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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs N-able MSP Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
661
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (2nd), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (4th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (3rd)
N-able MSP Manager
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (24th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (22nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
Mostafiz Miah - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Presales & Technical Lead at Elitbuzz Technologies Ltd
Automation has transformed daily request handling and now tracks every customer interaction
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus helps my team manage and resolve requests compared to previous methods as we previously managed things through paperwork and diaries. After deploying ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whenever any customer request comes, we provide the customer a product demo if they ask about the products. We then convert that request to a lead, which is converted to a demo, and then to the product POC, allowing us to follow up every stage of the requests. Everything can be tracked from ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whether at the closing stage or the initial stage. I use ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus daily in a unique way because previously everyone managed their own tracking system through their diary, but now everyone inputs data into this solution so that at the end of the day, we can get reports on how many leads we have taken care of and when they need to be taken care of. This information is visible from the ServiceDesk tool, and using the dashboard, we can easily identify it, providing an at-a-glance view. The best features ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers for my team include automating manual tasks, which allows whatever tasks we previously did manually to be converted into automatic tasks. Currently, they have also introduced Zia, a very helpful solution for us. Using Zia, we can search for anything, not only inside the tool but also outside, integrating it with ChatGPT and Teams, and it can integrate with other ManageEngine solutions as well as solutions such as Jira and ServiceNow. When we integrate our network monitoring solutions with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, it automatically raises an incident ticket and assigns it to the right team whenever any incident has occurred, which saves us time and reduces manual tasks. Previously, we had to communicate to the right people through mail or phone calls after an incident, but now the incidents are automatically converted and assigned to the relevant support groups along with the SLA. The integration with Teams allows us to raise tickets without logging into the portal, and we can see the ticket status and add comments through Teams, which is very helpful. Additionally, mail integration can automatically convert emails into tickets, adding further efficiency. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has positively impacted our organization, particularly in customer satisfaction. Previously, customers managed service requests, incidents, changes, and problems manually, but after integration, most of these processes are automated. This includes change requests that now follow a workflow based on organizational needs and ITIL best practices, making tracking incidents and requests much easier for end customers through scheduled reports.
GK
CTO at InTTrust SA
Ticketing has helped prioritize support tasks while contract and project management have required better integration and pricing flexibility
I don't know if N-able MSP Manager could have some additional features in the future to make it more competitive because it might already be available and I'm not aware of it.I cannot say that N-able MSP Manager dashboard is intuitive, but I don't see any big difference with ManageEngine. From the deployment perspective with N-able MSP Manager, I cannot have higher expectations because it is a SaaS solution, so it was deployed as is from the technical perspective. From the business perspective, the deployment is complex, but I cannot tell you that it is less complex than ManageEngine. The main reason that made me change my mind and proceed with ManageEngine is the availability of add-ons in combination with their pricing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Automation Anywhere overall is a great tool for automation, as it provides a lot of flexibility to work with different other applications."
"There are multiple levels of cloning. In case screen cloning doesn't work, you can do object-based cloning or keystroke-level cloning, depending upon what parameters are available to you and what is the level of information that you capture. You can traverse between object cloning, which is the lowest form of cloning to a stroke-based cloning, which is like taking care of each keystroke-level which is made by the agent."
"The most valuable feature is its easy to use."
"Automation Anywhere performs efficiently."
"In Automation Anywhere we liked the drag-and-drop and easily stitching the recording of mouse control and keyboard controls."
"Automation Anywhere's image reader is the most valuable feature."
"We had an old ERP which required human interactions because of the lack of a system, and what we did is have the robotics read an invoice and plug it directly into our ERP, avoiding the extra steps, saving about an hour-and-a-half a day and 20 percent of an FTE."
"We are getting some phenomenal straight through processing, so we took what would have taken 30 to 35 people and are able to do that a little bit more accurately with about six."
"The platform's most beneficial features are incident management, change management, request management, and asset management."
"It is good, and it meets our needs."
"When somebody wants to follow up with a problem from the past, the solution makes it easy. It keeps everything in one system and updated."
"Give them the chance to implement a demo and put in a short practice and you will see how easy and effective the solution is."
"The management of this application is good."
"The solution is free for up to five users."
"CMDB as a baseline, incident management, service request management, and license management are valuable features."
"The solution has helped the company in terms of managing our support for the companies we start."
"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."
"The best advantage for us, since we use all N-able products, is that the MSP portal centralizes everything."
"We are an MSP, and for what we do, we have one centralized dashboard, and even though we're a small IT team, we can manage a ton of clients with a lot of automated processes, even for patch management."
"This is a premier product and it has been around for a long time."
"I like that you can do all the things with it. You can patch, and you can run the scheduled tasks. You can remote in, upload files, and download files. You can log onto a computer PowerShell, or command prompt, without having to log into RDP. I also like its ease of use."
"At a significantly lower price, I managed to get project management modules, contract management, and CMDB, which were not all available in N-able MSP Manager."
