What users are saying about
Cherwell Service Management
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Top Rated
97 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 7.9 out of 100
Based on 97 reviews and ratings
6 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 5 out of 100
Based on 6 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
- Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 1 feature set: Incident and problem management
Incident and problem management
8.7
Cherwell Service Management
87%
6.8
Vision Helpdesk
68%
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 7/9 features
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 7/9 features
Organize and prioritize service tickets
9.8
98%
46 Ratings
8.0
80%
3 Ratings
Expert directory
8.2
82%
36 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Service restoration
8.1
81%
29 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Self-service tools
9.0
90%
45 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications
8.3
83%
33 Ratings
8.0
80%
3 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation
8.4
84%
42 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
ITSM reports and dashboards
9.3
93%
45 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission
N/A
0 Ratings
6.0
60%
3 Ratings
Ticket response
N/A
0 Ratings
5.0
50%
3 Ratings
ITSM asset management
9.0
Cherwell Service Management
90%
Vision Helpdesk
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 3/3 features
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 3/3 features
Configuration mangement
9.2
92%
36 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Asset management dashboard
9.2
92%
35 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Policy and contract enforcement
8.7
87%
26 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Change management
9.5
Cherwell Service Management
95%
Vision Helpdesk
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 3/3 features
Cherwell Service Management ranks higher in 3/3 features
Change requests repository
9.2
92%
42 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Change calendar
9.6
96%
38 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Service-level management
9.6
96%
39 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Self Help Community
Cherwell Service Management
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A
5.0
Vision Helpdesk
50%
Vision Helpdesk ranks higher in 2/2 features
Vision Helpdesk ranks higher in 2/2 features
External knowledge base
N/A
0 Ratings
5.0
50%
2 Ratings
Internal knowledge base
N/A
0 Ratings
5.0
50%
2 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Cherwell Service Management
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A
7.0
Vision Helpdesk
70%
Vision Helpdesk ranks higher in 4/4 features
Vision Helpdesk ranks higher in 4/4 features
Customer portal
N/A
0 Ratings
8.0
80%
3 Ratings
Social integration
N/A
0 Ratings
7.0
70%
3 Ratings
Email support
N/A
0 Ratings
6.0
60%
3 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration
N/A
0 Ratings
7.0
70%
1 Rating
Attribute Ratings
- Cherwell Service Management is rated higher in 2 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Support Rating
- Vision Helpdesk is rated higher in 3 areas: Likelihood to Renew, Usability, Implementation Rating
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
Cherwell Service Management
84%
51 Ratings
5.0
Vision Helpdesk
50%
4 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew
8.3
Cherwell Service Management
83%
10 Ratings
9.1
Vision Helpdesk
91%
1 Rating
Usability
7.2
Cherwell Service Management
72%
3 Ratings
8.2
Vision Helpdesk
82%
1 Rating
Availability
9.0
Cherwell Service Management
90%
4 Ratings
Vision Helpdesk
N/A
0 Ratings
Support Rating
8.8
Cherwell Service Management
88%
27 Ratings
6.0
Vision Helpdesk
60%
4 Ratings
Implementation Rating
7.7
Cherwell Service Management
77%
2 Ratings
9.1
Vision Helpdesk
91%
2 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Cherwell Service Management
Cherwell is a well-rounded product that can really be utilized as far as one's imagination can stretch. I've used the product in both a corporate and medical environment, where the tool was used for vastly different reasons (i.e., ITSM, business & retail functions, vs hospital orderlies & medical equipment tracking in a CMDB, etc.). Cherwell is so versatile that you can really use it to develop any workflow or process that is unique to your line of business - there are more than enough functions and tools available within Cherwell to effectively manage any enterprise solution your organization needs. The major drawback of flexibility is supportability. Given that you can essentially develop anything you want (content-wise) in Cherwell, it can quickly become highly complex and difficult to support by anyone other than the original developer. Documentation is key (F-spec & T-spec especially!) when developing larger solutions in Cherwell.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Retail Company, 5001-10,000 employeesVision Helpdesk
I think that there is probably nothing that Vision Helpdesk can't do given enough work to customize it. The problem is that you almost have to have someone dedicated to knowing everything there is to know about the system and then have them be the administrator of all the customizations and feature additions you want. It's great that it can do so much, but it's not great that it's so complicated and has very little out-of-the-box configurations.
Assistant Operations Manager
b-glowingRetail, 11-50 employees
Pros
Cherwell Service Management
- Cherwell's email handling automation works flawlessly. The only time that I have ever needed to reset the automation service that drives it is when my own server that houses the small connecting agent has some kind of problem and disconnects us from our hosted Cherwell instance. It just works. Emails to a certain address always result in a new ticket or update to an existing ticket.
- Cherwell is literally 100% customization in so many ways that it would be pointless to try to enumerate them. There is a very sizable list of already-created customizations (called "mApps") that you can download and apply to your instance. If you don't like them you can roll them back in seconds. But you can add and configure entire modules using one of these pre-defined, completely free, add-on packages. It's so easy to add features this way that I check the list of available mApps every month or so just to see what functionality I can add.
Senior Systems Administrator
DRT Holdings, Inc.Aviation & Aerospace, 501-1000 employees
Vision Helpdesk
- The best thing for us - the timer. It's really cool. We can start the timer and end it when support finishes. It's very important for working with other companies we give support for.
- Good-looking, with good visualisation and usability dashboard.
- Ticket transfer between support users, comments, ticket printing.
- The best price and functionality, comparing to other help desks.
- Support. Best support I have seen on internet. Helped with setup, and helped with few minor questions.

