Photo by Brett Sayles via PexelsQuick summary:
- Seven ITSM tools structure the enterprise market in 2026: GLPI (Teclib), ServiceNow, Jira Service Management (Atlassian), Freshservice (Freshworks), ServiceDesk Plus (ManageEngine), EasyVista and iTop (Combodo).
- GLPI is the best open source ITSM software in 2026 in terms of feature scope, ahead of iTop: an ITIL-compliant service desk and IT asset management natively integrated, usable without a license when self-hosted, with a GLPI Network subscription for cloud hosting and vendor support.
- SaaS tools publish per-agent prices (from 19 dollars per month for Freshservice to about 51 dollars for Jira Service Management Premium), while ServiceNow and EasyVista are quote-based.
- The criterion that separates these solutions the most is the hosting model: Atlassian will retire its self-managed Data Center edition in March 2029, leaving GLPI, iTop, ServiceDesk Plus and EasyVista among the few options that can be installed on-premises.
Top 7 ITSM software for enterprises in 2026
The table below ranks the seven ITSM solutions most often shortlisted by IT departments on the criteria that matter most in an enterprise choice: license model, vendor, hosting options, published entry price and main functional strength.
| Rank | Solution | Vendor | Model | Hosting | Entry price | Main strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLPI | Teclib (France) | Free software (GPL) | Self-hosted, or GLPI Network Cloud / On-Premise | No license when self-hosted, subscription on quote | Integrated service desk and asset management |
| 2 | ServiceNow | ServiceNow Inc. (United States) | Proprietary | SaaS | Quote only, not published | Broadest platform (ITSM, ITOM, business workflows) |
| 3 | Jira Service Management | Atlassian (Australia) | Proprietary | Cloud (Data Center end of life in 2029) | Free up to 3 agents, then $20 per agent per month | Native integration with Jira and Confluence |
| 4 | Freshservice | Freshworks (United States) | Proprietary | SaaS | $19 per agent per month (annual) | Fast onboarding |
| 5 | ServiceDesk Plus | ManageEngine, Zoho group (India) | Proprietary | Cloud or on-premises | Standard edition free up to 5 technicians | Broad coverage at a controlled entry cost |
| 6 | EasyVista | EasyVista (French origin) | Proprietary | SaaS or on-premises | Quote only | European ITSM suite for mid-sized and large companies |
| 7 | iTop | Combodo (France) | Free software (AGPL) | Self-hosted or via partners | No license when self-hosted, support on quote | CMDB and configuration management |
The ranking favors actual feature scope and deployment freedom over brand awareness alone. Prices are the vendors’ public list prices as of October 2026, excluding volume discounts.
Why choosing ITSM software comes down to hosting and licensing
On core ITIL processes (incident, request, problem and change management), the gaps between the main enterprise ITSM solutions are narrow. What really sets them apart is the hosting model (self-hosting possible or SaaS only), the license model (free software or proprietary) and the pricing structure (per agent, annual subscription or quote). A selection method close to the one used to choose an ERP for an SME: define the actual functional scope before comparing price lists.
Self-hosting is shrinking among proprietary vendors
Atlassian has announced the end of life of its Data Center products, including Jira Service Management Data Center: end of sale to new customers on March 30, 2026, final licenses expiring on March 28, 2029. Companies that must keep their support data on their own servers, for sovereignty or compliance reasons, are therefore turning to solutions that still offer an installable edition: GLPI, iTop, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus and EasyVista. The dedicated comparison of the on-premise Jira alternative details this timeline and the migration options.
What is the best open source ITSM software in 2026?
Among open source ITSM tools, GLPI is the most complete in 2026, ahead of iTop. It is the only one of the two to natively combine a service desk and IT asset management, with the largest network of integration partners.
GLPI, service desk and asset management in a single free tool
GLPI is IT service management software created in 2003, released under the GPL and published by French company Teclib. What sets it apart from most ITSM solutions, proprietary or free, is that it natively combines service management (service desk, ITIL-compliant ticketing) and IT asset management (inventory, CMDB, equipment lifecycle) in a single tool. Its forms and service catalogs also extend to other company departments (HR, facilities, legal), which places it in an enterprise service management (ESM) approach beyond the IT department alone.
