Market overview
Software for IT service providers compared
14 solutions side by side - with the same four questions asked of each: what is it built for, where does it come from, does it bill for itself, and is the price public? Plus the six criteria that really matter and a checklist to work through.
Switch without downtime: during the trial IDA runs alongside your current system - you switch when everything fits.
No payment details · Hosted in Germany
The vendors at a glance
Some of the tools here were built for a different purpose - which is why every row starts with what the solution is made for. A documentation tool is not worse because it writes no invoices; it was made for something else.
| Solution | Focus | Vendor & hosting | Commercial handling | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IDA | Service operations and the commercial side in one application (PSA/ITSM + ERP) | Germany - developed and hosted in Germany | Complete: quote, order, invoice including e-invoicing, warehouse, purchasing, banking and DATEV export | Public: 29 EUR per named user, 59 EUR per pool licence per month, all functions included, cancellable monthly; tickets beyond the included pool cost 9 cents each, capped at 50 % of the licence cost |
| TANSS | ITSM/PSA for system houses, built in modules | Germany | Service billing; accounting through connected systems | On request, modules licensed individually |
| HaloPSA | PSA/ITSM with a large feature set, highly configurable | United Kingdom | PSA billing; accounting through connected systems | Public: 66 GBP per agent per month billed annually, one price with no tiers, modules included |
| ConnectWise PSA | PSA for larger MSP organisations, extensive partner ecosystem | USA | PSA billing; accounting through connected systems | Not public, quote on request |
| Atera | RMM and PSA in one, billed per technician rather than per endpoint | International, cloud | Billing in the PSA part; accounting separate | Public per technician; the AI assistant is included in all plans since 2026, network discovery costs extra |
| NinjaOne | Endpoint management and RMM, patching and device administration; a PSA since 2026 | USA | PSA with ticketing and invoicing, connected to QuickBooks; no DATEV, no German accounting formats | Only a price range is public, quotes through sales |
| IT Glue | IT documentation and password management for service providers | International | No commercial part - billing happens in another system | Public per user, from five users, with a multi-year term and a one-off onboarding fee |
| Docusnap | Automated network and AD documentation with great capture depth | Germany | No commercial part - billing happens in another system | Public: on-premises from 1,499 EUR per year (all modules, ISMS separate); Docusnap365 from 199 EUR per month, by users and data volume |
| Zammad | Omnichannel helpdesk, open source | Germany, cloud in German data centres or self-hosted | No commercial side - billing happens in another system | Public per agent, from 7 EUR per month billed annually (starter plan up to 5 agents) |
| Znuny / OTRS | Highly configurable ticket system; Znuny open source, OTRS commercial | Germany; OTRS majority-owned by EasyVista (France) since 12/2024 | No commercial side - billing happens in another system | Znuny: self-hosted; OTRS: packages on request |
| TOPdesk | Service management for internal IT, facility and HR | Netherlands, SaaS from the EU | No commercial side; asset management included | Public per agent, three packages (Essential, Engaged, Excellent) |
| Jira Service Management | ITSM closely tied to software development | Atlassian, cloud with selectable data residency from the Standard plan | No commercial side - billing happens in another system | Public per agent, tiered by plan |
| Freshservice | Cloud ITSM for internal IT with AI features | USA, EU data centre in Frankfurt | No commercial side; asset management included | Public per agent in euros (15, 40 or 84 EUR per agent per month; Enterprise on request); AI copilot as an add-on |
| Matrix42 | Enterprise service management plus endpoint and asset management | Germany, hosted in Europe | No commercial side - billing happens in another system | Not public, quoted per project |
IDA
- Focus
- Service operations and the commercial side in one application (PSA/ITSM + ERP)
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany - developed and hosted in Germany
- Commercial handling
- Complete: quote, order, invoice including e-invoicing, warehouse, purchasing, banking and DATEV export
- Pricing
- Public: 29 EUR per named user, 59 EUR per pool licence per month, all functions included, cancellable monthly; tickets beyond the included pool cost 9 cents each, capped at 50 % of the licence cost
TANSS
- Focus
- ITSM/PSA for system houses, built in modules
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany
- Commercial handling
- Service billing; accounting through connected systems
- Pricing
- On request, modules licensed individually
HaloPSA
- Focus
- PSA/ITSM with a large feature set, highly configurable
- Vendor & hosting
- United Kingdom
- Commercial handling
- PSA billing; accounting through connected systems
