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If you’re trying to choose an AI IT support platform, it probably feels like every vendor promises “agentic AI” and “instant resolution” without showing the trade‑offs. We used Oden to analyze Moveworks, ServiceNow, Espressive, and Atomicwork using their product docs, pricing pages, analyst coverage, G2 ratings, Gartner Peer Insights, press releases, and real Reddit threads. The goal here is to cut through the marketing and show how these tools actually compare on ratings, cost, features, and fit. By the end, you should know which one is most realistic for your budget, stack, and team maturity.
Which AI IT support platform has the best customer rating?
Customer ratings (G2 and Gartner Peer Insights, as of late 2025)
| Platform / Tool | Rating | # Reviews | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moveworks | 4.6 / 5 | 50 (G2) | Strong satisfaction for fast IT/HR automation and Slack/Teams integration; some concerns about cost and integration effort. (g2.com) |
| ServiceNow IT Service Management | 4.4 / 5 | 1,188 (G2) | Very high volume of reviews; praised for powerful ITSM workflows and automation, but consistently flagged as complex and expensive. (g2.com) |
| Espressive (Barista/BaristaGPT) | 4.9 / 5 | 16 (G2) | Extremely positive ratings, but from a small sample; users highlight strong deflection and customer support, with some learning curve and integration effort. (g2.com) |
| Atomicwork | 5.0 / 5 | 4 (Gartner Peer Insights) | Perfect score but based on very few reviews; noted for AI-driven ITSM and ESM with modern UX. (gartner.com) |
Takeaways
- ServiceNow has the most statistically reliable rating data by far (1,188+ reviews), and it maintains a strong 4.4 / 5 despite complexity and cost.
- Moveworks’ 4.6 / 5 on 50 reviews is solid for an AI-first platform, but the sample size is still modest compared to ServiceNow.
- Espressive and Atomicwork score highest numerically, but their review counts (16 and 4) are too small to treat the averages as statistically robust; treat them as directional signals, not hard truth.
- All four tools are generally well‑liked by customers; the real differentiator is less “who has the best rating” and more “which platform’s trade‑offs match your size, stack, and talent.”
How much do AI IT support platforms really cost?
Pricing is highly customized and changes by region, volume, and discount level. The table below synthesizes vendor and third‑party benchmarks, not official quotes.
| Platform / Tool | Free / Trial Tier | Main Billing Units | Example Entry Point (Non‑Binding) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moveworks | No true free tier; playground/demo access available. | Typically per employee / per year enterprise contract, plus scope (IT/HR/Finance) and integrations. | Third‑party deal data suggests roughly $100–$200 per user per year for 1,000–2,500 users (mid‑six‑figure ACV for mid‑enterprise). |
| ServiceNow ITSM + AI (Now Assist / Pro / Pro Plus) | No public free tier; some prospects get POCs via partners. | Per user / per month licenses by role (fulfiller, requester, stakeholder) and by module (ITSM, ITOM, HRSD, etc.). (servicenow.com) | Independent benchmarks place ITSM fulfiller licenses around $90–$150+ per user per month list, with 40–50% discounts common on larger deals. (techradar.com) |
| Espressive (Barista / BaristaGPT) | No public free tier; sales‑led with demos and pilots. (espressive.com) | Enterprise subscription, generally tied to employee count and integrations with ITSM / HR systems (exact model not disclosed publicly). | Public sources do not disclose pricing; expect six‑figure ACV for global deployments, similar to other enterprise virtual agents. (You’ll need to get a quote.) |
| Atomicwork | Free trial available for the Professional tier. (start.atomicwork.com) | Primarily per employee / per year, by plan (Professional, Business, Enterprise) with AI usage limits varying by tier. | Professional plan starts at $90 per employee per year (often positioned for 500–1,000 employees), with higher tiers custom‑priced and including unlimited AI usage. |
What this means in practice
- All four tools are “enterprise‑priced” — expect at least low six‑figure annual contracts once you’re into thousands of employees, especially if you roll out globally.
