Introduction
Whether you’re an IT team, MSP or any other organization supporting end users, streamlining incident and problem resolution is crucial for improving efficiency and ensuring high customer satisfaction. However, choosing the right incident management solution can be challenging due to the myriad options available in today’s market. This blog evaluates 15 of the top incident management platforms based on key criteria like features, pricing, security and more to help you select the solution best suited for your unique needs.
Methods of Evaluation
To evaluate and rank the incident management software options, we looked at various factors like feature set, pricing & plans, security capabilities, integrations, reviews from analysts and customers. Additionally, we also considered metrics like number of backlinks, traffic and keyword trend research to gauge the market presence, popularity and mindshare of each vendor. This holistic evaluation approach helps provide the most accurate comparisons and highlights standout solutions trusted by organizations globally.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk is a leading customer service software that helps companies provide better support to their customers. Founded in 2007, Zendesk now has over 5,000 customers ranging from small startups to large enterprises. Some key clients include Shopify, Uber, and AWS. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices worldwide.
Pros: Some key advantages of Zendesk include:
– Robust customer support platform beyond just incident management
– Easy to use with intuitive user interface
– Affordable pricing for small to medium sized organizations
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the higher-end pricing tiers could be expensive for very large enterprises with complex support needs.
Pricing: Zendesk offers various pricing plans starting from a Basic $19 plan per agent per month all the way to an Enterprise package customized for large businesses. They also offer a free 30-day trial to test the software.
Some key stats about Zendesk include:
– Over 200,000 paid customer accounts
– Supports over 45 languages
– Processes over 500 million support requests annually
2. Odoo
Odoo is an open source ERP and CRM software developed by Odoo SA. It offers a comprehensive suite of business applications including financial management, manufacturing, project management, sales, purchases, inventory, and more. With over 4 million users worldwide, Odoo is one of the leading open source ERP software options on the market.
Pros: Some key advantages of Odoo include:
– Open source so it is free to download and use
– Integrated CRM, ERP, warehouse management and more in a single system
– Highly customizable and extensible with a large community of developers
– Easy to deploy both on-premises and in the cloud
Cons: A potential disadvantage is that as open source software, it does not come with the same level of commercial support as paid enterprise solutions. Additional support agreements need to be purchased separately.
Pricing: Odoo has a freemium open source business model. The community edition is free to download and use for any purpose. Paid enterprise editions with additional features and priority support start at $75 per user per month for the first year for a minimum of 10 users.
Some key stats about Odoo include:
– Over 4 million users worldwide
– Available in over 50 languages
– Extensively customizable with over 1000 community-developed addons
– Integrates CRM, ERP, project management, e-commerce and more in a single system
3. Freshservice
Freshservice is an incident management software created by Freshworks to help organizations manage and resolve IT issues, customer support requests and other operational problems. It offers a comprehensive ITSM solution for tracking incidents, requests, changes, problems and assets.
Pros: Some key advantages of Freshservice include:
– Affordable pricing suitable for small and medium sized businesses
– Intuitive and easy to use interface that requires little training
– Incident management focused but also supports other ITSM processes
– Powerful notification and approval workflows across teams and departments
– Out of the box integrations and custom reports
Cons: Potential disadvantages of Freshservice could include:
– Fewer configuration options compared to more expensive ITSM platforms
– Limited customization capabilities for the interface and forms
– API and SDK could use additional features for advanced integrations
Pricing: Freshservice offers three pricing tiers based on the number of agents/users:
– Startup – $49/agent/month, up to 20 agents
– Professional – $69/agent/month, up to 50 agents
– Enterprise – Customized pricing, for more than 50 agents
Some key stats about Freshservice include:
– Used by over 25,000 companies worldwide
– Integrates with over 150 applications including Office 365, G Suite, Jira and Slack
– Over 105 pre-built workflows and customizable forms
– Supports over 20 languages
4. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is an IT service management and help desk software developed by ManageEngine. It provides a self-service knowledge base, customizable incident tracking, automated workflows, and inventory management capabilities to help organizations deliver excellent customer service experiences.
Pros: Key advantages of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus include:
– Very competitively priced compared to similar solutions.
– Excellent integration capabilities with Active Directory, LDAP, SQL, and other systems.
– Robust library of customizable reports and dashboards to track incident resolution times and more.
– Intuitive user interface that is easy for agents and end users to learn and use.
– Automated workflows to streamline routine tasks and improve productivity.
