Freshdesk vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

Freshworks and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Freshworks is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1, while SolarWinds is ranked #31. Additionally, 93% of Freshworks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Freshdesk and SolarWinds Web Help Desk are customer support solutions. Freshdesk seems to have the upper hand with its ease of use and budget-friendly pricing, while SolarWinds stands out with robust IT management features.

Features: Freshdesk offers AI-driven automation, multichannel support, and seamless integrations with other business applications. It supports diverse customer interaction methods. SolarWinds Web Help Desk, on the other hand, excels in customizable ticketing solutions, asset management, and advanced reporting tools which are essential for IT infrastructure management.

Room for Improvement: Freshdesk could improve in ticketing customization, enhancing visual customization of the knowledge base, and improving scalability for larger operations. SolarWinds Web Help Desk could reduce the complexity of its setup, offer more cloud-based features, and improve user-friendliness for non-IT staff.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Freshdesk is a cloud-based solution that facilitates quick setup, making it great for businesses requiring a simple online solution. Its ease of access is complemented by helpful support resources. SolarWinds Web Help Desk provides a more robust deployment with on-premises or hybrid models, suiting organizations with specific IT security needs, though it requires more technical setup.

Pricing and ROI: Freshdesk employs a transparent pricing model with lower upfront costs, which is advantageous for organizations on a budget, promising a faster ROI due to its quick deployment. SolarWinds Web Help Desk, although potentially more expensive initially due to customization and setup, offers significant long-term value in large IT environments with its comprehensive management features.

To learn more, read our detailed Freshdesk vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Freshdesk vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

August 2026

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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

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

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.

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Gauri Thakur

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.

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GANESAN K

Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited

Has supported daily operational workflows and improved approval management across departments

We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does impact reducing IT staff workload overall. From technical standpoints, comparing SolarWinds Web Help Desk with TeamViewer, we need ease of configuration and ease of allocating, creating new fields or creating new layouts for many specific use cases. An organization can have a number of use cases when it comes to a ticketing tool. It's not a security solution; it's more of a service solution where you will be configuring the needed categories and needed fields for each department. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SolarWinds Web Help Desk an 8.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Comparing to other products in the market, we are getting all the features in hundred percent quality with what the objective needs to be met by other products, and that is also delivered in Automation Anywhere."

"One of the benefits my organization has seen from these features is productivity in two ways: I am able to save a lot of time because of the automation, I do not need manual intervention anymore as manual intervention has been cut down by ten to fifteen percent, and the productivity gains have been substantial."

"The document management processes that IQ Bot gives has very good functionality of how you can actually take unstructured data and make sense out of it, connecting inferences, then making the data available to the user. So, IQ Bot is one of the best tools that I can think of in that aspect. This solves the problem of various document structures, document formats, etc."

"The technical support is something that I rely on if I have any queries or if I have to work on another alternate approach."

"The most valuable feature is its Excel integration."

"Many tasks take a long time for a person to do them. Automation Anywhere enables us to do those jobs in less time."

"They've now included the code so we can add some additional code, and that's good."

"It is one of the popular RPA vendors offering powerful & user-friendly RPA capabilities to automate any complex tasks. It is one of the "Revolutionary Technology" that changes the way the enterprise operates. This tool combines conventional RPA with intellectual elements like natural language understanding and reading any unstructured data."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"It generated reports for us, which helped us identify the status of requests and the aging of requests."

"Freshdesk has positively impacted my organization to an extraordinary extent; I cannot find the words to express how much it helps our workforce."

"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."

"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."

"Freshdesk offers way more flexibility, the people there are really dedicated and human, they want you to be happy with the product, and it is much more affordable than Zendesk."

"The most valuable features of Freshdesk are the automation of tickets to assign them to different agents, and the managing of documents is easy."

"It is quite easy to program custom apps and integrate them."

"Freshdesk's requirement for appending resolution details before allowing ticket closure ensures the automatic creation of a knowledge base."

More Freshdesk pros

"SolarWinds is a very good application that provides you with a detailed monitoring capability of your network and assets."

"SolarWinds is scalable as far as adding devices and servers."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the assets management module."

"The solution scales well; currently is working for 60 help desk technicians (IT and non-IT) for over 2,000 users."

