ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

ServiceNow and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. ServiceNow is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while SolarWinds is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0. ServiceNow holds a 13.1% mindshare in HDS, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow

Read 224 ServiceNow reviews

22,688 Views
7,260 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Read 8 SolarWinds Web Help Desk reviews

784 Views
674 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

ServiceNow

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Service Now and SolarWinds Web Help Desk compete in the IT service management domain. ServiceNow has the upper hand with its robust platform suitable for large enterprises requiring extensive functionalities.

Features: ServiceNow provides advanced automation, customizable workflows, and a wide variety of integrations, supporting complex IT environments. SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers efficient ticket, asset, and change management, focusing on straightforward help desk features.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow can be resource-intensive, with a steep learning curve for new users. Its costs can be prohibitive for small businesses. While customizable, setup might be overwhelming without technical expertise. SolarWinds would benefit from broader integration capabilities. Its reporting features could be enhanced for more insights. The user interface could be made more intuitive for better user adoption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow uses cloud-based deployment with high configurability, which can consume time and resources but includes dedicated support. SolarWinds Web Help Desk offers an easier, often on-premises setup, which is quick to implement, aligning with organizations favoring straightforward integration.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow involves higher initial costs but offers a scalable solution for large IT service management demands, potentially increasing long-term ROI for large firms. SolarWinds provides a budget-friendly pricing structure, ideal for smaller to medium-sized businesses, offering value for core help desk functionalities without heavy expenditure.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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

ServiceNow

Ranking in Help Desk Software

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

224

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

15th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 13.1%, down from 24.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Web Help Desk is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ServiceNow	13.1%
SolarWinds Web Help Desk	1.2%
Other	85.7%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Shafqat Paracha

General Manager at sPerception IT

Adopting flexible workflows with customized automation delivers measurable benefits

There are things that I would like to see improved in ServiceNow, such as the pricing, as it is a very costly solution compared to other tools. Additionally, its presence in the local market is very limited; in Pakistan, for example, I don't see any vendor or distributor of ServiceNow available. They need to increase their sales spectrum globally so people can easily access them and engage them for client meetings and more. 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. When providing advice to users, I would suggest they consider making strategic decisions about their per user pricing since it is very high. In our region, people normally start with 5 to 10 users, but the per user price is quite steep. Moreover, ServiceNow does not charge based on data uploaded or downloaded, so they should reconsider their pricing and data policies to align better with the financial capabilities of the region.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's great for keeping everyone informed in the company - not just IT. Everyone becomes aware of change requests and incidents so the entire company is on the same page."

"I like ServiceNow's Workspace feature. With Jira, we had to edit a ticket by going into it. We couldn't perform edits from within the project plan. ServiceNow allows you to edit everything from one screen. It's like an Excel spreadsheet, but Jira requires you to drill down into the ticket. ServiceNow is more convenient if you are working on multiple projects and workflows."

"Change management is most valuable."

"The solution is easy to use, simple to make queries, flexible to configure, integrates well, and supports all of our companies needs."

"ServiceNow is a very powerful tool that can perform a lot of different functions."

"The thing that I like most about it is the easy integration with the CMDB. I'm able to look at the CMDB for applications and develop my assessments and attestations based on the application and point them at that application owner. So, I can really automate the whole thing."

"It has more extensive features as compared to the other competitors."

"I have found the workflows and integration the most valuable in this solution."

More ServiceNow pros

"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."

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

"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."

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

"It is easy to use."

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

"The biggest advantage for SolarWinds Web Help Desk is the user interface; we were able to configure a different UI for administrators, employees, and HODs based on their hierarchy level."

Cons

"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."

"There's always a room for improvement in terms of the ServiceNow UI. For customers, the UI is something that is a continuous improvement."

"We are struggling with the scheduling part, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a ServiceNow issue. It could be the way we have configured it. We don't have it configured in a way where you can schedule a support call with our end users. We are looking for more automation in the box and the chat feature."

"I am interested to see the firm's strategic plans for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and how the particular areas it will expand on from its existing investments (that feature, for example, in its ITSM Pro and CSM Pro modules)."

"Licensing costs are very high."