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that certain advanced features require add-on modules resulting in higher licensing costs for fully utilizing the solution.
Pricing: ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers flexible perpetual and subscription licensing options starting from $2/user per month for the Essentials edition.
Some key stats about ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus include:
– Used by over 45,000 customers worldwide including 80 of the Fortune 100 companies.
– Supports over 15 languages and can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud.
– Robust library of over 450 out-of-the-box and customizable reports and dashboards.
– Integrates with over 150 applications including Active Directory, LDAP, SQL, SharePoint.
5. Ivanti Service Manager
Ivanti Service Manager is an ITSM and ITOM solution from Ivanti that provides comprehensive incident, problem, change, and service level management capabilities. It offers a unified platform for IT operations that can help improve service delivery and reduce operational costs. Some key features of Ivanti Service Manager include strong IT asset, configuration management database (CMDB) and discovery capabilities, a robust self-help portal and knowledgebase for employees, and built-in automation and AI features to streamline incident resolution.
Pros: Some of the key advantages of Ivanti Service Manager include: – Comprehensive ITSM framework that follows ITIL best practices – Robust CMDB and discovery capabilities for improved asset and change management – Built-in AI and RPA capabilities for predictive problem resolution – Intuitive self-help portal and knowledgebase for easy employee ticketing and support – Low code configuration platform for easy customizations – Flexible licensing and pricing model for needs of organizations of all sizes
Cons: While Ivanti Service Manager is very feature-rich overall, some potential disadvantages could include: – Steeper learning curve for complex configuration compared to simpler platforms – Support for additional languages beyond English may require customization – No publicly available detailed enterprise customer case studies for certain industries
Pricing: Ivanti Service Manager is available in various editions priced based on the number of agents/users. Pricing starts from $45 per user per month for the Standard Edition and goes up to $100+ per user for the highest Premier Edition with additional capabilities like APM. Discounted rates are available based on the contract term and number of users. There is also flexibility to purchase certain modules individually.
Ivanti Service Manager is used by over 5000 customers worldwide across various industries. Some key stats about the product include: – Supports over 150 configuration items and over 50 configurable workflows – Integrates with over 250 applications including MS System Center, ServiceNow, and BMC Remedy – Automates over 35% of all support tasks on average for customers through its AI assistant – Resolves support tickets 30% faster than the industry average
6. SysAid
SysAid is an ITSM (IT Service Management) software that helps organizations improve IT efficiency and customer satisfaction. Founded in 1998, SysAid has grown to support over 10,000 customers worldwide with its powerful yet intuitive IT service automation platform.
Pros: Some key advantages of SysAid include:
– Powerful customizable platform that can be tailored to any organization’s unique IT needs and processes
– Seamless integration with various systems like endpoint management and monitoring tools through open APIs
– Scalable solution that can support small IT teams all the way to enterprise organizations with thousands of users
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the customization options may make SysAid more complex to implement compared to “out-of-the-box” ITSM solutions.
Pricing: SysAid offers flexible pricing plans including perpetual licenses and annual subscriptions. Pricing is based on the number of IT staff, assets and tickets. Contact SysAid for a custom quote.
Some key stats about SysAid include:
– Over 10,000 customers globally across industries like education, government, healthcare and more
– Available in over 25 languages to support global teams
– Integrates with over 150 applications like Microsoft 365, ServiceNow and more through APIs
7. LogMeIn Central
LogMeIn Central is an award-winning comprehensive remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution from LogMeIn. In addition to robust remote access and management capabilities, LogMeIn Central also offers robust incident and change management functionality through its integrated IT service management (ITSM) features.
Pros: Some of the key advantages of LogMeIn Central include:
– Comprehensive RMM platform with powerful ITSM capabilities
– Seamless remote support via powerful tools like remote desktop and command line tools
– Very customizable through apps and plugins which can extend its functionality
Cons: Potential disadvantages could include the need for a paid subscription unlike some open source alternatives. However, it offers powerful features for the price.
Pricing: LogMeIn Central pricing starts from $49 per technician per month for the basic plan going up to $99 per technician per month for the premium plan. Volume licenses are also available for large deployments.
Some key stats and facts about LogMeIn Central include:
– Manage over 500,000 endpoints worldwide
– Used in over 180 countries
– Over 25,000 customers including many large enterprises
– 24/7 phone and email support included
8. PagerDuty
PagerDuty is an incident management platform that helps teams plan for and respond to disruptions ensuring they are resolved as quickly as possible. Founded in 2008, PagerDuty’s SaaS platform automates and orchestrates workflows to speed up response time and resolution for incidents and outages across multi-cloud environments.
