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BMC Helix ITSM vs PagerDuty Operations Cloud 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
BMC Helix ITSM offers good value and time savings, with automation praised and high stability, despite costly licensing.
Sentiment score
7.3
PagerDuty Operations Cloud optimizes incident management, reduces downtime, enhances customer service, and improves operational efficiency and engineer productivity.
The escalation was not possible at all before, which led to the L1 team being under too much stress.
Software Developer at Webspruce
The automated system efficiently monitors the infrastructure and notifies us about problems, benefiting both our customers and the bank's reputation.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
Time to respond, time to initiate, and time to mitigate are key metrics influenced positively.
Lead Platform at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
BMC Helix ITSM customer service varies widely, with premium support praised, but lower tiers face delays and inconsistent quality.
Sentiment score
7.9
PagerDuty Operations Cloud excels in customer service with minimal support needed and highly rated quick, knowledgeable assistance.
There are issues with misrouting and a preference for email rather than direct communication via phone calls.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
we have never had an issue when reaching out to someone in customer service
Senior Cloud Operations Engineer at IMO Health
They understand our concerns and are willing to implement solutions that integrate into PagerDuty Operations Cloud effectively.
Senior SRE at IBM
I have not needed to contact the customer support of PagerDuty Operations Cloud, as they provided thorough knowledge transfer once they handed over the services.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
BMC Helix ITSM is scalable and robust, suitable for diverse organizations, though customization can limit larger implementations.
Sentiment score
7.6
PagerDuty Operations Cloud scales effectively, supporting growth, user integration, and complex environments, making it ideal for large enterprises.
The product's scalability is adequate for us, yet its complex customization sometimes restricts extensive adaptability.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
The product was highly scalable, with no limits on the number of applications or event routing rules.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
The scalability of PagerDuty Operations Cloud is very good, and it can handle increasing traffic as our organization expands without any issues.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is scalable; we can easily add teams, manage tags, and create teams.
Software Developer at Webspruce
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
BMC Helix ITSM is generally stable; initial issues may occur, but proper architecture enhances reliability over time.
Sentiment score
8.5
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is stable and reliable, supporting effective incident management despite minor inconsistencies in device alerts.
I find BMC Helix ITSM stable, and that is why we have been with the product for the past 15 years.
Associate Director at a media company with 10,001+ employees
Over the past five years, we have experienced no major issues or downtime during upgrades.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
We have never experienced any downtime or latency issues from PagerDuty Operations Cloud.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is definitely stable, providing faster incident management and making managing our on-call roster easy along with effective escalation and notification channels.
Senior SRE at IBM
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix ITSM needs a more intuitive, customizable interface, enhanced reporting, better performance, support, documentation, and streamlined customization.
PagerDuty Operations Cloud users encounter challenges with scheduling, alerts, integration, customization, costs, and machine-learning capabilities.
BMC Helix ITSM is difficult for us to customize, and most customizations require vendor support, which leads to extra costs.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
We lack access to a sandbox for in-house development, which was very helpful for hands-on work with new features.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
It would be useful to have a way to define all configurations in code that is similar to how Terraform operates.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
With many new members, they need training to set up runbook workflows, event orchestration, and manage complex on-call schedules across 23 services, making it a challenge for new users.
Senior SRE at IBM
Once a user acknowledges the alert, it may be unnecessary to continue calling again and again, as it distracts from their work on resolving the issue.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find BMC Helix ITSM costly but cost-effective, requiring careful licensing analysis and negotiations to manage expenses.
PagerDuty Operations Cloud offers competitive pricing but limited license flexibility, prompting some to consider alternatives like OpsGenie.
The pricing of BMC Helix ITSM and its implementation costs are quite high, including subscription and maintenance costs per year.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
I had around seven users part of it for a base pricing of around $450 per user, primarily for custom workflows and the ITSM part.
Senior SRE at IBM
We have been using PagerDuty Operations Cloud for several years, so our pricing and cost have definitely increased over time, especially as we have hired additional engineers.
Senior Cloud Operations Engineer at IMO Health
Pricing, setup cost, and licensing were not my headaches, and the organization already provided me with everything set up.
