No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Clarity SM vs TOPdesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Clarity SM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
18th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
TOPdesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
16th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Clarity SM is 2.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TOPdesk is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
TOPdesk2.1%
Clarity SM2.0%
Other95.9%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Türker Kara - PeerSpot reviewer
Application & Software Architect at Turkiye Finans Participation Bank
Quite good back-end architecture for end users but the API is very, very bad
Our company uses the solution for system, program, service request, change, and knowledge-based management.  We perform CMD authorizations and use a lot of integrations for our in-house or third-party applications. We also use Salesforce automations and Microsoft orchestrations.  We have about…
Martina Peneva - PeerSpot reviewer
People Technology Lead at Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Implement service management changes while addressing UI improvements
Topdesk's user interface makes it easy to handle requests and escalate them to other groups or reassign them when working on a single ticket. Additionally, the service management tool in HR allows for a change in delivering services, replacing email communication with ticket raising. The knowledge library enables the local HR to store and share relevant information and frequently asked cases, enhancing collaboration. The ticket system also facilitates escalating cases to other involved departments. IT, HR, and some other teams primarily use this system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is quite a good product, and it's stable."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to integrate many processes – like change management, incident management, problem management, CMDB, all of them – in the same tool."
"It is a stable and good product, with several integrations and an interesting API."
"For organizations that are beyond the startup phase but are still not very huge, this is the ticketing system to choose."
"Compared to others, I like the ease of Service Desk; it's easy to maneuver around in, it's very user friendly, and things make sense where some other products we looked at were very confusing."
"Our users access it via the web. We have external and internal sources, and we're now introducing the mobile app portion so our computer engineers can respond to tickets remotely."
"We are benefiting by being able to put time to what our technicians are doing."
"User satisfaction has improved dramatically for our customers."
"When it comes to implementing new features, they listen to what their customers want via a suggestion forum that they have."
"This solution has provided me with a well-defined process and interaction, compared to my previous tool, GLPI."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ticketing feature."
"This solution has provided me with a well-defined process and interaction, compared to my previous tool, GLPI."
"As we have moved to an off-premises deployment, we get regular updates."
"It is an easy-to-use solution."
"TOPdesk is overall very stable."
"Technical support is great and we have not had any issues with them."
 

Cons

"They need to improve the High Availability, and the native integration between CA Service Desk Manager, CA Process Automation, CA Service Catalog and CA Unified Self-Service."
"I would like to see the API cleaned up. Right now, because of the way CA works, they combine a lot of applications. But the API is a mess, it's hard to navigate, hard to figure out."
"The interface is pretty straightforward, but I think for some end-users a little more simplified user interface would help."
"Technical support is 7/10."
"Ticket event and notification creation and management is cumbersome and has not improved over the many versions I have worked with."
"As an end user I don't probably use it the way that other people would use it, but maybe automatic opening of tickets for other products would be helpful."
"Mobility is one area: There should be improvements in terms of implementations and content."
"Dashboards. Custom dashboards are really important because without that it takes too long to view some information."
"Change management implementation, facility management, and making reservations on assets can be improved."
"It is time-consuming to add new users."
"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."
"This solution is modular so you only buy what you need, but I prefer what some companies are doing where they include everything in the package."
"From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement. It sometimes takes many steps to do something simple, like creating or moving a knowledge item."
"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."
"All companies have processes that need to be adjusted. When you have a change, you need to name it, and many companies have a set of changes you can use. It would be helpful if there were more space in TOPdesk to name the change or use metadata to record the kinds of changes."
"One of the disadvantages of TOPdesk is the reporting tool. It is very poor and not in real-time. You do not always receive the correct information."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a subscripted needed to use Clarity SM. The price of the solution could be less expensive. ServiceNow is less expensive and BMC Helix is priced similar to Clarity SM."
"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."
"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."
"Clarity offers a perpetual license. Customers purchase the license once and then pay for maintenance. CA provides a subscription model as well. Both models are available for our customers."
"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."
"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"
"There are three fee options to choose from for a company and these options compared to market prices are very high. For example, if I use one of the first options for 10 assets, then it costs 20,000 Euros. If you went to competitors, then you pay less."
"The cost of the solution on a yearly basis is $20,000. Technical support is not extra. It's included in the yearly cost. Updates are also included. The solution is good at keeping its product up to date."
"Compared to other products in this segment, I think that they are priced well and not too expensive."
"The solution is inexpensive compared to competitors."
"TOPdesk's pricing is cheaper than Jira's."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise66
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TOPdesk?
The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive.
What needs improvement with TOPdesk?
From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement, as some tasks like creating or moving a knowledge item within the library require many steps instead of simple actions like drag and drop. This...
What is your primary use case for TOPdesk?
I use Topdesk to change the way we deliver our services in HR to the business. Instead of writing an email to a particular person or visiting their desk, I ask employees to raise a ticket for servi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

CA Service Desk Manager, Clarity Service Management, CA Service Management, Unicenter Service Desk, CA SDM, CA Service Catalog, CA Business Service Insight
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco G&T Continental City of Perth, FEMSA, Fujitsu, Manpower, Muslim Commercial Bank - MCB, Punjab National Bank, Santa Clara County Social Services, Stefanini
City of Amsterdam, University of Edinbroughm, IKEA, KLM Catering Services, FloraHolland, BOVAG, PostNL, Total, Hilton, Oce, Canon, Agip, Compass Group, Serco, Danone, BMW, Eneco, And many more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Clarity SM vs. TOPdesk and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.