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

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs OpenText Service Manager [EOL] comparison

Why PeerSpot?
Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.9
Number of Reviews
661
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)
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (4th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (3rd)
OpenText Service Manager [EOL]
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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.
Mostafiz Miah - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Presales & Technical Lead at Elitbuzz Technologies Ltd
Automation has transformed daily request handling and now tracks every customer interaction
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus helps my team manage and resolve requests compared to previous methods as we previously managed things through paperwork and diaries. After deploying ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whenever any customer request comes, we provide the customer a product demo if they ask about the products. We then convert that request to a lead, which is converted to a demo, and then to the product POC, allowing us to follow up every stage of the requests. Everything can be tracked from ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whether at the closing stage or the initial stage. I use ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus daily in a unique way because previously everyone managed their own tracking system through their diary, but now everyone inputs data into this solution so that at the end of the day, we can get reports on how many leads we have taken care of and when they need to be taken care of. This information is visible from the ServiceDesk tool, and using the dashboard, we can easily identify it, providing an at-a-glance view. The best features ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers for my team include automating manual tasks, which allows whatever tasks we previously did manually to be converted into automatic tasks. Currently, they have also introduced Zia, a very helpful solution for us. Using Zia, we can search for anything, not only inside the tool but also outside, integrating it with ChatGPT and Teams, and it can integrate with other ManageEngine solutions as well as solutions such as Jira and ServiceNow. When we integrate our network monitoring solutions with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, it automatically raises an incident ticket and assigns it to the right team whenever any incident has occurred, which saves us time and reduces manual tasks. Previously, we had to communicate to the right people through mail or phone calls after an incident, but now the incidents are automatically converted and assigned to the relevant support groups along with the SLA. The integration with Teams allows us to raise tickets without logging into the portal, and we can see the ticket status and add comments through Teams, which is very helpful. Additionally, mail integration can automatically convert emails into tickets, adding further efficiency. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has positively impacted our organization, particularly in customer satisfaction. Previously, customers managed service requests, incidents, changes, and problems manually, but after integration, most of these processes are automated. This includes change requests that now follow a workflow based on organizational needs and ITIL best practices, making tracking incidents and requests much easier for end customers through scheduled reports.
MEKKAB Raouf - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Service Manager & Technology Integration DevOps at Djezzy
Excellent pricing with great change management and service management capabilities
We started with version 9.3, and now we're on 9.6 with the full solution, including the CMS. They have lots of options. They propose a full solution for technology and IT service management. We are a telecom company. We are a leader in the market, and therefore, we need to have all details about our own environment and assets. So far, Micro Focus answers all our needs. I'd advise new users to go directly to the SMAX solution, the last, last version of Service Manager. If they are a technical company or information technology company with engineers and developers, they can use it on-premise. If they don't have such competence in the company, they can ask for the solution on the cloud. It is easily available on Microsoft, Amazon, or Google clouds. I'd rate the product nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The marketing automation software provides easy workflow creation and management."
"A good example is a process that we automated where, on that specific process, the return on investment is above 30,000 percent."
"Automation Anywhere brings speed with accuracy; we are replacing a lot of manual work that our agents used to do, this has been automated now, and we get things done faster."
"We did not encounter any stability issues with Automation Anywhere during the time I worked with the solution."
"We have more than 50 bots in the company, the FTE and ROI are very good, and in the future we have many projects in pipeline that we are about to implement, so definitely there is a good ROI and FTE savings for us."
"Automation Anywhere has had a huge impact in my organization, especially in saving time and compliance-related process automation by reducing errors drastically and ensuring quick processing of requests with proper logs available for the audit team."
"We are saving almost four FTEs, and it is far better in terms of savings."
"With Automation Anywhere, it has become very easy for us to do invoice billing. It has saved us about 80% of the time."
"The most valuable features are project management, change management, and the flow according to the mail chain."
"It is good, and it meets our needs."
"Even though I haven't been able to test other products and I've used a very old version of ManageEngine, I still think it met our requirements and that it has everything that we need to work as an IT department."
"ManageEngine provides additional modules that we can integrate in the future."
"ServiceDesk Plus helps eliminate confusion of what hardware, software, and users are impacted during a DR or scheduled maintenance."
"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is change management."
"The product scales up effortlessly and you can easily add users."
"It's very easy to customize the tool to your business needs."
"It has an intuitive front end which allows us to roll out good customer end user experiences."
"The solution will streamline productivity and also improve automation, bringing efficiency as well as the ability to handle a big number of enterprise-wide service needs, with productivity and collaborative capabilities being some of the key benefits."
"It integrates well with multiple Management Information Bases (MIB's)."
"Sometimes, customization is simple. The version we are using now has a nice interface."
"Technical support is absolutely very good."
"We mostly use it as a platform for our service desk to streamline and optimize."
"Technical support is pretty good."
"So far, Micro Focus answers all our needs."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more stability around scheduling a bot to run headless."
