JIRA Service Management vs ServiceNow vs Zendesk comparison

Read 224 ServiceNow reviews

23,781 Views
7,848 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Read 68 Zendesk reviews

6,189 Views
2,723 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

JIRA Service Management

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between JIRA Service Management, ServiceNow, and Zendesk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software.

To learn more, read our detailed Help Desk Software Report (Updated: January 2026).

Help Desk Software

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Helped 881,821 peers since 2012

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

6.5

ServiceNow enhances efficiency and ROI through automation, with payback periods ranging from three months to five years.

Sentiment score

6.0

Zendesk provides significant ROI with cost savings, productivity boosts, and improved efficiency through better ticket management and supportive sales team.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.

General Manager at sPerception IT

The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

Manually, there are huge numbers that come up because these integrated tools help organizations make the right decisions with all the information in one place, while manual methods lack visibility.

Kalyan Kothali

Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech

I can tell you that we probably saved at least three employees full-time with the ticket management and the automation and the macros and the user follow-up being built in.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

Time saved is definitely a benefit because it puts all of our tickets in one spot.

reviewer2795478

Technical Solutions Lead at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

I feel that Zendesk helped us set up our platform for providing support way faster than other platforms due to its easy configuration.

Filipe Abreu

Junior system analyst at Wevt clous

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

7.0

ServiceNow's customer service is responsive but can lack in-depth support, with experience varying by issue complexity and account size.

Sentiment score

6.2

Zendesk support is praised for responsiveness and availability but criticized for slow responses and lack of personal interaction.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.

Somnath Kand

Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

General Manager at sPerception IT

Whenever we have had issues, they have provided good support, and those issues have never recurred.

Anil Rao

Vice President Delivery & Operations at Rezilyens

There appears to be a lack of connection between the bot and the agents, making it feel scripted rather than helpful.

Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Their support team from Zendesk is excellent, similar to what you have in Freshdesk.

Anita Orioma

Customer Success Manager at Mimshackworks Endeavors

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

7.4

ServiceNow offers excellent scalability, though custom setups may pose challenges; effective support ensures smooth integration and expansion.

Sentiment score

7.2

Zendesk is adaptable and scalable for diverse organizations, handling growth well but posing challenges in cost and customization.

It supports introducing new features or levels efficiently across our global locations, helping everyone stay informed.

reviewer2597127

R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

General Manager at sPerception IT

It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.

Somnath Kand

Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.

Sampath Kumar K

IT infra Admin at synu

We have not hit a peak or a turn yet that Zendesk has not been able to go with us or been able to grow with us in the process, change or pivot that the company is making.

Dimitri Cooper

Project Manager III at City of Union City Government

Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Zendesk's scalability is excellent.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 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

7.7

ServiceNow users enjoy excellent stability and high performance, with minimal downtime and minor issues tied to customizations.

Sentiment score

7.8

Zendesk is reliable and stable, with minor issues and rare outages, communicated promptly via Twitter, ideal for small businesses.

There should be more governance for permissions and more options for customized access without frequently involving the admin.

reviewer2597127

R&D Engineering - Program Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.

General Manager at sPerception IT

I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.

Nikhil Gohil

Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco

ServiceNow is stable enough.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

They are always informing us with a status update and an ETA, and the turnaround time is usually within the same day with no extended downtime that would cause a detriment to our company.

Dimitri Cooper

Project Manager III at City of Union City Government

Zendesk is quite stable; we experience major outages only once or twice a year, making it very reliable.

Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

The stability has been quite reliable.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Room For Improvement

JIRA Service Management struggles with integration, customization, interface usability, and lacks key features like advanced dashboards and asset management.

ServiceNow's customization flexibility leads to challenges with usability, cost, integration, and a need for improved interfaces and support.

Zendesk users seek enhancements like efficient ticket merging, advanced reporting, better integrations, improved usability, and AI features.

JIRA's user interface needs training to understand and utilize.

reviewer2597127

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.

Karim Yousef

GB, Development Practice - Technical Director at EJADA

We need to consider which AI tool would be most suitable for our project.

