Our ITSM platform contract was up for renewal, and we saw it as an opportunity to re-evaluate whether we were using the right tool. We’d been on a mid-tier platform that had served us adequately but had limitations. The question became: do we move to ServiceNow’s enterprise power or Freshservice’s simplicity and cost-effectiveness?

After three months of evaluation including vendor demos, reference calls, proof of concept implementations, and detailed cost modelling, here’s what we learned.

ServiceNow: Power and Complexity

ServiceNow is the elephant in the ITSM space. It can do absolutely everything. Want to manage incidents, problems, changes, assets, projects, portfolios, and vendors all in one platform? ServiceNow can do it. Want to build custom applications on top of the platform? ServiceNow enables that too.

The demo was impressive. The sales engineer showed us workflows that automated complex approval chains, integration capabilities that could connect our entire technology stack, and reporting that could slice data any way we needed.

The catch? You need dedicated ServiceNow administrators to make any of it work. The platform is powerful because it’s configurable, but that configurability comes with steep complexity. Simple changes require understanding ServiceNow’s architecture and scripting language.

We spoke with three reference customers. All were happy with ServiceNow’s capabilities. All also mentioned hiring additional staff specifically to manage the platform. One organisation had a team of four full-time ServiceNow administrators. We have an IT team of twelve people total.

Freshservice: Simplicity and Speed

Freshservice took a different approach. Their demo focused on getting up and running quickly. They emphasised pre-built workflows, intuitive interfaces, and minimal configuration required to get started.

The platform couldn’t do everything ServiceNow could. The customisation options were more limited. The enterprise features were less comprehensive. But for basic ITSM functions, it was clean and straightforward.

Their reference customers emphasised speed of implementation and ease of use. One organisation was live in under six weeks. Another mentioned that their service desk agents learned the system in days, not months. The theme was consistent: Freshservice is designed for teams that want ITSM functionality without becoming ITSM experts.

The pricing was dramatically different. Freshservice came in at less than a third of ServiceNow’s quote. That price difference would pay for additional tools or headcount if we needed functionality Freshservice couldn’t provide.

The Real Question: What Do We Actually Need?

The choice between platforms forced us to articulate what we actually needed from ITSM. Did we need enterprise-grade IT service management, or did we need a good help desk with some workflow automation?

We mapped out our actual use cases. Incident management for user requests and system issues. Basic change management for tracking production deployments. Asset management for hardware tracking. Some light automation for common requests.

When we looked honestly at our needs, we weren’t using most of the advanced features in our current platform. We certainly didn’t need everything ServiceNow offered. The promise of future capabilities was attractive, but we had to be realistic about whether we’d ever build that maturity.

The Hidden Costs of Each Option

ServiceNow’s licensing cost was high, but the real expense was the administrator headcount. We’d need to hire at least one dedicated ServiceNow admin, possibly two. That was $150,000-$300,000 annually on top of the licensing fees.

We’d also need to send staff to ServiceNow training. The platform has its own certification program because it’s complex enough to require formal education. Training costs and time away from other work added up.

Freshservice’s lower complexity meant our existing IT team could manage it without dedicated staff. But the platform’s limitations meant we’d likely need additional tools for edge cases. We’d have more tools to manage, but less complexity in each one.

Integration Capabilities Mattered

Both platforms offered integration with our other systems, but the approaches differed. ServiceNow had deep, sophisticated integrations that could sync data bidirectionally and trigger complex workflows across systems. Freshservice had simpler integrations that mostly pushed notifications and basic data.

For our monitoring tools, ticketing systems, and asset databases, the simpler integrations were sufficient. We didn’t need complex workflow orchestration across systems. We needed alerts to create tickets and asset data to populate configuration management databases. Both platforms could handle that.

The integration story slightly favoured ServiceNow, but not enough to justify the additional cost and complexity for our use cases.

Our Decision and Why

We chose Freshservice. The decision came down to matching the tool to our organisational maturity and realistic needs rather than buying for aspirational capabilities we might never use.

Freshservice gives us solid ITSM functionality without requiring dedicated platform expertise. Our IT team can manage it alongside their other responsibilities. The cost savings allow us to invest in other areas that deliver more immediate value.

Could we outgrow Freshservice eventually? Possibly. If our organisation grows significantly or our ITSM processes become dramatically more sophisticated, we might need ServiceNow’s capabilities. But we’re not there today, and we might never be.

Advice for Your Evaluation

Don’t let vendor demos distract you with impressive features you’ll never use. Map your actual requirements first, then evaluate how each platform addresses those specific needs.

Talk to reference customers with similar organisational size and maturity. A Fortune 500 company’s experience with ServiceNow won’t translate to your mid-size business.

Factor in the total cost of ownership, including administrator headcount, training, and implementation services. The licensing cost is only part of the story.

Finally, be honest about your organisational maturity and appetite for complexity. The best ITSM platform is the one your team will actually use effectively, not the one with the most impressive feature list. Sometimes simple and effective beats powerful and complex.