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Freshservice vs ServiceNow 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Freshservice offers significant ROI benefits with improved efficiency, though costs and user management are concerns for some regions.
Sentiment score
7.0
Organizations experience varied ROI from ServiceNow, often seeing efficiency gains and cost savings, but face adoption challenges.
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Freshservice support is responsive and professional, but users note occasional navigation issues and delays in problem resolution.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow excels in customer service responsiveness, but technical support quality varies, particularly with complex issues, prompting community reliance.
However, they have improved over the period of two years.
We had a good experience with customer service, receiving a positive response from technical support.
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
I rate the technical support of ServiceNow as a nine on a scale of one to ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Freshservice offers scalable, cloud-based IT solutions with flexible licensing, though customization may be limited for larger enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow excels in scalable cloud infrastructure, supporting smooth expansions across organizations by following best practices and upgrading hardware.
Freshservice is easy to use for scalability.
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Freshservice is stable and reliable, with minor glitches addressed efficiently, ensuring robust performance and high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow is highly stable with excellent uptime, strong support, and impressive reliability, though scalability issues occur with heavy customizations.
Freshservice is quite stable as they host it on AWS.
Freshservice provides a stable environment for our needs.
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
I rate the stability of ServiceNow as a nine on a scale of one to ten.
ServiceNow is already a stable tool.
 

Room For Improvement

Freshservice faces issues with reporting, project management, customization, integration, asset management, support features, and performance for large users.
ServiceNow needs pricing, usability, and support enhancements, including better documentation, UI, integration, and global support for improvement.
There's limited experience with the CMDB or asset management features.
Asset management can definitely be improved because it doesn't pick up every single device on the network or every single piece of information.
There is a need for improvement in terms of automatic escalation to the next level if an issue is not resolved.
From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have.
Their customer support could make it a great solution, not just product support but also their relationship with partners and training initiatives in different regions.
The initial setup of ServiceNow was easy for me, and I can easily access the knowledge base, pass tickets to another team through internal notes, and each individual will get a personal email when a ticket is placed into their queue.
 

Setup Cost

Freshservice provides transparent, flexible pricing options praised for competitiveness, though considered expensive by some, ideal for various enterprise solutions.
ServiceNow's pricing is higher due to licensing complexity, requiring negotiation for better deals despite unlimited end-users being supported.
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
We pay a certain amount annually for the number of users, and as users increase, the cost increases.
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
 

Valuable Features

Freshservice offers incident management, automation, asset management, customization, scalability, ITIL compliance, with user engagement via Freshchat and APIs.
ServiceNow enhances IT operations with flexible integration, customization, and modules, offering efficiency, automation, and seamless cloud-based upgrades.
Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it easy to use for our enterprise-level company.
The most valuable features include ticket routing, automation in triage, data control, and flat licensing.
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.
 

Categories and Ranking

Freshservice
Ranking in Help Desk Software
8th
Ranking in IT Asset Management
6th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Project Management Software (12th), Cloud Management (15th)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Ranking in IT Asset Management
1st
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
219
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Freshservice is 4.6%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 23.9%, down from 27.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Trilochana Gouda - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth incident management and easy to use while needing better escalation management
We are using Freshservice for the IT ticketing system for business users We use the ticketing system primarily, which is very easy to use for all users. Freshservice is helpful, especially in incident management. Incident management is very helpful, and the system is straightforward, making it…
Somnath Kand - PeerSpot reviewer
Custom integration and reporting lead to efficient ticket management
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow. Although there are child incidents or tickets, tracking primary issues or bugs within enhancements is not present. The reporting features in the new portal could be more user-friendly. While it provides options to minimize chart and image sizes, actual implementation doesn't always reflect these changes.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Freshservice?
The solution has been very helpful engineering insights into the client's environment. We have been able to manage calls and incidence very efficiently which provides us with a clear understanding...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Freshservice?
The solution offers flat licensing and appears to be cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Freshservice?
There is a need for improvement in terms of automatic escalation to the next level if an issue is not resolved. It should optimize and allow customization. Additionally, asset management needs impr...
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...
What do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Western Carriers, Judson University, Golf Canada, Travix, Proxama, Paymentez, Ready Auto Transport
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Find out what your peers are saying about Freshservice vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.