KrishnaGadepalli

Database Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.

MichaelTang1

Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

My priority points for improvement are the UI glitches and modern AI technology integrations for faster incident management.

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.

Somnath Kand

Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

Zendesk could actually support HTML on the tickets so we could format our text better than the current options such as size, bold, italic, or underscored, because the text processing is too simple.

Filipe Abreu

Junior system analyst at Wevt clous

Zendesk is missing an AI aspect that could help provide quick answers based on the knowledge housed within the platform.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

Zendesk is amazing, and because they are always working on a new upgrade or a new integration, they are very forward-thinking from an engineering perspective.

Dimitri Cooper

Project Manager III at City of Union City Government

Setup Cost

JIRA Service Management's pricing is competitive but can be costly with more users and add-ons, varying by market.

ServiceNow's premium pricing offers broad functionality for enterprises, with negotiable fees and high costs for setup and customization.

Zendesk's pricing is high but flexible, justified by its value in saving time and enhancing customer experience.

We used Jira's free version for some time.

Prakhar Goel

Sr Test Lead at Emerson

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

ServiceNow does come with a price.

Kalyan Kothali

Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech

ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.

Faraz_Abbasi

Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture

It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

CEO at Etcetera Networks

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zendesk was quite expensive.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

Valuable Features

JIRA Service Management offers customizable dashboards, integration capabilities, and flexibility, enhancing project management and collaboration for varied needs.

ServiceNow provides customizable, scalable IT management with automation and analytics, enhancing decision-making and adaptability across diverse business needs.

Zendesk enhances productivity with customizable ticket management, CRM integrations, automation, and multi-channel support for improved customer satisfaction.

JIRA itself is valuable for managing tickets, user stories, and pipeline.

Karim Yousef

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.

Prathamesh DMarathe

Senior Software Engineer at Annalect

It is beneficial if someone is on vacation since others can follow up on the tickets.

Alark Singh

Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz

For more quotes and insights, download the JIRA Service Management report

ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.

For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow report

ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.

Faraz_Abbasi

Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture

The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.

Sampath Kumar K

IT infra Admin at synu

It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Zendesk is way cheaper than other ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, providing a good platform at a lower price so we could offer good support with a low budget for the license.

Filipe Abreu

Junior system analyst at Wevt clous

Being able to put response counters on certain tickets and have certain ones that are high priority and have a tighter SLA than lower priority items, being able to categorize them as a question versus an urgent request, and being able to bucket them as feature requests or product enhancements.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of JIRA Service Management is 6.4%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 12.9%, down from 24.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 5.2%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ServiceNow	12.9%
JIRA Service Management	6.4%
Zendesk	5.2%
Other	75.5%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Sohaib Ahmad

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.

Read full review

MichaelTang1

Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Seamless data integration and advanced automation improve service delivery efficiency

I think that nothing needs to be improved with the product; you just need the user to commit and spend appropriate time to overcome that learning curve. Once that is done, the product itself is pretty wonderful. I've seen a very nicely built interface with ServiceNow, and I've also seen the ugliest version that feels outdated. ServiceNow does allow that team to exist. They should modernize their fonts and their layout, the UI friendliness. They did introduce AI, chatbots, and AI on the back end, so that's wonderful and extremely useful if you train it. If you don't train it, it's pretty useless. Assessing the impact of ServiceNow's automation on service delivery times is complicated. The engineers who operate on ServiceNow find it isn't straightforward because the data set is accessible by everybody. The problem is that understanding how to manage that data set requires an enormous amount of engineering skill set to run the product. I would not hand the key to the customer; I would highly recommend that ServiceNow take control of that. Instead of offering support for the software, they should offer administrative support for the software. They should provide professional service or some kind of support system that allows us to use their product at a faster pace. I'm sure they offer something, but it's often outrageously expensive, or they rely on another company to resell their product and offer professional service. It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.

