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SCSM 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
6.0
SCSM offers high ROI by saving time via remote operations, despite reporting issues and limited feature enhancements.
Sentiment score
6.5
ServiceNow users experience varied ROI, with benefits in efficiency, process improvements, and scalability, despite high initial costs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Spiceworks provides high ROI as a free tool, benefiting efficiency, issue resolution, and stability despite setup time investment.
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.
Service Now 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.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft's SCSM support is responsive and professional, but users cite inconsistent resolution times and reliance on partners.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow's customer service is praised for responsiveness but faces criticism for inconsistency, with mixed reviews on support speed.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks offers excellent, free email-based support, with strong community assistance and some criticisms for lacking direct phone support.
Response times are slow, and engineers often lack the necessary product knowledge.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
When we get up to Microsoft, I would rate it an eight or nine.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
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.
General Manager at sPerception IT
Whenever we have had issues, they have provided good support, and those issues have never recurred.
Vice President Delivery & Operations at Rezilyens
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
SCSM is scalable, adaptable, integrates well, but may have issues with slowness and complexity in larger implementations.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow scales efficiently for diverse organizations, accommodating extensive users and operational needs, with cloud deployment enhancing flexibility.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks is scalable for small to large setups, though larger organizations may face challenges; newer versions improve scalability.
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow's scalability is very good as it can be deployed in each environment.
Consultant at National Australian Bank
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
SCSM is highly reliable, with improved stability in recent versions and performance rated between eight and ten.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow is praised for its stability, reliability, and scalability, with performance issues mostly due to user-side factors.
Sentiment score
6.6
Spiceworks is stable but may slow down or crash with large setups; proper configuration enhances performance and stability.
The SCSM is stable.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
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.
Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco
ServiceNow is stable enough.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
 

Room For Improvement

SCSM's Self-Service portal is criticized for lack of usability, integration, mobile support, and user-friendly features.
ServiceNow needs to improve pricing, user interface, reporting, customization, support, mobile app, third-party integration, and automation features.
Spiceworks users desire enhanced monitoring, scalability, reporting, integration, and user-friendly features with faster performance and lower resource consumption.
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have to always try to hire some maintenance hours from external companies to fix small things that maybe would be faster if we could get it in-house, but because of the lack of information, we lose a lot of time solving some small problems.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
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.
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.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find SCSM pricing competitive but complex, influenced by licensing models, integration requirements, and additional support costs.
ServiceNow pricing is high and complex, but many justify it due to comprehensive features and negotiation flexibility.
Spiceworks provides a customizable, free help desk solution with optional costs for premium features, suitable for small to medium businesses.
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
ServiceNow does come with a price.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
 

Valuable Features

SCSM is a scalable, user-friendly IT service management platform with integration, reporting, and security features ideal for ITIL processes.
ServiceNow offers adaptable, customizable cloud-based ITSM solutions with seamless integration, intuitive interface, and robust analytics enhancing productivity.
Spiceworks offers SMBs a free help desk, inventory management, user-friendly interface, and strong community support for IT needs.
SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune.
UX Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
If it is correctly configured, you can access and give service quickly to all the end users.
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Service Now 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.
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.
IT infra Admin at synu
Additionally, it is free software.
Account Manager Enterprise Sales at Navdeep Technologies Pvt.Ltd
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of SCSM is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 12.6%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 1.3%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow12.6%
SCSM2.0%
Spiceworks1.3%
Other84.1%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

LuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees
Current setup enables smooth problem-solving but lacks comprehensive guidance and local support
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring us to hire external companies for maintenance hours to fix small issues that could be resolved faster in-house if we had better information. We have been looking for an upgrade version, but finding local service has been difficult. It has been challenging trying to get things done. Speaking with the Microsoft office, we found there are no local companies with substantial experience with SCSM. What we have now was installed five or six years ago. It has been difficult to change configurations and look for upgrades, even with all the manuals. Our office is considering moving away from SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft. For me, it has been a good tool to get help and solve internal problems in the office. It is a very good tool, but the difficulty in getting local service or more information is pushing us to look for another tool.
MT
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.
Rohit Samel - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager Enterprise Sales at Navdeep Technologies Pvt.Ltd
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
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
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
Construction Company
14%
Government
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Construction Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise168
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?
I am not sure about the pricing as I do not have experience with it.
What needs improvement with SCSM?
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more informat...
What is your primary use case for SCSM?
In my job, I work for the city where we have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft. We have Office, Word, PowerPoint...
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 needs improvement with Spiceworks?
I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, ...
What is your primary use case for Spiceworks?
If our customers need backup support, we can work with them and provide it. Whatever solution the customer requires, ...
What advice do you have for others considering Spiceworks?
It performs its intended functions. We may use it, but perhaps not for ourselves, but for our customers, potentially ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

System Center Service Manager
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fibabanka, UMC Health System
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: March 2026.
885,444 professionals have used our research since 2012.