Decide how far into ITIL and asset management you need to go before you compare. A light helpdesk covers tickets for a small team, a full ITSM tool adds change and asset management, and an AI-first service desk hands routine requests to agents. Match the depth to the team you have today, with some room to grow.
Start with the grid: eight service desk tools, unranked, each tagged with the depth it reaches. The product you're moving away from, Freshservice, sells IT service, operations and assets on one AI platform, so depth is the thing to compare.
Service desk options in one grid
| Tool | Depth | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| EasyVista | AI-powered ITSM | Full ITSM with AI built in |
| Hesk | Simple help desk | Small teams starting out, hosted or self-hosted |
| InvGate | ITSM and asset management | Service and assets without heavy implementation |
| ServiceDesk Plus | ITIL service desk | ITSM, assets and enterprise service together |
| Siit | AI service desk | Internal requests resolved by AI agents |
| SysAid | ITSM with AI agents | Teams handing routine tickets to AI |
| Vivantio | Step-up ITIL service management | Moving up from a basic helpdesk |
| Zammad | Helpdesk platform | Customer and IT support in one place |
Each service desk, alphabetically
A line apiece, in no particular order of merit, each taken from the vendor's own site.
EasyVista
Best for: IT teams wanting an AI-powered ITSM platform aimed at efficiency and better service delivery, with what the vendor calls proven outcomes.
Hesk
Best for: Small and medium teams after what the vendor calls beautifully simple yet powerful help desk software.
InvGate
Best for: Changing workflows without endless implementations, as the vendor tells it.
ServiceDesk Plus
Best for: Designing, automating and delivering services on ITIL best practices, per the vendor.
Siit
Best for: Internal IT and operations requests handled by AI agents that, the vendor says, qualify and resolve them end to end.
SysAid
Best for: IT teams who want agentic AI working through tickets, which the vendor sums up as stop managing a queue.
Vivantio
Best for: Depth without the complexity of an enterprise platform, which is how the vendor pitches it.
Zammad
Best for: A helpdesk the vendor says is powerful but never overwhelming.
How deep into ITIL do you need to go?
The alternatives differ mainly in how far they go into ITIL processes and asset management. That's the question to settle first. A two-person IT team answering password resets doesn't need change advisory boards and a configuration database; a team supporting several hundred staff across sites probably does.
Be wary of buying depth you won't use. Every extra module is something to configure, maintain and train people on. Equally, moving to a light tool and discovering six months later that you need asset tracking means a second migration, which is worse than the first.
Asset management is usually the deciding feature. If you need to link a ticket to the laptop, licence or server it's about, or answer an auditor's question about what you own, you're in fuller ITSM territory. If tickets are mostly how-do-I questions and access requests, a light helpdesk will serve you well for a long time.
Light, full or AI-first
Light helpdesks to start with. Hesk is a web-based help desk you can run as cloud software or self-host. Zammad centralises customer communication, IT support and internal operations.
Fuller ITSM tools. ServiceDesk Plus unifies ITSM, asset management and enterprise service management. InvGate offers no-code service and asset management. Vivantio is aimed squarely at teams stepping up from a basic helpdesk to ITIL-aligned service. EasyVista pitches a unified ITSM platform with AI built in, and SysAid leans on agentic AI to work through the queue.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
AI-first. Siit is an AI service desk for IT and internal operations. It suits teams whose tickets are mostly routine and repetitive.
Make IT service management software that fits one of these tiers? Request a review here.
Advice for a small IT team choosing depth
Pick for the next two years, not the next ten. If change and asset management aren't part of your week now and nobody's asking for them, a lighter tool will be live sooner and used more. If audits, contracts or a growing estate mean you need to know what hardware you own and who changed what, go straight to a fuller ITSM tool and save yourself a second move.
Bring in the people who raise tickets, not just the people who answer them. Ask three or four staff from different teams to submit a request through each shortlisted portal. If they can't find the right form or give up halfway, your agents will be fielding those requests by email again within a month.
For a wider view, my ITSM tools guide and small business help desk list go wider than this page.
Mistakes that make a service desk move harder
- Importing every old ticket. Bring over open tickets and a recent history; archive the rest.
- Rebuilding every category and form from the old system before asking whether anyone used them.
- Switching email routing before agents have been trained, so tickets arrive somewhere nobody's watching.
- Leaving asset records until later, then finding they don't match what's in the building.
- Turning on AI auto-replies for every request type at once instead of starting with one.
Avoid those five and most of the pain of a move disappears.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a helpdesk and ITSM?
A helpdesk handles tickets and requests. ITSM adds the wider processes around them, such as change, problem and asset management, usually following ITIL.
Do I need ITIL to run a good service desk?
No. ITIL is a framework, not a requirement. Small teams often borrow a few parts, such as a clear request process, and skip the rest.
Can AI agents handle IT requests on their own?
Some vendors say their agents resolve routine requests end to end. Start them on simple, repeatable requests and keep a person reviewing the results until you trust them.
Should asset management live in the service desk?
It helps when tickets need to show which device or licence is affected. If you track assets elsewhere and it works, a link between the two may be enough.
How long does a service desk migration take?
For a small team on a light helpdesk, a few weeks is common once forms and email routing are set. A full ITSM move with assets and change processes is a project, best done in phases.
Can I self-host a help desk?
Some tools offer a self-hosted edition alongside cloud software. You'll take on updates, backups and security yourself, so weigh that against the control you gain.