Read full review

Macros and automation have streamlined workflows and reduced manual effort across support teams

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

The ability to communicate on the Zendesk ticket through the actual user software, so TOPs, would have been helpful. Somehow seeing a user's ticket history within our app would have been beneficial. That is the only thing that I do not think existed at the time that might have been helpful. Some people struggled with Zendesk, but it was always easy enough to show them how to use it and what they were missing. The only times we really had people report concerns about it was when they did not understand that it could do that or how to use it in that way.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	30
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	33

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	166

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What is your favorite Help Desk Software and why?

JIRA Due to its agility.

What do you like most about JIRA Service Management?

JIRA Service Management is a very user-friendly solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JIRA Service Management?

The price is actually reasonable.

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 do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

From what I recall, the experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zendesk was quite expensive and that i...

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

I wish there was a more easily dynamic tool. Currently, it is quite difficult because not all the tools are labeled. ...

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

JIRA Service Management

Download JIRA Service Management product report

Download ServiceNow product report

Download Zendesk product report

Also Known As

JIRA Service Desk, Atlassian Jira Service Management

No data available

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

JIRA Service Management is recognized for customization, ease of use, and integration capabilities, offering flexible workflows and dashboards that enhance ticket management in organizations.

This platform contributes to streamlining business operations with features like automation and real-time updates. Businesses implement JIRA Service Management to manage ITIL processes, support tickets, and issue tracking both internally and externally. It is utilized for project management and lifecycle tracking, with Kanban boards and Confluence integration supporting change, incident, and problem management.

What are the key features of JIRA Service Management?

Customizable Workflows: Adapt workflows to meet business needs.
Integration: Seamlessly connects with other tools, including Jira and Confluence.
Real-Time Updates: Keeps teams informed and synchronized.
Automation: Reduces manual tasks with automated processes.
Scalability: Grows with organizations, accommodating increasing demands.

What benefits and ROI can be expected from JIRA Service Management?

Efficiency Gains: Improves operational efficiency through streamlined processes.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies adoption with intuitive navigation.
Comprehensive Reporting: Provides valuable insights to drive decisions.
Quick Setup: Fast deployment enhances time-to-value.
SLA Management: Ensures service level agreements are met effectively.

Service management platforms like JIRA Service Management are integral to industries focusing on managing IT services, such as tech firms and support-focused sectors. Organizations frequently utilize its capabilities to enhance their customer service operations, supporting optimal SLA adherence and efficient query management across departments. By tailoring its application to unique operational workflows, companies achieve improved service delivery and responsive issue resolution.

Atlassian

ServiceNow is a cloud-based task-management platform that specializes in IT operations management (ITOM), IT services management (ITSM), and IT business management (ITBM). ServiceNow allows users to manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions using a variety of different plugins and apps with which it easily integrates.

ServiceNow offers prebuilt applications to support any process, as well as a framework and tools that allow you to build your own.

ServiceNow’s service management solutions include change, request, incident, problem, and cost management, as well as HR, IT, field service, and facilities management solutions. They also cover business management solutions such as vendor performance management, financial management, performance analytics and project portfolio suite, as well as governance, risk, and compliance.

“The Smarter Way to Workflow”

ServiceNow’s activities, processes, and tasks are overseen as part of a comprehensive managed workflow that supports such features as real-time collaboration, communication, and resource sharing. ServiceNow’s suite of products allow for operation using serverless computing, and include the categories of Business Apps, Customer Service, HR, IT, and Security.

ServiceNow can be used to support most workflows because of the wide range of tools it offers. These include on-suite ticketing tools, predictive modeling to manage workflows, and benchmarking for the tracking of progress. ServiceNow can assist with artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and can be used to organize the cases of a help/service desk as well as for instance management and problem management. It also smoothly integrates with many legacy systems.

ServiceNow offers service management software for industries including:

Cloud services
Education
Financial services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Telecommunications

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot users prefer ServiceNow to its competitors because of its scalability, stability, and ease of use. It helps everyone in the company to be on the same page by creating a single source of record across all departments. One user stated that “I’ve definitely used over 20 project management solutions, but they can't be compared with ServiceNow.” Another said that “ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI.”

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.