HEAD TO HEAD · RATED SEPTEMBER 2026

Jira Service Management vs ServiceDesk Plus: which IT service desk fits a mid-size team in 2026?

Last reviewed 27 September 2026 · Service Desk Compare reviewers

Jira Service Management wins on the business-teams weights and scores at least as high on every criterion.

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.

Jira Service Management

7.9 / 10

Rank 4 of 9 on the business-teams ranking

Full ITSM ranking: rank 2= at 7.8

Free for 3 agents; Standard $20 per agent per month

Read the Jira Service Management review

ServiceDesk Plus

ManageEngine ServiceDesk 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 review

How do Jira Service Management and ServiceDesk Plus compare on each criterion?

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Jira Service Management and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus scores by criterion, editorial assessment, 0 to 10
Criterion	Weight	JSM	ServiceDesk Plus	Higher score
ITIL practice coverage Why these scores JSM: Incident, problem and change management are documented and a PinkVERIFY logo is shown, but change and advanced incident and problem management are Premium. 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	9	ServiceDesk Plus
Automation and AI assistance Why these scores JSM: Rovo Agents from Standard; the virtual service agent is Premium only. ServiceDesk Plus: Zia, predictive triage and routing, and ChatGPT and Copilot integrations, with fewer autonomous resolution claims than peers.	20%	7.5	6.5	JSM
Time to value Why these scores JSM: A free plan for three agents and preconfigured templates, with more configuration once ITSM practices beyond request handling are switched on. ServiceDesk Plus: A free edition for two technicians, but edition, add-on and cloud or on-premises choices add planning time.	20%	7	6.5	JSM
Configuration management (CMDB) Why these scores JSM: Asset and configuration management from Standard and advanced Assets on Premium; no discovery claim on the pages we read. ServiceDesk Plus: CMDB is included in Enterprise and sold as a $1,195 annual add-on on Professional.	Info only	7.5	8	ServiceDesk Plus
Usability for non-IT requesters Why these scores JSM: Customer portal, email and chat on every plan, with a custom-branded help center from Standard. ServiceDesk Plus: A service catalog out of the box and the Zia virtual agent, with fewer requester channels documented than peers.	20%	7	6.5	JSM
Integrations Why these scores JSM: Native ties to Jira for engineering teams and deployment gating with CI/CD tools on Premium. ServiceDesk Plus: Deep native integration with the wider ManageEngine product range.	20%	9	7	JSM
Pricing transparency Why these scores JSM: Every plan except Enterprise has a public per-agent price, including a free tier. ServiceDesk Plus: Edition prices and add-on prices are published for both cloud and on-premises.	20%	9	9	Tie

JSM scores higher on 4 criteria, ServiceDesk Plus on 0, and 1 is tied among the five scored criteria.

How much do Jira Service Management and ServiceDesk Plus cost?

Jira Service Management published pricing
Plan	Price	What changes
Free	$0	Up to 3 agents.
Standard	$20 per agent/month	Rovo Agents, asset and configuration management, 250 Rovo credits.
Premium	$51.42 per agent/month	Advanced assets, virtual service agent, advanced incident and problem management, change management, deployment gating with CI/CD tools.
Enterprise	Not published (custom, billed annually)

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus published 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.

Source: ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pricing

Which ticket stages does each one automate?

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.

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Lifecycle Automation Census for Jira Service Management, as a table
Stage	Status	Note
01 Logged	Documented	Portal, email, chat and forms on every plan Source
02 Categorised	Partial	Rovo Agents for AI-powered employee support; no auto-categorisation claim Source
03 Routed	Partial	Queues and workflows; no AI routing claim Source
04 Resolved	Documented	Virtual service agent (Premium) Source
05 Closed	Not documented
06 Reviewed	Documented	Group incidents to problems for root cause analysis 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.

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Lifecycle Automation Census for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, as a table
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.

When should you choose Jira Service Management?

Choose Jira Service Management if integrations and automation and AI assistance matter most to your team. It scores 9 and 7.5 there, against ServiceDesk Plus's 7 and 6.5. Native ties to Jira for engineering teams and deployment gating with CI/CD tools on Premium. We list it as best for: IT and engineering teams that share Jira and want a free starting tier. Read the Jira Service Management review

When should you choose ServiceDesk Plus?

ServiceDesk Plus does not score higher than Jira Service Management on any of the five scored criteria; it ties on pricing transparency. Choose it for reasons outside our scores, such as fit with tools you already run. We list it as best for: teams that need on-premises or cloud with the same edition pricing. Read the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus review

What do buyers ask about Jira Service Management and ServiceDesk Plus?

Which is better overall, Jira Service Management or ServiceDesk Plus?

On the business-teams weights, Jira Service Management scores 7.9 and ServiceDesk Plus 7.1 out of 10, ranking 4 and 6= of 9 on the business-teams ranking. Jira Service Management leads on 4 criteria and ServiceDesk Plus on 0, with 1 tied.

Which is cheaper, Jira Service Management or ServiceDesk Plus?

Jira Service Management lists Free for 3 agents; Standard $20 per agent per month; 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 Jira Service Management scores 9 and ServiceDesk Plus 9. The calculator prices both for your agent count.

Which has the deeper ITIL coverage and CMDB?

On ITIL practice coverage Jira Service Management scores 8 and ServiceDesk Plus 9; on configuration management (CMDB) Jira Service Management scores 7.5 and ServiceDesk Plus 8. CMDB is included in Enterprise and sold as a $1,195 annual add-on on Professional.