- ServiceNow is usually the most expensive on a per‑seat basis once you combine ITSM + AI add‑ons, but you’re also buying a full platform (ITSM, ITOM, HRSD, CSM) rather than just an IT assistant.
- Moveworks often lands as a six‑figure overlay to existing ITSM (frequently ServiceNow), justified by ticket deflection and time‑to-resolution savings; third‑party analyses put median ACV around $130k per year.
- Espressive and Atomicwork tend to pitch lower total cost of ownership vs legacy ITSM + bolt‑on bots by bundling modern ITSM or case management with their AI assistant.
Pricing varies by region, usage, and contract terms. Always double-check current prices with each vendor's calculator or sales team.
What are the key features of each platform?
Moveworks
Core positioning: Agentic AI assistant platform that plugs into your existing systems (often ServiceNow) to resolve employee support issues across IT, HR, and more.
Key Features:
- Agentic AI Assistant & Reasoning Engine – Single AI assistant grounded in an “Agentic Reasoning Engine” that uses public + proprietary LLMs to plan multi‑step workflows and adapt as it executes.
- Deep ITSM Integrations (especially ServiceNow) – Out‑of‑the‑box support for querying, creating, updating, and resolving ServiceNow tickets; indexes forms and knowledge articles while honoring permissions.
- Multi‑department Coverage – Prebuilt use cases for IT, HR, Finance, Sales, Marketing, and Engineering, with the same assistant handling cross‑functional workflows.
- Multilingual & Omnichannel – Supports multiple languages (English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese) and works across chat tools and portals for hybrid workforces.
- Enterprise Scale & Customers – Used by large enterprises like Palo Alto Networks, Toyota, and Unilever, with ~5M employee users and >$100M ARR before the ServiceNow acquisition.
Best For:
- Large organizations already standardized on ServiceNow that want a more advanced, employee-facing assistant without replacing the ITSM core.
- Global enterprises needing multilingual support and 24/7, channel‑agnostic IT help.
- Companies willing to invest in a high‑end AI assistant to drive self‑service and automate across IT, HR, and Finance.
ServiceNow (ITSM + Now Assist / AI Agents)
Core positioning: AI platform for business transformation that embeds generative and agentic AI directly inside ITSM workflows at global‑enterprise scale.
Key Features:
- Full ITSM Suite – Incident, problem, change, asset, request, and more in ITSM Standard/Pro/Enterprise packages, with deep ITIL coverage.
- Now Assist for ITSM & Virtual Agent – Generative AI for case/incident summarization, resolution note drafting, and conversational Virtual Agent experiences across IT, HRSD, and CSM.
- AI Agents / Pro Plus – Add‑on bundles (Pro Plus / Enterprise Plus) that include autonomous AI agents, AI Agent Studio, and AI‑powered search/orchestration across workflows.
- Massive Ecosystem & Integrations – Thousands of customers, partner ecosystem (Accenture, Deloitte, etc.), and app store for certified integrations.
- Market Leadership – Consistently top‑ranked in ITSM categories by G2 and Gartner, and now extending AI to every employee via the Moveworks acquisition.
Best For:
- Large enterprises that want ITSM plus AI on a single strategic platform (IT, HR, CSM, SecOps, etc.).
- Organizations with strong admin/engineering capacity (or partners) to manage configuration, upgrades, and custom apps.
- Regulated or complex environments where governance, audits, and standardized processes are paramount.
Espressive (Barista / BaristaGPT)
Core positioning: Agentic virtual support agent (BaristaGPT) focused on employee self‑service and ticket deflection across IT and HR.
Key Features:
- BaristaGPT Virtual Agent – Conversational, agentic AI virtual agent that resolves a large share of employee questions across departments with minimal human involvement.
- High Deflection & Adoption Metrics – Case studies cite 64% of employee questions resolved instantly (Dexcom), 77% employee return rate (Alteryx), and 73% ticket deflection (Trimble).
