SCSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

Microsoft and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Microsoft is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.6, while SolarWinds is ranked #14 with an average rating of 9.0. Microsoft holds a 1.8% mindshare in HDS, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 64% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

SCSM

Read 27 SCSM reviews

1,026 Views
903 Comparison Views

64% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Read 8 SolarWinds Web Help Desk reviews

661 Views
555 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SCSM

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

SCSM and SolarWinds Web Help Desk compete in the IT service management sector. SCSM has the upper hand in integration capabilities and pricing satisfaction, while SolarWinds Web Help Desk excels in intuitive functionality and end-user satisfaction.

Features: SCSM offers strong integration with Microsoft ecosystems, powerful process automation, and significant customization abilities. SolarWinds Web Help Desk provides efficient asset management, effective ticketing, and ease of adoption without intense technical needs.

Room for Improvement: SCSM requires improvement in setup complexity, user interface simplicity, and cloud deployment options. SolarWinds Web Help Desk could enhance pricing flexibility, integration depth with non-native systems, and detailed reporting functionalities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Web Help Desk's cloud model allows faster setup with supportive documentation and helpful customer service. SCSM's on-premise model requires time and expertise for setup, but its support services cater to businesses needing extensive customization.

Pricing and ROI: SCSM's lower initial costs offer favorable ROI through seamless integration with Microsoft systems, reducing additional expenses. SolarWinds Web Help Desk has a higher initial cost but is justified by its feature-rich offering, providing long-term benefits in asset management and problem resolution.

To learn more, read our detailed SCSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SCSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2025

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Helped 870,623 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:

Categories and Ranking

SCSM

Ranking in Help Desk Software

11th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Service Management (ITSM) (10th)

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

14th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of SCSM is 1.8%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Web Help Desk is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SCSM	1.8%
SolarWinds Web Help Desk	1.5%
Other	96.7%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

LuisSanchez3

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.

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GANESAN K

Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited

Has supported daily operational workflows and improved approval management across departments

We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does impact reducing IT staff workload overall. From technical standpoints, comparing SolarWinds Web Help Desk with TeamViewer, we need ease of configuration and ease of allocating, creating new fields or creating new layouts for many specific use cases. An organization can have a number of use cases when it comes to a ticketing tool. It's not a security solution; it's more of a service solution where you will be configuring the needed categories and needed fields for each department. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SolarWinds Web Help Desk an 8.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reporting is very good."

"The solution's setup process is relatively straightforward due to the familiar deployment steps similar to other Microsoft solutions."

"The call logging is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very easy to use."

"SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune."

"It is quite scalable."

"I've used SCSM a lot, and its features are valuable."

"SCSM is easy to learn because all of the material, including training videos, can be found online."

"The solution is quite easy to integrate with other Microsoft products."

More SCSM pros

"SolarWinds supports case and incident reporting. This includes logging incidents and tracking them efficiently. Additionally, it is compatible and approved by the ITIL foundation and standards, meeting world-class standards."

"It is easy to use."

"The biggest advantage for SolarWinds Web Help Desk is the user interface; we were able to configure a different UI for administrators, employees, and HODs based on their hierarchy level."

"It has a pretty good search function. If you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field. If I do a search on the request field and just put in some terms I'm searching for, I can usually find the ticket that I'm looking for."

"SolarWinds is scalable as far as adding devices and servers."

"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the assets management module."

Cons

"There is no development with this product, and we had to go and buy additional ITSM solutions to sit on top of it. We had to buy products from companies like Cireson and Cased Dimensions in order to get the functionality that we need out of it. So, we're using Service Manager as an engine, rather than as a full-blown product. It is the engine, but we have other products sitting on top of it to make it work properly."

"Our office is looking for maybe getting out of SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft."

"It would be better if they had a portal for administrators. It would help me use it from anywhere and connect to any device from anywhere. I can administer the solution without a VPN."

"They need more integration with open-source products."

"Once we had an issue with a desktop download that would not open."

"I have found SCSM not adequate enough to carry out some functions."

"It's not too hard to compile stuff but it is hard to manage the solution. Even the design itself makes it difficult for management."

"My company had planned a few months ago to apply SCSM over the cloud in order to provide updates, like regular updates, but it had to be put through a few tools from Microsoft on the cloud, which was not easy."

More SCSM cons

"The working part, the deployment part, and the configuration part was a little bit complex."

"The interface feels clunky to me compared to some other systems that I've used. I used ManageEngine Service Desk prior to this at my previous job and that had stuff like categories that we use that I don't see in SolarWinds."

"This solution needs to have mobile application support added."

"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."

"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."

"We would like to see automation included in the next release. We would like to eliminate the L1, and L2 support, by at least 80%. To do this, we need automation with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in combination with ML (Machine Learning)."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price should be lower."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The price of the solution could be better. My organization has an enterprise annual license with Microsoft which provides us support."

"The platform is competitively priced."

"The license for SCSM is cheap."

"It is a lower price vs. other things on the market."

"Licensing can be complex and confusing."

More SCSM pricing and cost advice

"They charge by the technician. It costs $117 per technician per year."

"When you compare with ManageEngine and ServiceNow, SolarWinds is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

25%

Computer Software Company

University

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

16%

Performing Arts

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SCSM?

The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SCSM?

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

Areas of improvement can be enhanced regarding configuration. We had the deployment metrics and usability, ease of use, and ease of access. These were the three functionalities we were looking for ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

For Zoho, we did OP Manager, Audit Security, AD Security and Asset Management, Patch Management. These things we are dealing with Zoho. We are not dealing with solutions such as Zoho Mail or Zoho P...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

See all answers

Comparisons

ServiceNow vs SCSM

Compared 45% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SCSM

Compared 25% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SCSM

Compared 16% of the time

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs SCSM

Compared 8% of the time

Infraon Desk vs SCSM

Compared 7% of the time

More SCSM Competitors

ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 16% of the time

Freshservice vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 15% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 14% of the time

N-able MSP Manager vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 13% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 12% of the time

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SCSM

September 2025

Download SCSM product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2025

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk product report

Also Known As

System Center Service Manager

No data available

Overview

System Center Service Manager is a software product by Microsoft to allow organizations to manage incidents and problems. Microsoft states that the product is compliant with industry best practices such as the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). SCSM has integrated ITIL compliant fulfillment of service requests. Service requests are submitted by the end user in order to obtain information, access to a new application or the most common of all, password reset.

Microsoft

SolarWinds Web Help Desk simplifies service management with unified ticketing, asset, knowledge, and change management. Key features include:

Maintain asset inventory by managing the use, availability, and health of IT assets, and tracking this over time.
Control change management, It regulates and manages change requests through automated approval workflows and panel voting options.
Employs robust reporting and monitoring using a built-in reports and dashboards to track ticket status, technician performance, and customer support needs.
Automate ticketing management that Automate service request management through ticket creation, assignment, routing, and escalation.
Centralize your knowledge management, Leverage a built-in help desk knowledge base to create and maintain KB articles and promote end-user self-service for common issues.
Meet your SLAs, it has "SLA breach approaching" notifications and date-specific SLA reminder alerts that help customize escalation and de-escalation workflows.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Fibabanka, UMC Health System

Instacart

Buyer's Guide

SCSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2025

Free Report: SCSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Find out what your peers are saying about SCSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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