ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ServiceNow and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. ServiceNow is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while SolarWinds is ranked #30. Additionally, 92% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Service Now and SolarWinds Web Help Desk compete in the IT service management domain. ServiceNow has the upper hand with its robust platform suitable for large enterprises requiring extensive functionalities.

Features: ServiceNow provides advanced automation, customizable workflows, and a wide variety of integrations, supporting complex IT environments. SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers efficient ticket, asset, and change management, focusing on straightforward help desk features.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow can be resource-intensive, with a steep learning curve for new users. Its costs can be prohibitive for small businesses. While customizable, setup might be overwhelming without technical expertise. SolarWinds would benefit from broader integration capabilities. Its reporting features could be enhanced for more insights. The user interface could be made more intuitive for better user adoption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow uses cloud-based deployment with high configurability, which can consume time and resources but includes dedicated support. SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers an easier, often on-premises setup, which is quick to implement, aligning with organizations favoring straightforward integration.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow involves higher initial costs but offers a scalable solution for large IT service management demands, potentially increasing long-term ROI for large firms. SolarWinds provides a budget-friendly pricing structure, ideal for smaller to medium-sized businesses, offering value for core help desk functionalities without heavy expenditure.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2026

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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

Automation Anywhere

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

Management Consultant at Accenture

Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions

Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.

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Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Structured workflows have improved SLA compliance and now support prioritized incident handling

I think the licensing and pricing of ServiceNow is quite expensive compared to other tools. For large organizations, it is acceptable, but specifically for small and medium organizations to track incidents or change requests, ServiceNow is quite expensive. Sometimes performance can be slow when workflows and integrations are configured for complex tasks. For advanced customizations or advanced features which we rarely use, the documentation is not up to standard. The documentation needs to be improved for advanced customization features. However, the platform is stable overall and the features are quite good. The user experience and performance concerns I mentioned are areas I want to be improved. When many workflows and interactions are configured, performance is slow. For the features it is providing, it is quite expensive. If these performance features are improved, we can easily pay that price and get the return on investment.

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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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Speed is the most valuable feature. E.g., for a human, it could take around 60 minutes to create a report with a few errors. Occasionally, a person will miss something. With this bot, we can get the work done in around five minutes. So, it takes only five minutes for a report to scan and be created with fewer errors."

"On the server-side, multiple developers working on a single project can save their individual works and have them stored in a single repository."

"Automation Anywhere is very good for rapid development. It has all the capabilities in terms of giving a stable automation framework. It has very cool technical capabilities, like MetaBots, dev controls, and object cloning."

"So far, the organization has 20+ bots, which has generated more than $50K of ROI."

"Being able to implement automation is valuable. We take the business logic and provide a solution to the client. Defining the intelligence pipeline is the most interesting and challenging aspect for me."

"It is easy to use. It helps to reduce your man-hours and manual effort."

"Automation Anywhere is a great tool."

"They've now included the code so we can add some additional code, and that's good."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of development for customization."

"I think ServiceNow is highly stable. These kinds of tools are used in a big company, and I haven't seen any issues in terms of the core platform."

"The Workflow feature is the most valuable."

"The workflow makes things extremely efficient and it improves effectiveness."

"Compared to other ITSM platforms, ServiceNow is by far the most agile, robust, and scalable platform."

"The development aspects within it are valuable, including incident, change, and problem, and it has given us one pane of glass to look at a lot of stuff, which has opened a lot of eyes to our IT department."

"The most valuable feature by far of ServiceNow is the rapid development, how quickly you can actually go out and change things, adapt things, ready to fulfill the business needs."

"It is a very promising product. They have a new release every six months. They're investing quite a lot, and you can do many creative things with the product. If you know how it works, you can have stricter rules in the product."

More ServiceNow pros

"A person who is not in IT, but has some good ITSM knowledge will be able to configure it directly on SolarWinds, and Manage Engine."

"SolarWinds is a very good application that provides you with a detailed monitoring capability of your network and assets."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"It is easy to use."

"The solution scales well; currently is working for 60 help desk technicians (IT and non-IT) for over 2,000 users."

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk pros

Cons

"The time taken to execute a Bot through A2019 can be reduced."

"The installation piece was sort of complicated because we are new to the business. We are new to installing Automation Anywhere services and the services that they are providing. So, we are sort of expected some kind of installation engineer to come onto our premises and provide the support, rather than remotely."

"The dashboard has room for improvement."

"We face some issues, but we can’t prove them again. They occurred sometimes, but don’t occur again. For example, I record a video when a bot is running, and it is working fine. Another time it is not working. We face issues with Excel file creation. I’m trying to create a file in Excel .xls. It is getting corrupted."

"Automation Anywhere can be improved with better documentation."

"I would like to use VB.NET native code inside of Automation Anywhere."

"I have found that Automation Anywhere is prone to bugs in handling Excel. It breaks and gives vague error messages. I have had a lot of experience with that and learned that it is better to write a Python script instead of using Automation Anywhere's package when dealing with Excel because it is buggy and tends to break, unfortunately."

"I would like to have a bot as a service platform on AA Cloud. This would minimize the installation process, and we wouldn't need to have all the hardware to support the platform in-house."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"An area for improvement would be the accessibility of downloaded and compressed files."

"The user interface for accessing assistance sometimes disconnects."

"Still there are a lot of restrictions, what developers like to see in an environment they're developing."

"When you want to get a little more value out of the product and pull data from multiple modules and do something that isn't built-in and is a user-configurable thing, it gets ugly."