- Broad Department & Language Support – Supports 15+ enterprise departments and 130+ languages, leveraging role, location, and other context for personalized answers.
- Barista Case Management – Lightweight ticketing and case management for teams that don’t want or need full‑blown ITSM, integrated tightly with the virtual agent.
- No‑Code Workflow & Knowledge Tuning – Admins can add content, workflows, and automations through a no‑code interface, which reviewers praise for ease of adding new intents.
Best For:
- Organizations that already have an ITSM tool but want a specialized AI virtual agent to deflect tickets and improve employee experience.
- Enterprises with global, multilingual workforces who need consumer‑grade self‑service UX.
- Companies that want strong vendor hand‑holding and customer success for continuous tuning.
Atomicwork
Core positioning: AI‑native ITSM and ESM platform built around a universal agent (Atom) that combines ITSM, workflows, and agentic AI in one modern system.
Key Features:
- Universal Agent (Atom) – AI assistant that handles L1 support in the flow of work via chat, voice, and vision across browser, Slack, Teams, and email.
- Agentic ITSM & ESM – Modern ITSM modules (request, incident, problem, change, asset, context data lake) plus ESM for HR and other functions, all powered by AI agents.
- Deflection & Productivity Claims – Customer stories report 50–65% deflection “out of the box,” 52% lower MTTR, 50% lower ticket volume, and 92% answer accuracy in some deployments.
- Security & Compliance – SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, ISO 27701, and more, positioned as “enterprise‑ready” for global customers.
- Transparent Pricing Tiers – Public Professional plan with per‑employee pricing and higher custom tiers (Business, Enterprise) including unlimited AI usage and advanced governance.
Best For:
- Mid‑market and modern enterprises that want to replace legacy ITSM (often ServiceNow/Jira) with an AI‑native alternative.
- Teams that value fast deployment and opinionated, AI‑first workflows over extreme customization.
- Organizations looking for ITSM + virtual agent + automation from a single vendor instead of stitching together multiple tools.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each platform?
Moveworks
Strengths:
- Excellent user experience for common IT tasks – G2 reviewers consistently praise instant password resets, access requests, and quick answers without ticket back‑and‑forth, especially via Slack.
- Strong NLP and multi‑step automation – Users highlight Moveworks’ ability to understand complex, multi‑step requests and execute across multiple systems, not just answer FAQs.
- Enterprise‑grade scale and references – 190+ large enterprises, including Palo Alto Networks, Siemens, and Toyota, use Moveworks for global employee support.
- Tight alignment with ServiceNow – Deep ServiceNow integration and impending acquisition mean tighter product alignment and roadmap synergy for ServiceNow customers.
Weaknesses:
- Integration complexity and ecosystem risk – G2 reviews and Reddit threads note concerns that Moveworks is optimized for ServiceNow and may become less attractive for Workday/Salesforce/Jira/Freshservice shops post‑acquisition.
- High cost for smaller organizations – Multiple G2 reviewers mention that Moveworks can be expensive for mid‑market companies, with limited deep customization at lower tiers.
- Requires careful setup and tuning – Users cite initial configuration, integration, and ongoing tuning as time‑consuming and requiring strong internal expertise or vendor support.
ServiceNow (ITSM + AI)
Strengths:
- End‑to‑end ITSM leader – G2 and Gartner consistently rank ServiceNow as a top ITSM and service desk tool, with thousands of customers and broad ITIL coverage.
- Powerful automation & reporting – Users praise workflow automation, reporting, and dashboards for visibility into SLAs and performance across large enterprises.
- Rapidly evolving AI capabilities – Now Assist and AI Agents bring generative AI into incident summaries, virtual agent experiences, and autonomous agents, with ACV from AI suites growing quickly.
- Ecosystem and extensibility – App Engine and the Store let you build or buy specialized apps, making ServiceNow a long‑term platform, not just an ITSM tool.
Weaknesses:
- Complex, steep learning curve – G2 and independent reviews frequently call out complexity, a challenging setup, and the need for trained admins/developers.
