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BMC Helix ITSM vs OpenText Service Manager [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC Helix ITSM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (8th)
OpenText Service Manager [EOL]
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

KN
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
Self-service portal significantly reduces resolution time and transforms service process with advanced features
We initially had a lot of tickets generated via the service desk through calls and emails. Now, we have almost moved out of email creations by introducing the DWP features on the Studio pages, with about 90% of the tickets coming in via our self-service portal. Recent upgrades offer different types of views for particular business lines, which was missing earlier. The new landing pages have allowed us to add banners, images, and internal videos, encouraging most customers to use these DWP self-service features. Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal. Additionally, the availability of knowledge articles, chatbots, and the new Helix GPT feature has improved service processes.
DL
Senior Consultant Project Management & Transition at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
It does what it should, but it's quite outdated.
I rate Micro Focus Service Manager four out of 10. I wouldn't recommend it. I would suggest ServiceNow. There may be solutions better suited for smaller companies. There are always alternatives because the architecture isn't terribly complex. The architecture is the same across solutions, and everything is linked. There are no modules to be bought from some other company in the past and integrated. ServiceNow also its disadvantages, but if you compare it to Service Manager, I can safely say ServiceNow is the future and Service Manager is the past.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Technical support has been fine."
"Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM are its customization ability and the addition of new features. As a built-in Suite, it covers all that is needed in the IT guidelines, which is good. Each customer has their own needs, and the customization the solution provides is beneficial."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM for us are CMDB and discovery."
"It has the power to automatize several different tasks in the ITSM world."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM for us are CMDB and discovery."
"Considering the cost of both solutions, Helix provides the best value for the money."
"Customer support is always fantastic and willing to help. No matter what time of day we have a problem."
"It's mostly so reliable and has a lot of functionality. We're using a lot of HPE tools and we can do a lot with it. So, its functionality is the most valuable feature."
"Service Manager does what it should, but it's quite outdated."
"It's flexible in terms of configuration and making changes."
"The return on investment is unquantifiable; I would have thought we have made our money back now in the way it has streamlined processes."
"Service Manager gives us a single system where everything is centralized in one base."
"Its flexibility and ease of customization are its most valuable features."
"We can have all our requests and incidents registered in one system."
"It's pretty well-structured in modules."
 

Cons

"The interface is one major complaint about this product."
"The dashboard can be better."
"There are some limitations or restrictions to using BMC Helix. For example, when we do some reporting, the reporting interface should be more user-friendly from my point of view."
"Their customer service catalog (where a customer can order some products) could be improved. This product is not the best, but they are working on it."
"We found that there was numerous issues upgrading from 8.1 to 9.1 in that all our licenses were broken for almost a year and a half."
"Encountered issues with scalability and stability."
"The initial setup of BMC Helix ITSM is complex because it has different integrations with other tools."
"From time to time, we had issues with stability, but I think that is our fault due to extra processes that we implemented to fit our business needs."
"I think one area which is the most painful from my point of view is if you need to integrate a lot of the tools, and being able to make that a lot more seamless."
"We had quite a lot of issues with stability and the quality of the product so far."
"The user interface is very clunky."
"The product's technical support services need improvement."
"The support and functionality of the portal could be improved. There was an old portal and they stopped it in the last version."
"The user interface is very clunky. It's only now beginning to be a web-based interface, but for now it's still very clunky."
"Life cycle management is a drama."
"We struggle with and the simplicity of getting reporting data at a high level, and output is not where it needs to be for us."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Just make sure you really sit down and look at what you will be using per user, therefore you will not be surprised with a big bill. You do not want every user having every license, it really is not needed."
"It is not very expensive and not very cheap. It is somewhere in-between. Some of the features are more expensive. There are also additional costs. If you want to use most of the features, you need to pay more."
"If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
"I am not sure the exact price we pay for the solution but I know it is in the high seven-figure amount annually."
"The price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"We did not compare the price of BMC Helix ITSM to other vendors. However, it has a mid-range price."
"Please always get the latest quote from a BMC partner or from BMC. Check for the latest offerings."
"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."
"I would say that identify your requirements and pay for the support to implement and test those requirements, and then hope that you did a good job because the cost of their service is fairly expensive."
"The license is not cheap."
"Micro Focus Service Manager is a little cheaper than other options. You have to pay a monthly subscription fee."
"HP Service Manager has moderate pricing."
"I pay for Service Manager on a yearly basis, and the price is reasonable - I would rate it five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
10%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise55
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
Although BMC Helix ITSM is a strong enterprise platform, there are areas where it could be improved. One key area is usability and simplification of configuration, especially for new administrators...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
My main use case for BMC Helix ITSM is validating and automating core ITSM workflows, such as incident, change, and service request management. I focus on ensuring that these workflows function cor...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Helix ITSM?
My thoughts on the pricing and licensing cost of BMC Helix ITSM are that it is flexible.
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Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
Micro Focus Service Manager, HPE ITSM, HPE Service Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
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