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What is HaloPSA?

HaloPSA is an all-in-one Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform built with the needs of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in mind. It brings together essential features like help desk ticketing, sales CRM, asset and stock management, billing and contract oversight into one cohesive solution.  

Known for its efficiency, HaloPSA has earned its place among the tools MSPs rely on to streamline operations and enhance client service. However, HaloPSA may not be the ideal fit for every MSP. Depending on your size, complexity, or specific requirements, there could be scenarios where other solutions might better align with your needs. 

We’ll dive deeper into who benefits most from HaloPSA and where it might fall short in the full blog—so hang tight!

When it comes to operations, small to medium-sized MSPs face unique challenges. They operate on tight budgets while striving to maintain high service standards for their clients. Balancing affordability with functionality becomes a critical factor when choosing a service desk solution for them. Many solutions in the market, like HaloPSA, offer a vast array of features, but these can often come with steep learning curves, unnecessary complexity, and higher costs—making them less ideal for MSPs in this segment.

Whereas DeskDay with its focused feature set and streamlined chat-based service desk is designed with simplicity and efficiency in mind. It prioritizes the essential features MSPs need to resolve tickets quickly and collaborate effectively, all while keeping the interface intuitive and the pricing budget-friendly. 

With DeskDay, you’re not paying for features you won’t use or struggling to navigate an overly complicated system. Instead, you get a practical solution tailored to help your team perform at its best.

Here’s how DeskDay delivers value and stands out as a smart alternative to HaloPSA for MSPs in this segment:

Simplified Setup and Intuitive Usability

HaloPSA:  

While HaloPSA offers a rich feature set, its complexity can feel overwhelming, especially for small to medium MSPs. The onboarding process often requires extensive training to get teams accustomed to its interface and workflows. The steep learning curve can delay operational efficiency, and many users report feeling bogged down by its intricate setup.  

DeskDay:  

Designed for ease of use, DeskDay ensures that MSPs are up and running in hours rather than weeks. Its user-friendly interface minimizes the learning curve, allowing teams to focus on resolving tickets instead of navigating a complex platform. Even for first-time users, the onboarding process is straightforward, with guided walkthroughs, video tutorials, and support resources readily available.  

DeskDay’s plug-and-play approach ensures MSPs can adopt the platform quickly, delivering immediate ROI while keeping techs focused on what matters most—resolving tickets.

Onboarding and Support Excellence  

HaloPSA:  

HaloPSA offers limited onboarding support (up to 8 hours for free), with additional training charged on a per-day basis. MSPs requiring extra assistance may find onboarding both costly and time-consuming. 

DeskDay:  

DeskDay provides a fully personalized onboarding experience free of charge. Tailored to meet each MSP’s unique needs, its onboarding process includes personalized demos, step-by-step guidance, video tutorials, and detailed documentation. DeskDay’s personalized support ensures a hassle-free onboarding experience, enabling teams to adopt the platform confidently without the burden of extra costs.

Essential Features Without the Bloat  

HaloPSA:  

While HaloPSA provides an extensive array of features—including Sales, CRM, Stock and Asset management, and more —its broader focus on non-service-related features can dilute its effectiveness for MSPs centered on IT service delivery. These extras often go underutilized, adding unnecessary complexity. Whether this bloat is a benefit or a hurdle depends on individual MSP needs, as highlighted in customer reviews on G2. 

DeskDay:  

Focused on solving small-to-medium MSPs’ core challenges, DeskDay delivers critical functionalities without unnecessary add-ons: 

• Chat-based Ticketing: MSPs can engage in real-time conversations with end-users and teammates to resolve tickets faster.  
• Chat-based Project Management: To manage projects seamlessly, DeskDay lets you break them into milestones and tasks along with the functionality to collaborate with teammates through chat within each task.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure ticket health with features for monitoring ticket resolution, tracking key SLA metrics, and customer feedback to identify improvement areas.
• Announcements: A built-in feature to keep end-users informed on outages, maintenance, and more without any pre-built contact lists directly from the platform.
• Contracts and Billing: Streamline contract management and invoicing with DeskDay’s integrated solution, offering automated time tracking, billing cycles, and renewal alerts.
• End-user Application: An intuitive application designed for end-users to log tickets effortlessly, track progress, and communicate with techs in real-time.
• Mobile-First Design: DeskDay’s mobile app empowers techs to handle tickets anytime, anywhere, making it perfect for field-based support teams.

