ServiceNow IT Service Management vs. SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ServiceNow IT Service Management
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
ServiceNow is a fast-growing service management provider that went public in 2012. Built on the ServiceNow Now Platform, the IT Service Management bundle provides an agent workspace with knowledge management, and modules supporting issue tracking and problem resolution, change, release and configuration management, and (on the higher tier ITSM Professional plan) ITAM and software asset management.
$10,000
per year
SolarWinds Service Desk
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
SolarWinds Service Desk (formerly Samanage) is a cloud-based, multi-tenant IT service desk and asset management software for IT and enterprise service management. Samanage is on a single, always new instance of software. The service desk includes a self-service portal, service catalog, knowledge base, and SLA management tool. The integrated agent-based asset management solution collects contracts and licensing data from Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix systems.N/A
Pricing
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Editions & Modules
Starting Price
$10,000.00
per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Considered Both Products
ServiceNow IT Service Management
Chose ServiceNow IT Service Management
Task management is easy in ServiceNow compared to JIRA, Freshdesk, and other tools. Asset management and change management is easy in ServiceNow. Community support is the major advantage for ServiceNow. The API and extensibility of ServiceNow are very high. Considering …
SolarWinds Service Desk
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
ServiceNow is definitely the leader in this space and I've used it at a prior company. It has a lot more integrations and modules. Samanage is good for newer or smaller shops that need something.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Samanage is much simpler to implement in a medium-sized organization of around 100 employees. Other software easily gets more complex, and would have taken too much time for an end user to learn as well as inexperienced IT gurus. Price etc also has a say, and with Samanage you …
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
We looked at ServiceNow, SysAid and Track-It! and Samanage came out on top because it did everything well. The other three were all more proficient in some things, but they were not a complete package.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Zendesk was very limited in functionality, had no asset tracking. Solarwinds wins hands down.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
The main business need was having a cloud-based product that can allow all employees to submit requests and be able to track and manage the tasks in an organized manner. ServiceNow is a robust software and requires a full-time engineer to manage, BMC remedy was lacking the …
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
I like Solarwinds Service Desk because of the ease of use and the response time from the support staff.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Each platform has unique features. Solarwinds allows for us to leverage the platform between different departments and that was needed for our company.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)

SWSD was more cost effective and easier to administer and manage. Easier reporting functionality.

SWSD didn't require a dedicated programmer/developer or a specific skill set to administer.

Reporting functionality is very easy to use. Doesn't require you to create SQL statements …

Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
We will be selecting another service provider over this source.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
See previous response, the ease of use of this platform really does blow the competition out of the water.
Chose SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
SolarWinds Samanage had the features we wanted, presented in a more efficient overall package, for a far better price point that ServiceNow.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
ServiceNow IT Service Management
8.2
67 Ratings
1% above category average
SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
8.0
96 Ratings
2% below category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets8.766 Ratings9.395 Ratings
Expert directory7.650 Ratings7.956 Ratings
Service restoration7.555 Ratings7.357 Ratings
Self-service tools9.064 Ratings8.085 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications7.662 Ratings8.967 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation8.459 Ratings8.176 Ratings
ITSM reports and dashboards8.861 Ratings6.486 Ratings
ITSM asset management
Comparison of ITSM asset management features of Product A and Product B
ServiceNow IT Service Management
8.5
60 Ratings
3% above category average
SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
6.9
81 Ratings
17% below category average
Configuration mangement8.259 Ratings6.973 Ratings
Asset management dashboard8.658 Ratings6.980 Ratings
Policy and contract enforcement8.852 Ratings6.963 Ratings
Change management
Comparison of Change management features of Product A and Product B
ServiceNow IT Service Management
7.8
61 Ratings
7% below category average
SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
8.0
79 Ratings
4% below category average
Change requests repository7.261 Ratings8.663 Ratings
Change calendar7.055 Ratings7.743 Ratings
Service-level management9.257 Ratings7.871 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
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
BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix ITSM
Score 8.9 out of 10
BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix ITSM
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(78 ratings)
7.8
(118 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(13 ratings)
6.5
(8 ratings)
Usability
6.3
(11 ratings)
8.9
(7 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.7
(7 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(22 ratings)
8.0
(92 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
1.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
8.9
(3 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
ServiceNow IT Service ManagementSolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Likelihood to Recommend
ServiceNow
In our organization, we are using ServiceNow extensively. Change Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Time tracking are few modules which we use extensively. This sort of model will work for any product or service based companies as the product is built on ITIL framework. So this product will be suited for small or large scale companies to better organize and add controls and track SLA's for technology or business process.
Read full review
SolarWinds
If you are looking for a way to support a company and bill based on the outcome this software works really well. If it's a quick password change there was no charge, but if it's troubleshooting things you click the box to charge. It works really well for this. Also bringing all your assets into this and associating them to a client works well. I can't think of anything that this software would not be less appropriate for. It works well for what we use it for.
Read full review
Pros
ServiceNow
  • When I have a number of requests to make, for example a request to add a dozen or so user accounts to more than one group account in Active Directory , I can put all the needed information into the initial form, add it to my "shopping cart" and all of that information remains on the screen for the next item for which I only need to edit a few items (like the AD group name in this example), and keep adding them to the shopping cart until I have them all. When I "Check Out" each of those items is generated as a separate task under the one request. It simplifies and expedites the creation and tracking of these kinds of requests.
  • I can easily and quickly see what tickets are currently assigned to me in order to prioritize them and remain aware of my workload.
  • Numerous fields for CIs can be used when trying to find the entry for a particular item. For example, IP Address, server name, raw text, classification, and so on.
  • To help with making sense out of related tasks, when a task is assigned to me and I need to open another task for a different team to work in order to complete my task, I can open a sub-task from my ticket so that the relationship between the two can be pulled up later into reports. For example, I may have a task to build a new vm, and need to open tasks for networking, security accounts, software installation and so on. By opening sub-tasks from my assignment, the time spent by all parties concerned is tied together for more meaningful cost accounting.
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • Approval flows: You can have multiple layers of approval required for the tickets and service requests you design. This helps us show auditors that access to privileged systems and data was formerly reviewed and approved by the appropriate managers.
  • Easy to design forms: You don't need to spend hours reading the documentation to figure out how to create forms. It's simple enough that you can just jump right in and start creating them with minimal training.
  • Lots of options and features are available for you to include in your forms.
  • Integrates well with SAML-based SSO and has capabilities for MFA.
  • Easy and useful search function. Need to find that ticket from last year that you worked for a particular user or issue? Just search by keyword or username, and it'll quickly find the ticket.
Read full review
Cons
ServiceNow
  • It is hard to find areas for improvement, the tool is very powerful. That said, building the CMDB still involves some manual interaction which was not how it was presented in demos.
  • The CMDB data is almost too deep and detailed. When you build the relationship map it can be so large that it is overwhelming. You can limit this, but the default maps are massive if you are discovering lots of device classes.
  • The product is expensive. Since they are the leader in the industry and the product has tons of features, they definitely charge for it!
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • There is potential to greatly improve the capacity for cascading attributes. Currently, categories are limited to a top-level category and one subcategory. This leaves a fairly shallow decision tree.
  • Greater flexibility to modify the layout of incident request forms.
  • More integration options for cloud file-sharing platforms. Solarwinds Service Desk has tie-ins to Dropbox but not other vendors.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
ServiceNow