"The level of complexity and the level of discovery are the two areas that can be improved. Its UI needs to evolve. They focus a lot on cool colors and other little things, which don't bring value in terms of functionality. They need to focus less on presentation and more on the functionality within the UI. Its discovery mechanism should be improved. There is a component in ServiceNow that discovers the assets, but it doesn't do an immediate discovery, and there is a lag. If I want to open a ticket for a laptop or an asset, that asset needs to exist within ServiceNow for me to be able to say that I need to have its disk space or memory increased. It is referred to as a CI or configuration item in ServiceNow. Sometimes, ServiceNow doesn't discover these items, and as a result, I cannot open a ticket and tag that system or asset. If a system was introduced to the environment last week and it is still not listed, it becomes a problem. I will either have to wait or manually enter that system or asset. So, if I have a laptop with only 8 GB of memory and I want to request 16 GB of memory, I won't be able to do that in ServiceNow because my system or asset hasn't been discovered yet. Discovery is not immediate, and there is a lag."

"The standard UI is very restricted. It doesn't look as good, compared to Remedy. Building your own UI requires some additional coding..."

"It's a great platform, but there's still room for improvement. As the solutions stands now, you do need a lot of previous experience to use it. It would be great if they could develop some use case templates. This would be beneficial for a small and medium-sized businesses."

More ServiceNow cons

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

"We would like to see automation included in the next release. We would like to eliminate the L1, and L2 support, by at least 80%. To do this, we need automation with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in combination with ML (Machine Learning)."

"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."

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

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

"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"Isn't pricing always too much? We really do chafe at the ITIL licensing. ITOM is also pretty expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"The licensing cost is based on your partnership with ServiceNow and what you have selected for implementation. There is an annual license cost which is calculated based on your number of devices."

"The licenses are expensive."

"There is an annual subscription to use this solution."

"The licensing expenses are excessively high."

"It is fairly expensive."

More ServiceNow 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

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Retailer

15%

Performing Arts

13%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	166

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

Questions from the Community

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about ServiceNow?

The solution has a user-friendly interface.

See all answers

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 use, and ease of access. These were the three functionalities we were looking for ...

See all answers

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 dealing with Zoho. We are not dealing with solutions such as Zoho Mail or Zoho P...

See all answers

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

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

Pega Platform vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 15% of the time

Freshservice vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 15% of the time

Zendesk vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 11% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 11% of the time

N-able MSP Manager vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow

January 2026

Download ServiceNow product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

January 2026

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk product report

Overview

ServiceNow is a cloud-based task-management platform that specializes in IT operations management (ITOM), IT services management (ITSM), and IT business management (ITBM). ServiceNow allows users to manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions using a variety of different plugins and apps with which it easily integrates.

ServiceNow offers prebuilt applications to support any process, as well as a framework and tools that allow you to build your own.

ServiceNow’s service management solutions include change, request, incident, problem, and cost management, as well as HR, IT, field service, and facilities management solutions. They also cover business management solutions such as vendor performance management, financial management, performance analytics and project portfolio suite, as well as governance, risk, and compliance.

“The Smarter Way to Workflow”

ServiceNow’s activities, processes, and tasks are overseen as part of a comprehensive managed workflow that supports such features as real-time collaboration, communication, and resource sharing. ServiceNow’s suite of products allow for operation using serverless computing, and include the categories of Business Apps, Customer Service, HR, IT, and Security.

ServiceNow can be used to support most workflows because of the wide range of tools it offers. These include on-suite ticketing tools, predictive modeling to manage workflows, and benchmarking for the tracking of progress. ServiceNow can assist with artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and can be used to organize the cases of a help/service desk as well as for instance management and problem management. It also smoothly integrates with many legacy systems.

ServiceNow offers service management software for industries including:

Cloud services
Education
Financial services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Telecommunications

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot users prefer ServiceNow to its competitors because of its scalability, stability, and ease of use. It helps everyone in the company to be on the same page by creating a single source of record across all departments. One user stated that “I’ve definitely used over 20 project management solutions, but they can't be compared with ServiceNow.” Another said that “ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI.”

ServiceNow

SolarWinds Web Help Desk simplifies service management with unified ticketing, asset, knowledge, and change management. Key features include:

Maintain asset inventory by managing the use, availability, and health of IT assets, and tracking this over time.
Control change management, It regulates and manages change requests through automated approval workflows and panel voting options.
Employs robust reporting and monitoring using a built-in reports and dashboards to track ticket status, technician performance, and customer support needs.
Automate ticketing management that Automate service request management through ticket creation, assignment, routing, and escalation.
Centralize your knowledge management, Leverage a built-in help desk knowledge base to create and maintain KB articles and promote end-user self-service for common issues.
Meet your SLAs, it has "SLA breach approaching" notifications and date-specific SLA reminder alerts that help customize escalation and de-escalation workflows.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

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

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Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

December 2025

Free Report: ServiceNow vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk

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