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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

"Automation Anywhere has improved our company a lot, because we are currently trying to leverage automation in different departments to allow employees to work where more human intervention is needed."
"In Automation Anywhere we liked the drag-and-drop and easily stitching the recording of mouse control and keyboard controls."
"The ease of use for the end user and the very low complexity in trying to build a bot are the big factors for us. We are able to work on a project, identify a use case, come up with a design spec, and execute and build a bot within a span of six to eight weeks. In nine to ten weeks, we are able to go live, which reduced complexity. Once we go live, the user interface and the user experience are extremely good."
"The most valuable feature of Automation Anywhere is the ease with which it integrates with our existing APIs."
"We have saved 60 to 70 percent on operations."
"The training and resources for this tool are very good, they are so simple that anyone can easily learn it, and one of the tool values is its ease of use."
"I like the OCR feature, where we can capture information from PDFs."
"We have automated every finance-based operation, from collections to invoice processing, and it has streamlined many manual processes, eliminating errors and inefficiencies while allowing us to introduce metrics so we can generate operational reports and improve our overall business."
"The search function is really good, and to have a single place where we have the account information stored is probably most valuable."
"I have used other ticketing systems and they have not been as solid as ConnectWise."
"All the features of ConnectWise Manage are valuable. However, ticketing, customer management, customer communication, technician efficiency, calendars, coding, billing, invoicing, and contract management are available. It's a complete solution. Additionally, the company is responsive with the ability to progress or make necessary changes happen."
"The initial setup isn't too difficult."
"We are able to use our ticket system to track any remediation of a device stored in our configurations."
"The platform is easy to use."
"ConnectWise lets us know when customers are looking at our quotes, so we know to reach out to them later."
"Contains every feature that a VAR or MSP would want."
"Ticket system - provides us with support tickets submitted by customers from various sources Sharing - team members can share progress of tickets"
"When it is the appropriate solution, Freshdesk is fantastic."
"Freshdesk has allowed us to measure and track the response and resolution time of tickets which has been reduced from seven to eight hours down to 30 minutes to one hour."
"Freshdesk is very easy to use, it is user-friendly, and users can access knowledge base articles."
"The feature that I have found most valuable is the way that it connects to various folders especially because we use it as a CRM tool, as we can connect it with our phones and our chat, and also with the API and have it as an email service, and Freshdesk just makes our life easier."
"Through chats we now connect with a bigger audience and satisfaction surveys have allowed us to know clients' points of view in a better way."
"The user experience on the platform itself is fantastic. The UI is clean and uncluttered, so it's easy to find any information about your customer or the issue at hand. You can find out the person responsible for that particular issue, what the problem is, who the stakeholders are, and how to resolve it. There are lots of tools that will help you do that as well."
"Freshdesk has positively impacted my organization to an extraordinary extent; I cannot find the words to express how much it helps our workforce."
 

Cons

"It is not as easy to implement as advertised. It is difficult across the board. It is difficult for technical and non-technical users."
"They sell every different functionality in too many separate packages, making the procurement process complicated as it requires paying additional licensing for more features."
"It's somewhat pricier than some of the other tools that we've used, and the breakout between the different applications is also somewhat costly."
"The product is good, no doubt about it, but we need the OCR for handwritten documents, the web-based solution, and the licensing has to be improved."
"It would be great if there will be a built-in machine learning model available in the AA, so the developer can directly map it with their task and train the model accordingly."
"The setup is complex because there is a lot of customization."
"AA has many features but the issue is with the loss of overhead on computing resources. For example, if the bot is encrypted, the bot should decrypt it first then act accordingly. If there are issues with the logic in the bot, there will be a lot of computer memory overload. There should be an additional feature for cloud functionality."
"We would like a smoother process for moving bots and tasks between the different development environments, from development to testing to production. We find this to be pretty cumbersome to work through."
"The UX for general users can be improved as the UI is quite clunky and complicated."
"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."
"Has a very outdated 90s interface and not all features are accessible via the mobile app."
"It needs to be easier to share tickets between users who need to work together."
"Sometimes it is a little bit slow, which is the only complaint I have about it."
"The only area of ConnectWise PSA that I find could be improved is in configuring everything, as we have to take help from support or raise a ticket with helpdesk@connectwise.com to get it forwarded."
"ConnectWise Manage can improve third-party integrations and the UI. The UI is good but it could improve in the graphics."
"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."
"Freshdesk has got an option where Facebook and Twitter posts can be transferred into the ticketing system. At the moment, we do not find it useful because it simply cannot pick the relevant customer service enquiries, it creates a ticket with every post."
"With the advancements in AI now, I will say Freshdesk should consider integrating more AI, but so far, I am satisfied with every single feature."
"There are some restrictions where you need automations and sometimes there is just no way to achieve what you need - but this is common with other tools."
"I would like to see a little bit more color in the solution."
"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."
"The dashboards are useful but could be so much better. As a product manager, and data scientist, we couldn't use the dashboard for analytics and had to move the data in Power BI."
"More automation would be beneficial, as it could greatly improve our efficiency and reduce manual tasks."
"I would like to be able to change the subject in emails for ourselves. If we could have the option to do that, it would improve our speed and the overall cleanliness of the CRM."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very good in terms of cost and pricing."
"AA comes at a more affordable price than the other tools."
"Our annual licensing costs for the entire company are $100,000."
"The pricing is reasonable and one can achieve ROI faster when compared to other tools."
"Automation Anywhere falls within a mid-range price point when compared to other RPA tools on the market."
"We're on a license package with Automation Anywhere (AA), paid yearly. What would be better is for them to have different packages for different types of organization."
"We have saved a lot of money on taxes based on the stuff that we run."
"We paid separately for the Runner and Creater components. The final cost depends on the structure of your environment."
"There are some different add-ons and benefits that are optional and come at an additional cost."
"The pricing of ConnectWise Manage is reasonable."
"We're paying $940 a month for 14 users."
"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."
"I have one monthly license for all of the ConnectWise products I use, and it's $85 per user."
"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."
"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."
"Freshdesk was the best solution with the best price. It was cost efficient and included all the features that we needed."
"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 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 use a licensing model only so we pay for the number of agents we have configured in the system only."
"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."
"It is costly."
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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.