- Pricing
- Public: 66 GBP per agent per month billed annually, one price with no tiers, modules included
ConnectWise PSA
- Focus
- PSA for larger MSP organisations, extensive partner ecosystem
- Vendor & hosting
- USA
- Commercial handling
- PSA billing; accounting through connected systems
- Pricing
- Not public, quote on request
Atera
- Focus
- RMM and PSA in one, billed per technician rather than per endpoint
- Vendor & hosting
- International, cloud
- Commercial handling
- Billing in the PSA part; accounting separate
- Pricing
- Public per technician; the AI assistant is included in all plans since 2026, network discovery costs extra
NinjaOne
- Focus
- Endpoint management and RMM, patching and device administration; a PSA since 2026
- Vendor & hosting
- USA
- Commercial handling
- PSA with ticketing and invoicing, connected to QuickBooks; no DATEV, no German accounting formats
- Pricing
- Only a price range is public, quotes through sales
IT Glue
- Focus
- IT documentation and password management for service providers
- Vendor & hosting
- International
- Commercial handling
- No commercial part - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Public per user, from five users, with a multi-year term and a one-off onboarding fee
Docusnap
- Focus
- Automated network and AD documentation with great capture depth
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany
- Commercial handling
- No commercial part - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Public: on-premises from 1,499 EUR per year (all modules, ISMS separate); Docusnap365 from 199 EUR per month, by users and data volume
Zammad
- Focus
- Omnichannel helpdesk, open source
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany, cloud in German data centres or self-hosted
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Public per agent, from 7 EUR per month billed annually (starter plan up to 5 agents)
Znuny / OTRS
- Focus
- Highly configurable ticket system; Znuny open source, OTRS commercial
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany; OTRS majority-owned by EasyVista (France) since 12/2024
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Znuny: self-hosted; OTRS: packages on request
TOPdesk
- Focus
- Service management for internal IT, facility and HR
- Vendor & hosting
- Netherlands, SaaS from the EU
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side; asset management included
- Pricing
- Public per agent, three packages (Essential, Engaged, Excellent)
Jira Service Management
- Focus
- ITSM closely tied to software development
- Vendor & hosting
- Atlassian, cloud with selectable data residency from the Standard plan
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Public per agent, tiered by plan
Freshservice
- Focus
- Cloud ITSM for internal IT with AI features
- Vendor & hosting
- USA, EU data centre in Frankfurt
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side; asset management included
- Pricing
- Public per agent in euros (15, 40 or 84 EUR per agent per month; Enterprise on request); AI copilot as an add-on
Matrix42
- Focus
- Enterprise service management plus endpoint and asset management
- Vendor & hosting
- Germany, hosted in Europe
- Commercial handling
- No commercial side - billing happens in another system
- Pricing
- Not public, quoted per project
Information as of 6 Oct 2026, checked against the public vendor pages. Pricing models and feature sets change - the vendors current information is what counts. Every solution also has a detailed one-to-one comparison.
The difference you only notice in month three
Recurring services - cloud licences, security, backup - make up the largest share of invoice lines at most service providers. So what matters is less whether a system knows subscription lines, and more where the quantities come from: a maintained copy, or the source. IDA fetches them to the day from the portals of Crayon Cloud iQ, ALSO Cloud Marketplace, Tarox, Cloud Factory, Hornetsecurity and a connected WooCommerce shop - onto the same contract, with pro-rata charges for additions.
The criteria that matter most
Breadth. Does the tool cover the whole operation - from the request through inventory, contracts and time to quote, invoice and open item - or only a slice of it?
Data residency & GDPR. Where does the data sit? Hosting in Germany is often a purchase requirement in sensitive industries.
Pricing model. One transparent price, or packages and modules with add-on surcharges? Avoid hidden cost.
Commitment. Cancellable monthly, or a long minimum term and a minimum number of users?
Language & support. Is the interface and support available in the language your team works in?
Integrations. Can the tool be connected to the systems you have (monitoring, inventory, ERP, directory)?
Where IDA stands
Honestly placed - against the same six criteria.
Breadth: IDA covers the whole operation: tickets, inventory, contracts and SLAs, time tracking, telephony, monitoring, reporting and a wiki - plus the commercial side: quotes, invoices including e-invoicing, warehouse, purchasing, banking and accounting export. Not an RMM or endpoint tool - those systems are connected.
