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BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
BMC Helix Discovery delivers 314% ROI through automation, operational efficiencies, and significant cost savings despite its higher cost.
Sentiment score
6.1
ServiceNow Discovery's ROI is inconsistent, with full benefits seen when combined with other services for operational efficiency.
You should expect at least one year and a half for ROI.
Presales Manager at HCLSoftware
BMC Helix Discovery has delivered a very good return, and we cannot stop using it at this moment.
System Administrator at Porto Editora
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
BMC Helix Discovery support is praised for professionalism but criticized for slow response times, with mixed user ratings from 2-10.
Sentiment score
6.0
ServiceNow Discovery's support varies, with mixed experiences on responsiveness and effectiveness, improving with advanced support tiers and partnerships.
When opening a severity one ticket, they respond within four to six hours, which is commendable.
Systems Integration Specialist Advisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sometimes it is quite responsive, particularly when you go higher up in the organization.
Presales Manager at HCLSoftware
The response has been satisfactory, though improvements could be made in response time and overall competence.
System Administrator at Porto Editora
The 'follow the sun' model, where the time of raising the ticket and where it lands, plays a crucial role.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
This rating is because there are features on the tool that never worked and despite calling our support, there were no results.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
BMC Helix Discovery provides scalable, flexible solutions for diverse environments, supporting easy integration and expansion for medium to enterprise use.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow Discovery is highly scalable, suited for large infrastructures, compatible with AWS and Azure, but requires careful cost management.
Small companies will not be able to afford ServiceNow Discovery from the pricing perspective.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would rate it as a nine on a scale of one to ten, indicating it is highly scalable.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It receives this rating because it can be difficult to troubleshoot when the discovery is failing.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
BMC Helix Discovery is stable, highly rated, with robust Linux architecture, resolving issues promptly, and performs well in complex environments.
Sentiment score
8.0
ServiceNow Discovery is highly stable and reliable, with minor configuration issues not affecting its strong overall performance ratings.
In the past four to six years, I cannot recall encountering any bugs.
Systems Integration Specialist Advisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
That is not a mistake of the product. It is due to excessive security on the network.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would rate the stability of ServiceNow Discovery as nine, as we never had downtime.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Room For Improvement

BMC Helix Discovery requires enhancements in cloud handling, customization, usability, scalability, integrations, and competitive pricing for improved user experience.
ServiceNow Discovery struggles with service mapping and integration, necessitating enhancements for usability, cloud capabilities, and easier licensing.
It uses a Berkeley database, and the query language is not easy to master for performing complex queries.
Systems Integration Specialist Advisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would like to see a lower price and better technical support.
System Administrator at Porto Editora
ServiceNow ITOM is particularly not very strong in terms of monitoring capabilities. They do not have any monitoring tool.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The areas of ServiceNow Discovery that have room for improvement are getting custom reports on the relationship between CIs that are not on the same table.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
A CMDB debugging tool to give indication about the errors that appear would be appreciated.
Director, Information Technology at Gen™
 

Setup Cost

BMC Helix Discovery pricing is mixed, with reports of lower costs than competitors but concerns over high setup and licensing.
ServiceNow Discovery is pricey but valued for advanced features, with potential discounts though standalone costs are high.
The price is about twelve per license per year, and the support is included.
System Administrator at Porto Editora
The setup cost is on the expensive side.
Presales Manager at HCLSoftware
I think the price of ServiceNow Discovery is cheaper than BMC.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

BMC Helix Discovery offers intuitive, agentless application modeling with strong security, AI insights, and scalability for efficient IT operations.
ServiceNow Discovery integrates seamlessly with ServiceNow suite, enhancing IT operations through automated mapping, security, and cloud discovery.
This is very useful for compliance as it helps in audits by providing a comprehensive view of all assets and software.
System Administrator at Porto Editora
BMC Helix Discovery provides a lot of information that can be obtained from discovery, including the relationship between the CIs and how many CIs are orphans.
Presales Manager at HCLSoftware
The best aspect of BMC Helix Discovery is its flexibility. You can perform scanning at any time, and it provides substantial data for extraction.
Systems Integration Specialist Advisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The workflows are beneficial as they allow tasks to be assigned to respective teams without the need for coding.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow Discovery helps with operations, audits, and allows people to assess how a particular change in infrastructure impacts other components.
Director, Information Technology at Gen™
ServiceNow Discovery has normal discovery of CIs, as well as horizontal discovery for understanding Service Mapping.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC Helix Discovery
Ranking in IT Asset Management
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ServiceNow Discovery
Ranking in IT Asset Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (4th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the IT Asset Management category, the mindshare of BMC Helix Discovery is 4.9%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 4.4%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Asset Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix Discovery4.9%
ServiceNow Discovery4.4%
Other90.7%
IT Asset Management
 

