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Primarily network discovery, inventory and help desk. We used the alerts system regularly until we replaced that functionality with a true …
Spiceworks Help Desk
Top Rated
Spiceworks Help Desk
Top Rated
Spiceworks Help Desk
Overview
What is Spiceworks Help Desk?
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management. The Spiceworks Network Monitor provides information on observed IT for problem tracking...
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Top Rated
2022
Most Loved
2022
Popular Features
View all 13 features- External knowledge base (46)8.787%
- Ticket creation and submission (52)8.585%
- Ticket response (51)8.181%
- Organize and prioritize service tickets (52)8.080%
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Free
Cloud
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting / Integration Services
Product Demos
Run an IT help desk with Spiceworks
01:26
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Product Details
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What is Spiceworks Help Desk?
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management. The Spiceworks Network Monitor provides information on observed IT for problem tracking and server performance monitoring. And finally, the Spiceworks Help Desk Software lets IT personnel stay on top of issues across the network with a ticketing system. Help desk roles with role-based permissions and notifications allow tasks to be allocated across team members. If the user wishes to host Spiceworks apps and tools locally, then they are free. For cloud-based service, Spiceworks bills $12 per IT user per month, or $10 monthly per user if paid annually.
Spiceworks was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, also with a European headquarters in London (since 2012), and was backed by multiple investors, notably Goldman Sachs. In 2019 Spiceworks was acquired by Ziff Davis, a division of J2 Global. It is now a J2 Global company, operating under the name Spiceworks Ziff Davis.
Spiceworks Help Desk Video
Spiceworks Help Desk Overview
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Spiceworks Help Desk Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management. The Spiceworks Network Monitor provides information on observed IT for problem tracking and server performance monitoring. And finally, the Spiceworks Help Desk Software lets IT personnel stay on top of issues across the network with a ticketing system. Help desk roles with role-based permissions and notifications allow tasks to be allocated across team members. If the user wishes to host Spiceworks apps and tools locally, then they are free. For cloud-based service, Spiceworks bills $12 per IT user per month, or $10 monthly per user if paid annually.
Spiceworks was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, also with a European headquarters in London (since 2012), and is generously backed by multiple investors, most notably Goldman Sachs.
BMC FootPrints, BMC Helix Remedyforce, and Pulseway are common alternatives for Spiceworks Help Desk.
Reviewers rate Email support highest, with a score of 8.8.
The most common users of Spiceworks Help Desk are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews and Ratings
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April 26, 2021
Spiceworks Help Desk Review
Spiceworks Help Desk is used to manage our entire IT helpdesk operation. Users across the entire company access it to submit helpdesk tickets, make purchase requests, and check status. The IT department I oversee works the individual ticket items.
- Workflow
- Customization
- Inventory
- Response Management
- Escalation
- The desktop version has been supplanted by the online version (and a local version of that online version), losing a lot of core functionality
- Ticket collision
- Ticketing
- Reporting
- Inventory
- System Alerts
- The Community
- Spiceworks Live Events
91.66666666666666%
9.2
90%
9.0
72.5%
7.3
- At the low price of free, it has had instant ROI over previous helpdesk tracking, even when including the value of labor spent on ticket management
- The live events are always educational and worth the time.
- The community is top notch
- The product reviews are unbiased and fair, as well as coming from real-world users
[Its] simplicity, [the] easy user interface for both technicians and end-users, and stability, plus the ability to locally control data access (we're highly regulated regarding privacy and records rights), puts it in its own class. While it may not do everything larger systems do, it does all of the things our company needs. It performs well even after five years and two migrations in server operating systems, and the reporting tools are available in both simple and complex (SQL-based) formats for deep capabilities.
The community is top-tier, and their use of gamification principles goes beyond other communities to being an honestly fun system. The live events are worth every second spent watching them, and their annual conference is, in my opinion, the best conference of the year.
The community is top-tier, and their use of gamification principles goes beyond other communities to being an honestly fun system. The live events are worth every second spent watching them, and their annual conference is, in my opinion, the best conference of the year.
900
All business functions. The IT Department are the heaviest users, but the helpdesk is accessible to all staff in order to help them process technology support, project, and purchase questions.
5
We have four technical staff and me (the director). Three are helpdesk support specialists, one is a healthcare informatics specialist.
- IT Support
- IT Projects
- IT Purchases
- We track project timelines in it
- Other service departments - HR, Finance, etc. that are service oriented.
Yes
It replaced an old Excel tracking sheet my predecessor used.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
Product usability is key - free is great, but if the users can't make use of the helpdesk easily then free has no value.
I would not change my decision at all.
- Implemented in-house
Yes
First phase was IT-use only, replacing the tracking system.
Second phase was taking that data, reviewing it, and setting items like categories and SLAs
Third phase was implementing those items into Spiceworks
Fourth phase was setting up email integration to our helpdesk email
Fifth phase was opening up the web interface
Sixth was launch
Second phase was taking that data, reviewing it, and setting items like categories and SLAs
Third phase was implementing those items into Spiceworks
Fourth phase was setting up email integration to our helpdesk email
Fifth phase was opening up the web interface
Sixth was launch
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
We had been using a dedicated helpdesk email since before my hire, so staff [was] used to using the email. We added website support, which required notification but not much change management.
