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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs ServiceNow vs Spiceworks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers cost-effectiveness, asset tracking benefits, reduced costs, but mixed outcomes in financial tracking among organizations.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow enhances efficiency, project management, and resource management, offering quick ROI through automation and optimized system integrations.
Sentiment score
7.8
Spiceworks provides high ROI as a free tool, benefiting efficiency, issue resolution, and stability despite setup time investment.
ManageEngine has been particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses in terms of value for money since they receive similar service at a lower cost compared to ServiceNow.
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus support is rated mixed, noting delays and improvement areas, but praised for responsiveness and thoroughness.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow's support is praised for knowledge and community resources but criticized for inconsistent response times and outsourced interactions.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks offers excellent, free email-based support, with strong community assistance and some criticisms for lacking direct phone support.
Their response time could be quicker.
The customer support for ManageEngine could be improved, especially for coverage during the Asia Pacific shift.
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
I have contacted them four to five times over the past two years, and they have been quite helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is scalable and efficient, though performance may vary with large-scale on-premises deployments and integrations.
Sentiment score
7.5
ServiceNow offers scalable, cloud-based solutions that support seamless growth and integration for enterprises, with strong user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks is scalable for small to large setups, though larger organizations may face challenges; newer versions improve scalability.
It is trickier to expand across endpoints with Help Desk.
Scaling ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is easy, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
The tool is suitable for medium to large-scale operations and can be used effectively by mid-size companies.
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is stable and reliable, with minimal issues, and receives high satisfaction ratings from users.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow offers stable, high-performance IT service management with minimal downtime; customization requires best practices to maintain optimal performance.
Sentiment score
6.6
Spiceworks is stable but may slow down or crash with large setups; proper configuration enhances performance and stability.
We have not experienced any significant issues.
We have not faced any stability issues or challenges with this tool.
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
ServiceNow is stable enough.
 

Room For Improvement

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus needs improved customization, automation, integration, support services, and enhanced performance and reporting analytics.
ServiceNow requires enhanced UI, documentation, integration, performance, training, and mobile features to boost user satisfaction and accessibility.
Spiceworks users desire enhanced monitoring, scalability, reporting, integration, and user-friendly features with faster performance and lower resource consumption.
It would be beneficial to have an option to assign approvals to a user group or a variable.
There could be improvements in licensing flexibility, like the ability to use a single license for multiple users simultaneously.
I recommend integrating it with CrowdStrike, so incidents can directly result in a ticket being created.
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Their customer support could make it a great solution, not just product support but also their relationship with partners and training initiatives in different regions.
From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have.
 

Setup Cost

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers cost-effective, flexible licensing, appealing to budget-conscious enterprises, compared to competitors like ServiceNow.
ServiceNow is costly for small companies but flexible for enterprises, with complex pricing needing negotiation for discounts.
Spiceworks provides a customizable, free help desk solution with optional costs for premium features, suitable for small to medium businesses.
The cost of ManageEngine is more affordable, making it viable for small to medium-sized businesses.
It is not as expensive as ServiceNow, which has a very high cost.
The costing for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is very flexible and is considered low-priced.
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
ServiceNow does come with a price.
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
 

Valuable Features

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus enhances IT productivity with user-friendly features, seamless integration, and extensive customization for efficient management.
ServiceNow's customization and integration capabilities enhance operational efficiency and align IT operations with business needs effectively.
Spiceworks offers SMBs a free help desk, inventory management, user-friendly interface, and strong community support for IT needs.
It provides a simpler and more intuitive interface for creating semi-automated use cases and managing problem solutions.
The automation capabilities are good, with the workflow being an integral part of it.
All necessary features for these activities are included, such as incident management, change management, and problem management.
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
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.
Additionally, it is free software.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is 7.1%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 22.5%, down from 26.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Anil  Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved problem-solving and has a user-friendly knowledge base
The primary benefit of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is its ease of use. It provides a simpler and more intuitive interface for creating semi-automated use cases and managing problem solutions. This simplicity makes it particularly suitable for less technical staff to use effectively. Additionally, its ability to interpret issues and offer solutions based on its knowledge base makes problem-solving faster. The deployment and use of all policies and user cases are seamless.
Nikhil Gohil - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables effective incident management and seamless workflow automation with valuable mobile accessibility
I haven't thought deeply about improvements for ServiceNow or what might be missing right now. There are so many modules and features in ServiceNow that I haven't explored them all, so it's hard to say what might be missing or should be improved. I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies.
Rohit Samel - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud storage with no hardware needed and great comprehensive reports
The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally. It is a fully software-based solution, eliminating the need for investment in hardware. We have the capability to create reports as needed. It is good software to use, as there were no incidents where I needed to contact technical support. Additionally, it is free software.
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
38%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
University
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The platform's most beneficial features are incident management, change management, request management, and asset man...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The costing for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus ( /products/manageengine-servicedesk-plus-reviews ) is very flexible an...
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The GUI can be improved. In terms of functionality, the change management part could be improved significantly due to...
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 Spiceworks?
The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.
What needs improvement with Spiceworks?
I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.