DeskDay’s right-sized feature set allows small to medium MSPs to stay laser-focused on delivering exceptional service without being distracted by features they don’t need.

Faster Ticket Resolutions  

HaloPSA:  

HaloPSA boasts robust PSA features that pack a punch in functionality. While there’s a learning curve involved, mastering its complexities unlocks significant potential. 

Users have praised HaloPSA’s ticketing system for its effectiveness. However, while HaloPSA provides standard ticketing capabilities, alternatives like DeskDay stand out with chat-driven ticketing that supercharges IT efficiency by up to 10x.

DeskDay:  

DeskDay leverages its chat-based ticketing system to reduce the back-and-forth delays typical of email and phone-based ticketing. Techs can address issues in real-time through real-time chats, leading to quicker resolutions. The platform also integrates SLA tracking to ensure tickets are resolved within agreed timeframes, resulting in happier clients and more efficient workflows. 

Also, its multi-ticketing feature lets techs manage multiple priority tickets at the same time leading to faster response and resolution times. Watchlist is another critical feature within its ticketing system that lets techs add frequently referenced or high-priority tickets to watchlist where they can quickly access them without sifting through the entire system. 

Tech and User Experience: Less Complexity, More Productivity

HaloPSA: 

Users frequently describe HaloPSA’s UI as overwhelming and cluttered, with too many features crammed into a single solution. This can frustrate techs as well as users and result in wasted time navigating through unnecessary tools. Feedback like “huge learning curve” and “confusing interface” on G2 and Capterra highlights the software’s usability challenges.

DeskDay:  

DeskDay focuses on simplicity and usability, making it easy for both techs and end-users to navigate the platform and the user application to complete tasks efficiently. DeskDay ensures your team spends more time solving tickets and less time grappling with software. End-users with its multi-channel application, IT-Connect (available in Teams, Mobile, and Desktop) can enjoy the freedom and ease of raising tickets in a few clicks from their comfortable medium. 

Cost-effective and Transparent Pricing 

HaloPSA:  

While HaloPSA provides a comprehensive suite of features, its pricing can be steep for smaller MSPs, especially for those who don’t fully utilize advanced functionalities like CRM, Reporting, Asset management, and more. This can result in paying for features that add little value to core IT service delivery.  Can check their entire pricing at https://halopsa.com/pricing/. 

DeskDay:  

Easier to adapt for small to medium MSPs, DeskDay offers pricing plans that is 50% less than what Halo puts forward. Both affordable and transparent, its pricing model is designed with flexibility in mind, operating on a per-seat basis. This means that you only pay for the number of techs you need on the platform, without any minimum seat requirement. 

You can pay for DeskDay monthly which is at $59/tech/month with no locked-away features. Additionally, they offer an annual plan where you can save 17% compared to the monthly plan. This annual option provides the same full access to all the features and benefits while giving you the advantage of significant savings.

There are no hidden or upgrade fees, and MSPs can pick between these plans as they grow without the fear of inflated costs. And if you subscribe to any plans before December 31, 2024, you’ll also be grabbing an additional 25% off for lifetime. Too good to miss right? 

Built for the Cloud vs. Adapted for the Cloud

HaloPSA: 

Originally designed as on-premise software, HaloPSA has since transitioned to the cloud. However, many of its features remain tied to its desktop application, limiting flexibility for MSPs looking for true cloud-based solutions. This architecture can hinder scalability for remote-first teams or those looking to expand rapidly.  

DeskDay:  

In contrast, DeskDay was built from the ground up as a cloud-native solution, leveraging nearly a decade of MSP industry experience. This ensures that the platform isn’t just cloud-adapted but optimized for cloud operations, offering true anytime, anywhere accessibility with no compromises in functionality.

In short, if you are an MSP that prioritizes:

– Simplicity and ease of use.  

– Affordable yet feature-ful tools.  

– Faster ticket resolutions and streamlined collaboration.  

DeskDay is the perfect solution. Unlike HaloPSA, which caters to a broader audience with extensive features, DeskDay focuses on delivering the essentials MSPs need to succeed—all at a fraction of the cost and complexity.  

If you’re thinking what we’re thinking it’s time to start your 14-day free trial or book your demo with us!