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JIRA Service Management vs OpenText Service Management (SMAX) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

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

JIRA Service Management
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (2nd)
OpenText Service Management...
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 8.7%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is 2.4%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
JIRA Service Management8.7%
OpenText Service Management (SMAX)2.4%
Other88.9%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Karim Yousef - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently track and document projects with seamless tool integration
We are a management warehouse that provides services to different customers in different sectors. Primarily, we serve the banking sector and the military sector. We manage all the software delivery projects through tools such as JIRA Service Management or TFS Confluence is a great tool for…
Evgeniy Kolotilov - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a range of tools for sales and configuration that can be used in banks and telecom companies
The deployment takes three months. In this process, customers need to allocate resources like networks, data storage, and images. They then need to decide which business functions they intend to use in production and perform some basic configurations. Custom documentation is prepared and provided for user renewals and administration. I would rate the experience of the initial setup a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have found the issue type feature particularly valuable, as it provides an out-of-the-box solution that aligns with our needs."
"Service Management is great if you're an Atlassian shop already using JIRA for the development team and you want another tool for help desk ticketing. When it's all under the same umbrella, I can easily take a ticket from the help desk and move it to the development team. You can't beat that integration between two products."
"The customization is the most valuable aspect of the solution. I can customize full workflows. It's very flexible. We can use mail if we want to open requests as well."
"It's easy to set up the solution."
"Reporting and easy export to Excel spreadsheets."
"I think one of the most valuable things is that it's all integrated."
"The customer portal allows users to register tickets themselves."
"Useful for tracking issues with development."
"OpenText Service Management Automation X provides valuable features such as topic analytics for incident and problem management. It also includes natural language processing for analyzing technical descriptions. Additionally, it features a virtual chatbot capable of processing natural language to interact effectively with end users. This service enhances customer support and is not subject to the limitations often found in offerings from other vendors."
"The product provides an interface for the end users to make requests."
"The most valuable features of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) are that it is user-friendly, easy to configure, and adaptable."
"The customization features are quite good, and we have a very good local vendor helping us in this regard."
"The tool is very easy to use."
"It offers a range of tools for sales and configuration. It's like a business process improvement platform, suitable for various lines of business operations."
"This is a cordless application that can be used throughout any organization."
 

Cons

"A lot of users have said that they want a feature that was on the on-prem version of Jira and the vendor can't deliver. They're either unwilling or unable to give feature parity."
"It would be useful to be ale to link tickets across different gantt charts in Jira and Confluence."
"Field addition and removal features are not very intuitive in JIRA Service Management."
"I think the performance can be better."
"It has change management and incident management, but CMDB is not there. It's also not as user-friendly as ServiceNow."
"Every time there's a problem with JIRA Service Management, you have to have a look at how to solve it, and there's always a feature request or the feature request on the solution is too large and the development cycles are too slow."
"At times you will need add-ons or additional software, so built-in features would be helpful."
"The product does not allow customization of reports."
"The product's connectivity with third-party products is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The solution lacks sufficient documentation."
"The initial setup of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is complicated, but once it is set up the configuration is straightforward to adapt to the users' or customers' needs."
"The contract management feature can be improved."
"The reporting functionality is not the best as it is not easy to use."
"The tool has negatively impacted our productivity."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale of one to five, with one being really high and five being good, I would rate the price of this solution as a four."
"It depends on the number of users but it starts at $20 per month per user. I would rate them a three out of five for pricing."
"But about the plugins, I found one plug-in — its name is Actionable Metric I think — and it is $3000. That is very expensive for users in Iran."
"I rate Service Management four out of 10 for affordability. The price could be better, especially for companies using more than one Atlassian product. It's suitable for SMBs that can afford it. I don't think there's another tool that's both better and cheaper. All help desk tools are relatively expensive."
"The price of JIRA Service Management could be reduced."
"Jira Service Management has affordable license fees. It's $12 a month per person."
"I am using the free version, but my clients are paying for it. When they start, they evaluate it for 30 days, and after seeing the value, they move to its paid version."
"We have an annual license with JIRA Service Management, but it is billed monthly."
"The cost of the license for SMAX varies depending on the configuration, including the number of seats for users and the customer's specific requirements. It's not a fixed cost and can vary."
"The solution is somewhat cheaper than the competitors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We are using the application as a customer. We are utilizing OpenText Service Management (SMAX) mainly for ITSM processes and some BPM activities. It is mainly used for tracking performance and cre...
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
I would rate OpenText Service Management (SMAX) an eight out of ten. Please hide my name and company name as I have not received approval from my corporate communications team to speak on behalf of...
 

Also Known As

JIRA Service Desk
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: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.