IT service management for enterprise buyers
Asked as “ITSM platform”, and as “IT service desk and ticketing tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 43 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
01The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for an enterprise B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01ServiceNow47%
ServiceNow47%02Jira Service Management19%
Jira Service Management19%03Freshservice7%
Freshservice7%04ServiceNow ITSM7%
ServiceNow ITSM7%05ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus2%
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus2%06BMC Helix ITSM0%
BMC Helix ITSM0%07Ivanti Neurons for ITSM0%
Ivanti Neurons for ITSM0%08Zendesk0%
Zendesk0%02What they warned about
Six of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
ServiceNow33%
16 of 48 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“the industry leaders like ServiceNow or BMC are generally poor choices due to their complex, metric-based pricing models” Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt
Jira Service Management17%
9 of 54 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“often criticized for steep learning curves, "build-it-yourself" configuration burdens, and weaker non-technical usability/CMDB” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
BMC Helix ITSM20%
9 of 44 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“industry leaders like ServiceNow or BMC are generally poor choices” Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt
Freshservice22%
11 of 51 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Platforms to Avoid or Approach with High Caution ... Complaints include scalability caps on ticket volumes” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
03What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
63 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 827 links across 225 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
38 answers · 53 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Motadata23 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Virima22 answers · 27 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Console18 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
vendor site · InvGate17 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Expert Insights15 answers · 15 citations · 8 models
vendor site · TeamDynamix15 answers · 15 citations · 8 models
vendor site · ONES.com14 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Xurrent14 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Guideflow13 answers · 13 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
36 answers · 10 models
21 answers · 9 models
19 answers · 8 models
17 answers · 9 models
16 answers · 8 models
15 answers · 8 models
15 answers · 8 models
14 answers · 8 models
13 answers · 7 models
13 answers · 8 models
04How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best ITSM platform for an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which IT service desk and ticketing tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade ITSM platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best ITSM platform for a large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating an ITSM platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which ITSM platforms should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5ServiceNowServiceNowHeldIvanti Neurons for ITSM, ServiceNowFreshservice, HaloITSMagainst: ServiceNowno first choiceagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Omnitracker, ServiceNow
Four alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Console, Freshservice, TeamDynamixThree alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service Management, ZendeskTwo alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementGPT-5.4 miniServiceNowagainst: FreshserviceServiceNowHeldServiceNow IT Service ManagementJira Service Managementagainst: ServiceNowno first choiceagainst: Freshservice, HaloITSM, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, SysAid, TOPdesk
Three alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
Jira Service ManagementFive alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk PlusOne alternative
ManageEngine ServiceDesk PlusGemini 3.5 FlashServiceNowServiceNowHeldServiceNow ITSMHaloITSMagainst: ServiceNowJira Service Managementagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Broadcom/CA Service Management, Cherwell Service Management, HubSpot, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk, SysAid, Zendesk, Zoho Desk
Two alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementThree alternatives
Freshservice, HaloITSM, Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Jira Service Management, TeamDynamixTwo alternatives
Jira Service Management, TeamDynamixThree alternatives
Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, ServiceNowPerplexity SonarServiceNow IT Service ManagementServiceNow IT Service ManagementHeldagainst: HaloITSMServiceNowTeamDynamixagainst: ServiceNowno first choiceagainst: Freshservice, GoTo Resolve, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, SolarWinds Service Desk, Zendesk
Three alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Jira Service Management, TeamDynamixTwo alternatives
Jira Service Management, Salesforce Service CloudSeven alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, IBM Control Desk, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, TeamDynamix, XurrentOne alternative
BMC Helix ITSMGrok 4.1 FastServiceNowServiceNowHeldagainst: FreshserviceServiceNow IT Service Managementagainst: IBM Instana, ManageEngine ServiceDesk PlusJira Service Managementagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, ServiceNow ITSMServiceNowagainst: Freshservice, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, SolarWinds Service Desk
Four alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementTwo alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
FreshserviceOne alternative
FreshserviceMistral SmallServiceNowno first choiceChangedServiceNow IT Service Managementagainst: Cherwell Service ManagementFreshserviceagainst: ServiceNowServiceNowagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceNow
Two alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, FreshserviceFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, TeamDynamixFive alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, Microsoft Intune + Microsoft TeamsDeepSeek V4 FlashServiceNowagainst: FreshserviceServiceNow ITSMChangedServiceNow ITSMJira Service Managementagainst: ServiceNowno first choiceagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Bubble, Cherwell Service Management, Freshdesk, Freshservice, HappyFox, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, Retool, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, SysAid, Zendesk
Two alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
FreshserviceLlama 4 MaverickTeamDynamixServiceNowChangedServiceNowServiceNowno first choiceagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, ServiceNow
Three alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementQwen 3.7 FlashServiceNowServiceNow IT Service ManagementChangedagainst: Freshservice, ZendeskServiceNowManageEngine ServiceDesk Plusagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, ServiceNowno first choiceagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceNow
Three alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementTwo alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementKimi K2ServiceNowServiceNowHeldServiceNow ITSMagainst: Cherwell Service ManagementJira Service Managementagainst: ServiceNowFreshservice, Jira Service Managementagainst: BMC Helix ITSM, Cherwell, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceNow, Zendesk
Three alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementTwo alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementThree alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
FreshserviceOne alternative
ServiceNowGLM 4.7 FlashXServiceNow IT Service ManagementServiceNow ITSMChangedServiceNow ITSMServiceNowServiceNow ITSMagainst: Cherwell, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceNow, TOPdesk
Five alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk PlusThree alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service Management, ZendeskSeven alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Cherwell Service Management, IBM Control Desk, InvGate Service Management, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, ServalThree alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk PlusFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ONES.comMiniMax M2.5Jira Service Management, ServiceNowServiceNowChangedagainst: ZendeskServiceNow ITSMagainst: IBM Control DeskJira Service Managementagainst: ServiceNow ITSMno first choiceagainst: Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceNow
One alternative
FreshserviceTwo alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementFour alternatives
BMC Helix ITSM, Freshservice, Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
TOPdeskBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
05The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 11:20 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 11:31 | yes | 3 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 11:22 | yes | 9 | 21 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 13:52 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 13:04 | yes | 19 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 10:07 | yes | 13 | 11 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 12:52 | yes | 10 | 13 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 12:16 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 09:40 | yes | 5 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 10:33 | yes | 13 | 37 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 13:23 | yes | 13 | 108 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 12:40 | yes | 10 | 45 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 13:02 | yes | 9 | 10 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 12:05 | yes | 2 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 10:45 | yes | 13 | 21 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 11:16 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 13:49 | yes | 15 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 09:38 | no | 0 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 13:34 | yes | 10 | 11 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 10:08 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 12:25 | yes | 10 | 69 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 11:21 | yes | 10 | 19 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 10:28 | yes | 29 | 34 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 11:26 | yes | 5 | 43 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 14:13 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 13:42 | yes | 4 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 09:31 | yes | 13 | 32 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 11:11 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 13:32 | yes | 21 | 16 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 12:43 | yes | 15 | 12 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 10:55 | yes | 10 | 25 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 11:51 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 10:54 | no | 0 | 52 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 14:04 | yes | 14 | 30 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 12:23 | yes | 8 | 75 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 11:29 | yes | 8 | 28 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 09:50 | yes | 18 | 8 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 10:27 | yes | 4 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 11:14 | yes | 27 | 34 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 11:51 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 12:46 | yes | 41 | 18 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 14:05 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 11:09 | yes | 20 | 20 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 13:44 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 11:28 | no | 0 | 35 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 09:23 | yes | 10 | 30 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 13:49 | yes | 14 | 84 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 13:05 | yes | 14 | 82 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 09:49 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 14:11 | no | 0 | 44 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 12:44 | no | 0 | 16 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 10:45 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 10:31 | yes | 17 | 16 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 13:01 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 11:56 | yes | 19 | 36 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 13:56 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 10:50 | no | 0 | 40 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 11:09 | yes | 15 | 57 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 13:59 | yes | 19 | 86 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 12:05 | no | 0 | 14 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 11:01 | yes | 17 | 14 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 09:39 | yes | 4 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 12:53 | yes | 18 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 11:36 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 13:01 | yes | 36 | 19 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 10:59 | yes | 10 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 13:29 | yes | 30 | 72 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 14:08 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 14:00 | yes | 34 | 81 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 13:48 | yes | 29 | 89 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 13:59 | yes | 24 | 125 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 10:02 | yes | 23 | 50 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
Category-scoped readings
Atlassian (Jira Service Management) read as Jira Service Management
BMC read as BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix read as BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix (and Remedy) read as BMC Helix ITSM
BMC Helix (formerly Remedy) read as BMC Helix ITSM
Ivanti read as Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
Ivanti (Neurons for ITSM) read as Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
Ivanti Neurons read as Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
ManageEngine read as ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Spiceworks read as Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Unresolved, counted raw
Broadcom/CA Service Management
Bubble
Microsoft Dynamics 365 ITSM
Microsoft Intune + Microsoft Teams
Omnitracker
Retool
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.