ServiceNow vs TOPdesk comparison

ServiceNow and TOPdesk are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. ServiceNow is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while TOPdesk is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0. ServiceNow holds a 17.3% mindshare in HDS, compared to TOPdesk’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of TOPdesk users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow

Read 224 ServiceNow reviews

24,149 Views
7,003 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

TOPdesk

Read 10 TOPdesk reviews

1,185 Views
936 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

ServiceNow

TOPdesk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ServiceNow and TOPdesk compete in the service management category. ServiceNow appears to have the upper hand with its highly customizable platform and comprehensive features, while TOPdesk offers simplicity and ease of use.

Features: ServiceNow features a highly configurable platform with a wide array of pre-built ITIL processes, integration capabilities, and strong community support. TOPdesk is known for its ease of use, intuitive interface, and straightforward ticketing features.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow is criticized for its complex licensing model, high costs, and usability challenges, which can lead to system disruptions. TOPdesk could improve its reporting tool, integration with tools like Microsoft Teams, and its relatively rigid structure.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow offers flexible deployment options, including public, private, hybrid clouds, and on-premises environments. However, its customer service is seen as inconsistent. TOPdesk primarily offers on-premises deployment and has experienced declining technical support responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow is considered expensive with a complex licensing model, offering a potentially positive ROI for larger enterprises. TOPdesk provides more affordable pricing with straightforward value through essential features, appealing to smaller companies.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow vs. TOPdesk Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. TOPdesk

September 2025

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Helped 872,706 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

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

224

Ranking in other categories

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

TOPdesk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

16th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 17.3%, down from 25.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TOPdesk is 2.2%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ServiceNow	17.3%
TOPdesk	2.2%
Other	80.5%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Anil Rao

Vice President Delivery & Operations at Rezilyens

Have reduced L1 dependency and improved incident resolution through AI-powered automation

To make ServiceNow better, they should reduce their pricing, especially because there's a lot of competition. Many customers have moved to ManageEngine because they cannot afford the license cost. The price should be reduced by at least 40%. The setup of ServiceNow is sometimes complex when new updates or versions are released. When they introduce something new, they should provide training to understand the new features and their functionality. We sometimes get stuck and have to call them to learn about the changes in the latest version. They should communicate the changes made from older versions to new versions, which features are not available, which features have changed, and how to implement them. If the communication part was handled properly, it would benefit us.

Read full review

Martina Peneva

People Technology Lead at Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Implement service management changes while addressing UI improvements

Topdesk's user interface makes it easy to handle requests and escalate them to other groups or reassign them when working on a single ticket. Additionally, the service management tool in HR allows for a change in delivering services, replacing email communication with ticket raising. The knowledge library enables the local HR to store and share relevant information and frequently asked cases, enhancing collaboration. The ticket system also facilitates escalating cases to other involved departments. IT, HR, and some other teams primarily use this system.

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

"ServiceNow was the first true enterprise to service management platform."

"The workflow capability for easy setup is powerful."

"ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI."

"We consider the integration capabilities of the solution with other tools to be a valuable feature."

"Discovery has reduced, on average, the time to build/deploy devices within our environment by one hour. This may not seem like much but it adds up over time. It also reaps additional time savings with its ability to capture changes through subsequent discoveries over the life of the device."

"Everything about the schema, including the design of ServiceNow, is great."

"We always get good support."

"Great that it's knowledge-based and you can use the flows in ServiceNow."

More ServiceNow pros

"When it comes to implementing new features, they listen to what their customers want via a suggestion forum that they have."

"This solution has provided me with a well-defined process and interaction, compared to my previous tool, GLPI."

"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is the reports."

"It is an easy-to-use solution."

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

"Change management is the most critical feature."

"TOPdesk is overall very stable."

"Its ITSM approach is quite useful."

More TOPdesk pros

Cons

"We find it good in general. Obviously, there are areas of improvement for every capability. As they evolve more, if they keep on adding more intelligence into the capabilities, it will improve. The improvement areas are more integration across the landscape and more intelligence for the overall capability of the solution."

"There is room for improvement in price."

"The ability to embed help information onto the screens."

"This solution needs to be improved for global use. Currently, it's very oriented to the processes and needs of the US customer base, like their compliance solution or GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), and not so much for customers from other parts of the world. Some users may like the things that ServiceNow is improving, but those are very oriented to users based in the United States and Europe."

"There are sometimes challenges with the portal being a bit confusing for new users. The implementation of the portal and workspaces is quite different, and improvements in this area would be beneficial."

"HR Service Management is one module that needs a lot of improvement because it's a pretty new module. It was introduced in the last two years. It's becoming more mature day by day, but there is a lot of scope for improvement in that module."