Digital Specialist Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix ITSM is scalable, integrates easily, enhances management, and aligns with ITIL, offering advanced features and customization.
PagerDuty Operations Cloud streamlines incident management with automation, integration, and AI-driven features for efficient resolution and improved productivity.
Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal.
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
These features are crucial as we complete the implementation and maintain data accuracy in the CMDB.
Head of IT, Service & Operation Department at National ITMX Co., Ltd.
It integrates with multiple applications and is highly customizable, with policies, escalation procedures, and an event routing tool that ensures contacting the right person.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
In addition to those features, I also find the integration and reporting aspects of PagerDuty Operations Cloud valuable, as it records all triggered calls and incidents, enabling us to analyze patterns and identify the times when systems go down, thus assisting us in understanding and addressing the underlying causes.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
Before, setting up everything was very difficult. Now, we don't have to think about it. We can simply set it up in PagerDuty and it works.
Software Developer at Webspruce
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC Helix ITSM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (5th)
PagerDuty Operations Cloud
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (6th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (1st), AIOps (7th), Critical Event Management (CEM) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Systems Management solutions, they serve different purposes. BMC Helix ITSM is designed for IT Service Management (ITSM) and holds a mindshare of 5.7%, down 12.0% compared to last year.
PagerDuty Operations Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on IT Alerting and Incident Management, holds 13.2% mindshare, down 22.8% since last year.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix ITSM5.7%
ServiceNow15.9%
JIRA Service Management7.3%
Other71.1%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
IT Alerting and Incident Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
PagerDuty Operations Cloud13.2%
Opsgenie9.0%
Rootly6.8%
Other71.0%
IT Alerting and Incident Management
 

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.
NS
Senior SRE at IBM
Automated incident workflows have transformed on-call operations and improved response times
Since I host our internal services, I want more customization relating to our specific use case. The needed improvements include the configuration process, as new team members face a steep learning curve to understand the platform. With many new members, they need training to set up runbook workflows, event orchestration, and manage complex on-call schedules across 23 services, making it a challenge for new users. Additionally, I feel the web interface requires improvements. I would rate PagerDuty Operations Cloud as eight out of ten because the cons include a complex configuration process and high costs for each add-on that I try to obtain, making subscriptions costly, along with limited customization in certain incident workflows. The primary reasons for rating it an eight include the complex configuration which makes it challenging for new users, as well as their difficulty in setting up advanced runbook workflows and managing complex on-call setups. The web user interface also requires improvement. Although I receive alerts via the mobile app, which is beneficial for handling schedule maintenance, the same features should be added to the web interface. Customization issues persist, such as the inability to clone entire schedules as part of the workflows, and I want to keep incidents open for a specified duration, neither of which I can currently customize. Thus, I raised a ticket with PagerDuty Operations Cloud to address these concerns. Furthermore, the cost is high, making it one of the more expensive incident management solutions.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Performing Arts
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise54
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Helix ITSM?
If we consider major players like Ford or BMW, their core focus is manufacturing products like cars. To ensure smooth operations, any arising issues, be it security concerns or issues within depart...
What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
Currently, we are not utilizing the AI functionality in BMC Helix ITSM as we are still in the roadmap and development phase at this point in time. There isn't anything that I would suggest for impr...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
We use BMC Helix ITSM for the complete end-to-end ITSM suite, mainly for ticketing and service management. BMC Helix ITSM supports our IT service management processes primarily for all incident, pr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PagerDuty?
I purchased PagerDuty Operations Cloud through AWS Marketplace while at Intel, and my experience has been positive regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing. I had around seven users part of it...
What needs improvement with PagerDuty?
Since I host our internal services, I want more customization relating to our specific use case. The needed improvements include the configuration process, as new team members face a steep learning...
What is your primary use case for PagerDuty?
I have been working in my current field for over seven years as a DevOps and site reliability engineer, and my primary experience involves managing the reliability of infrastructure platforms hoste...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
40% of the Fortune 100 TrustPagerDuty. Customers include: Slack, Intuit, Zendesk, Panasonic, Pinterest, Airbnb, eHarmony, McKesson, Comcast
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.