"I am impressed with the tool's integration with our mail system."
 

Cons

"One aspect I wish to mention regarding needed improvements is that Automation Anywhere currently works only on Windows systems."
"With Automation Anywhere, it took us a bit of time to stand it up initially. We tried to do it in a virtual environment, which caused us a bit of headache. It could have been smoother in this aspect."
"To improve the product, one aspect that Automation Anywhere can work on is archiving legacy data effectively. Currently, data older than current versions remains on the server, slowing the system down."
"I would like to see extensive OCR capabilities in the next release."
"It would be great if they could do more third-party Salesforce integrations into the RPA side, which would be helpful."
"The version that we are using has been difficult for us to code."
"There should be a meeting between the Automation Anywhere team and the end-users to understand whether the process can be made to work on the first attempt."
"There should be more available Data Analytics and more AI Front and Deep Learn concepts."
"Offers very limited customizations."
"We had issues wherein the software stopped working. We had to re-install the software and configure again. We were unable to import the old data into the new installation."
"I want friendly training courses without their ITSM ServiceDesk Plus."
"It needs more customization and the ability to generate reports based on custom feeds. At present, if you create a custom feed in any form, you cannot create a report based on those criteria."
"I would also like to see better integration with external software. It is possible, but it is tough. The APIs are not very flexible, so you really have to write a lot of code to create that integration. Opening it up for external integration would allow for easier customization of the existing autobox workflows. It would help with the user's perception."
"I had some problem with user and group permissions in 2014, and I’m not sure if that is resolved now or not."
"The only challenge we are having is integrating with Jira."
"The product's asset management tool needs improvement."
"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be."
"I'd like to see a way to import contacts in bulk using an Excel sheet or another import method."
"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be. There is too much work involved to get what you want. Most times, you have to call them to customize some stuff. I just don't like that part. They need to work on their reporting. They have a way to go."
"There are too many products out there. What I would like to see is a simplified solution that is packaged better, where you can easily implement or turn on the functionality that you need."
"Comparing the pricing of N-able MSP Manager to ManageEngine, it is a little bit too high."
"The tool needs to improve its customization of the user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not responsible for the pricing part, but I know the pricing is competitive compared to other tools."
"Automation Anywhere is expensive."
"Talk to your manager and try to procure an automation license for training. This will allow you to train people, so you can move to automation."
"Additional costs will be for the machines and the number of machines that you are using. You can deploy virtually as well as on physical machines. In both the situations, you do need to allocate a certain budget for securing the machines and where the software will be installed and running. The machines cannot be used for anything else, because only a certain bot can run at a certain time. You need to be very particular about your scheduling of running the bots, and while the bot is running nobody can use the machine. You cannot have an agent working on a machine and the bot running in the background. It has to be completely dedicated. Then there are the network bandwidth requirements and space requirements, which are additional costs apart from the licensing and software costs. The developer is also going to charge you for their coding time too."
"The licensing needs to be made simpler or shortened."
"The solution itself is free unless we want to add the support option but we have to pay for the bots we use."
"This solution costs approximately $3,500 USD per license."
"They have a ridiculously expensive bot licensing structure, especially for the Asian region."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has reasonable pricing because my colleagues mentioned that the solution is more cost-effective than the previous one the company used."
"For 90 service agents and our need for a cloud solution with incident management and service request management, it annually costs around 12,000. If you need additional development or deployment support from the vendor, there might be an additional cost."
"The only issue for us is the pricing, which is quite high in comparison with the competition."
"It is cheaper than the competitors."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus' price is very reasonable."
"It is not an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution is low. However, it still could be less expensive."
"Cost-wise, we're quite happy."
"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."
"I don't know the exact cost, but I know it's reasonable. Its cost of entry is not bad. I've had other organizations sign up for it. I don't know how much they paid, but it wasn't bad. You charge for every object. You charge for AV, and you charge for servers. There is a charge for everything or every object in that. I know we make money from it, but I don't know what it is."
"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten since it's not the cheapest one in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Construction Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business161
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise560
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise20
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
Regarding pricing, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers three editions: Standard edition, Professional, and Enterpris...
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The biggest friction point or frustration I have run into with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is the upgrade risk and ...
What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
My main use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is that we are receiving tickets from multiple users regarding iss...
What needs improvement with N-able MSP Manager?
I don't know if N-able MSP Manager could have some additional features in the future to make it more competitive beca...
What is your primary use case for N-able MSP Manager?
I am deploying it for my company.I inherited an implementation with N-able MSP Manager that was not quite good. I fac...
What advice do you have for others considering N-able MSP Manager?
I use N-able MSP Manager ticketing system.It has helped to prioritize tasks. At the level that I am aware of the prod...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
No data available
SolarWinds LOGICnow, SolarWinds MSP Manager
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates
Longleaf Systems, ITproMedia, Choice Technology, Halski Systems, Allixo Technologies, Nettech, Concept Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs. N-able MSP Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,394 professionals have used our research since 2012.