Pros: Some key advantages of PagerDuty include:
– Excellent for simple and transparent incident response workflows
– Strong alerting and collaboration features to notify the right teams
– Easy to get started and use with intuitive user interface
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the pricing can get expensive for very large and complex environments with many integrations and users.
Pricing: PagerDuty offers 3 pricing tiers – Starter, Pro and Enterprise. Pricing is based on the number of team members and services/integrations. Pricing starts from $29 per user per month for Starter and goes up to custom enterprise pricing for large teams and complex environments.
Some key stats about PagerDuty include:
– Used by over 12,000 customers including Amazon, GE, and 21st Century Fox
– Integrations with over 700 apps including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Jira, Slack and more
– Handles over 1.5 million incidents per month for customers
9. Jitbit
Jitbit is a leader in incident and change management software. Since 2007, the company has been providing help desk and customer service software to businesses of all sizes. Their software helps organizations effectively track, manage and resolve incidents and requests from customers and employees.
Pros: Some key advantages of Jitbit include:
– Robust feature set at affordable pricing
– Highly configurable and customizable
– Great analytics and reporting capabilities
– Intuitive user interface that is easy for agents and customers to use
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that it may not be as fully-featured as some of the most expensive incident management software on the market.
Pricing: Jitbit offers both monthly and annual pricing plans. Basic plans start at $49/month or $588/year for a single agent. Additional agents can be added for $24/month each. Their most comprehensive Enterprise plan is priced upon request for unlimited users.
Some key stats about Jitbit include:
– Over 5,000 customers worldwide
– Support for over 20 languages
– 24/7 phone and email support
– Integrations with over 50 platforms including Slack, Jira and Microsoft Teams
10. connectWise Manage
ConnectWise Manage is a professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM) software developed by ConnectWise. As one of the top solutions for MSPs, ConnectWise Manage allows IT services companies to manage projects, tickets, inventory, and more from a single dashboard.
Pros: Some key advantages of ConnectWise Manage include: great for larger MSPs wanting a single pane of glass view, strong automation, customization and scalability capabilities, and a wide ecosystem of over 650 third-party integrations that can extend its native functionality.
Cons: A potential disadvantage is the steep learning curve for new users to understand all of the different modules and customization options within the platform.
Pricing: Pricing for ConnectWise Manage starts at $99 per technician per month for professional services automation alone. Annual contracts are required. Additional costs apply for add-ons like remote monitoring and backup.
Some key stats about ConnectWise Manage include: used by over 9,000 MSPs worldwide, supports over 650 remote monitoring integrations, processes over 400 million tickets annually, and facilitates over $13 billion in managed services revenue each year.
11. Kaseya BMS
Kaseya BMS is an incident management software created by Kaseya, a leading provider of IT and security management solutions. With over 40,000 customers worldwide, Kaseya BMS helps organizations effectively manage and resolve IT incidents and service requests.
Pros: Some key advantages of Kaseya BMS include:
– Powerful RMM, PSA and ITSM functionalities allowing for comprehensive IT management from a single platform
– Very robust security features like two-factor authentication, access control and encryption
– Scales well for large enterprises with support for unlimited users and assets
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the full feature set of Kaseya BMS may be overkill for some smaller businesses or those with simpler IT needs.
Pricing: Kaseya BMS pricing starts at $49 per user per month for the basic package. Additional modules and supports are priced separately. Volume discounts are available for larger deployments.
Some key stats about Kaseya BMS include:
– Used by over 5,000 companies globally across all industries
– Supports over 1 million IT assets
– Handles over 10 million incidents annually
– Automates over 50% of all incoming incidents and service requests
12. Workfront
Workfront is an enterprise-grade project and portfolio management software developed by Adobe. Workfront helps organizations plan, track, and optimize their work from idea to impact. Some key capabilities of Workfront include collaborative work management, resource planning, and analytics.
Pros: Some key advantages of Workfront include:
– Robust portfolio, program and resource management capabilities that provide visibility across all departments.
– Strong PPM and workflow tools that help manage the entire work lifecycle from planning to execution.
– Seamless collaboration features like task management, discussions, and file sharing that improve team efficiency.
Cons: A potential disadvantage of Workfront is that it requires an Enterprise license which can be costlier compared to other mid-market PPM solutions. The pricing varies based on the number of users and customizations needed.
