and social channels like Twitter, which come with additional costs."
"ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus could improve on workflow automation features."
"The tech support is terrible and that seems to be a part of their business plan."
"There is no cloud-based version and it would be helpful if it were available."
"They're pretty good but there's always room for improvement. There should be more templates that users can utilize immediately."
"I would like to see some kind of project management or portfolio management in a future version."
"The business model for the company is to sell low and charge for customization, education or expertise."
"The product is very difficult to use and configure and requires specialists."
"The customization that we are doing for the needs of our organization are difficult to do and could be improved."
"There should be fewer clicks and faster integrations between solutions."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved and given a better design."
"If you have advanced questions, technical support often doesn't know the answer."
"The ability to embed help information onto the screens."
"It's a little expensive compared to other tools."
"The visuals are the one area where there is opportunity for improvement."
"Data access is a bit difficult, where you sometimes wish you had a relational database for some queries. The flexibility of data access in general is a bit on the low end. Of course, there is flexibility in some ways, but when I need a certain combination of data for some report, it can become a challenge."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was definitely not expensive. It was two grand or maybe three grand total for a year. It has just straight and simple standard licensing fees. There is no additional fee."
"The price could be better, but it's okay. Compared to ServiceNow and JIRA, Freshworks offers a competitive price. There are also additional licensing costs because you need Microsoft Outlook. Each new email account costs around $15 to $19."
"The pricing is pretty manageable and acceptable."
"We pay approximately $70 per agent to use Freshdesk. We have 10 agents, which is approximately $700 or $800 per month. It is a fixed license, there are not any additional fees."
"Freshdesk was the best solution with the best price. It was cost efficient and included all the features that we needed."
"We use a combination of Freshdesk, Freshservice, and Freshchat. We use the whole suite. Weirdly enough, we pay more for Freshdesk than we do for Freshservice. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of pricing. You can get different bundles, and you can always move to different plans that are standard. Freshservice can go anywhere from $19 up to $120 per agent, per month. There is such a wide range, and it is very customizable to your needs."
"We use a licensing model only so we pay for the number of agents we have configured in the system only."
"The best system plan is enterprise. It costs basically 79 Euros per agent per month when it's billed annually and 95 Euros per agent per month when it's billed monthly."
"ManageEngine products will always be the lowest cost in category as that is part of their business model."
"The licensing fees depend on different criteria, including options and sizing."
"The license model is based on a number of fulfillers (active users who play some role within the ServiceNow functionality). Therefore, you can serve as many end-users as you want, without additional costs."
"The mandatory minimum is US$ 20,000 for licensing."
"The platform offers a free trial, by providing a free developer instance once you sign up."
"The licenses are expensive."
"We are happy with the pricing."
"While the option exists to pay for a monthly license, we are dealing with large enterprises and these typically involve multi-year licenses of ten or five years, at a minimum."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price could be a little lower for the solution. Many of my customers have issues with the licensing process, they have to make it easier and straightforward."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Freshdesk?
Freshdesk significantly improved our customer issue resolution process. We can now easily record and track all custom...
What needs improvement with Freshdesk?
More automation would be beneficial, as it could greatly improve our efficiency and reduce manual tasks.
What is your primary use case for Freshdesk?
My primary use cases with Freshdesk involve help desk software as well as additional functionalities tailored to our ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus?
ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus is cheap, around two or three on a scale where ten is the most expensive.
What needs improvement with ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus?
ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus could improve on workflow automation features. Currently, everything is very manual, ...
What is your primary use case for ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus?
We use ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus primarily as a ticketing tool within our company.
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 do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember
Brickman Group, SVP Worldwide, Chicago Tribune, Sodexo, Constellation, Lowcost Holidays, Telesur, PayEx, Quintiq, Moblize, Oman Air, Intelligent Hospital Systems
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, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: August 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.