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Freshdesk vs ServiceNow vs TOPdesk 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 ServiceNow is 21.2%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TOPdesk is 2.3%, up from 1.6% 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.
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.
Martina Peneva - PeerSpot reviewer
Implement service management changes while addressing UI improvements
Topdesk's user interface makes it easy to handle requests and escalate them to other groups or reassign them when working on a single ticket. Additionally, the service management tool in HR allows for a change in delivering services, replacing email communication with ticket raising. The knowledge library enables the local HR to store and share relevant information and frequently asked cases, enhancing collaboration. The ticket system also facilitates escalating cases to other involved departments. IT, HR, and some other teams primarily use this system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have made use of the training academy and the technical support team from Freshdesk. Both have been very good resources."
"Omnichannel is one of the most valuable features of the solution."
"The UI is easy to use."
"It's free of charge for us. For our scale of business, it's very important. We don't have a lot of tickets."
"I used Freshdesk for communication with the clients, such as real-time chats."
"I like that it's very user-friendly. The way they designed this application, any layperson can just do some drag and drop actions and use it. It's not that difficult. It's also easy to implement. The most important thing is, you don't need to go to this application to create a ticket. You just send out an email, and the ticket is created automatically. I have never seen a feature like this before."
"It is very easy to make reports."
"Their knowledge base is phenomenal. The way that it learns from our users is awesome, and responses are really awesome as well. It does a pretty good job of picking up what's needed. The knowledge bases are great."
"There are many expansions available."
"It has an excellent capability to integrate different access points."
"The flow designer feature of ServiceNow has had the biggest impact on our productivity because it has helped me reduce manual efforts by creating automation and robotics."
"It's easy to integrate. For instance, yesterday we closed the integration with SAP for the IP business management module to manage the forecast of projects. We created an interface between ServiceNow and SAP to control projects for accounting and on the forecast of the project. It was really easy. We don't have any problems with ServiceNow at the moment. As a company, they are improving constantly."
"It facilitates the monitoring of major incidents and provides insights into the effort expended to resolve each incident."
"ServiceNow offers a range of ITSM, IT incident management, and PRCPs."
"Remote access is most valuable."
"The solution is stable, scalable and easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is the reports."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the incident management module."
"When it comes to implementing new features, they listen to what their customers want via a suggestion forum that they have."
"Change management is the most critical feature."
"TOPdesk is overall very stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ticketing feature."
"It is an easy-to-use solution."
"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is its ease of use if you have implemented it in the right way. If you're not implementing it in the right way, then it's very difficult."
 

Cons

"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."
"I would like to see improvements in the account management aspect, having a customer portal for better visibility into my subscription, invoices, and trouble tickets."
"An area for improvement in Freshdesk would be enabling all features regardless of company or user size."
"For integrations, we need to write code that communicates with their system in order to enable certain functionality in the system. This is a lot of work for their customers."
"I would like on-the-go translation,"
"The billing issues I have with Freshdesk are in terms of additional users getting subscribed without my intervention."
"I would like a better integration towards Azure DevOps. The current integration is more complicated and doesn’t work as well."
"I would like to see a little bit more color in the solution."
"The solution’s pricing is expensive and could be improved."
"A new user does need training or time to learn the solution before jumping in. It was very hard in the beginning to understand everything. I couldn't find the models I needed at the time."
"They can maybe improve the area of agile project management. They do have user storyboards and other things, but we kind of lean on Jira for that work. This is perhaps an area that could be looked at a little more."
"I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies."
"I would like to see more functionality in terms of custom workflows, not impacting the overall platform health."
"The solution could improve by making the CMDB integrate with a CI better to allow it to be seen across multiple platforms."
"The interface requires an upgrade."
"I would like to see a mobile version of ServiceNow."
"The solution's change management could be better."
"One of the disadvantages of TOPdesk is the reporting tool. It is very poor and not in real-time. You do not always receive the correct information."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly."
"If I open a ticket on the infrastructure team, I can't move it to the financial team for them to manage the ticket."
"Change management implementation, facility management, and making reservations on assets can be improved."
"This solution is modular so you only buy what you need, but I prefer what some companies are doing where they include everything in the package."
"It is time-consuming to add new users."
"From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement. It sometimes takes many steps to do something simple, like creating or moving a knowledge item."
 

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."
"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."
"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."
"It is costly."
"We use a licensing model only so we pay for the number of agents we have configured in the system only."
"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."
"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."
"The pricing is pretty manageable and acceptable."
"ServiceNow is a leader and its pricing is quite good, quite competitive... Sometimes some plugins are not priced reasonably but, generally, the platform itself, its modules, are priced reasonably."
"The solution is priced for medium to enterprises sized businesses. However, it is expensive compared to competitors."
"There are licensing fees."
"It has a higher cost compared to local/regional solutions."
"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."
"The price of the solution is comparable to industry standards. For the features that we received, it is reasonable."
"The setup cost is high compared to others, especially when the scope is not fixed."
"The CapEx version is great."
"Compared to other products in this segment, I think that they are priced well and not too expensive."
"TOPdesk's pricing is cheaper than Jira's."
"The solution is inexpensive compared to competitors."
"The cost of the solution on a yearly basis is $20,000. Technical support is not extra. It's included in the yearly cost. Updates are also included. The solution is good at keeping its product up to date."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive."
"There are three fee options to choose from for a company and these options compared to market prices are very high. For example, if I use one of the first options for 10 assets, then it costs 20,000 Euros. If you went to competitors, then you pay less."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
18%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 ...
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.
What do you like most about TOPdesk?
The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is the reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TOPdesk?
The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive.
What needs improvement with TOPdesk?
From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement, as some tasks like creating or moving a knowledge item within t...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember
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    
City of Amsterdam, University of Edinbroughm, IKEA, KLM Catering Services, FloraHolland, BOVAG, PostNL, Total, Hilton, Oce, Canon, Agip, Compass Group, Serco, Danone, BMW, Eneco, And many more.
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: August 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.