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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Service Desk 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (3rd)
SolarWinds Service Desk
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
15th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
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 ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is 5.1%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Service Desk is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus5.1%
SolarWinds Service Desk0.5%
Other94.4%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Prashanth Magadi - PeerSpot reviewer
Has reduced complications and supports smooth workflows through customizable features
From a user perspective, I am very satisfied with the current functionality. I don't see any improvements that are required. They might be working on integrating AI functionality. Additionally, they have multiple different tools for each service. They might consider creating a bundled ERP solution for all these tools where purchasing one license would enable access to all functionalities. I'm not certain if such an option exists currently.
Rajendra Karad - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides superior visibility and efficiency with excellent analytics capabilities
What I appreciate the most about the product is that, as per the name given, it brings better visibility to the client in terms of their infrastructure, application, and performance. SolarWinds Service Desk is a quite matured product now, making it one of the best options on the market. The incident management feature is aligned to the ITIL framework. The asset management feature is also a very thoughtful framework they have implemented. Right from onboarding an asset till scrapping it, the complete lifecycle is cleanly maintained within the system itself. All the approval chains, their logs, and even the contract information have been made very easy for the users to maintain. The knowledge base feature is an out-of-the-box knowledge base, and additionally, we can integrate our own DMS. Machine learning is something that they have been following, and we can integrate an external DMS with that, which helps in searching SOPs and even the global knowledge base over the internet, allowing it to be searched within the same single window itself. Change management in SolarWinds Service Desk is linked with the service catalog, and since it also has a service portal, a self-service portal for users, introducing a service catalog that's integrated with the change management actually completes the flow and makes life easier for IT administrators.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ManageEngine is flexible and user friendly. Creating a ticket is quite easy. So is configuring SLA's and generating reports. It is straightforward to use."
"The solution is user-friendly and has all the features we need; it is very effective in its operation."
"The management of this application is good."
"The solution is interactive and flexible so engineers find it much easier to work with than other tools."
"The ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus SaaS model helped us because it was easy on our pockets but also easy to use, configure, and manage."
"Referring to its on-premises deployment, it is easy to use and easy to deploy. Cloud deployment is done on its own. It is very easy to navigate, and the GUI is quite friendly. In terms of product functionality, we really like the ESL version. We can host multiple instances of services on a single server, such as one help desk and multiple instances."
"The solution is free for up to five users."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is meeting all my needs, it is a good solution. The integration and security are good. The solution is under-friendly."
"The solution is very stable."
 

Cons

"The interface is not the best. The user interface could be more intuitive."
"Currently, I cannot configure more than one point of contact. I have the MSP version, and we have around 80 or 90 customers. I don't see the features where I can configure multiple contact points for a customer so that they're notified when we are having an outreach or when we want to send them a planned maintenance notification. Other things that are lacking are mapping SLAs with vendors and mapping back on the tickets."
"The current MDM is very basic and should be expanded."
"ManageEngine needs to improve its handling of large volumes, as it cannot manage transaction volumes as effectively as ServiceNow."
"I expected more features than it has. The flexibility is missing. I also was expecting a different level of configuration and segregation."
"The self-service feature for end users and the knowledge base need to be improved."
"Lacks some flexibility in the configuration of workflows."
"The solution’s reporting could be improved."
"The integration with other applications can use improvement because, for example, it was nearly impossible to integrate SolarWinds Service Desk with monday.com because we had to get an add-on from Zapier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheaper than its competitors."
"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."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has reasonable pricing because my colleagues mentioned that the solution is more cost-effective than the previous one the company used."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a reasonably priced product."
"It is above average. But it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The licensing is around $10,000 per year."
"I am using the free edition of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus. There are different versions available, such as professional."
"Pricing can always be improved and made more affordable."
Information not available
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Answers from the Community

Khalid Qureshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 9, 2021
Dec 9, 2021
HI @Khalid Qureshi​, There are many products in the market for Asset Management with ITIL-complaint features to manage the complete Asset Life cycle. Like Symphony Summit AI. Manage Engine Service Desk Plus are the ones used by me at many organizations which have delivered the requirement the customers needed in terms of the asset lifecycle, license management, warranty management, etc.
See 2 answers
Shibu Babuchandran - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 9, 2021
HI @Khalid Qureshi​, There are many products in the market for Asset Management with ITIL-complaint features to manage the complete Asset Life cycle. Like Symphony Summit AI.  Manage Engine Service Desk Plus are the ones used by me at many organizations which have delivered the requirement the customers needed in terms of the asset lifecycle, license management, warranty management, etc.
EB
Dec 9, 2021
Hi @Mykola Shved, @Anand Khandelwal and @ManishRajora, can you please chime in with your professional advice?
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise19
No data available
 

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 management.
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 and is considered low-priced. Automox ( /products/automox-reviews ), a competitor,...
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The solution needs to integrate with the telecom system in more depth. Currently, the feature is limited to the SMS level for notifications. We require integration at the telecom level so that when...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Service Desk?
The industry standard practices that this product is already certified for show that there will always be room for improvement since it is a service-led product, so we'll keep on giving feedback wh...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Service Desk?
Instead of Traverse, we are now using SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability, as we have replaced Kaseya Traverse with that. I recommend it to my customers. We are now dealing with SolarWinds Servic...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Service Desk?
I think the pricing of SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability is now comparative and suited to our business model, which is the reason we have moved to that. It has actually helped my customers' tec...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs. SolarWinds Service Desk and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.