# IT service management: what AI models recommend, October 2026 Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "ITSM platform" and as "IT service desk and ticketing tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/operations/it-service-management/2026-10 This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/operations/it-service-management/index.md **Standing:** Freshservice leads with 58% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts. ## First-choice share | Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [Freshservice](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/freshservice/index.md) | 58% | 2% | 66 | | 2 | [Jira Service Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jira-service-management/index.md) | 12% | 8% | 64 | | 3 | [ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-servicedesk-plus/index.md) | 11% | 7% | 44 | | 4 | [Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/spiceworks-cloud-help-desk/index.md) | 7% | 10% | 10 | | 5 | [InvGate Service Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/invgate-service-management/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 12 | | 8 | [SolarWinds Service Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/solarwinds-service-desk/index.md) | 2% | 29% | 14 | | 12 | [SysAid](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sysaid/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 15 | | 13 | [Zendesk ITSM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zendesk-itsm/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 17 | | 64 | [Ivanti Neurons for ITSM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ivanti-neurons-for-itsm/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 21 | | 67 | [BMC Helix ITSM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bmc-helix-itsm/index.md) | 0% | 48% | 31 | | 68 | [ServiceNow ITSM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/servicenow-itsm/index.md) | 0% | 63% | 57 | Rank is by share of first choices among all 68 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels. ## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt - Claude Haiku 4.5: Freshservice; alternatives InvGate Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, SysAid - GPT-5.4 mini: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - Gemini 3.5 Flash: Freshservice; alternatives HaloITSM, InvGate Service Management, Jira Service Management, SysAid - Perplexity Sonar: Freshservice; alternatives BMC Helix ITSM, Jira Service Management, ServiceDesk Plus, SysAid - Grok 4.20: Freshservice; alternatives InvGate Service Management, Jira Service Management, SysAid - Mistral Small: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, SolarWinds Service Desk - DeepSeek V4 Flash: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - Llama 4 Maverick: Freshservice, Hiver, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - Qwen 3.7 Flash: Freshservice, Jira Service Management - Kimi K2: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - GLM 4.7 FlashX: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - MiniMax M2.5: Freshservice, Jira Service Management - GPT-6 Luna: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus - Muse Glimmer 30B: Freshservice; alternatives Jira Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, Zendesk ITSM ## Sources the answers cite 74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers: - blog.invgate.com: 34 answers, 47 citations - motadata.com: 26 answers, 33 citations - freshworks.com: 23 answers, 32 citations - deel.com: 23 answers, 23 citations - expertinsights.com: 20 answers, 20 citations - atomicwork.com: 19 answers, 21 citations - ones.com: 16 answers, 22 citations - resources.rework.com: 16 answers, 18 citations Pages named in the most answers: - https://deel.com/blog/best-itsm-tools (23 answers) - https://blog.invgate.com/best-itsm-tools (20 answers) - https://expertinsights.com/it-management/the-top-it-service-management-itsm-solutions (20 answers) - https://atomicwork.com/itsm/best-itsm-tools (18 answers) - https://motadata.com/blog/best-itsm-tools (14 answers) - https://virima.com/blog/top-itsm-software-platforms-compared-2026-buyers-guide (14 answers) - https://alloysoftware.com/blog/best-itsm-platforms-for-small-business (11 answers) - https://freshworks.com/itsm/software (11 answers) - https://gartner.com/reviews/market/it-service-management-platforms (11 answers) - https://console.com/blog/best-itsm-tools (10 answers) ## Warned against - ServiceNow ITSM: 36 of 57 labels negative. "Do not default to ServiceNow just because it's the market leader. For a 500-person company, the platform is almost always overkill, highly expensive" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt) - BMC Helix ITSM: 15 of 31 labels negative. "Avoid BMC Helix (previously known as Remedy). It's filled with glitches and, even after more than two years, still isn't functioning properly." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt) - Ivanti Neurons for ITSM: 9 of 21 labels negative. "Legacy/Glitchy Options (e.g., SolarWinds Service Desk, Ivanti Neurons)... Dated interfaces and bugs" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt) - Jira Service Management: 5 of 64 labels negative. "good fit for Atlassian-centric teams, but the listed drawbacks are limited mobile functionality, complex setup for beginners, and expensive higher-tier plans" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt) ## Movement since September 2026 Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat. Same leader: Freshservice at 58%. - Jira Service Management: 21% to 10%, −11. Inside the floor by 0 points · rank 2 → 3 of 56. - ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus: 10% to 12%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 2 of 56. - Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk: 6% to 8%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 of 56, unchanged. - SolarWinds Service Desk: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 10 of 56. - Freshservice: 58% to 58%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 1 of 56, unchanged. - InvGate Service Management: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 of 56, unchanged. - SysAid: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 11 of 56. - Zendesk ITSM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 19 → 12 of 56. - HaloITSM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 13 of 56. - Ivanti Neurons for ITSM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 40 → 54 of 56. - BMC Helix ITSM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 45 → 55 of 56. - ServiceNow ITSM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 46 → 56 of 56. ## Record - Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology - License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.