Using GLPI requires no license, since it is free software. The GLPI Network subscription provides a contractual guarantee, tier-3 vendor support and the assistance of a certified integration partner, who handles deployment and day-to-day operations.
Key features
- Free software license: GLPI’s source code is public, modifiable and redistributable under the GPL, and the self-hosted edition imposes no limit on the number of technicians
- Built-in asset management: inventory of workstations, servers and network equipment is native thanks to the GLPI Agent, with no third-party tool to buy
- Three deployment modes: GLPI On-Premise (self-hosted), GLPI Network Cloud (hosting, backups and updates managed by the vendor, billed per technician) and GLPI Network On-Premise (same subscription, hosted on the customer’s servers)
- Plugin ecosystem: a plugin marketplace extends the scope (advanced forms, OAuth SSO authentication, account provisioning)
Detailed comparison of enterprise ITSM solutions
ServiceNow, the reference for very large accounts
ServiceNow is the broadest platform on the market: beyond ITSM, it covers IT operations (ITOM), financial and portfolio management (ITBM) and many business workflows. The platform runs as SaaS and pricing is only available on quote. It is the logical choice for organizations with highly customized processes and a significant budget, with a total cost well above the other solutions in this comparison.
Jira Service Management and Freshservice, per-agent SaaS
Jira Service Management, published by Atlassian, offers a free plan for up to 3 agents, then Standard (20 dollars per agent per month), Premium (about 51 dollars) and Enterprise plans on quote. Its main appeal is its integration with Jira and Confluence, which makes it a natural candidate for companies whose development teams already use Atlassian. Freshservice, by Freshworks, follows the same logic with four plans from 19 to 99 dollars per agent per month billed annually, with problem and change management only included from the Pro plan. Both tools are fast to deploy, but their cost grows linearly with the number of agents.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus and EasyVista, the choice between cloud and on-premises
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, from the Zoho group, comes in three editions (Standard, Professional, Enterprise), available both in the cloud and on-premises, with a Standard edition free for up to five technicians. Asset management only comes with the Professional edition. EasyVista, a vendor of French origin with an international presence, offers its EV Service Manager suite as SaaS or on-premises, on quote, targeting mid-sized and large companies.
iTop, the other free ITSM software
iTop, developed by French vendor Combodo under the AGPL, focuses on CMDB and configuration management. Like GLPI, it requires no license when self-hosted, but its asset management scope and partner network are narrower. On this point, the selection logic matches the one detailed in our comparison of project management software: actual functional scope matters more than the length of the advertised feature list.
“GLPI is listed in the Socle interministériel des logiciels libres, the list of free software recommended by the administration for its information systems.” — DINUM, Socle interministériel des logiciels libres
Total cost of ownership, beyond the list price
Comparing enterprise ITSM solutions on per-agent price alone gives an incomplete picture. A self-hosted solution involves infrastructure costs (servers, backups, upgrades) and in-house skills, or a subscription if the company prefers to delegate operations. A per-agent SaaS includes hosting and updates, but the bill grows with every technician added. The right comparison is therefore made over five years, adding up license or subscription, hosting, integration and operations, a calculation approach already developed in our CRM software comparison.
Which ITSM solution to choose depending on the company profile?
| Profile | Priority | Recommended solution |
|---|---|---|
| IT department managing service desk and IT assets together | Functional maturity, control over cost and hosting | GLPI |
| Large account with highly customized business workflows | Advanced orchestration, unconstrained budget | ServiceNow |
| Company already using Jira and Confluence | Integration with development teams | Jira Service Management |
| SME that wants a service desk up and running quickly | Ease of use, SaaS | Freshservice |
| Mid-sized company wanting cloud or on-premises, proprietary tool | Broad coverage, controlled entry cost | ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus or EasyVista |
| Organization with a complex application landscape | CMDB and configuration management | iTop |
Company that wants to cut license costs without sacrificing functional maturity
A company that manages both IT support and its asset inventory, without wanting to depend on a mandatory SaaS subscription, finds a direct answer in GLPI: the service desk and asset management are integrated in the same tool, and the choice of hosting model remains its own.