To be completely honest setting up a new ticketing system can be a pain in the ass. Once you have it setup and customized the way you want it, you don't want to switch unless you're unhappy with the product. Unless future releases and updates really muck the system up, I wouldn't change.
Read full review
SolarWinds
My renewal is soon coming up, it is fairly likely I will renew again for the 5th year. I may consider evaluating what else is out there, It was requested by my staff to not make a change. They feel that SSD fits our needs, is easy to use and should keep it.
Read full review
Usability
ServiceNow
The dashboard is so confusing, [there are] many clicks to open a task and search by a ticket. The Enterprise customisation [we did] has finished to kill the software and creates a really bad experience on a daily basis. [It is] So slow, and so many clicks to process a ticket. Works only on IE so, that [should] make you realize that [it] is a bad idea.
Read full review
SolarWinds
Solarwinds Service Desk has a very "user friendly" interface. Everything looks nice and neat. And, learning how to use the system is very easy. It provides multiple services that are easy for most people to grasp, and allows for great organization of incidents and assets. Support for Solarwinds Service Desk has a good response and resolution time and are easy to work with.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
ServiceNow
We have never had any issues with ServiceNow's availability that I am aware of in the two years I have been using it.
Read full review
SolarWinds
Because the data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) there are very rarely any outages. There have been some times when the product has been slow to load, but because the interface is web based it could be anything between my computer and AWS that was causing the issue. But also, because the application is web based it can be access from anywhere which makes it very convenient
Read full review
Performance
ServiceNow
For a massive system, page loads are reasonably quick, including searches.
Read full review
SolarWinds
When the system is working, the pages load very quickly. We run reports all the time in the system. The reporting can be extremely complex or very simple. Either way, we have not had any issues with the reports. We do not currently integrate Solarwinds Service Desk with any other software.
Read full review
Support Rating
ServiceNow
I would give it this rating because we have had no major issues with the support for ServiceNow after we implemented it at our organization. They seem to respond promptly and efficiently if we ever do need to open a support case with them about an issue we are having.
Read full review
SolarWinds
SolarWinds support department will respond to you quickly from the time of purchase to after-purchase instructions & supporting, and the company is great in customers support. In buying a software, our organization always has a priority for the seller and support and accountability is very important to us, and the manufacturer or seller must be responsible and supportive.
Read full review
Online Training
ServiceNow
To type in what should be a text box, you have to click an empty cell, a tiny text box pop up opens with a check box and an X. You the. Type in the text box and have to click the check mark. If you have a bunch of fields to fill out, doing this is very annoying. Absolutely know thought went in to this. I'm sure somebody in marketing thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.
Read full review
SolarWinds
When we first purchased Samanage (now Solarwinds) they provided us with an informational training session to show us all of the basics on how the service works and showed us everything we were interested in using. There are still some areas of Solarwinds that we do not yet utilize but I know if we choose to use them in the future we would be able to schedule another session with our representative to have them show us what we need to know.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
ServiceNow
Without exception, every client I have worked with has been very happy with their resulting product. While this is partly due to my work, I must point out that the platform is the winning decision, not the implementer.
Read full review
SolarWinds
The implementation process for our organization was fairly simple. We set up an email address to receive the emails from the system (for incident creation), and we allowed the system to spoof our IT email to respond to requests. Solarwinds helped us with the rest of the implementation, and it took less than a week to get the system fully operational.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
ServiceNow
We used to use Jira to handle service tickets but it's way too robust for something this straightforward. Due to the nature of Jira, you needed to already have a lot of documentation and knowledge about who should be assigned the ticket, so the lift of creating a ticket was time consuming.
Read full review
SolarWinds
We chose SolarWinds Service Desk for its user friendly platform compared to what we had. Its was easier for requestors to submit tickets, provide feedback, merge tickets, build a suitable approval process. Our organization had a hard time going back and forth with the end user on providing a status on their request or issue, where most users just didn't follow through or lost interest in their issue. We would have to send multiple emails to get any type of feedback and that's something we did not want to keep on doing.
Read full review
Scalability
ServiceNow
ServiceNow works as an enterprise solution.
Read full review
SolarWinds
We have over 500 computers and tablets across our organization and this has helped us greatly in keeping track of where computers are and who is currently using it. I can see this product being useful to groups both larger and smaller than us and I really appreciate this product.
Read full review
Return on Investment
ServiceNow
  • Overall ServiceNow has a positive impact on getting the SLA of tickets down in supporting our customers.
  • One negative impact has been the amount of time to get the product to produce an ROI, it's almost too big to fail and too big to replace. You almost become committed to the product. Good or bad.
  • Another negative impact would be if you track metrics of employees and time tracking, there is a lot of scenarios where engineers will track time on tickets but not get credit for closing them as the assignee function of tickets can only be tied to one user and credits only the engineer who closes the ticket.
  • Another positive impact would be the level of security for permissions and scaling the workloads is robust and you will get out of the system what your team is willing to put in.
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • We are more easily able to quantify user satisfaction with support.
  • We are able to develop SLAs that quantify and define the obligation of our support teams.
  • The actual cost of Solarwinds Service Desk per agent user is high in our estimation. The more you implement this platform across your organization, the more tightly tethered you are to this solution.
Read full review
ScreenShots

SolarWinds Service Desk Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of