- No major issues were encountered.
No, we did not. We had not need of it, and I'm not even sure its available.
No
We had a log and temp file issue crash our database, the team (even though the product is free!) worked incredibly diligently to get us back up and running in a single evening.
- Task and follow-up entry
- Reporting
- Inventory
- Add-ons and plugins (like every system)
Yes
The community and helpdesk are separated, which is smart - we can handle tickets on the go easily, and my team updates in the field frequently.
April 17, 2018
Spiceworks - Cheap and Easy Solutions
I currently use Spiceworks as my helpdesk application, my network inventory manager, and to host a company portal, where employees can access information that has been shared by IT. Spiceworks has made it easier to manage the devices on my network and to evaluate their relationships and configurations. It also provides a great platform for communication from IT to the rest of the company. In addition to the services provided by Spiceworks, I also utilize the Spiceworks community, for tackling issues that I haven't been able to wrap my own head around. The Spiceworks community is a GREAT place to get feedback on ideas, answers to questions, and help with overall challenges.
- Network Monitoring -This application works pretty well, is lightweight, and not very intrusive. It does lack a bit of detail, and you can't do anything with MiBs, but for simple up-time monitoring, it works great.
- Spiceworks Helpdesk -This application is great. I use it to manage tickets submitted by our employees. This allows me to not only maintain an easy line-of-communication, but also allows me to see trends in ticketed issues.
- Spiceworks Community -Great group of people. There's always good discussions taking place in user threads. Whether it's troublehooting, problem-solving, or just throwing ideas around, the Spiceworks user community is a great place to get some feedback on your thoughts.
- Spiceworks Portal -I use this to communicate important information to our employees. I also host a lot of FAQs and How-Tos on the portal.
- Spiceworks Network Monitor -Could use more integration of MiBs and also a more flexible implementation of SNMP versions.
90%
9.0
95%
9.5
92%
9.2
- Spicworks has provided a cheap alternative to the expensive software solutions provided by bigger vendors
Spiceworks was much simpler to install/implement. OpenNMS caused me several issues as I made it through the install, and then the finished product was not very impressive. I feel like I could have benefited from a more guided installation process, as there was some guessing on my part, which I suspect led to the less than satisfying end-result.
- Help Desk is the best and easiest to use! I use this system to support our entire organization.
- The network inventory is also a great tool! Keeps a great historical record of our assets, and can maintain a collection of associated warranties, files, and other documentation/files per asset.
- The community. I LOVE the community. It's a great place to hash out problems that you've been fighting with.
- The network monitor is not the easiest to use. It is a simple setup, but is limited in how you assign devices to the monitor, as well as with controlling what versions/credentials are used for SNMP. Also, there is no ability to add MiBs.
Yes, but I don't use it
August 19, 2015
Spice Up Your IT Department with Spiceworks.
We use Spiceworks in a variety of ways: helpdesk ticketing and tracking, inventory tracking and management, as well as a trouble shooting tool and to submit purchase requests.
- Helpdesk ticketing. Spiceworks does this very well - plenty on modules and plug ins to support just about anything you want to do. You can also write your own!
- Inventory management is another thing thing Spiceworks does pretty well. Right down to what software and software keys are on each machine. It's not the end all be all but it does a good job and it's free.
- The community! Wow the community is amazing. Supportive quick and quick to respond with valid answers. I rarely wait more than an hour before someone has responded with something valid.
- The network map isn't the greatest. You need to spend some time to lay it out correctly. It also seems to be wiped out with each new update.
- Can be sluggish when using IE.
- Spiceworks software doesn't "cost" anything. That doesn't mean it's free. There is the cost of time to learn the software, which isn't very long or difficult.
- The helpdesk system in Spiceworks has greatly increased our IT team's productivity and accountability.
- The inventory tracking is a nice tool to see what software you have out there.
- BMC Track-It
Spiceworks is a multifaceted tool. Speaking of helpdesk I find it easier to use than BMC Track-It and so does the staff.
2005
Finance, IT, Executive, All of them
5
- help desk
- network scanning
- inventory
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- Most of it. The install is 1 click done.
- the network map isn't the greatest.
Yes
Perfectly.
June 06, 2014
Spiceworks, Where IT goes to work
The IT department uses Spiceworks as our ticketing software for internal support. We were looking for somthing to replace the very bulky ticketing software we had been using.
- But it's created and supported as if it was a very expensive program.
- Web-based. Got a browser? You can get your tickets.
- MUCH. INFORMATION. If you know a little SQL, you can get it to tell you just about anything about your network.
- Community. Adjacent to the program is a flourishing community of, I think at this point, over 5 million users. Reviews, how-tos, vendors, anything you could need in a forum, plus a plate of bacon.
- Access to devs. Not only is their support great, but through the community, you can get some access to the developers. I'm currently bugging them over some feature requests. :)
- Plug-ins. There are a few features, like nesting sub categories when creating a ticket that you would expect to be standard, but are only supported by plugins. It's not fun when you depend on a feature you get from a plugin, and the creator stops working on it.