Q&A Highlights

MOHSIN SHAWL - PeerSpot reviewer
Configuration Management at a agriculture with 10,001+ employees
Jan 06, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

JP
Presales Manager at HCLSoftware
Comprehensive discovery has populated our CMDB and provides deep insight into asset relationships
The applicability depends on the customer environment. Usually it is straightforward to apply the policies. BMC Helix Discovery is seamless and has many plugins available. It is a good feature that they offer. I have heard about it, but I am not currently using it, though I know that they have that feature available. BMC Helix Discovery provides a lot of information that can be obtained from discovery, including the relationship between the CIs and how many CIs are orphans. The analytics capabilities are strong.
reviewer2759271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Has supported enterprise needs well and addresses discovery across environments
Small companies will not be able to afford ServiceNow Discovery from the pricing perspective. Hence, they will not opt for ServiceNow Discovery as a solution, either as an ITSM solution or ITOM solution. It will not be affordable. I am specifically talking about the Middle East and Africa region. ServiceNow ITOM is particularly not very strong in terms of monitoring capabilities. They do not have any monitoring tool. They use event management from getting events from other tools. In that front, they had a roadmap for going for an open-source solution, but I have not seen that materialize. There is a lack of tools perspective for monitoring. Perhaps they do not have a plan because there are hundreds of tools available, and they prefer to focus on integration and event management.
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Answers from the Community

MOHSIN SHAWL - PeerSpot reviewer
Configuration Management at a agriculture with 10,001+ employees
Jan 6, 2023
Jan 6, 2023
Hello Mohsin, Unfortunately, I don't have experience with ServiceNow Discovery. But I have been using BMC Helix Discovery for more than five years. It is a really fast and user-friendly system. There is no need for an agent when installing the solution. I recommend this solution.
2 out of 3 answers
CG
Project Manager & Managing Director at Geo Consulting (Aust) Pty Ltd
Dec 23, 2022
I have implemented both, and BMC Helix Discovery including its earlier versions is a far easier solution to implement than the ServiceNow Discovery offering. The BMC discovery solution integrates with Remedy and ServiceNow CMDBs and is also a technically superior product if you also want application service mapping. Contact me directly if you need a more detailed explanation.
Madhurima  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Consultant | Service Assurance & Automation at Column Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd
Dec 26, 2022
Hi Mohsin, Not only BMC Helix or ServiceNow Discovery, but a few other Discovery tools are also available in the market and every discovery tool has a unique feature, hence as per me, choosing a discovery tool for your organization should be based on the organization's needs and infrastructure. I suggest you go for proper requirement assessment sessions, i.e. infrastructure architecture, existing implemented tools, their features, use, possibilities & integrations, kind of devices in scope to discover, focused data center discovery,  focused client-side discovery, or both. What I mean to say is do not choose any tool for its features but choose the one best suitable for your organization that can provide the best output with less investment after a proper assessment of the organization's requirements and expectations from a tool. I know my reply to your query is not the exact answer you looked for but yes, this is what I would suggest to you on the basis of my experience. As far as tool comparison is concerned, you can find it in many places with the help of search engines but I think once you know what you want then reading tool features on the tool's official website will help you more to choose the best suitable Discovery tool for your organization. Thanks, Madhurima
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Helix Discovery?
I like the artificial intelligence and machine learning that it uses in the solution. Because once the solution discovers all the assets, all the infrastructure, and all the dependencies between se...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Helix Discovery?
That's always a million dollar question regarding whether the solution is affordable or quite expensive; if you talk to the vendor, the pricing's great, but end users are always looking for a bette...
What needs improvement with BMC Helix Discovery?
Technical support from BMC is generally good. Resolutiion time is what's bothering me, as it's not always easy to get to the correct person or the right technical level needed to resolve the issue.
What do you like most about ServiceNow Discovery?
The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?
The pricing information for ServiceNow Discovery was requested but not provided.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?
A CMDB debugging tool to give indication about the errors that appear would be appreciated.
 

Also Known As

Discovery, ADDM, Atrium Discovery & Dependency Mapping
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Windstream Communications, News UK, Mercator Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR)
York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Helix Discovery vs. ServiceNow Discovery and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.