ServiceNow vs Zendesk vs Jitbit

ServiceNow

You know those days when you’re juggling tickets, assets, and a bunch of changing priorities? That’s where ServiceNow tends to sit in the background, quietly keeping track of what needs attention and what’s already been handled. People flip between the Activity Dashboard and the ticket queue, glancing at notes, updates, and the status of each request. It feels like a living notebook: one that's updated in real time by the team, with comments and attachments showing the thread of fixes, approvals, and handoffs.

Behind the scenes, ITIL Compliance is king, so processes line up with a familiar rhythm: incidents, problems, changes, all mapped out so teams don’t reinvent the wheel every time. When things escalate, there’s a built-in nudge system that helps the right people see what’s urgent and what can wait. Asset Management keeps hardware and software tied to individual users and locations, which helps avoid lost devices or duplicate purchases. The whole thing reads as a practical, workhorse setup rather than a flashy dashboard—useful, reliable, and the kind of tool you only notice when it’s not working.

Zendesk

You know how sometimes you’re juggling a dozen little support threads and you just wish everything lined up? Zendesk feels a bit like that friend who keeps the chaos from getting chaotic. It’s built around a simple idea: every customer question deserves a clear path to an answer. You start with a ticket, you tag what’s important, and the system helps you track what’s been done and what’s left. It’s not flashy, but it does the boring, indispensable work of keeping conversations organized so nothing falls through the cracks.

The real bones are in how it connects things. Escalation is there when a ticket needs more eyes, so you don’t drown in back-and-forth. Third-party integrations tuck in with other tools you already use, like chat, CRM, or project managers, so you don’t have to switch contexts. Mobile apps let you peek in on tickets while you’re away from the laptop, and multi-channel support means conversations can come in by email, chat, or social, and all stay in one thread. It’s not about reinventing the wheel; it’s about making the wheel a little more usable in daily customer care.

	ServiceNow	Zendesk	Jitbit
	Enterprise-class ITSM solution	The most popular help desk app out there	Help Desk Software built for email. Trusted by thousands of companies across 50 + countries.
Pricing: 3 years / 5 agents	$18000	$8820	$3897
Pricing: 3 years / 10 agents	$36000	$17640	$8367
Active Directory	✅ LDAP, SAML authentication	✅ Active Directory authentication is possible if you install a special script on your server	✅ Integration via a script for your server or ADFS and SAML
Activity Dashboard	✅ Live activity dashboard	✅ You can put data from some reports into your dashboard	✅ Live overview dashboard
Asset Management	✅ Full fledged asset management with automated discovery	❌	✅ A complete asset management module tightly integrated into the rest of the app
Canned Responses	✅ Response templates	✅ Macros allow you to respond to tickets with a pre-written message.	✅ You can also assign canned responses to specific ticket categories if you need to
Community Forums	✅ Yes	❌	✅ Ideas Forum comes out of the box
Custom Fields	✅ Custom fields via additional database columns	✅ You can add custom fields and use them with other features such as automation, macros, etc.	✅ Many custom field types, including dependant fields. Various privacy options.
Custom Statuses	✅ Custom statuses for tickets and incidents	❌	✅ Add custom statuses, customize how your customers see them and assign different colors to them
Customer satisfaction survey	✅ Separate satisfaction surveys, not tied to tickets	✅ Only on Professional plan or higher	✅ Optional CSATs in email notifications and a report
Design Customization	✅ Custom forms layouts only	✅ You can customize the public-facing pages, but not what your employees see	✅ Unlimited customization options. Change colors with a live preview, add custom CSS and JS
Email Notification Templates	✅ WYSIWIG/HTML templates	✅ You can fully customize most email templates for notifications that your customers get	✅ You are able to completely change a template for any notification type
Escalation	✅ Manual or via triggers	✅ Possible to escalate tickets with workflow automation features	✅ Possible to set up various escalation scenarios via automation
Exchange Integration	✅ Native integration via a plugin	❌	✅ Native EWS support instead of IMAP. oAuth support for Office 365
Import and Export	✅ Import/export from Excel, export to PDF	✅ Starting with Professional plan you can export your tickets to an XML file. Import only possible via API.	✅ Import and Export tickets via CSV files
Internationalization	✅ Extra languages via a plugin	✅ UI is not translatable. You can provide content, such as Knowledge Base articles in multiple languages on Professional plan	✅ Available in 16 different languages
ITIL Compliance	✅ Full ITIL/ITSM	✅ Claims to be designed with ITIL principles in mind	✅ Support for most ITIL processes
Knowledge Base	✅ Knowledge base and the self-service portal	✅ Basic version comes with Professional plan. Full version is only available as a separate add-on	✅ Customizable Knowledge Base optimized for search engines
Live Chat	✅ Yes	❌	✅ A free live chat component in the web widget
Mobile Apps	✅ Only via 'Now' mobile app	✅ Offers apps for iOS and Android	✅ iOS and Android
Multi-channel support	❌	✅ A lot of support channels are built-in in the app: email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.	✅ Possible to add unlimited channels via integrations and API
On-premise Version	✅ Yes, but only the highest pricing tier	❌	✅ A full on-premises version that runs on Windows Server
Reports and Analytics	✅ Yes	✅ Reports are only available on Professional plan or higher	✅ 13 reports with an ability to build your own and to export everything to Excel
REST API	✅ Included	✅ Fully featured API on all plans	✅ API covers all the app features
Single-Sign-On	✅ SAML, LDAP	✅ Most standard SSO options are available	✅ SAML, Google login, Windows-integrated etc.
SLA Management	✅ SLA policies available	✅ SLA features are natively supported in the app	✅ Full SLA automation via actions/triggers
Support Widget	❌	✅ Web widget and Mobile SDK	✅ Two different versions of a web widget
Third-party Integrations	❌	✅ Hundreds of integrations with all popular apps	✅ 30 native integrations and 500 more via Zapier
Ticket Collaboration	✅ Transfer and CC, but no live updates and collision detection	✅ Light agents, side conversations and CCs and followers	✅ See when other techs are viewing tickets in real-time, assign multiple people to a ticket
Workflow Automation	✅ Automation Designer in the 'Now' platform	✅ Powerful engine that allows you to automate any business process	✅ Automation Rules are very powerful and can go beyond simple if-this-then-that logic

Looking for help desk software? Check out Jitbit. We offer a fully-featured app at a very affordable price. It comes with all the must have features like knowledge base, two-way email integration (including native Exchange and Office 365 support), automation, hundreds of integrations with third-party apps and much more. Available both as a hosted "SaaS" version and an on-premises version you can install on your own server.