- SQLite isn't my favorite thing in the world, but it's what I have to fight to write custom reports.
- It takes a lot less time to open tickets
- Track-it and Service Center
Spiceworks does so much more than any of the ticketing systems I've used. The inventory feature is so helpful.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
- Learning how to get a third-party plugin to play right.
Yes
Yes. I reported an issue I had in a non-official venue on the forum. Within a few hours, a member of the support team had reached out to me for more information, which I got to him. He recognized it as a bug, gave me a workaround until it was fixed, and the same time, helped me find a work around for another issue that came up due to using an older version.
Every time I have contacted support (which has not been often), I have gotten wonderful support. Quick response times, coherent and detailed explanations, and they stick it it out until you're happy.
- Creating/working with tickets
- Inventory
- Reporting
- Everything
- writing custom reports in SQLite
Yes
Very well. They have done so much more with the recent updates to the mobile apps.
We use Spiceworks within the company as an asset management/discovery tool for all of our networking and computing equipment. It's the primary inventory for our desktop and mobile PCs and tablets and software licenses. It automatically discovers and inventories anything attached to your network, and you can also add in other devices to the database as well. It has a very robust help desk built in, and it has tools to put its users directly in touch with vendors and re-sellers for quotes on hardware, software, and services. The community forums are an invaluable resource because it puts IT professionals in touch with each other to share advice, support, software and hardware reviews, and user generated scripts and plugins, etc. The software itself is invaluable, and the community is second to none when it comes to getting real answers from real IT professionals.
With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
- Help desk software is easy to set up and manage and has a user portal with room for a FAQ or self-support as well as a robust ticketing system.
- Network inventory discovery in Spiceworks is better than many expensive solutions that I've used, and it's completely free.
- I get quick answers to complicated questions in the community forums. Many IT Superheroes are more than happy to help you out with technical problems or offer up advice.
- With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
- There has been talk of adding a Wiki feature to SpiceWorks, which I think would be a great addition.
- Only runs on Windows. It will automatically discover and inventory any OS, but the software itself must be hosted on Windows.
- FREE, so the only investment was the time it takes to install and configure, which can be done in an afternoon.
- Spiceworks Help Desk has greatly reduced the time it takes to address and solve users' problems, and to keep a record of all help desk activities.
- Network/PC/Hardware/Software Inventory used to be very time consuming and was often inaccurate. Spiceworks does inventory for you, so it's always accurate and up-to-date.
- Spiceworks will notify me when one of my network resources stops responding to pings, which allows me to quickly address problems before they can have a negative impact on our business.
- Sysaid,Mediawiki,Liferay,nmap
I selected Spiceworks because it replaces a lot of different software packages. By combining inventory, help desk, purchasing, and support forums, I can solve just about any problems with IT infrastructure in my organization from start to finish with tools in Spiceworks. Plus, it's free, so there is really no contest, Spiceworks wins hands-down.
2
IT Department of two, both of us use Spiceworks on a daily basis. Every user in the organization can access the help desk, either through email or through the Spiceworks user portal.
2
I think anyone who has intermediate computer skills would have no problem installing and supporting Spiceworks.
- Help Desk
- Inventory Management
- Knowledge Base
- Community support forums
- Offline device notifcation
- In addition to hardware and software inventory, I've used Spiceworks to keep track of contact information for vendors, service providers, utility contractors, etc.
- The community has grown at an unexpected rate, and keeps getting better every day.
- More reliance on the help desk for ticketing. Right now users initiate support through telephone, email, walk-in, etc. so many times a support ticket is never created. If our company keeps growing, we'll be relying much more heavily on the help desk than we are now.
- Help desk portal can be a great tool for self-support and FAQ before users submit a ticket, but we haven't done much to implement that yet.
- Implemented in-house
No
- After inventory scans, network devices sometimes show up incorrectly or not at all if they're not configured properly.
- Inventory is very easy, and there are great articles about configuring your devices to make sure Spiceworks can accurately scan them.
- The community is one of the most helpful and professional support forums that I've ever been a part of. Many major IT companies are involved in the community, so you can often speak directly to a representative of the company whose product or service you're having trouble with or researching.
- Help desk is much better than the previous (paid) help desk software that we had been using before Spiceworks.
- The only difficulties I've experienced with Spiceworks is related to automatic scans of network devices. Some devices don't show up properly in the inventory. This is usually something that can be fixed by changing settings on that device.
Yes, but I don't use it
Yes
Very smooth, minimal downtime, no work at all on my part. New releases seem to be a little bit slower than their predecessors because of increased system requirements.
Installing an update is as easy as downloading the new executable installer and waiting for it to finish. Everything is pretty much automatic.
Installing an update is as easy as downloading the new executable installer and waiting for it to finish. Everything is pretty much automatic.
- Each upgrade has many bug fixes and improvements.
- More integration with out systems on our network.
- I'd like to see a Wiki implemented, I've heard that this feature may be on the way.
No
No