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ConnectWise PSA vs Freshdesk comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
668
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (2nd), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
ConnectWise PSA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (16th), Business Management Software (1st), Professional Services Automation (PSA) (1st)
Freshdesk
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (3rd), Field Service Management (3rd), Help Desk Software (4th), Knowledge Management Software (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
SK
Associate Director at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Centralized alerts and ticketing have improved SLA compliance and guided infrastructure decisions
For system monitoring and the alert system within ConnectWise PSA, we find it very useful, and its critical alerts are very important for us for ISOs and SOC compliances. The ticketing follow-up system is good, and there are many features that are very good in ConnectWise PSA. We use the time tracking feature with ConnectWise PSA, specifically for SLAs. The time tracking feature helps us improve billing accuracy, as it is really useful in improving the SLA of the tickets. We have different SLAs for different customers, including those who need a response within one hour and those who need a solution in one hour. According to those customer requirements, we have set the SLAs on the platform, and we get alerts if a ticket is going to be nearing the SLA. With the help of that, we improve the turnaround time and achieve the SLAs up to 90 percent maximum. ConnectWise PSA's reporting tools help our decision-making process a lot because, at certain points, we must make critical calls on moving and rebuilding servers. We can see the number of tickets and analyze server performance to make decisions, so it helps in that way.
Gauri Thakur - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, Portfolio Projects at Microland Limited
Integrated support workflows have provided a unified view but need broader enterprise flexibility
Freshdesk's scalability could be improved for larger businesses across departments. Its intuitive interface is appealing for small to medium-sized businesses. However, when you look at larger enterprise levels, ServiceNow operates more efficiently. This scalability is an area where Freshdesk could expand its offerings. Additionally, I don't have too much hands-on experience with Freshdesk ticket routing. I need to check with the service desk team if they've used it. Similarly, for analytics capability, I haven't explored much on Freshdesk, but I have done it for ServiceNow. I have seen a lot on ServiceNow and the BMC Remedy, so I can speak better for them. I haven't had the chance to look at it so much that I can do a comparison. I haven't had much experience with Freshdesk's reporting. Within its paradigm of customer service management, Freshdesk is quite scalable. But I've said that inter-department and the interoperability is better off in ServiceNow than in Freshdesk.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very self-explanatory, making it easy for non-technical users to develop."
"One of the notable benefits we've realized from Automation Anywhere is a significant reduction in errors when processing data, which improves both revenue accuracy and operational efficiency."
"Most of the features are valuable."
"We're finding time savings as a benefit. One example would be a customer service rep who might get a question about an order, and it's usually through email. It can take a good three to seven business days to answer a customer's question about their order. When we automate it, it takes hours, if not minutes."
"This solution has gives us greater employee satisfaction because manual recurring work has been reduced."
"I'd say the most impactful and heavily or commonly used ability of v11 and A2019 has been the ability to integrate other code types and operations within the process."
"AA has helped to automate a complex Audit process, saving auditors from doing the mundane manual task of logging into multiple applications independently while the bot securely manages credentials, collects screenshots, builds PDFs, and reports results."
"Automation Anywhere is one of the leading RPA tool vendors and they have done splendid work on improving their tool."
"The most valuable features of ConnectWise Manage are that it is on the cloud and functions well."
"The most valuable feature is the management of projects from start to finish."
"My tool to manage my devices and my tool for ticketing are all in one."
"Pretty much our whole company runs through ConnectWise Manage."
"The few times I've had to call, when I first joined the company, support was always excellent, professional, courteous, friendly, and efficient, and they always resolved my issue or answered my questions."
"It's a nice ticketing system."
"I also like ConnectWise's ability to set up queries. I can set up all these different queries that look for specific things and end up with a list of results, like feedback from the client or the ticket status."
"The search function is really good, and to have a single place where we have the account information stored is probably most valuable."
"Technical support is outstanding."
"While using Freshdesk for their ticket management solution for reaching out to the end users, we are transferring a large part of that to the central team which is operating through ServiceNow, so everything which is flowing there ultimately flows into ServiceNow to give a 360-degree view of how well the support is running."
"I used Freshdesk for communication with the clients, such as real-time chats."
"Freshdesk has positively impacted our organization by improving our customer relationships."
"Freshdesk significantly improved our customer issue resolution process. We can now easily record and track all customer requests, ensuring that no tickets are lost."
"It's easy to use and integrates with other tools. We can embed Jira into it, link Jira tickets with Freshdesk tickets, and use it for our knowledge base."
"It generated reports for us, which helped us identify the status of requests and the aging of requests."
"Freshdesk has played a huge role in allowing me to deliver solutions to my customers in a fast, timely fashion, which is why it rates high in my books."
 

Cons

"Automation Anywhere could improve by better integrating with DevOps. Currently, it cannot be integrated 100% with DevOps methodology, which many companies are requiring."
"Automation Anywhere has some limitations."
"Automation Anywhere could be improved by staying more current with Microsoft products through packages."
"In the version that we have, there are some challenges with the browser-based applications, the cloning of the objects, and the solution's stability."
"On the user side, we have seen issues with user training."
"It would be helpful if Device Credentials can sync with Active Directory so that for the IT policy case that requires periodic password resetting, there is no need for a human to input manually into each Bot Runner machine."
"Right now, we are using a VM with Automation Anywhere installed inside it, but it would be nice if the solution could be used on macOS."
"Their Community Edition is awful. Every second day, it will fail. It will become corrupt."