"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."
"The main issue I identify is that the cost of the enterprise-scale license and add-ons can be a barrier for small businesses."
"The initial setup was quite complex. We have faced an issue. During the initial implementation stages, it took longer than we expected. It affected our timelines to a certain extent."
"We are not getting consistent behavior from the tool We would like to see this improved and the product more stable."
"Automation Anywhere is headed in the right direction but they still have a good way to go."
"In the learning track, I was looking at the latest feature which is coming in A2019, which is very nice, because it is a web-based. So, we can do our development while sitting from anywhere. We don't need any type of installation. It's a web-based. Nowadays, everyone has the Internet."
"The solution should include an analytics dashboard. As the space is maturing, many vendors sell functionalities as separate components so this is not unique to the solution."
"It is sometimes a bit slow. If it can have a quicker response time, it would be good for users, service desk engineers, and technicians. For service requests, they don't have an SLA for each priority. For a service request, the SLA of response or resolution is only one irrespective of the priority. SLA should be different for each priority. For a ticket, there is no response SLA for the service request. For resolution SLA, that is, P1, P2, P3, or whatever you define, you still have the same SLA. It should be different."
"Currently, I cannot configure more than one point of contact. I have the MSP version, and we have around 80 or 90 customers. I don't see the features where I can configure multiple contact points for a customer so that they're notified when we are having an outreach or when we want to send them a planned maintenance notification. Other things that are lacking are mapping SLAs with vendors and mapping back on the tickets."
"The UI for the app needs improvement."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus could improve by offering a user-friendly environment similar to ServiceNow."
"The reporting capabilities are not as good as Ivanti's. So, ManageEngine could certainly improve on that."
"I expected more features than it has. The flexibility is missing. I also was expecting a different level of configuration and segregation."
"The interface is not the best. The user interface could be more intuitive."
"Some of the features which are currently available in the cloud version can be made available with the on-premise editions."
"We aren't able to take emails that come in and turn them into tickets, especially when it comes to attachments. When an email has an attachment, like a screenshot, it is a very cumbersome process, and it does not work very well. I shouldn't have been paying technicians to cut and paste attachments from an email into the ticketing system. It should do that automatically. Other solutions are able to do that. This is something that needs to be improved. Test manager and knowledge management areas are probably amongst the worst parts of this solution. We try to use this solution for knowledge management, but it is not user-friendly. Therefore, it has limited ROI as you need to spend time to try and fully capitalize on the knowledge management system."
"It needs good integration with the configuration database, that's lacking at the moment, It's not that good."
"I think it brings uncertainty, and they're well aware of that."
"I don't see anything lacking."
"We had quite a lot of issues with stability and the quality of the product so far."
"Part of our reason for moving away from Service Manager is that HP was not on the leading edge of the technology and was consequently being surpassed by SaaS offerings."
"Same, it wasn't always stable. Actually, I wouldn't call it stable now either."
"On the downside, it cannot really operate in the cloud; but other than that, everything is good."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We brought onshore a lot of what we were doing offshore, saving our company close to $20 million."
"The cost is at the highest end of the spectrum."
"There is an annual subscription for Automation Anywhere."
"Initially, they charged a premium, but now the rest of the vendors have increased their overall pricing and Automation Anywhere is not that high at this time. It's pretty viable."
"They have a ridiculously expensive bot licensing structure, especially for the Asian region."
"Automation Anywhere is competitive... Pega is somewhat comparable, but Pega also requires a lot more infrastructure and a lot more experience to get up and running."
"The Automation Anywhere license is affordable and not complex."
"We would like them to change the license model of charging per bot."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has reasonable pricing because my colleagues mentioned that the solution is more cost-effective than the previous one the company used."
"It is cheaper than the competitors."
"Pricing can always be improved and made more affordable."
"I am using the free edition of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus. There are different versions available, such as professional."
"It is cheaper than its competitors."
"The cost of licensing is approximately ten dollars per suite, per month. When scaling up, there are a lot of other expenses such as infrastructure, the telecommunication companies, etc."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The prices are attractive. Customer can use a subscription if they do not have enough budget."
"HP Service Manager has moderate pricing."
"I would say that identify your requirements and pay for the support to implement and test those requirements, and then hope that you did a good job because the cost of their service is fairly expensive."
"The license is not cheap."
"Micro Focus Service Manager is a little cheaper than other options. You have to pay a monthly subscription fee."
"I pay for Service Manager on a yearly basis, and the price is reasonable - I would rate it five out of ten."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions are best for your needs.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Construction Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business161
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise558
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise38
 

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 ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
Regarding pricing, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers three editions: Standard edition, Professional, and Enterpris...
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
The biggest friction point or frustration I have run into with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is the upgrade risk and ...
What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
My main use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is that we are receiving tickets from multiple users regarding iss...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
No data available
Micro Focus Service Manager, HPE ITSM, HPE Service Manager
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates
resultspositive, Globicon
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.