7 Best ServiceNow Alternatives and Competitors in 2026

ServiceNow is a platform that helps organizations automate digital workflows across IT, human resources, customer service, finance, and other departments, connecting systems and data to streamline operations. It is widely recognized for its suite of tools that simplify enterprise workflow and service management.

Whether you’re an existing customer evaluating alternatives or a new buyer exploring top ITSM software options, this guide to ServiceNow alternatives and competitors aims to help you find the best platform for your organization.

ServiceNow has many strengths, but some users on review sites like G2 mention its added costs, implementation issues, and lack of customization.

Reviewers say ServiceNow requires regular maintenance and updates that are necessary for full functionality, but sometimes incur extra costs on top of licensing fees. Users also say setting up and managing the platform can involve paying outside consultants or, for large enterprises, hiring an in-house administrator.

Organizations also sometimes bring on full-time ServiceNow administrators to handle ongoing implementation issues. Reviewers report that changing one area of your tech stack can trigger related changes to how your ServiceNow instance is configured.

Many ServiceNow users consider it a robust, feature-rich solution, but some say the tradeoff is that it doesn't offer as much customization as competitors. It can be easier for an organization to modify its workflows to suit ServiceNow instead of the other way around.

Some of the top ServiceNow alternatives and competitors for ITSM software include Agentforce IT Service, Jira, and Freshservice.

Agentforce IT Service, Salesforce’s solution using autonomous IT agents, offers a fully agentic service platform.

Being fully agentic means AI agents deliver conversational results to service reps and end users 24/7. Employee-facing chatbots power self-service resolutions while automated service workflows take care of straightforward requests like password resets, freeing up reps’ time to focus on higher-value work.

Agentforce uses intelligent workflows to help teams track and resolve issues faster while monitoring dependencies across the organization. AI agents can detect issues before they’re reported, analyze customer service incident management history, and suggest strategies for resolving nuanced cases. Reps can get even more support by connecting with peers in the Serviceblazer community.

In addition to resolving issues, Agentforce IT Service provides streamlined dashboards for tracking enterprise assets and dependencies along with an AI-powered configuration management database (CMDB) that keeps configuration items up to date. Because everything lives in a unified platform, AI agents can analyze cross-system context and take more informed action.

A widely used ServiceNow alternative is Jira Service Management . Jira is known for support ticket management and workflow tracking across a broad range of business needs.

Jira boasts the ability to connect different teams, including dev and IT ops, on one platform to minimize bottlenecks. It also offers a deep selection of AI features, including an always-on chatbot, contextual issue resolution that draws data from connected apps, intelligent incident response workflows, and proposed knowledge base additions informed by previous incidents.

These innovative features exist as part of a broad ecosystem of service and workflow management tools developed by Atlassian. Users tend to appreciate the variety of native integrations this portfolio offers, though it can be too complex for some smaller businesses. Jira Service Management also offers integrations with many commonly used third-party productivity solutions.

Freshservice is an IT help desk system known for being a straightforward tool with a robust yet intuitive approach to service management. It features streamlined ticketing management, CMDB, asset management, and more.

Freshservice’s platform prioritizes omnichannel support, so tickets submitted through all channels are consolidated in one place to make them easy to track. These tickets move through automated workflows that take advantage of both built-in capabilities and custom automations. The ticketing system’s user experience is designed to be intuitive enough that the majority of IT service reps can learn it quickly with little additional training needed.

To help you better serve your users, Freshservice lets you set multiple service level agreement policies based on different ticket categories and generates reports that reviewers praise for being actionable and customizable. Asset management features also boost efficiency by letting you provision and track assets from one streamlined pane.

BMC Helix is another ITSM platform that prides itself on its AI capabilities. In addition to chatbots for end users and customer service AI agents to support ticket resolution, it also uses AI for knowledge management and proactive problem-solving.

BMC Helix touts using AI to identify potential incidents or problems before they occur and create an incident cluster to highlight serious issues. Another AI risk analysis tool performs risk assessments on planned changes so organizations can avoid setbacks while innovating. Teams can also swarm and collaborate on issue resolution with assistance from agentic AI.

The system supporting the AI is also strong. BMC Helix’s ticket management system has a wide range of fields and features that support integrated discovery and knowledge capture. While some reviewers critique the design and the number of fields included in a ticket, the tool has an overall reputation for providing powerful support for complex IT environments.