- High total cost of ownership – Licensing, implementation, and ongoing customization costs are repeatedly flagged as high, particularly for smaller or less mature organizations.
- Virtual Agent limitations – Some analyses criticize Virtual Agent for limited self‑learning, manual retraining needs, and weak analytics without third‑party tools.
Espressive
Strengths:
- Very high satisfaction scores – 4.9 / 5 on G2 with all reviews at 4.5–5 stars; users rave about Barista’s impact on self‑service and the vendor’s support.
- Demonstrated deflection and adoption – Public case studies show large deflection rates (50–70%+ help desk call reduction) and high employee adoption/return rates.
- Strong customer success and partnership – G2 reviewers repeatedly praise Espressive’s team for responsive collaboration, regular reports, and guidance on knowledge tuning.
Weaknesses:
- Small review sample – Only 16 G2 reviews, so the near‑perfect score should be interpreted cautiously.
- Ongoing “care and feeding” required – Users note that Barista’s value depends on continuous knowledge and workflow updates, plus skilled resources for deeper integrations.
- Integration complexity in some environments – Some reviewers mention non‑trivial integration work with other enterprise systems, especially beyond standard ITSM stacks.
Atomicwork
Strengths:
- Modern, AI‑native ITSM/ESM – Designed from the ground up around a universal AI agent and context data lake, not retrofitted onto a legacy ITSM core.
- Strong early customer outcomes – Case studies report 50–65% deflection, 50% lower ticket volume, 52% MTTR reduction, and 92% answer accuracy in some deployments.
- Transparent pricing and packaging – Unlike most enterprise peers, Atomicwork publishes a Professional plan (starting at $90/employee/year) and clear plan tiers.
- Positive analyst and community buzz – Launch of its agentic service management platform is covered in the press, and ITSM communities mention it as a modern alternative to aging tools.
Weaknesses:
- Limited independent review volume – Only a handful of Gartner Peer Insights reviews and little G2 presence so far, so third‑party validation is still early.
- Younger product and company – Compared to ServiceNow and Moveworks, Atomicwork is newer, which may concern very risk‑averse or highly regulated buyers.
- Smaller ecosystem – Fewer certified partners and community resources than ServiceNow, meaning more dependence on the vendor today.
How do these platforms position themselves?
Moveworks
Moveworks markets itself as an “Agentic AI Platform that makes work flow”, emphasizing a single AI assistant that can answer, act, and automate across IT, HR, Finance, and more. It leans heavily on its Agentic Reasoning Engine, multi‑LLM architecture, and 100+ integrations, positioning the platform as a front‑end AI layer over existing systems like ServiceNow, Workday, and Okta. Its target audience is global enterprises with hybrid workforces that want to reduce tickets and boost productivity without ripping out existing ITSM.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow brands itself as “the AI platform for business transformation”, not just an ITSM tool. Marketing centers on agentic AI, RaptorDB, and Now Assist being deeply embedded in the Now Platform so AI agents can operate across IT, HR, CSM, security, and more. The core audience is large enterprises that want one system of record and workflow engine, plus a fast‑growing AI suite that includes autonomous agents and generative capabilities.
Espressive
Espressive positions itself as a pioneer in AI for enterprise service management, with Barista / BaristaGPT framed as an “agentic AI for employee self‑help.” The messaging emphasizes consumer‑grade conversational UX, high deflection, broad departmental coverage (IT, HR, Facilities, etc.), and multi‑language support, often in environments where the underlying ITSM may be something else entirely. Its target buyer is the enterprise service desk leader who wants to cut call volume and improve employee experience without heavily re‑architecting core ITSM.
Atomicwork
Atomicwork calls itself “the AI‑native ITSM” and “agentic service management platform,” focusing on replacing legacy tools with a single, AI‑first system. Marketing highlights its Universal Agent (Atom) that supports voice/vision/chat, agentic automations across IT and HR, and measurable gains like ~50–65% deflection and faster MTTR. It targets modern IT and enterprise service teams, especially CIOs frustrated with ServiceNow or Jira complexity and cost, and emphasizes transparent pricing plus fast implementation.
