Microsoft System Center Service Manager vs. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft System Center Service Manager
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft System Center Service Manager is an integrated platform that is designed for automating and adapting IT Service Management best practices to an organization’s requirements. The platform includes built-in processes for incident and problem resolution, change control and asset lifecycle management.N/A
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
ServiceDesk Plus is free help desk software from ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation.
$10
Starting Price Per Month
Pricing
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Standard
$10.00
Starting Price Per Month
Professional
$21.00
Starting Price Per Month
Enterprise
$50.00
Starting Price Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Features
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft System Center Service Manager
7.8
7 Ratings
5% below category average
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
7.5
22 Ratings
9% below category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets8.04 Ratings8.022 Ratings
Expert directory7.03 Ratings6.615 Ratings
Service restoration7.04 Ratings6.017 Ratings
Self-service tools8.75 Ratings8.020 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications7.04 Ratings7.016 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation9.76 Ratings9.018 Ratings
ITSM reports and dashboards7.16 Ratings8.020 Ratings
ITSM asset management
Comparison of ITSM asset management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft System Center Service Manager
8.2
7 Ratings
1% below category average
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
7.8
17 Ratings
6% below category average
Configuration mangement9.86 Ratings8.516 Ratings
Asset management dashboard8.77 Ratings8.016 Ratings
Policy and contract enforcement6.05 Ratings7.012 Ratings
Change management
Comparison of Change management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft System Center Service Manager
6.7
6 Ratings
24% below category average
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
8.5
18 Ratings
0% below category average
Change requests repository6.16 Ratings8.017 Ratings
Change calendar6.05 Ratings8.513 Ratings
Service-level management8.05 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Small Businesses
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
SymphonyAI IT Service Management
SymphonyAI IT Service Management
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(7 ratings)
9.0
(22 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(2 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft System Center Service ManagerManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
I think any organization that runs windows on their computers that is size over 50 workstations and looking for a complete package to manage their windows machines must have Microsoft System Center Service Manager, especially if they have Windows servers and VMs. The capability of managing multiple devices at ones can save a lot of time for the IT jobs.
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ManageEngine, A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
ServiceDesk Plus is very easy to configure at the start, and then adjust the categories and rules as the implementation is refined. Its greatest strength is the ability to program without requiring a full time administrator. There is very little jargon involved. Reporting not so much. The canned reports are useful but do not always cover some of the basics. Fortunately, the user groups freely share report definitions so one could springboard from something close to your desired result.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • This tool is used to track support requests among our IT staff.
  • We use this tool to automate some more routine tasks.
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ManageEngine, A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
  • It's very simple to submit and handle ticket for both user and Engineer.
  • Set some customize template for intent replay or job done reply.
  • SLA management is the good option to maintain workflow.
  • There is solution option where user can resolve their common issues.
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Kind of clunky.
  • Takes a lot a lot a lot of configuration.
  • There is a lot of jargon to learn to be able to use it to its full ability.
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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
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
ManageEngine, A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
we are looking at other tools like Zendesk which may replace ServiceDesk. We are currently evaluating both tools to see which one would serve our needs better
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Usability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
The customer support service is excellent. They help from start/deployment through to any time later on. They responded quickly and resolved our issues professionally and in no time.
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ManageEngine, A Div of Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd
Our network administrator usually gets a good response when contacting ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus customer service. They are quick to respond and so far have been able to eliminate most of our issues. We have been through several upgrades of the software over the years and have no issues to report in regards to customer service.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
We selected MCSM because it is a solid product that we could use very quickly, compared to other tools there is a lot more effort for integration into the infrastructure, costing time and money. We implemented the tool very quickly and since it integrates with other Microsoft products, it was very easy to get up and running.
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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.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Save a world of time when imaging
  • Save a world of time with patch management
  • Provides decent reports to get a snapshot quickly
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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).
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ScreenShots