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ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

    Score9.1 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    ADAudit Plus offers real-time monitoring, user and entity behaviour analytics, and change audit reports that helps users keep AD and IT infrastructure secure and compliant. Track all changes to Windows AD objects including users, groups, computers, GPOs, and OUs. Achieve hybrid AD monitoring with a single, correlated view of all the activities happening across both on-premises AD and Azure AD. Monitor every user's logon and logoff activity, including…

    $595

    per year based on 2 Domain Controllers

    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AServiceDesk Plus is free help desk software from ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation.

    $10

    Starting Price Per Month

    Pricing
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $595
    per year Both licensed based on number of Domain Controllers, Azure AD tenants, file servers, Windows member servers, and Workstations.
    Professional
    $945
    per year Both licensed based on number of Domain Controllers, Azure AD tenants, file servers, Windows member servers, and Workstations.
    Standard
    $10.00
    Starting Price Per Month
    Professional
    $21.00
    Starting Price Per Month
    Enterprise
    $50.00
    Starting Price Per Month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsADAudit Plus is licensed based on number of Domain Controllers (not per-user). Add-ons are available for Windows File Servers, NAS File Servers, Azure AD tenants, Windows Servers, Workstations, AD Backup and Recovery, and File Analysis. For more than 20 domain controllers, ManageEngine directs customers to contact sales for a personalized quote. Pricing is dependent on the number of domain controllers and starts at $595/year for the Standard edition, and $945/year for the Professional edition.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Considered Both Products
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answer on this topic
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    64 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    7 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    63 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    64 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    59 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    61 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Features
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Feature
    ManageEngine ADAudit Plus
    -
    Ratings
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    7.5
    22 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.022 Ratings
    Expert directory00 Ratings6.015 Ratings
    Service restoration00 Ratings7.217 Ratings
    Self-service tools00 Ratings7.020 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings7.716 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.818 Ratings
    ITSM reports and dashboards00 Ratings7.520 Ratings
    ITSM asset management
    Comparison of ITSM asset management features of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Feature
    ManageEngine ADAudit Plus
    -
    Ratings
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    6.1
    17 Ratings
    28% below category average
    Configuration mangement00 Ratings6.616 Ratings
    Asset management dashboard00 Ratings6.516 Ratings
    Policy and contract enforcement00 Ratings5.112 Ratings
    Change management
    Comparison of Change management features of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Feature
    ManageEngine ADAudit Plus
    -
    Ratings
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    6.8
    18 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Change requests repository00 Ratings7.717 Ratings
    Change calendar00 Ratings5.813 Ratings
    Service-level management00 Ratings7.016 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    SysAid
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Ivanti ITSM
    Score6.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (65 ratings)
    9.0
    (22 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    7.7
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.1
    (57 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ManageEngine ADAudit PlusManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Likelihood to Recommend
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    I would recommend ADAuditPlus (and/or Log360) to any org that is trying to achieve PCI DSS Compliance and is struggling with some of the monitoring and reporting aspects, provided that the org is prepared to spend a little time and effort in truly understanding the requirements and is prepared to document requirements and match them to the ADAuditPlus product features.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    We use the free version, it allows up to 10 technicians to be added to the system, but that has never been an issue, as we are a small team. The functionality and usability of MESDP are great and can work with larger teams too. It is well suited to be used as a main Ticketing system, and this is not limited to IT only, I am sure other teams that need to keep track and log issues will be able to utilize MESDP without any issues. There is a self-service portal as an option, however, we do not use it as of yet, as there has not been the need for it. If you would need to use the same instance within multiple departments, this may be a bit tricky to achieve, as there is no easy way to limit visibility to tickets from other departments, however, I am sure there is a way around it.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    • ManageEngine ADAudit Plus changes for user and group management can be looked up in builtin reports
    • You can build your own reports based on almost every logic you can think of
    • You have the ability to create alerts based on logic and filters and sendout custom alerts to email, SMS or other means.
    • First you need to understand the basics of the software, after that the software itself is very helpfull in configuring specific items.
    • I really love the support that ManageEngine is giving the customer, for all questions I use the chat on their website. This is for me the best remote support I ever saw, and I saw a lot in my 20 years of experience in IT.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    • It is very easy to create business rules that automatically route email tickets to the correct department and apply templates to correctly categorize the incident.
    • The technician auto-assign function allows email tickets to be fairly apportioned using a round robin technique. We do not cuurently use the load balancing technique which is also available.
    • It is very easy to bulk edit requests to correct miscatergorization by Analysts. (i.e. Incidents vs. Service Requests)