SysAid positions itself as a streamlined, simple help desk option that helps users free up their time. It has AI tools for managing the whole ticket queue, from sorting to flagging to getting a summary of each case. Ticket management is straightforward, and you can easily get a full audit of any ticket’s journey. The platform also includes a copilot that provides contextual support to help IT teams work faster and smarter.

Customizability is another strength of SysAid, with options to create unique ticket templates that provide end users with customized prompts to help them fill them out accurately. While many reviewers praise this customizability, others say it can be cumbersome to set up.

Something to keep in mind is that SysAid is primarily help desk software with minimal unified service management capabilities. If that’s all you need, SysAid is a choice that rates well on efficiency and customizability.

A small or mid-sized organization looking for a comprehensive IT service desk platform without extraneous features may want to consider ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus . This platform has everything you might need from an ITSM solution, with tools for incident management, knowledge management, and asset management in addition to a ticketing system.

ManageEngine boasts automation that simplifies complicated IT and service workflows as well as predictive and generative AI tools to make IT management more efficient. Built-in reporting features let IT teams assess the efficiency of their service desk while “last-mile” customizations help them make the platform work for them.

User reviewers also praise the solution’s many integrations and simple setup. While it doesn’t have some of the advanced AI features that competitors have, ManageEngine can be a good fit for organizations seeking core ITSM functionality without unnecessary extras.

SolarWinds strives to provide one intuitive tool for everything an IT team may need to keep the business running smoothly. It uses AI, automation, and simultaneous resolution to help IT pros resolve tickets quickly and brings similar efficiency to end users with self-service options and a strong user experience.

Built-in analytic tools include problem and change management assessments so your IT team can get ahead of risks as well as data connections that let you link problematic assets to incidents. The platform also centralizes knowledge management and connects it to service management so users can easily find answers to their questions. SolarWinds touts being intuitive to use out of the box but also has plenty of customization options for users to tailor it to their workflows and preferences.

User reviewers praise SolarWinds’ ease of use, customizability, and quick setup. While it has minimal AI features and fewer integrations than some competitors, it provides all necessary ITSM capabilities for a streamlined package.

What you ultimately choose will depend on your organization’s unique needs, including its size, workflows, and existing tech stack.

Some factors to consider while assessing ServiceNow alternatives include:

• Simple setup versus customizability. Do you need something that will work near-perfectly out of the box, or do you need to be able to tweak it until it works just right with your existing tech stack and workflows?
• Need for a full ITSM platform or just an IT help desk. Depending on the size and complexity of the organization, some teams require robust ITSM capabilities like asset management, incident response, and enterprise service management while others only need a streamlined tool for managing support requests.
• Integration with your existing software. Many of the leading ITSM platforms have integrations with the most popular business software, and some are natively integrated with other tools developed by the same provider. Others have minimal integrations and are meant for simpler IT environments.
• Level of innovation you need in your ITSM platform. ServiceNow competitors range from straightforward tools with basic automated customer service features to ones that run on evolving customer service AI functionality. Your organization’s position on adopting AI factors into deciding which tool will be the best fit.

Selecting the best ServiceNow competitor for you begins with clarifying the workflows, integrations, and features your team needs. Gather input from stakeholders, explore demos, and review capabilities, focusing on the ones that align with your priorities. This process can help ensure the ITSM tool you choose supports daily customer service operations and long-term goals.

Consider what ITSM capabilities are essential for your organization and which would be nice-to-haves. It may be helpful to also think about issues you’re seeing with ServiceNow that you hope to avoid by purchasing another solution. Create a list of desired capabilities organized by priority and refer to it often while you conduct your search.

When brainstorming the capabilities you need, ask your fellow help desk professionals for input, especially people with different responsibilities who may have diverse perspectives. You may also want to ask end users what they’d like to see. This will help you ensure you select a solution that supports the entire organization

Try out as many solutions on your shortlist as you can, and get other stakeholders and users to test them too. Discuss your specific needs with sales reps so they can help you assess how functionality matches up. Also, seek out reviews or testimonials from other customers.

When you’ve narrowed your options to just a few solutions, re-review your list of desired capabilities, and commit to the solution that meets the most of them.

Agentforce IT Service offers organizations a flexible, intuitive system that’s easy to customize. The unified platform combines core ITSM capabilities with robust CRM and Data 360 tools, giving you a more comprehensive view of your IT environment. Agentic AI agents help human reps get more done in less time by supplying answers, managing workflows, and executing tasks with conversational, natural-language interactions. It's a user-friendly, future-forward solution for streamlining your service operations.

Find out more about how Agentforce IT Service creates seamless experiences across IT and HR support.