HEAD TO HEAD · RATED SEPTEMBER 2026
Last reviewed 27 September 2026 · Service Desk Compare reviewers
Freshservice wins on the business-teams weights; ServiceDesk Plus is the stronger pick where pricing transparency matter most.
Totals and ranks on this page use the business-teams weights (five criteria at 20% each; ITIL and CMDB shown for information only). For ITIL and CMDB weighted scores, see the full ITSM ranking.
Freshservice
8.2 / 10
Rank 3 of 9 on the business-teams ranking
Full ITSM ranking: rank 1 at 8.3
$19 per agent per month (annual)
Read the Freshservice reviewServiceDesk Plus
7.1 / 10
Rank 6= of 9 on the business-teams ranking
Full ITSM ranking: rank 4 at 7.4
Free for 2 technicians; Standard from $13 per technician per month
Read the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus reviewScroll for more
| Criterion | Weight | Freshservice | ServiceDesk Plus | Higher score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ITIL practice coverageWhy these scoresFreshservice: Certified across 14 ITIL practices and PinkVERIFY-certified across six processes, but problem, change and release management need the Pro plan. ServiceDesk Plus: 14 ITIL-certified and 14 PinkVERIFY-certified practices; full change, release and problem management need Enterprise or paid add-ons. | Info only | 8.5 | 9 | ServiceDesk Plus |
Automation and AI assistanceWhy these scoresFreshservice: Freddy AI Copilot, Agent Studio and Insights are documented; Copilot is a $29 per agent add-on rather than standard on lower plans. ServiceDesk Plus: Zia, predictive triage and routing, and ChatGPT and Copilot integrations, with fewer autonomous resolution claims than peers. | 20% | 8 | 6.5 | Freshservice |
Time to valueWhy these scoresFreshservice: Four plans with public prices and ITIL-shaped defaults mean a mid-size team can trial the real product before talking to sales. ServiceDesk Plus: A free edition for two technicians, but edition, add-on and cloud or on-premises choices add planning time. | 20% | 8.5 | 6.5 | Freshservice |
Configuration management (CMDB)Why these scoresFreshservice: Agentless discovery and dependency mapping feed a CMDB; service mapping on the scale of ServiceNow is not documented [ServiceNow CMDB page]. ServiceDesk Plus: CMDB is included in Enterprise and sold as a $1,195 annual add-on on Professional. | Info only | 8 | 8 | Tie |
Usability for non-IT requestersWhy these scoresFreshservice: Service catalog and SLAs from Growth, and a Freddy AI agent for routine requests; G2 reviewers rate ease of use highly. ServiceDesk Plus: A service catalog out of the box and the Zia virtual agent, with fewer requester channels documented than peers. | 20% | 8.5 | 6.5 | Freshservice |
IntegrationsWhy these scoresFreshservice: A marketplace and MCP support are mentioned, but no integration count is published. ServiceDesk Plus: Deep native integration with the wider ManageEngine product range. | 20% | 7.5 | 7 | Freshservice |
Pricing transparencyWhy these scoresFreshservice: Starter, Growth and Pro are priced publicly; Enterprise and some AI capacity are quoted. ServiceDesk Plus: Edition prices and add-on prices are published for both cloud and on-premises. | 20% | 8.5 | 9 | ServiceDesk Plus |
Freshservice scores higher on 4 criteria, ServiceDesk Plus on 1, and 0 are tied among the five scored criteria.
| Plan | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19 per agent/month | Billed annually. Incident management; no service catalog or SLA management. |
| Growth | $49 per agent/month | Adds service catalog and SLA management. |
| Pro | $99 per agent/month | Adds problem, change and release management. |
| Enterprise | Not published (custom) | |
| Add-on: Freddy AI Copilot | $29 per agent/month |
Source: Freshservice pricing
| Plan | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 technicians, 250 IT assets, Standard edition. |
| Standard | From $13 per technician/month | Help desk, service catalog. Problem, project and change/release management are add-ons at $1,195 a year each. |
| Professional | From $27 per technician/month | Adds IT asset management. CMDB add-on $1,195 a year. |
| Enterprise | From $67 per technician/month | Help desk, asset, change, release, problem, projects and CMDB included. No limit on the number of end users. |
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| Stage | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Logged | Partial | Freddy AI collects and verifies requester details (general service page) Source |
| 02 Categorised | Not documented | |
| 03 Routed | Documented | Freddy AI routes the issue to the right agent Source |
| 04 Resolved | Documented | 'Domain-specific AI resolves issues instantly' (vendor wording) Source |
| 05 Closed | Not documented | |
| 06 Reviewed | Documented | Problem management on Pro; Freddy AI Insights surfaces emerging issues Source |
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| Stage | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Logged | Partial | Zia virtual support agent; intake channels not detailed on the page read Source |
| 02 Categorised | Documented | Predictive intelligence for ticket triage Source |
| 03 Routed | Documented | Predictive routing and assignment Source |
| 04 Resolved | Partial | Zia virtual agent and generated replies; no autonomous resolution claim Source |
| 05 Closed | Not documented | |
| 06 Reviewed | Documented | Problem management (Enterprise or add-on) Source |
What each vendor's public pages document for each stage, as read on 27 Sep 2026. 'Not documented' means we did not find it on the pages we read, not that the product cannot do it.
Choose Freshservice if time to value and usability for non-IT requesters matter most to your team. It scores 8.5 and 8.5 there, against ServiceDesk Plus's 6.5 and 6.5. Four plans with public prices and ITIL-shaped defaults mean a mid-size team can trial the real product before talking to sales. We list it as best for: mid-size IT teams that want ITIL defaults without a long build. Read the Freshservice review
Choose ServiceDesk Plus if pricing transparency matters most to your team. It scores 9 there against Freshservice's 8.5. Edition prices and add-on prices are published for both cloud and on-premises. We list it as best for: teams that need on-premises or cloud with the same edition pricing. Read the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus review
On the business-teams weights, Freshservice scores 8.2 and ServiceDesk Plus 7.1 out of 10, ranking 3 and 6= of 9 on the business-teams ranking. Freshservice leads on 4 criteria and ServiceDesk Plus on 1.
Freshservice lists $19 per agent per month (annual); ServiceDesk Plus lists Free for 2 technicians; Standard from $13 per technician per month. Pricing units differ (per agent, per seat or per technician), so compare the plan that includes the practices you need. On pricing transparency Freshservice scores 8.5 and ServiceDesk Plus 9. The calculator prices both for your agent count.
On ITIL practice coverage Freshservice scores 8.5 and ServiceDesk Plus 9; on configuration management (CMDB) Freshservice scores 8 and ServiceDesk Plus 8. Both score the same on CMDB.