"A person who is not in IT, but has some good ITSM knowledge will be able to configure it directly on SolarWinds, and Manage Engine."

"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."

"SolarWinds supports case and incident reporting. This includes logging incidents and tracking them efficiently. Additionally, it is compatible and approved by the ITIL foundation and standards, meeting world-class standards."

"It has a pretty good search function. If you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field. If I do a search on the request field and just put in some terms I'm searching for, I can usually find the ticket that I'm looking for."

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk pros

Cons

"Product support for our customers needs improvement. They should increase the support personnel."

"I would also like to see better communication with their customer success teams. It often takes longer than expected when we submit requests for help or come across a problem we want to resolve. While I can appreciate that it sometimes takes a while to get the appropriate answer, it would be nice to be in constant communication about where they are in the process."

"The assign value function is not there in the A2019 Community edition, which makes it hard for a developer to manipulate the data."

"Automation Anywhere has some limitation with its integrations. You can build your logic with MetaBots and .NET components, e.g., if something is not gathered by Automation Anywhere or built into functionality, you can write a MetaBot. A MetaBot is like an external component. You can write it through C# or .NET code, and make a DLL, and import it. This is not open to all data types or EXE functionalities which can be written through C#. You have to define your variable types, matching them with Automation Anywhere existing variable types. Because of the knowledge required, I cannot let another person, who doesn't know Automation Anywhere, build my external DLL code."

"We have had issues with stability in the past, and there should be a function that helps you to find out what is wrong with your environment that is causing the automation to fail."

"They can provide more features for desktop application automation. They don't have extensive capabilities for automating desktop applications."

"They could improve around continuous integration, e.g., Jenkins and GitHub, stating how you could use those products and integrating them into Automation Anywhere."

"If it had the ability to make decisions in complex situations, the bot would perform more smoothly. More advanced decision-making skills are needed for improvement."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"The billing issues I have with Freshdesk are in terms of additional users getting subscribed without my intervention."

"I would like on-the-go translation,"

"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."

"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."

"Technical support is not the best. It could be much, much better and offer better support to users."

"However, the challenging part comes from getting exactly what other departments needed from Freshdesk, especially the sales department, which requires good collaboration to extract the needed data."

"If Freshdesk had forms in it so that I could go to the portal and fill out a service request, that would improve it immensely and make it more valuable for enterprise customers, but that's not a current functionality. You can't have a certain catalog of any type. You can't be like, "Hey, I want to just go submit a ticket," and then type in. You can't prompt them to ask anything. It is just a blank form."

"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."

More Freshdesk cons

"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."

"However, it's a little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."

"This is a good solution, but the GUI is really old-fashion and needs to be updated."

"The working part, the deployment part, and the configuration part was a little bit complex."

"The program seems buggy to me. Not infrequently, when I click to add a Note, the Notes section disappears instead of opening a box to add a Note."

"The interface feels clunky to me compared to some other systems that I've used. I used ManageEngine Service Desk prior to this at my previous job and that had stuff like categories that we use that I don't see in SolarWinds."

"This solution needs to have mobile application support added."

"The technical team is not competent, or available, and they do not know the product."

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The ROI is really good. We have saved time and money."

"I am not responsible for the pricing part, but I know the pricing is competitive compared to other tools."

"I think the pricing is reasonable, but clients often perceive it as expensive."

"The licensing fees are approximately $10,000 USD for between five and ten users."

"Automation Anywhere's pricing is significantly higher than other RPA solutions."

"If I compare it with Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere is cheaper. Blue Prism is very costly. Automation Anywhere's pricing follows the market, not less and not more."

"We are a partner of Automation Anywhere and find the pricing to be reasonable."

"From my experience, I can say that the initial setup cost is easily recovered over a period of time once the bots start running in production."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"We use a licensing model only so we pay for the number of agents we have configured in the system only."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More Freshdesk pricing and cost advice

"When you compare with ManageEngine and ServiceNow, SolarWinds is reasonable."

"They charge by the technician. It costs $117 per technician per year."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	157
Midsize Enterprise	81
Large Enterprise	558

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

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...

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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...

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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.

See all answers

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...

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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...

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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...

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What needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

Areas of improvement can be enhanced regarding configuration. We had the deployment metrics and usability, ease of us...