    • Coordinating communications and notifying ticket holders when a network or application event is resolved is very simple.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    • It's based on Java engine that is slow -- reports are often difficult to build (we are going to upgrade the machine it's running on to see if this is the issue)
    • Keeping this software up to date is a pain; there should be a better "update" function
    • The naming and navigation are terrible -- it's never clear which feature you're looking for and where it's hidden in the menus
    • Adding machines is not as easy as it should be; occasionally there are IP conflicts that are nearly impossible to resolve
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    • Reporting tools; the report features can be a little limited, it can be quite tricky to get the information you want displayed in detail
    • You can set required fields within the ticket template, which should mean the user has to complete them before they can submit the ticket, however this often doesn't enforce correctly
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    It works great for everything we need and use. Any issues in the software are pretty easy to resolve with tech support. And they are very responsive to resolving issues. Even ones where a fix/patch are required. At present, the software does everything we need it to for compliance, audit, and account review.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    Because this is the best tool, we have given ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus a rating of 9 out of 10 because it provides a good overall IT service management experience, especially for ticketing, asset management, automation, and reporting. It has helped us organize IT support processes and improve visibility. For ticketing.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    ADAudit with its cloud and on prem install option allows any organization to get in on AD report management. Whether you need to report internally only for for external audit controls its a great tool with flexibility to handle most any user or group report capability. Since this also includes m365 integration it enables IT pros to administer usage, license, cost control and permission access to most anything in Microsoft's portfolio. Its a great tool all around for AD integrated access needs.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    As any other feature-rich software package, starting out with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has a little bit of a learning curve, but it usually doesn't take very long until you can use the basic features. Training new technicians on the use of the software does not take very long, and for users to submit tickets it is as easy as sending an email.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    uptime good
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    Integration/overlap between products could be improved
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    I'd give their support a 10 if it weren't for the fact that sometimes, the support team (I believe they are overseas) can take a little bit to respond, but not too long. I may submit a ticket in the morning and won't hear about it until later in the afternoon. However, my tickets were not "urgent," so that may have been the reason for the delay. Other than that, support is great, and the ManageEngine account team has visited us in the past. It's always nice to see your product representatives take a white-glove approach like that.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    I have a few issues with MESDP and even though we use the free version, the support staff was very quick to respond and extremely competent and helpful. Luckily, I have only had to use them a couple of times over the 2.5 years I have been using their product, but they strike me as very competent, friendly and helpful, regardless of the version of their product you use.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    knowledgable and prompt response
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    The remote setup team helped when i needed it and setup weas very straight forward and easy. The advanced setup for an external db and customizations for our latest version AD environment went pretty easy once they found documentation on customization.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    In terms of features, ADAudit Plus offers a comprehensive set of features for monitoring and auditing Active Directory, including real-time alerts, detailed reports, and user behavior analytics. The platform also offers support for multiple platforms, including Windows, UNIX, and Linux, as well as integration with other ManageEngine tools.
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    Spiceworks was free, which obviously had both benefits and limitations - I will say that the community around Spiceworks has always been great. If we could replicate that experience with the ME user base, it would be terrific.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    updates are effective and system is reliable
    Incentivized
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    I like the ability to customize reports and provided great visibility to AD and some servers.
    • It helped greatly with customer support issues when we used ADAudit with the hundreds of customer accounts used for SSON to the LOB application server to users over Citrix.
    • It saved time on some issues with accounts and Group Policy changes that affected customer experience.
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    ManageEngine A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
    • The tool does not scale well from an ROI perspective. As you add a customer, you must add a new instance, hence a new license.
    • The tool is probably on the expensive side (34,000 USD per 130 technicians per year).
    • There is no usage beyond incident, change, and problem management. The CMDB feature is extremely limited and cannot generate additional ROI. There is no knowledge-base or integration with other software (other than ME Desktop Central).
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    ManageEngine ADAudit Plus Screenshots

    Screenshot of Active Directory Audit Dashboard
Track all critical AD changes — user modifications, group updates, GPO changes, and logon events — from a single console.Screenshot of User Logon Failures Report
Spot and investigate failed logon attempts across your environment with drill-down reports showing who, when, and from where.Screenshot of Attack Surface Analyzer Dashboard
Detect 25+ AD attack indicators including Kerberoasting, Golden Ticket, and DCSync attacks before they cause damage.Screenshot of Cloud Directory Audit Dashboard
Monitor sign-ins, role changes, and config modifications across Microsoft Entra ID with correlated on-premises and cloud visibility.Screenshot of Kerberoasting Attack Detection Report
Surface suspicious service ticket requests and identify compromised service accounts before attackers escalate privileges.Screenshot of Real-Time Alert Dashboard
Centralize and prioritize security alerts across your environment with configurable real-time email and SMS notifications.