Data residency & GDPR: Hosted in Germany, GDPR-compliant; a data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR is provided on request.
Pricing model: One price, everything included: 29 EUR per named user, 59 EUR per pool licence per month (net), entry from 3 named users - no packages, no module surcharges. The only variable part is additional tickets: tickets beyond the included pool cost 9 cents each, billed in arrears and capped at 50 % of the licence cost.
Commitment: Cancellable monthly to the end of the month, with no long minimum term.
Language & support: Interface, help and support are German-language throughout, from one source. This site is in English so you can evaluate the product before that becomes a question.
Integrations: Connects to OCS/OPSI (inventory), Checkmk, UniFi, N-able N-central (beta) and Server-Eye (beta) (monitoring), 3CX, Yeastar, STARFACE and Microsoft Teams (telephony), Microsoft 365 and Google (calendar), Microsoft 365, Crayon/ALSO/Tarox/Cloud Factory (cloud licences), EGIS, ITscope and api (purchasing) and more - each one optional. No ERP integration is needed: IDA brings one, and it can be switched off if you already run one.
Checklist: how to evaluate the software
Ten questions to ask every vendor - to work through.
- Does the system cover the whole operation - tickets, inventory, contracts, time and reporting, but also quote, invoice and open items - or only a slice?
- Does the billing have to be transferred into a second system? Every transfer costs time and creates two truths.
- Is the data hosted in the EU under the GDPR? Is a data processing agreement available?
- Is the price transparent - one price rather than tiers and add-on surcharges?
- What is the commitment - cancellable monthly or a long minimum term?
- Are the interface, help and support available in the language your team works in?
- Can the systems you already have (monitoring, inventory, ERP, directory) be connected?
- Do the quantities for recurring billing come from the source systems automatically, or are they maintained by hand?
- Can I trial it free for long enough before buying?
- Do I get my data out in full if I move on (no lock-in)?
Frequently asked questions
Is remote support included, or do I need a separate product?
Included. IDA brings its own remote support: the customer downloads a small program for Windows or Mac from your portal and starts it, and the session appears in your list with computer name, user and customer name. No licence per technician, no second subscription. The connection is end-to-end encrypted, brokered through the IDA relay server; a relay server of your own can be set up on request. Also at no extra cost: the AI diagnosis, which checks the Windows machine via PowerShell during the session - every command only after your click.
What software is there for IT service providers?
The market splits into three groups. First, PSA and ITSM systems for the service operation: TANSS (Germany), HaloPSA (UK), ConnectWise PSA (USA) and IDA (Germany). Second, RMM and endpoint tools such as NinjaOne, or Atera, which combines RMM and PSA. Third, documentation tools such as Docusnap (Germany) and IT Glue. The groups do not exclude each other: many businesses combine an RMM with a PSA system.
Which of these bring the commercial side with them?
Only a few. PSA systems bill for services but usually hand invoicing and accounting to a connected system. IDA contains the commercial part itself - quote, order, invoice including e-invoicing, warehouse, purchasing, banking and accounting export. Documentation tools have no commercial part, and RMM tools usually none or one geared to US accounting (for instance connected to QuickBooks, without DATEV).
Which vendors publish their prices?
Public prices are available from IDA, HaloPSA, Atera, IT Glue, Docusnap, Zammad, TOPdesk, Jira Service Management and Freshservice. TANSS, ConnectWise PSA, OTRS and Matrix42 quote on request, NinjaOne publishes only a range. As of 6 Oct 2026.
Which PSA software comes from Germany?
TANSS and IDA in the PSA/ITSM space, and Docusnap in documentation. For businesses that require GDPR-compliant data residency in Germany, that is the first filter - and it narrows the field considerably.
What separates an operations platform from a ticket system?
A ticket system covers requests only. An operations platform like IDA additionally bundles inventory, contracts and SLAs, time tracking, reporting and knowledge - and carries the ticket through to the invoice and the payment. One system instead of many islands.
Why does hosting in Germany matter?
For many industries (tax firms, public sector operations) GDPR-compliant data residency in Germany is a central selection criterion.
How do I avoid hidden costs?
Look for transparent pricing: one price with clearly defined inclusions rather than tiers and add-ons. And ask what is not in the price - onboarding fees, minimum terms, minimum user counts and paid extra modules are the usual items.