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What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

For Zoho, we did OP Manager, Audit Security, AD Security and Asset Management, Patch Management. These things we are ...

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What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does i...

See all answers

Comparisons

UiPath Platform vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 9% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 6% of the time

AutomationEdge vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

WorkFusion vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

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ServiceNow vs Freshdesk

Compared 11% of the time

Zendesk vs Freshdesk

Compared 7% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Freshdesk

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs Freshdesk

Compared 4% of the time

IFS Cloud Platform vs Freshdesk

Compared 3% of the time

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ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 15% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 14% of the time

Zendesk vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 7% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 7% of the time

SysAid vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds Web Help Desk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

August 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

Freshdesk

August 2026

Download Freshdesk product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

July 2026

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

No data available

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

Freshworks

Demo not available

SolarWinds

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

Freshdesk enhances support operations with features like a centralized ticketing system, omnichannel communication, and seamless tool integration. It addresses customer queries and automates processes, driving efficiency and satisfaction.

Freshdesk offers robust capabilities for managing customer support, enhancing efficiency through automation and integration. Its streamlined ticketing system centralizes queries from multiple platforms, including email, chat, and social media. Features like a knowledge base help reduce repetitive inquiries, while its easy integration with tools such as Slack and Jira supports effective team collaboration. However, users seek improvements in customization flexibility, scalability, and pricing for advanced features. Performance issues may arise with high volumes, and there's room for improved API limits and cloud availability. Freshdesk's automation and communication abilities make it crucial for both internal IT and external customer service, ensuring seamless resolutions and SLA compliance.

What Features Stand Out in Freshdesk?

Ticketing System: Centralizes customer interactions for streamlined management.
Omnichannel Support: Integrates communication platforms for consistent service.
Automation: Reduces manual tasks, boosting efficiency.
Knowledge Base: Decreases repetitive inquiries with self-service resources.
Tool Integration: Connects seamlessly with platforms like Slack and Jira.
Analytics & Reporting: Tracks performance for informed decision-making.

What Benefits Should Users Look For?

Improved Efficiency: Automation and centralized systems enhance support speed.
Customer Satisfaction: Consistent and responsive service elevates user experience.
Scalability: Adapts to growing support needs with integrations and customization.
Reduced Manual Effort: Automates repetitive tasks, allowing focus on complex issues.

Freshdesk is widely adopted in industries like IT and customer service, where efficient issue resolution and communication are critical. By converting emails to tickets and automating assignments, companies enhance their response times and maintain SLA compliance. Its integration capabilities support diverse tools, facilitating a multi-channel approach for superior customer experiences.

Freshworks

SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers a streamlined approach to technical ticketing and asset management, enhancing departmental operations with efficient asset-user linking and automated scheduling.

Offering an intuitive interface for multiple roles, SolarWinds Web Help Desk enhances ticket management through automated scheduling. Integrating ticketing with remote support provides smooth transitions, while LDAP integration streamlines user permissions. It supports diverse departments, including non-IT sectors, providing detailed case management, reporting, and approval workflows.

What are the standout features of SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

Intuitive User Levels: Customizable interfaces for different roles enhance user experience.
Efficient Ticket Management: Automated scheduling aids in managing tickets effectively.
Comprehensive Asset Management: Links assets to users, improving resource tracking.
Advanced Search: Facilitates easy ticket retrieval and management.
Scheduled Report Generation: Uses Power BI for regular, detailed reports.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Streamlined Operations: Automates routine tasks, saving time and resources.
Enhanced Reporting: Detailed reports support data-driven decision-making.
Remote Support Integration: Smooth integration improves support team efficiency.
User and Asset Linkage: Increases asset usage visibility and accountability.

In industries like HR, cybersecurity, and maintenance, SolarWinds Web Help Desk is deployed on-premises, serving as a robust case management tool that supports both IT and non-IT departments' specific needs. It helps maintain departmental efficiency by managing technical tickets and supporting patch management workflows.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

Honda, 3M, Hugo Boss, Petronas, Sony Pictures, The Atlantic, goodreads, Clear Channel Radio, Penn University of Pennsylvania, unicef, Kuoni, Movember

Instacart

Buyer's Guide

Freshdesk vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

August 2026

Free Report: Freshdesk vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Find out what your peers are saying about Freshdesk vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

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