Which platform should you choose?
Choose Moveworks If:
- You run on ServiceNow (or plan to) and want a best‑in‑class front‑end AI assistant that deeply integrates with your ServiceNow instance and is now becoming part of ServiceNow’s own AI strategy.
- Your primary goal is to automate IT/HR ticket resolution, not to replace ITSM, and you’re comfortable keeping your existing ticketing platform.
- You have 1,000+ employees and six‑figure budget to justify an AI assistant through ticket deflection savings; third‑party benchmarks suggest contracts in the $100k–$300k/year range.
- You’re prepared to invest in integrations and tuning, either with internal engineers or Moveworks’ team, to connect systems like Workday, Okta, and your ITSM.
- You want advanced agentic capabilities now, backed by strong analyst validation (e.g., Forrester Wave leader for conversational AI for employee services).
Choose ServiceNow If:
- You need a full ITSM platform plus AI, not just a chatbot—incident, problem, change, CMDB, and more all on one system of record.
- You’re a large or highly regulated enterprise that prioritizes governance, compliance, and vendor ecosystem size over speed of initial setup.
- You’re ready to invest in Pro / Pro Plus AI bundles to get AI Agents, Now Assist, and Virtual Agent deeply embedded into your ITSM workflows.
- You have (or can hire) ServiceNow admins/partners who can handle a multi‑month implementation, scripting, and ongoing configuration.
- You want to standardize on one enterprise platform for IT, HR, CSM, and beyond, and see Moveworks’ acquisition as a way to get “best of both” under one roof.
Choose Espressive If:
- Your immediate pain is IT and HR ticket volume, and you want a specialized AI virtual agent that works with your existing ITSM or with their lightweight case management.
- You care most about employee experience and deflection metrics, with public case studies showing 60–70%+ reductions in tickets/calls and high employee return rates.
- You prefer a vendor that is very hands‑on with implementation and tuning, as many G2 reviewers highlight Espressive’s collaborative support model.
- You don’t want to rip out your existing ITSM, but you do want modern conversational AI that can span multiple departments and languages.
- You’re okay with a smaller sample of public reviews and will lean heavily on reference calls and pilots to validate fit.
Choose Atomicwork If:
- You’re ready to modernize or replace legacy ITSM (e.g., ServiceNow, BMC, Jira) with an AI‑native platform that bakes in a universal agent and agentic workflows.
- You want transparent, per‑employee pricing with a clearly published Professional tier instead of entirely opaque enterprise quotes.
- You value “out‑of‑the‑box” AI impact—case studies show meaningful deflection and MTTR improvements within weeks rather than long transformation programs.
- Your IT team prefers a modern UX over deep legacy customization, and you’re comfortable with a younger ecosystem in exchange for faster iteration.
- You want AI support beyond IT, including HR and other service teams, without deploying separate point solutions.
Sources & links
Company Websites
- Moveworks – Agentic AI Platform
- ServiceNow – IT Service Management
- Espressive – Barista / BaristaGPT
- Atomicwork – AI-native ITSM
Pricing Pages
- Moveworks pricing (contact sales)
- ServiceNow ITSM packages & pricing
- Espressive BaristaGPT overview (pricing via demo)
- Atomicwork pricing
Documentation
- Moveworks – Getting Started & Platform Docs
- ServiceNow – Now Assist & Generative AI
- Espressive – Conversational AI for Employee Support
- Atomicwork – Modern ITSM & Agentic AI Features
G2 Review Pages
(Atomicwork currently has more presence on Gartner Peer Insights than G2.)
Reddit Discussions
- Reddit – Why did ServiceNow buy Moveworks?
- Reddit – ITSM license pricing benchmarks for ServiceNow
- Reddit – Cherwell vs modern ITSM (Atomicwork comment)