Pricing: Workfront pricing starts at $100 per user per month for the Standard edition. The optimized and Performance editions cost more depending on the number of users, required capabilities and customizations. Contact Workfront sales team for an exact quote tailored to your organization’s needs.
Some key stats about Workfront include:
– Used by over 3,000 organizations globally including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Deloitte, and Coca-Cola.
– Over 18 years of experience in the PPM industry.
– Integrates tightly with other Adobe solutions like Experience Manager and Creative Cloud.
13. Freshservice
Freshservice is an ITSM solution developed by Freshworks to help organizations modernize their service desk and deliver amazing customer service experiences. In business since 2011, Freshservice is used by over 2,500+ customers worldwide to manage and automate support workflows.
Pros: Freshservice offers several advantages for organizations including: Extremely customizable via code-free configurability to meet unique business needs, Developed specifically for IT so it offers deep service desk functionality out of the box, Seamless integrations with various IT tools like Slack, Jira and Zendesk make for seamless workflows.
Cons: A potential disadvantage is that the free forever tier has limited functionality so additional paid tiers are needed for full features. Paid pricing may be higher than some other options depending on the size and needs of the organization.
Pricing: Freshservice offers flexible pricing plans starting from a free forever tier up to an Enterprise plan. Paid monthly plans range from $49-199 per agent and annual plans provide savings of up to 20%. Pricing is based on the number of agents and various add-ons are available.
Some key stats about Freshservice include: Used by over 2,500 customers globally across 80+ countries, Supports over 5 million annual tickets, Connects to over 150+ apps via integrations, 99.5%+ customer satisfaction rating.
14. otRS
otRS is an open source ticket management software developed by OTRS AG. Founded in Germany in 1998, otRS provides customer service, IT service management and security orchestration, automation and response capabilities to organizations globally. With thousands of active installations worldwide, otRS prides itself on being an open, transparent and highly customizable platform.
Pros: Some key advantages of otRS include:
– Open source nature provides high configurability and customizability without vendor lock-in
– Large and active community for support, plugins and add-ons
– Highly scalable to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes
– Wide range of integrations with over 300 other applications
– Suite of products for comprehensive ITSM and security needs beyond ticketing
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that as open source software, it does not provide the same level of post-sales support and guided implementation that proprietary software may offer. However, this is balanced by the large otRS community and consulting partners.
Pricing: otRS offers a dual licensing model – the core software remains open source and free while commercial support plans starting at $4,500 per year provide additional services such as phone/email support, enriched web interface and regular updates.
Some key stats about otRS include:
– Used by over 5000+ customers worldwide including NASA, DHL and Swisscom
– Available in over 30 languages
– Handles over 30 million tickets annually
– Backed by a large community of over 500,000 users
– 15+ years in the industry as a leader in open source helpdesk software
15. Lansweeper
Lansweeper is an all-in-one network management and ITSM tool developed by Lansweeper BV based in the Netherlands. Lansweeper provides complete visibility into an organization’s technology environment by discovering all devices, inventorying software and hardware, and monitoring configurations to help improve security, reduce risk and lower costs.
Pros: The main advantages of Lansweeper include: Its all-in-one platform provides asset, software, security and configuration management capabilities from a single interface. Powerful discovery and inventory features provide comprehensive visibility. Tight integration with various RMM and ITSM solutions streamlines incident and change management workflows. Regular OS and third party application patching helps improve security posture.
Cons: The main disadvantage is that the free version is limited to 100 assets so it may not scale for very large and complex enterprise networks. The paid tiers can also be costly for budgets constrained organizations.
Pricing: Lansweeper offers the following pricing plans: Free – Limited to 100 assets. Premium – $2.50/asset/month. Enterprise – Custom pricing starting at $5,000/month. All plans include basic support. Additional premium support options are available for an extra fee.
Some key stats about Lansweeper include: Discovers over 25 attributes of every device on the network including OS, hardware specs, installed software, patches, and vulnerabilities. Currently manages over 5 million IT assets for organizations worldwide. Integrates with over 50 IT management tools including Microsoft SCCM, IBM BigFix, ConnectWise Automate, Kaseya and N-central.
Conclusion
With the myriad options in today’s incident management software market, choosing the right solution requires thorough research and understanding your unique needs. This blog evaluates top vendors based on robust evaluation criteria to help narrow down options and select the platform best suited for your IT team or business. The top solutions highlighted here offer industry-leading features, security and scalability to streamline incident resolution and deliver excellent customer service.