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SCSM vs Spiceworks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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
7.8
Spiceworks provides high ROI as a free tool, benefiting efficiency, issue resolution, and stability despite setup time investment.
 

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
7.4
Spiceworks offers excellent, free email-based support, with strong community assistance and some criticisms for lacking direct phone support.
When we get up to Microsoft, I would rate it an eight or nine.
Response times are slow, and engineers often lack the necessary product knowledge.
 

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
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.
 

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
6.6
Spiceworks is stable but may slow down or crash with large setups; proper configuration enhances performance and stability.
The SCSM is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

SCSM's Self-Service portal is criticized for lack of usability, integration, mobile support, and user-friendly 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.
It is difficult to do the work by ourselves; 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.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find SCSM pricing competitive but complex, influenced by licensing models, integration requirements, and additional support costs.
Spiceworks provides a customizable, free help desk solution with optional costs for premium features, suitable for small to medium businesses.
 

Valuable Features

SCSM is a scalable, user-friendly IT service management platform with integration, reporting, and security features ideal for ITIL processes.
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.
If it is correctly configured, you can access and give service quickly to all the end users.
Additionally, it is free software.
 

Categories and Ranking

SCSM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
11th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (10th)
Spiceworks
Ranking in Help Desk Software
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (12th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (46th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of SCSM is 1.6%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 1.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

LuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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.
report
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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
Government
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
University
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
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 SCSM?
The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?
We acquired SCSM for free with our Microsoft Endpoint Manager purchase, and we only paid for the integration process.
What needs improvement with SCSM?
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM. SCCM is a little complex for the admin point of view. Although some engineers at Microsoft are good, ...
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, there do not seem to be any issues.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

System Center Service Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fibabanka, UMC Health System
Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino
Find out what your peers are saying about SCSM vs. Spiceworks and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,481 professionals have used our research since 2012.