ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Service Desk comparison

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs. SolarWinds Service Desk

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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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Mostafiz Miah

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.

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Vaibhav Patkar

CISO at Orient Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Improved service requests and network monitoring have increased efficiency but integration needs work

SolarWinds Service Desk is a recognized product across the world and a dependable product. Kaseya is somewhat dated, and SolarWinds Service Desk has better connectivity in terms of superior integration facilities compared to Kaseya. Additionally, SolarWinds Service Desk offers multiple options within the same tool, including ITSM as well as NOC and network monitoring capabilities. SolarWinds Service Desk has much greater acceptability in the market and a wide range of implementations and integrations with various tools and applications. Life becomes simpler when choosing a standard product, whereas Kaseya may not be as highly regarded in the market. SolarWinds Service Desk may have some flaws, but work is being done to address them. SolarWinds Service Desk is an affordable product. SolarWinds Service Desk is suitable for all customers ranging from small to enterprise. There are some small customers, and the primary usage is within the company itself, and then as customers require it, access can be provided to them.

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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

"We realized a return on investment with Automation Anywhere, especially during the COVID surge in volume within the payment process."

"Automation Anywhere can grow alongside our automation needs."

"All RPA tools used in the market have similar features and aspects that can be developed, however, specifically for Automation Anywhere, the ready-to-use templates which can be used as plug and play are a great feature."

"Since it is AI-powered, it automates our work; initially, we had many manual interventions, but now with the AI-powered capabilities, we are saving time and our productivity has increased."

"The most valuable features of Automation Anywhere are Excel, periods, database, and email action."

"The advantage of Automation Anywhere is that you don't necessarily have to come from a programming background."

"The Object Cloning command is the most useful feature. Through the use of this command, between 30% and 40% of the process automation is complete."

"On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"Referring to its on-premises deployment, it is easy to use and easy to deploy."

"ServiceDesk Plus stands out due to its ease of implementation."

"It is good, and it meets our needs."

"It was easy to implement. I didn't have a hard time. It was very quick, around 10 to 20 minutes."

"Subscription licensing includes technical support and all the features at no additional cost, and Perpetual licensing requires annual maintenance of about 15% of the initial cost."

"The platform's most beneficial features are incident management, change management, request management, and asset management."

"We not only handle tickets, but also requests from many departments. All are easy to manage."

"There are a lot of great templates that you can take advantage of."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pros

"What I appreciate the most about the product is that, as per the name given, it brings better visibility to the client in terms of their infrastructure, application, and performance."

"The solution is very stable."

"SolarWinds Service Desk is a recognized product across the world and a dependable product."

Cons

"I suggest increasing assistance from support personnel."

"Cost is the biggest area in need of improvement for Automation Anywhere. Annually it's $250,000."

"Their support also needs improvement."

"For my organization specifically, the challenge is with Automation Anywhere upgradation. We have more than 100 bots that were developed five years ago."

"AI would enable improved automation and faster training times that would be reduced from one month to one week."

"I would suggest adding more fields while calling in API. There is no option to generate Authentication token within the Bot."

"We want it to work with more APIs. It needs to integrate with multiple APIs. That would be something that I would like going forward."

"If you were to come to me and ask for an OCR to be done, I could only guarantee you about eighty percent accuracy."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"As a partner, their technical support can respond better to the tickets."

"Its reporting can be improved. It can have better analytics reports. Even though they provide integration with another tool called Analytics Plus to get those reports, it would be quite helpful to have them on the fly and out of the box. A lot of improvement is required in change management and release management. Their change management module is quite simple, and they need to do a lot of work on the change management module. The release management is out only on the cloud. It is not available in on-premises deployments. In the next release, I would like it to have effective project management. They do provide the project management and contracts management modules, but these modules need a bit of improvement."

"The self-service feature for end users and the knowledge base need to be improved."

"New features may be introduced as add-ons, which could require additional payments from users to access these new functionalities."

"I think asset management took a hit recently."

"The only issue for us is the pricing, which is quite high in comparison with the competition."

"The solution has all the features, but it is not clear. The UI and UX need to be improved because it is not easy to configure on the go."

"I would like to see a clearer distinction between ManageEngine Cloud, ServiceDesk Plus, and ManageEngine Enterprise. That way, choosing the best one is better informed. Initially, I struggled to understand the difference, but I figured it out later."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus cons

"The integration with other applications can use improvement because, for example, it was nearly impossible to integrate SolarWinds Service Desk with monday.com because we had to get an add-on from Zapier."

"The only additional features I would like to see in the future, to make it closer to perfection, are intelligent features that are currently being developed on the cloud platform and not on the on-premise model."

"The primary concern so far is the integration part because of the APIs; this is the main area of concern."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using that Automation Anywhere Master Certification for version 11. Recently, this has been updated in Automation Anywhere University. Until this month, it's free to use. There are no charges. That's why I would like to complete it this month."

"UiPath is exceptionally more expensive than Automation Anywhere. UiPath is far ahead of its competition, but in terms of finances, Automation Anywhere offers better value and is more effective for organizations seeking cost-effective solutions."

"The solution's pricing is pretty decent."

"Its cost is good."

"We brought onshore a lot of what we were doing offshore, saving our company close to $20 million."

"The current pricing for Automation Anywhere seems a little higher compared to competitors Power Automate or UiPath. Automation Anywhere is perceived as pricey due to the support model charges ranging from 20% to 30% based on the plans."