"We would like to have an Asset Management and/or Project Management feature enabled in this version and in the IT Service Management edition."

"Direct support from ServiceNow is not very good. Most of the support comes from partners, and customers heavily rely on them."

More ServiceNow cons

"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."

"The solution should be made more user-friendly."

"One of the disadvantages of TOPdesk is the reporting tool. It is very poor and not in real-time. You do not always receive the correct information."

"All companies have processes that need to be adjusted. When you have a change, you need to name it, and many companies have a set of changes you can use. It would be helpful if there were more space in TOPdesk to name the change or use metadata to record the kinds of changes."

"The solution's change management could be better."

"If I open a ticket on the infrastructure team, I can't move it to the financial team for them to manage the ticket."

"Change management implementation, facility management, and making reservations on assets can be improved."

"It is time-consuming to add new users."

More TOPdesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We know that ServiceNow is not cheap, it's more expensive than other solutions. But we are trying to increase our ability to handle tickets so that the cost per ticket is less."

"ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."

"I have found the solution very expensive."

"The price of this solution is expensive."

"The licenses are expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

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

"ServiceNow tends to be a little bit more expensive as compared to BMC Helix ITSM."

More ServiceNow pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive."

"The cost of the solution on a yearly basis is $20,000. Technical support is not extra. It's included in the yearly cost. Updates are also included. The solution is good at keeping its product up to date."

"The solution is inexpensive compared to competitors."

"TOPdesk's pricing is cheaper than Jira's."

"Compared to other products in this segment, I think that they are priced well and not too expensive."

"There are three fee options to choose from for a company and these options compared to market prices are very high. For example, if I use one of the first options for 10 assets, then it costs 20,000 Euros. If you went to competitors, then you pay less."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Educational Organization

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	54
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	164

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

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...

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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 do you like most about TOPdesk?

The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is the reports.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TOPdesk?

The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with TOPdesk?

From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement, as some tasks like creating or moving a knowledge item within the library require many steps instead of simple actions like drag and drop. This...

See all answers

Comparisons

BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow

Compared 6% of the time

Pega Platform vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Maximo vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

More ServiceNow Competitors

JIRA Service Management vs TOPdesk

Compared 19% of the time

Freshdesk vs TOPdesk

Compared 11% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs TOPdesk

Compared 6% of the time

Zendesk vs TOPdesk

Compared 6% of the time

ProProfs Help Desk vs TOPdesk

Compared 6% of the time

More TOPdesk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software

October 2025

Download TOPdesk 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

Excellent service management made easy : Happy customers are the goal of every supporting department. We understand. That’s why we’ve created a solution that helps you improve customer communication, manage workflows and keep track of assets. But above all: our software is simple and attractive. This not only makes it pleasant to use, but also quick to adopt. You’re looking to deliver excellent service from day one – and TOPdesk is here to help. TOPdesk delivers one integrated service platform for IT, FM, HR and other Service departments with a build Self Service Portal, asset management, reporting and integration platform( see also our TOPdesk Marketplace for selection of connectors). Some key features include : Call Management, Incident and Service Request Management, Service Catalogue, Asset & Configuration Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Project Management, Operations Management, Reservations Management, Stock & Order Management, Contract Management and SLA's, Survey Management, Self Service Portal, Form designer, Portal designer, Event & Action Management, Knowlegde Base, Report wizards, Resource Management, Barcode, CAD and Exchange integration TOPdesk helps you streamline your ITIL, Agile, Sox, KCS, ASL/BISL, GDPR compliance Result at our global customer base : 98% customer retention rate 99% of our implementations within budget and timeframe 90% up and running within 3 month NPS score of 35 (4500 cusotmers) 98% customer recommondation score 4,7 score at Gartner Peer Insights Our ecosystem consist of : 4500 customers across 45 countries > 300.000 daily users > 15.000.000 supported end-users 40+ partners What makes TOPdesk unique? • ITIL-based modules for all your service needs: from Ticket and Asset Management to Reservations Management • License based on end users or service agents, whateveris best for you • Unlimited number of assets or self service users • Easy to implement: get up and running quickly • Choose between on-premises or SaaS

TOPdesk

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

City of Amsterdam, University of Edinbroughm, IKEA, KLM Catering Services, FloraHolland, BOVAG, PostNL, Total, Hilton, Oce, Canon, Agip, Compass Group, Serco, Danone, BMW, Eneco, And many more.

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow vs. TOPdesk

September 2025

Free Report: ServiceNow vs. TOPdesk

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow vs. TOPdesk and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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