No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs NinjaOne 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
30th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NinjaOne
Ranking in Help Desk Software
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (21st), Server Monitoring (5th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (8th), Remote Access (10th), Vulnerability Management (27th), Mobile Device Management (MDM) (4th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (11th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (1st), Patch Management (6th), MSP Backup (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NinjaOne is 1.1%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NinjaOne1.1%
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk1.2%
Other97.7%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

KM
Computer System Engineer at Informatika d.d.
Has centralization and asset management features, and a helpful and knowledgeable technical support team
What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
Not Joseph Pearson - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Vice President, Tech Solutions at LPL Financials
Has simplified remote software delivery and script management but needs improved reporting flexibility and better Mac support
NinjaOne's best features include ease of use regarding enablement and deployment, a broad selection and ability of software enablement, and API deliveries. Using CrowdStrike, we are able to tie in NinjaOne's API to have these automatically deliver to endpoints upon addition of those devices to a group with that policy deployed to it. NinjaOne has positively impacted our organization by making delivery easier for our end users and improving the ability to create scripts, manage scripts, and check status of devices and their compliance. This easier delivery with NinjaOne gives us oversight on devices without having to be on the call or remoted in directly to a device.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like about the Control Desk is that everything is centralized. You have all the requests in one place, you know which ones are for whom and who is working on them."
"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."
"The solution is very easy to work with."
"What I like about the Control Desk is that everything is centralized, you have all the requests in one place, you know which ones are for whom and who is working on them, so you have one big package and nothing is lost."
"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."
"The workflow capability is useful; it's not a manual helpdesk operation, it's fully automated, even when an alarm has occurred, and it covers the complete cycle of initiation to resolving the events."
"Overall, it has helped us continuously improve our business processes."
"The brand name is the most valuable aspect of this solution for me. It's IBM. It's a global company that supports this product, it's not something open source or something like that."
"Since NinjaOne was implemented, I would say it represents a huge positive change."
"NinjaOne helps us view the status of software patching, whether the PC is locked or unlocked."
"Good at managing updates and for remote support."
"The tool's most valuable feature is third-party application updates."
"The software's automation tools have solved critical deployment problems for small businesses."
"NinjaOne has a feature where we can create custom scripts that we can run on devices remotely."
"NinjaOne allows even small teams of three users to support over 400 desktops and keep them up to date and working at peak performance."
"NinjaOne has positively impacted our organization by making delivery easier for our end users and improving the ability to create scripts, manage scripts, and check status of devices and their compliance."
 

Cons

"Support has been the biggest problem for us. I understand that because we use the product of a global company, some changes are not quick to deploy."
"Overall the user experience, as opposed to the system and databases, could be improved. They should invest more in the user interfaces to be less data oriented and more appealing for the user."
"It could use more facility or flexibility for reporting, and business intelligence in the tool."
"The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon."
"The time calculations can be improved. While working on reports, it was taking the time only in seconds, which was hard for me to work out. While creating some dialogs in the service portal, you have to use certain data types in some fields. It was very tricky to make them work. I was testing a certain type of input, and it didn't work. It didn't show me the domain that the fields have to show. I had to make the change to the database, and only then it worked. It was a tricky thing to make them work with the dialogs. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"The solution lacks a graphical user interface."
"The product is kind of clunky to use."
"Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"It can have more integrations with third-party providers, such as Deep Instinct. They do partner with certain antivirus or remote access tool partners, but they can increase their portfolio to have more choices."
"The graphical user interface could be improved."
"Customer support is active and proactive, but not reachable 24/7, which is an issue."
"The solution could improve by optimizing the internet connection being used."
"I wish that they integrated it with more antivirus solutions. Currently, they only push Defender, but it doesn't really have integration with SentinelOne."
"The remote connectivity could be better. It works most of the time, but sometimes, there are issues."
"The ticketing system in NinjaOne is not the best."
"One challenge I face with NinjaOne is that when remoting in, sometimes the end user has a resolution with very tiny text, making it necessary to zoom in to see what the other computer is displaying."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing we have for IBM Control Desk is on a yearly basis. They have a concurrent license and an administrative license. And with these, you get all the products. There aren't any additional fees for extra add-ons or anything like that."
"The license for IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is paid yearly and is on a per-user basis. You buy the product and pay for its license yearly. IBM is changing the licensing structure, but for now, it's a yearly license. There's no additional cost. It's just the license that you need to pay for to use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."
"It's basically for a big company because of the costs. A small company can't afford the licensing cost. For medium and large companies, it's the best product. The price of the license is on the higher side compared to others."
"The pricing is reasonable and cheaper than ConnectWise."
"We currently pay $1.20 per device on a monthly basis."
"I rate the solution’s pricing a five out of ten, where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"Its pricing is great."
"NinjaOne's price is fine since my workplace is an educational institution, so we get the product at a really good price considering that we do not pay taxes, making the prices very fair and worth the product."
"We got a pretty good deal. It was fairly affordable."
"It roughly costs $400 a month. It provides a good value because of the number of tools that you get in the solution. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing. There are no additional costs other than the standard licensing fees."
"The product's pricing depends on the number of PCs or devices."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NinjaOne?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think it is very reasonable for the product that we get.
What needs improvement with NinjaOne?
NinjaOne can be improved by making mobile usage on the system cheaper because it becomes an expensive commodity.
What is your primary use case for NinjaOne?
My main use case for NinjaOne is patching operating systems and applications. I use NinjaOne for patching security vulnerabilities and ensuring that everything is kept up to date on the network for...
 

Also Known As

SmartCloud Control Desk
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
Status Pros, Mitchell and Company
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. NinjaOne and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.