"We find it good in general. Obviously, there are areas of improvement for every capability. As they evolve more, if they keep on adding more intelligence into the capabilities, it will improve. The improvement areas are more integration across the landscape and more intelligence for the overall capability of the solution."

"Their support is not experienced."

"It's a little expensive compared to other tools."

"We've been through about four different vendors over the three and a half years. Some of that code has been problematic for us."

More ServiceNow cons

"Dashboards need some amount of work to be done. Ease of customization is desired."

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

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

"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)."

"This is a good solution, but the GUI is really old-fashion and needs to be updated."

"The technical team is not competent, or available, and they do not know the product."

"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."

"The program seems buggy to me. Not infrequently, when I click to add a Note, the Notes section disappears instead of opening a box to add a Note."

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of monetary savings, we automated a bot in three days that has saved us $30,000 in costs."

"Automation Anywhere is expensive."

"The licensing needs to be made simpler or shortened."

"I really enjoy the pricing options with Automation Anywhere, as they are able to flex their ability to adapt to the needs of the customer really well."

"The pricing is fair. My company is part of a big organization, so the pricing is very advantageous."

"The cost can be reduced a little for users."

"There may be room for the product to be more competitively priced to excel in the market."

"They are already coming out with a community license, which is really good. That's something that I wish to have."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is reasonable and affordable, making it suitable for businesses ranging from small to large scale."

"The licenses are expensive."

"The price is okay for us. It's reasonable."

"It is very expensive because it is a big organization. You have to pay for additional things."

"The product cost is higher than that of other vendors."

"I know that it's not too bad because people continue to use it and they are happy to renew up their contract."

"I am from Brazil. For Latin American markets, ServiceNow is very expensive as compared to other vendors, such as VMware."

"Getting the solution up and running is expensive."

More ServiceNow 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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915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Government

Outsourcing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	161
Midsize Enterprise	85
Large Enterprise	561

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	57
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	179

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

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow?

ServiceNow operates on a subscription-based pricing model with custom pricing based on modules, users, and business r...

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 us...

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 ...

See all answers

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

We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does i...

See all answers

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

N-able MSP Manager vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

September 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow

September 2026

Download ServiceNow product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2026

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

No data available

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

ServiceNow

Demo not available

SolarWinds

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

ServiceNow offers customizability and cloud-based integration that sustains operational efficiency. Enabling change and incident management, it accelerates workflow automation and project management without downtime issues, serving deployment needs for IT service and productivity enhancements.

ServiceNow stands out with its adaptable workflows and cloud-native infrastructure, boosting IT service, project, and asset management. Known for its robust incident and change management, the platform addresses business needs through its user-centric design and extensive integration options. By facilitating seamless IT operations and automation, ServiceNow empowers businesses to enhance productivity and efficiency. Regular updates ensure users benefit from the latest features without service interruptions, although pricing and licensing complexities demand attention. Users seek improved reporting tools and a more intuitive design while expressing interest in refined mobile functionality and better documentation.

What are the key features of ServiceNow?

Customizability: Enables tailored workflows to align with business processes.
Cloud-Based Integration: Allows seamless updates and operational sustainability.
Incident and Change Management: Supports efficient handling of IT-related issues.
Automation Capabilities: Automates repetitive tasks, enhancing productivity.
User-Friendly Design: Simplifies navigation and improves user interaction.
Comprehensive Reporting: Provides detailed insights for better decision-making.

What benefits and ROI should users anticipate from ServiceNow?

Improved Efficiency: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts.
Enhanced Productivity: Automates tasks, enabling focus on strategic initiatives.
Seamless Operations: Integrates across departments for unified management.
Effective IT Management: Smooth incident, change, and problem resolution.
Cost and Time Savings: Reduces operational costs through efficient workflow management.

ServiceNow finds implementation across industries like IT, HR, asset management, and help desks, addressing ticketing and configuration needs. Businesses use its dashboard for tracking performance metrics, enhancing decision-making in departments like HR service delivery. Its adaptability also makes it suitable for industries requiring robust operational management and process automation, driving efficiency and growth.

ServiceNow

SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers a streamlined approach to technical ticketing and asset management, enhancing departmental operations with efficient asset-user linking and automated scheduling.

Offering an intuitive interface for multiple roles, SolarWinds Web Help Desk enhances ticket management through automated scheduling. Integrating ticketing with remote support provides smooth transitions, while LDAP integration streamlines user permissions. It supports diverse departments, including non-IT sectors, providing detailed case management, reporting, and approval workflows.

What are the standout features of SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

Intuitive User Levels: Customizable interfaces for different roles enhance user experience.
Efficient Ticket Management: Automated scheduling aids in managing tickets effectively.
Comprehensive Asset Management: Links assets to users, improving resource tracking.
Advanced Search: Facilitates easy ticket retrieval and management.
Scheduled Report Generation: Uses Power BI for regular, detailed reports.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Streamlined Operations: Automates routine tasks, saving time and resources.
Enhanced Reporting: Detailed reports support data-driven decision-making.
Remote Support Integration: Smooth integration improves support team efficiency.
User and Asset Linkage: Increases asset usage visibility and accountability.

In industries like HR, cybersecurity, and maintenance, SolarWinds Web Help Desk is deployed on-premises, serving as a robust case management tool that supports both IT and non-IT departments' specific needs. It helps maintain departmental efficiency by managing technical tickets and supporting patch management workflows.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

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

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Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

September 2026

Free Report: ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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