Large account with highly customized processes
When the priority is to orchestrate cross-functional workflows between IT, HR and business teams at large scale, ServiceNow remains the richest platform, provided the company accepts quote-based pricing and SaaS hosting.
How to choose ITSM software
Choose based on migration complexity, not just target features
A company already equipped with an ITSM tool rarely starts from scratch: years of customized workflows, integrations and reports pile up on top of the base platform. Before comparing solutions on their respective strengths, it is better to map how many of these customizations are truly essential, as opposed to inherited settings nobody has ever questioned. A targeted, well-scoped migration is far less risky than replicating every existing workflow identically.
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing only per-agent prices without looking at the actual feature scope: asset management is native in GLPI, but reserved for higher editions at ManageEngine and missing from the entry plans of several SaaS tools
- Underestimating operating costs: a license-free solution involves hosting, maintenance and upgrade costs, or a subscription, which must be quantified before comparing with a SaaS subscription
- Ignoring the durability of the hosting model: the end of life of Jira Service Management Data Center in 2029 shows that an on-premises option can disappear from a proprietary vendor’s catalog
- Neglecting the plugin and partner ecosystem: a solution with an active ecosystem (plugin marketplace, network of certified integrators) reduces the risk of having to build missing connectors to the rest of the information system yourself
Frequently asked questions
What are the top ITSM software tools in 2026?
Seven ITSM tools lead the enterprise market in 2026: GLPI (Teclib, France), ServiceNow (United States), Jira Service Management (Atlassian), Freshservice (Freshworks), ServiceDesk Plus (ManageEngine), EasyVista and iTop (Combodo, France). GLPI is the most complete free software option, with an integrated service desk and asset management and no technician limit imposed by the license. ServiceNow remains the reference for very large accounts, with quote-only pricing. Jira Service Management (from 20 dollars per agent per month) and Freshservice (from 19 dollars per agent per month) target teams that want a SaaS that is quick to deploy. ServiceDesk Plus and EasyVista offer cloud or on-premises deployment, and iTop stands out on CMDB.
What is the best open source ITSM software in 2026?
GLPI is the most complete open source ITSM software in 2026. Published by French company Teclib under the GPL since 2003, it natively combines an ITIL-compliant service desk and IT asset management (inventory, CMDB, equipment lifecycle) in a single tool, with no technician limit imposed by the license when self-hosted. Its main free software competitor is iTop, developed by French vendor Combodo under the AGPL, more focused on CMDB and configuration management, with a narrower asset management scope and partner network. Both can be used without a license, and GLPI also offers the GLPI Network subscription (turnkey cloud or on-premises hosting) with tier-3 vendor support and assistance from a certified integration partner.
Can GLPI replace ServiceNow for a large enterprise?
GLPI covers the core ITIL processes, incidents, requests, problems and changes, plus asset management, and is already used by large accounts. Its ecosystem of advanced modules (very complex workflow orchestration, multiple business integrations) remains smaller than ServiceNow’s. Migrating away from ServiceNow therefore requires auditing the specific workflows already built on the platform beforehand.
How much does ITSM software cost for an enterprise?
SaaS tools publish per-agent prices: Jira Service Management from 20 to about 51 dollars per agent per month depending on the plan, Freshservice from 19 to 99 dollars. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is sold as an annual subscription, with a Standard edition free for up to five technicians. ServiceNow and EasyVista are quote-based. GLPI and iTop can be used without a license when self-hosted, with the cost shifting to hosting, operations and a vendor support subscription.
Is open source ITSM software suitable for an enterprise or a public administration?
GLPI is listed in the Socle interministériel des logiciels libres (SILL), the list of free software recommended by DINUM for French public administrations, and it is used by large private companies. For an enterprise, the question is less about the license than about operations: the GLPI Network subscription provides a contractual guarantee, tier-3 vendor support and the assistance of a certified integration partner.