"A lot of times, it'll take a couple of moments for things to go through. If you're not patient about it, it may seem like things aren't working."
"The speed could be better, and the reporting could be a lot better."
"ConnectWise Manage can improve by having more integration with different software and have the process simple."
"It was a little complex. For example, figuring out what table in the setup tables contains the areas you would like to change is somewhat difficult."
"Reliability is definitely something that I have issues with, especially over a bad connection."
"Better documentation and access to the back end database would be nice."
"If you've got 40 tickets that come in, that get generated, that don't get properly tagged with the company, you can't just check them all and reassign them to another company. You have to individually reassign each one of those tickets to a new company."
"Their reporting options aren't great. BrightGauge was something that we added on, and that enhanced the experience."
"The solution's inbound calls could be improved."
"An area for improvement in Freshdesk would be enabling all features regardless of company or user size."
"I give it a seven because the usability is not bad, but it is not entirely out of the box; for the pricing, seven is an average score for the product."
"It would be helpful to pull reports or schedule them based on agents, users, ticket numbers, or responses."
"I face problems with stability sometimes while using Freshdesk. It's a server issue."
"There are a few things we have asked for, like a forward button. When a ticket comes in, we forward it, but it doesn't sync up with the forward. That is the one they have to rework. The other is when we forward the ticket, it doesn't go all, or certain things don't go with it. We have told them about it, and they are working on it. It would be better if they gave us a more standard reporting template. Although they already have some, many aren't usable. It would be easier if we had more templates to work with."
"Freshdesk I do not like as much. It's much more time-consuming; it's much more complicated."
"Freshdesk's scalability could be improved for larger businesses across departments."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They're very flexible around pricing and licensing."
"We were paying approximately $30,000 for a year license."
"It's justified because we have saved quite a bit of money at the company and many manual hours. Overall, it justifies the cost."
"They give us a good deal on the licensing because we bundle and customize things. If you ask to get a bulk business deal, you will receive more benefit. If you take other products from the suite, like IQ Bot, you can also receive a deal on the licensing."
"It is reasonable, but it can always be a little bit cheaper."
"As far as costs, it depends on your use. We started with a basic department pack, which is over 10K. The additional costs depend on the scale of the engagement and how it pans out. We customize to our needs on the go."
"When you compare the cost of Automation Anywhere with UiPath and Blue Prism, those others are much less. Licensing-wise, UiPath wins the deal."
"The solution is costly and the licensing is very confusing."
"The pricing is not based on my clients so much as it is on how many people I have accessing the system, and I think it's pretty good."
"There are some different add-ons and benefits that are optional and come at an additional cost."
"We're paying $940 a month for 14 users."
"The pricing of ConnectWise Manage is reasonable."
"I have one monthly license for all of the ConnectWise products I use, and it's $85 per user."
"The cost can be the main barrier. It's not a solution for a three person company. It just isn't going to be cost effective. Because ConnectWise Manage does have everything there, the licensing is a little bit restrictive as far as how they want to granularly assign licenses rather than having more of an all-inclusive package."
"We use a combination of Freshdesk, Freshservice, and Freshchat. We use the whole suite. Weirdly enough, we pay more for Freshdesk than we do for Freshservice. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of pricing. You can get different bundles, and you can always move to different plans that are standard. Freshservice can go anywhere from $19 up to $120 per agent, per month. There is such a wide range, and it is very customizable to your needs."
"We use a licensing model only so we pay for the number of agents we have configured in the system only."
"The best system plan is enterprise. It costs basically 79 Euros per agent per month when it's billed annually and 95 Euros per agent per month when it's billed monthly."
"We pay approximately $70 per agent to use Freshdesk. We have 10 agents, which is approximately $700 or $800 per month. It is a fixed license, there are not any additional fees."
"It is costly."
"It was definitely not expensive. It was two grand or maybe three grand total for a year. It has just straight and simple standard licensing fees. There is no additional fee."
"The pricing is pretty manageable and acceptable."
"The price could be better, but it's okay. Compared to ServiceNow and JIRA, Freshworks offers a competitive price. There are also additional licensing costs because you need Microsoft Outlook. Each new email account costs around $15 to $19."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Performing Arts
8%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business162
Midsize Enterprise86
Large Enterprise565
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ConnectWise Manage?
We are purchasing 1,000 seats per year, so I am aware of the pricing and we are getting it at a dealer's price. The p...
What needs improvement with ConnectWise Manage?
The only area of ConnectWise PSA that I find could be improved is in configuring everything, as we have to take help ...
What is your primary use case for ConnectWise Manage?
I have been working with ConnectWise PSA for the past four years, and we are using the platform for our ticketing sys...
What needs improvement with Freshdesk?
I think the main problem with Freshdesk is the deep settings, interface, and analytics. When you need complex cross-f...
What is your primary use case for Freshdesk?
My main use case for Freshdesk is customer support tickets. A specific example of how my team uses Freshdesk for cust...
What advice do you have for others considering Freshdesk?
My advice for others looking into using Freshdesk is to consider that compared to Zendesk or Salesforce, where the se...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
ConnectWise Manage
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
IT Connexx, High Standards Technology Inc, Solvere One, MyIT, ConnectWise, Simpatico Systems, Fred IT Group, ECS, OneStop, K2 Technologies, Clark Integrated Technologies, Jmark, Geek on Wheels
Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember
Find out what your peers are saying about ConnectWise PSA vs. Freshdesk and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.