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Freshservice vs ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Freshservice is 4.2%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 17.6%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Web Help Desk is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow17.6%
Freshservice4.2%
SolarWinds Web Help Desk1.5%
Other76.7%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Trilochana Gouda - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth incident management and easy to use while needing better escalation management
We are using Freshservice for the IT ticketing system for business users We use the ticketing system primarily, which is very easy to use for all users. Freshservice is helpful, especially in incident management. Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it…
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.
Shadi Shaar - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable solution. My company hasn't faced any problems with the solution."
"The workflow and the change management process are valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Freshservice is you can assign downloaded tickets and the reports are useful."
"What I have seen in Freshservice is there's no room for customization. Which works as an advantage in some cases and it works as a disadvantage in others. If you are someone that starts managing your IT services, it is a great solution, because there's no way to go out away from the direction of the system. You have to follow the process as it was intended for the designers of a solution because there's no room for customization or configuration."
"The most valuable features of Freshservice are the notifications, customization, and flexibility."
"We use the ticketing system primarily, which is very easy to use for all users."
"The overall functionality of the product is excellent."
"The portal is straightforward for the end-user, but that's not the best part of Freshservice. Integration is the part that's interesting because it's easy to set up a process. It's extremely simple to integrate. In one week, you can add change management. It's incredible."
"Being able to have the required information for project management is valuable. I've got multiple people accessing it, and I'm tracking tasks with percentages done. It allows me to have detailed notes and provides the ability to attach documents. I have used a lot of project management solutions, and there were gaps in terms of what was available. ServiceNow has got all the features and functionalities. It is a solid solution. It is also easy to get into and use. It is certainly highly scalable."
"There are features included in the new release for intelligent software, like the chatbot. For HR services, the HR agent which is in that chatbot has been fantastic."
"Simplicity of Change Manager."
"The solution has a user-friendly interface."
"I recommend ServiceNow due to its stability and good security."
"It provides internal clients with greater transparency about their projects and deliverables."
"I have found the workflows and integration the most valuable in this solution."
"Makes ticket information easy to access."
"SolarWinds is scalable as far as adding devices and servers."
"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."
"It is easy to use."
"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."
"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

"We'd like better integration with other products."
"We'd like to see a CMDB, a Configuration Management Database, in the future."
"I experienced some delay in response time for non-function critical queries."
"Freshservice could improve the delegation and workflow management features."
"The ability to customize the user interface is a bit lacking, and the reporting is a bit lacking because they're very stringent upon what you can pull reporting-wise within Freshservice. They have a lot of built-in reports that are very nice, but when it comes to customizing these, they just provide you with certain data. When you try to build your own report wizard, you aren't able to go and select some of the data that is shown in some of the reports that come with Freshservice. This is something that we have brought up with our account representative, and we have suggested these as feature updates in the future. We're still waiting on them to go and implement something like that."
"I am not too happy with the page layout or screen layout since it always looks messy."
"There is room for improvement in reporting for project management."
"Asset management can definitely be improved because it doesn't pick up every single device on the network or every single piece of information. Some manual information still needs to be entered."
"Some enhancements to the self-service platform would be helpful. That part is still a little barebone... Also, the mobile app is not bad, but it's limited."
"Where it could be improved is Discovery. This may sound odd since I just praised the value of ServiceNow Discovery, but improvements to its automatic detection, the breadth of devices, and the depth of devices covered, as well as keeping up with new technologies, are all essential."
"ServiceNow doesn't cater to the Middle Eastern market."
"The solution could be made cheaper. Machine learning and artificial intelligence should be introduced in the next release."
"This solution needs to be improved for global use. Currently, it's very oriented to the processes and needs of the US customer base, like their compliance solution or GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), and not so much for customers from other parts of the world. Some users may like the things that ServiceNow is improving, but those are very oriented to users based in the United States and Europe."
"When it comes to reference fields, there are some limitations where you aren't able to use them, like in relationship queries. In Remedy, when you click a menu, you get options directly, whereas here, if you use a reference field, it points you to a different form. So the UI experience totally changes for the end user."
"There is a need to enhance ticket details visibility on the portal, such as displaying SLA information, which currently requires development effort."
"There should be greater integration with other enterprise applications. We're using Microsoft, Oracle, and other applications, and it would be good to have a greater integration on some of the immediate hiccups that you have with these services. It doesn't mean that when we have a problem with using another application, ServiceNow should be able to fix it, but ServiceNow should be able to alert us to things. There should be a bit more automation or integration."
"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."
"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)."
"This solution needs to have mobile application support added."
"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."
"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was a middle tier. It wasn't an expensive one. It was a tier model usage. Licensing costs varied between admin users and regular users."
"Compared to other tools, Freshservice is affordable."
"There are some additional costs but not that many. For example, we have unlimited assets, which is something for which we pay extra. We also paid for additional orchestration. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of pricing. They are right in the middle."
"The price of Freshservice could improve, it is expensive."
"One of the key benefits of Freshservice is license management. Asset management has the possibility to keep track of licenses and that's very useful. The price of the solution is very good."
"I don't think it's expensive for the US or some European markets. Still, when I used Freshservice in Mexico, some customers found it a bit pricey, especially considering the platform's features. I think the pricing is fair for use in the European market, but it might be perceived differently in Latin America."
"Its price is great. Its pricing is supposedly a lot less than ServiceNow and other alternatives."
"The solution has an annual licensing model."
"We are happy with the pricing."
"The price is okay for us. It's reasonable."
"The product cost is higher than that of other vendors."
"The price of the solution is comparable to industry standards. For the features that we received, it is reasonable."
"It is very expensive because it is a big organization. You have to pay for additional things."
"ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."
"Isn't pricing always too much? We really do chafe at the ITIL licensing. ITOM is also pretty expensive."
"Getting the solution up and running is expensive."
"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
20%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Retailer
16%
Performing Arts
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise163
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Freshservice?
The solution has been very helpful engineering insights into the client's environment. We have been able to manage c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Freshservice?
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Freshservice?
There is a need for improvement in terms of automatic escalation to the next level if an issue is not resolved. It sh...
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 needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?
Some features in the product are supposed to run. However, if they don't, it may require some time to configure or fi...
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, whic...
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 multi...
 

Also Known As

Flint
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Western Carriers, Judson University, Golf Canada, Travix, Proxama, Paymentez, Ready Auto Transport
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    
Instacart
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: September 2025.
867,836 professionals have used our research since 2012.