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

"The initial setup and licensing fees are high, and although it saves costs in the long run, reaching the break-even point can take at least six months."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"When I compared it with a similar product, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus was $2,000 cheaper."

"I am using the free edition of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus. There are different versions available, such as professional."

"As compared to a lot of systems out there, it is more affordable."

"For 90 service agents and our need for a cloud solution with incident management and service request management, it annually costs around 12,000. If you need additional development or deployment support from the vendor, there might be an additional cost."

"The tool's price is okay and in line with other products, maybe even cheaper than some products."

"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus' price is very reasonable."

"The price of the solution is low. However, it still could be less expensive."

"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."

More ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Answers from the Community

Khalid Qureshi

Program Architect at Afiniti.com

Dec 9, 2021

Which one to choose to update our asset management: SolarWinds Service Desk or ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

HI @Khalid Qureshi, There are many products in the market for Asset Management with ITIL-complaint features to manage the complete Asset Life cycle. Like Symphony Summit AI. Manage Engine Service Desk Plus are the ones used by me at many organizations which have delivered the requirement the customers needed in terms of the asset lifecycle, license management, warranty management, etc.

See 2 answers

Shibu Babuchandran

Regional Manager/ Service Delivery Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Dec 9, 2021

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Evgeny Belenky

Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Dec 9, 2021

Hi @Mykola Shved, @Anand Khandelwal and @ManishRajora, can you please chime in with your professional advice?

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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

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	161
Midsize Enterprise	82
Large Enterprise	558

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	20

No data available

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...

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Service Desk?

The primary concern so far is the integration part because of the APIs; this is the main area of concern. Currently, ...

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Service Desk?

SolarWinds Service Desk is used for ITSM and network monitoring purposes. The major use cases being utilized are from...

What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Service Desk?

I think the pricing of SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability is now comparative and suited to our business model, whi...

UiPath Platform vs Automation Anywhere

Comparisons

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Compared 2% of the time

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Automation Anywhere

Download Automation Anywhere product report

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Download ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus product report

Download SolarWinds Service Desk product report

SolarWinds Service Desk

August 2026

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

ManageEngine

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

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is an ITIL-compliant tool designed for IT help desk and incident management. It offers user-friendly ticketing, automation, and integration features, assisting businesses in effective IT service management.

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus provides comprehensive solutions for ticketing, automation, and integration with third-party tools. Its features include project, change, and asset management, which are essential for streamlining IT operations. The intuitive interface supports both technical and non-technical users. The platform's reporting, SLA management, and CMDB functions significantly enhance business operations. Despite its strengths, there are areas for improvement, such as customization and integration capabilities. Users often seek better automation for active and asset management, enhanced search functionality, and improved security.

What are the key features of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

Ticketing System: Facilitates efficient issue tracking and resolution.
Automation: Allows the creation of automated workflows to reduce manual effort.
Customizability: Enables tailoring of the platform to fit specific business needs.
Integration: Seamless connectivity with third-party tools for enhanced functionality.
Project Management: Supports planning and execution of IT projects.
Change Management: Helps in managing IT service changes systematically.
Asset Management: Tracks and manages IT assets effectively.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?

Improved Efficiency: Streamlined workflows and processes save time and resources.
Enhanced Communication: Facilitates better interaction within IT departments.
Operational Visibility: Reporting and metrics provide insights into IT operations.
Flexibility: Customization options help tailor the system to specific requirements.
Security Enhancement: Regular updates enhance system security and data protection.

Industries implement ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus to address specific challenges such as IT help desk management and asset tracking. Companies use the platform to log incidents, automate workflows, and ensure compliance with ITIL standards, supporting effective management of daily operations, system auditing, and improved client interaction.

ManageEngine

SolarWinds Service Desk provides IT service management capabilities designed to streamline service delivery and enhance the efficiency of IT operations, catering to a knowledgeable audience looking for effective IT solutions.

It offers comprehensive functionality for IT service management. Utilizing automation and advanced analytics, it improves workflow management and incident resolution times. With cloud-based architecture, it ensures easy access and scalability. Features enable effective tracking, reporting, and management, making it a sought-after choice for IT teams seeking efficient service management.

What are the most important features of SolarWinds Service Desk?

Incident Management: Streamlines the resolution process to manage incidents efficiently.
Service Catalog: Allows customization of service offerings to meet specific requirements.
Automation: Automates routine tasks to boost operational productivity.
Change Management: Facilitates controlled change processes with risk assessment capabilities.
Asset Management: Provides detailed tracking and management of IT assets.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from SolarWinds Service Desk?

Reduced Downtime: Minimizes service interruptions, improving operational continuity.
Cost Efficiency: Lowers operational costs through optimized workflows and automation.
Scalability: Grows with business needs, supporting evolving requirements.
Enhanced Productivity: Increases team efficiency with a streamlined service management framework.
Improved Satisfaction: Boosts end-user satisfaction with prompt service delivery and resolution.

In industries such as healthcare and education, SolarWinds Service Desk is implemented to improve compliance and service quality. IT departments benefit from its flexible workflows that adhere to specific sector regulations. Customizable features cater to specific requirements, ensuring effective service management across different sectors.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

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

Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates

Information Not Available

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs. SolarWinds Service Desk