Verified User
Administrator in Customer Service
Computer Hardware Company, 1-10 employeesCons
Cherwell Service Management
- Cherwell lacks modern UI capabilities such as responsive forms and CSS styling for web portals.
- Built-in reporting engine is hard to use and resource intensive to run.
- No patching model for small platform fixes, must upgrade to receive platform code changes.
Associate Director, IT Service Management
University of MissouriHigher Education, 10,001+ employees
Vision Helpdesk
- Chat feature.
- Remote desktop.
- Get more integration with other software and Mobile apps.
CTO
Webhostuk LtdInternet, 11-50 employees
Pricing Details
Cherwell Service Management
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Cherwell Service Management Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
—Vision Helpdesk
General
Free Trial
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
$8 per month
Vision Helpdesk Editions & Modules
On-premise Edition
Starter Help Desk | $81 |
---|---|
Pro Help Desk | $161 |
Satellite Help Desk | $201 |
Ent Service Desk | $321 |
Pro Service Desk | $241 |
- per month per seat
SaaS Edition
Starter Help Desk | $121 |
---|---|
Satellite Help Desk | $241 |
Pro Service Desk | $321 |
Ent Service Desk | $481 |
Pro Help Desk | $201 |
- per month per seat
Additional Pricing Details
—Likelihood to Renew
Cherwell Service Management
Cherwell Service Management 8.3
Based on 10 answers
So far we've been really happy with Cherwell Service Management. We are aware that there are cheaper solutions out there and cost is always a factor. As we continue to dial it in and make improvements one thing we'd like to see is a better way to classify and categorize the work. For first time users it can be quite confusing to get your tickets assigned to the correct group with an organization as large as ours.

Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology
Financial Services Company, 1001-5000 employeesVision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk 9.1
Based on 1 answer
For us it's really best solution.

Verified User
Administrator in Customer Service
Computer Hardware Company, 1-10 employeesUsability
Cherwell Service Management
Cherwell Service Management 7.2
Based on 3 answers
It is a product that can be heavily customised. We have many dashboards to suit different user roles that you can drill down to extract the information you require. Within our organisation there are a lot of expert end-users who produce these dashboards and short-cuts. An in-house development team to review requests and roll them out into the live environment should also be considered. The development role does not need to be a full-time just needs somebody with suitable expertise.

Verified User
Analyst in Corporate
Government Administration Company, 10,001+ employeesVision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk 8.2
Based on 1 answer
Really simple, good-looking interface, many features and customizations

Verified User
Administrator in Customer Service
Computer Hardware Company, 1-10 employeesSupport Rating
Cherwell Service Management
Cherwell Service Management 8.8
Based on 27 answers
We generally have a good time with Cherwell support, however, there are the few niche cases where I have to explain how Cherwell works to the customer support agent on the other end. A little more product education for tier 1 support could go a long way in helping expedite support requests from SaaS customers.
MSC Operations Engineer
Software Information SystemsInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees
Vision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk 6.0
Based on 4 answers
Support from Vision Helpdesk was rather lackluster. We uncovered a bug pretty early on in our use of the system and it took them about a month to fix it. Our internal admin of the system had to keep pestering them to get it fixed. It wasn't critical to our business but was something we needed fixed and it just seemed like they didn't care that much about fixing it.
Assistant Operations Manager
b-glowingRetail, 11-50 employees
Implementation Rating
Cherwell Service Management
Cherwell Service Management 7.7
Based on 2 answers
We had access to the old system that Cherwell replaced. Some things were difficult to find in the beginning but it was a learning curve that got easier after a few days.

Verified User
Analyst in Corporate
Government Administration Company, 10,001+ employeesVision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk 9.1
Based on 2 answers
No answer on this topic is available.
Alternatives Considered
Cherwell Service Management
Much more customizable than other products, especially when ran in a self-hosted environment. Cherwell [Service Management] allows for greater flexibility of custom development and integrations to allow for automating tasks that traditional ITSM apps are not well suited for. Cherwell [Service Management] gives you the freedom to develop your own objects with minimal licensing costs.
IT Systems Analyst
Tallgrass EnergyOil & Energy, 501-1000 employees
Vision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk was more open for an NGO while the other companies were more attended on the "big-money", which we don't have as an NGO. Second point is that Vision Helpdesk is very easy and simple to use. Not too much installation, programming etc.
Project Manager
Celik ITNon-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees
Return on Investment
Cherwell Service Management
- As with any standard ticketing system, it helped decrease the time before first contact with clients.
- Our department was always concerned with keeping a low budget, and it was cheaper than most.
- My supervisor could easily tell how many resources were being put into each employee, so we had more visibility of our team's capabilities at a given time if we needed to take on something complex.
IT Consultant
Great Lakes Health ConnectComputer Hardware, 501-1000 employees
Vision Helpdesk
- Most cost-effective help desk software I have researched from Kayako to SAAS [products] like Zendesk.
- We got more features and easy customization done with Vision Helpdesk which where not possible for Zendesk and Kayako was too costly.
- Ticket tracking has been easier and faster with Vision Helpdesk; for our web hosting business we prefer a download version which is not possible with SAAS help desk providers ( Zendesk or Freshdesk).
CTO
Webhostuk LtdInternet, 11-50 employees