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JIRA Service Management vs OpenText Service Management (SMAX) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 29, 2025

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
JIRA Service Management streamlines workflows, cuts costs, enhances productivity, and benefits virtual teams with its cloud-based platform.
Sentiment score
3.7
OpenText SMAX aids IT operations with automation; ROI measurement varies, with users valuing customizability and operational impact.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Atlassian's customer service is efficient but faces challenges with time zones and technical support accessibility, relying on local partners.
Sentiment score
4.7
OpenText SMAX receives mixed feedback with varying support experiences, generally rated between seven and eight for effectiveness.
Support for OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is better.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
JIRA Service Management is scalable, flexible, and integrates well, supporting various organizations with excellent scalability ratings and licensing options.
Sentiment score
6.9
OpenText SMAX is highly adaptable for medium to large businesses but may be costly for small enterprises.
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
JIRA Service Management is highly stable and reliable, frequently updated, with most users rating its stability between 8-9/10.
Sentiment score
6.9
OpenText SMAX is stable but some users face Kubernetes-related downtime and ongoing stability concerns despite resolved issues.
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
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has some stability challenges that are crashable and not stable at times.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Room For Improvement

JIRA Service Management struggles with integration, customization, interface usability, and lacks key features like advanced dashboards and asset management.
OpenText SMAX faces challenges in integration, customization, and user satisfaction, requiring improvements in AI, reporting, and connectivity.
We need to consider which AI tool would be most suitable for our project.
Database Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ 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
The cloud offering is easier because I don't have to manage the infrastructure.
Vice President Service Delivery at quixel
The module shouldn't just report on the components of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) but also track how the tool is used by end users.
Head Of Delivery at Timestamp ITM
The custom reports that were already prepared work fine.
Information Security & IT Governance Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Different scenarios require different workflow configurations.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Setup Cost

JIRA Service Management's pricing is competitive but can be costly with more users and add-ons, varying by market.
OpenText SMAX provides diverse licensing options, with costs influenced by configuration, operators, and features, offering flexible pricing.
We used Jira's free version for some time.
Sr Test Lead at Emerson
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is okay, not expensive and not the cheapest.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Valuable Features

JIRA Service Management offers customizable dashboards, integration capabilities, and flexibility, enhancing project management and collaboration for varied needs.
OpenText SMAX provides adaptable, user-friendly service management with AI, low-code configuration, and multilingual support for various business operations.
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
JIRA Service Management has a very detailed level of options and flexibility.
Vice President Service Delivery at quixel
Our feedback is that because OpenText Service Management (SMAX) portal is very easy to use, we see customers abandoning their legacy ways of reporting like phone calls and emails, concentrating everything on a portal, which provides end users with more visibility of what's happening because they can control the status of their requests, allowing IT a faster way to intervene and solve issues.
Head Of Delivery at Timestamp ITM
Configuration is available for different scenarios including change request, incident management, and problem management.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
Reporting tools and sophisticated customization options are available with different capabilities.
Information Security & IT Governance Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

JIRA Service Management
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (2nd)
OpenText Service Management...
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 7.3%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is 2.1%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
JIRA Service Management7.3%
OpenText Service Management (SMAX)2.1%
Other90.6%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
HugoAlmeida - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Delivery at Timestamp ITM
Centralized service processes have improved cross‑department visibility but reporting still needs work
The machine learning capabilities in OpenText Service Management (SMAX) are somewhat not published the way they should be. They work pretty well, but they are not used as much in the current experience of our customers. They have them; the solution has them, but they usually go a little bit below the radar in terms of visibility. I believe there is room for improvement when it comes to machine learning capabilities. OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has room to improve mainly on reporting components. The reporting components include dashboards, and while OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has a reporting module, it's somewhat limited, so I believe it has room to improve there, with more inclusion of artificial intelligence in the models and more in project management and portfolio management capabilities. We want to see better use and more functionalities enabled with the already existing capabilities such as AI and reporting in the next OpenText Service Management (SMAX) release, but one important thing we think should be included is a module for metrics, similar to Google Analytics, that focuses on the metrics of the tool usage. The module shouldn't just report on the components of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) but also track how the tool is used by end users, for example, what functionalities users utilize more frequently, the performance of those functionalities, and how long it takes them to open a ticket or log in, focusing on applicational monitoring metrics and performance management metrics.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with JIRA Service Management?
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, t...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We mostly deal with OpenText Service Management (SMAX), Service Management, and UCMDB, the UD Discovery, Unified Discovery.
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We are still working with OpenText and Splunk. I remember that Splunk is now with what Cisco AppDynamics bought. We are implementers; we work with other partners for Splunk, and for OpenText, we ar...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is okay, not expensive and not the cheapest. It is overall good.
 

Also Known As

JIRA Service Desk, Atlassian Jira Service Management
OpenText Service Manager, Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

mgm technology partners, Telestream, Build.com, Zend Technologies, OfficeDrop, PGS Software, American Diabetes Association, NEPTUNE Canada
Zurich Airport, Envirosuite, Norsk Helsenett, Achmea, University of Milan, World Vision, Petroleum Development Oman, Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).
Find out what your peers are saying about JIRA Service Management vs. OpenText Service Management (SMAX) and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.