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JIRA Service Management vs OpenText Service Management (SMAX) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 5, 2026

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
5.9
JIRA Service Management improves efficiency and cost-effectiveness by centralizing processes, enhancing productivity, and optimizing resource management.
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
6.0
Atlassian's support is generally effective and appreciated, but users note delays and seek improvements in communication and timeliness.
Sentiment score
4.7
OpenText SMAX receives mixed feedback with varying support experiences, generally rated between seven and eight for effectiveness.
I have reached out to customer support whenever I face an issue in JIRA, especially when creating any automation.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Support for OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is better.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
JIRA Service Management is scalable, adaptable, supports large organizations, integrates easily with third parties, but faces database performance issues.
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
JIRA Service Management scales effectively as the number of users, projects, and work items increases.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management's scalability is excellent; I just need to submit an email to indicate how many licenses I want.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
JIRA Service Management is a reliable tool with consistent updates, minimal issues, and improved performance, despite occasional minor bugs.
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
In terms of stability, JIRA Service Management is reliable day-to-day as long as the data is fed in correctly.
Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
JIRA Service Management is stable for my needs; I have not encountered any issues with reliability.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 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 needs better integration, automation, and enhancements in usability, features, and resources for improved user experience.
OpenText SMAX faces challenges in integration, customization, and user satisfaction, requiring improvements in AI, reporting, and connectivity.
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
It remains one of the main barriers to using JIRA Service Management across our entire company.
GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA
We need to consider which AI tool would be most suitable for our project.
Database Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
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.
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 offers competitive pricing but can be costly, especially with additional plugin expenses and user-tier licensing.
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
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I also received support from JIRA support, making it a positive experience.
TechOps Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is okay, not expensive and not the cheapest.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Valuable Features

JIRA Service Management's key features include user-friendly interface, seamless integrations, customizable workflows, and efficient project management tools.
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
It is beneficial if someone is on vacation since others can follow up on the tickets.
IT Specialist at Allianz
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
Reporting tools and sophisticated customization options are available with different capabilities.
Information Security & IT Governance Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Configuration is available for different scenarios including change request, incident management, and problem management.
Technical Lead at Bharti AXA Life Insurance
 

Categories and Ranking

JIRA Service Management
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
90
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 May 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 6.9%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is 2.0%, 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 Management6.9%
OpenText Service Management (SMAX)2.0%
Other91.1%
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
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JIRA Service Management?
While licensing is costly, setting up JIRA Service Management is overall good because the vendor helped me, and I also received support from JIRA support, making it a positive experience.
What needs improvement with JIRA Service Management?
I feel JIRA Service Management could be better if the APIs from the sponsoring team provided more support and flexibility in API endpoints. Regarding JIRA Service Management's API and support, the ...
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: April 2026.
893,915 professionals have used our research since 2012.