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Cherwell Service Management vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cherwell Service Management
Ranking in Help Desk Software
29th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
25th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
229
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Cherwell Service Management is 1.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 14.2%, down from 23.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow14.2%
Cherwell Service Management1.8%
Other84.0%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

Thobile Moeketsi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Sasria SOC Ltd.
Having everything in one location has significantly improved our efficiency and reporting
We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges. Even though it uses our Windows login, we still have to be on VPN. The product should be able to log tickets directly from system to system. We haven't got there yet and I'm not sure it's possible but it would determine the product's capability to integrate with other systems.
Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Structured workflows have improved SLA compliance and now support prioritized incident handling
I think the licensing and pricing of ServiceNow is quite expensive compared to other tools. For large organizations, it is acceptable, but specifically for small and medium organizations to track incidents or change requests, ServiceNow is quite expensive. Sometimes performance can be slow when workflows and integrations are configured for complex tasks. For advanced customizations or advanced features which we rarely use, the documentation is not up to standard. The documentation needs to be improved for advanced customization features. However, the platform is stable overall and the features are quite good. The user experience and performance concerns I mentioned are areas I want to be improved. When many workflows and interactions are configured, performance is slow. For the features it is providing, it is quite expensive. If these performance features are improved, we can easily pay that price and get the return on investment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Implementing CSM has made us very efficient and we're now able to plan changes and the steps required for implementation."
"The best feature is the ability to create functional dashboards, where the IT manager can interact with its data through the dashboard using the drill down feature."
"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."
"Clear processes with transparent responsibilities led to more efficiencies within the teams."
"The most valuable features are problem management and change management."
"The dashboard and the reporting functionality are the solution's most valuable features."
"Its integration features, orchestration features, and discovery tools are the most valuable."
"We use the solution every day and quite extensively."
"ServiceNow is the best ticketing tool I have used so far."
"It's serving our end-user community, making it simple for them to order products, get service from our incident help desk, and perhaps even helping everyone across the globe because we have to stay connected somehow, and ServiceNow does that for us."
"I have definitely seen a positive impact of ServiceNow on our company and customer processes, including time savings and money savings."
"I have found many features that are important and that are easier when compared to Remedy; for example, the Scripted REST APIs and the Flow Designer... The Client scripts are simpler when you compare with Remedy."
"Scheduling reports has decreased manual effort."
"If a company is looking for more accessibility, a user friendly environment where they want to explore other functionalities like HR and CSM, then ServiceNow provides that."
"There are features included in the new release for intelligent software, like the chatbot. For HR services, the HR agent which is in that chatbot has been fantastic."
"Your time-to-market, or TTM, becomes faster when you use ServiceNow, and even individuals that are not tech-savvy can quickly change processes and workflows in it, which can make the organization as a whole more agile."
 

Cons

"Agile delivery should be supported."
"Application service mapping, GRC, SecOps, and things like that need improvement."
"We need to be on VPN in order to set up and access the solution, and that has created some challenges."
"The support from the actual manufacturer is poor."
"Areas for improvement would be the service catalog and customer catalog, which is not very user-friendly. The shopping cart experience is also terrible - you submit and go straight to the cart, you can't continue shopping or see your overall cost."
"They need to improve their mobile interface, as well as features regarding the extension of the mobile access to the end user."
"Areas for improvement would be the service catalog and customer catalog, which is not very user-friendly."
"The solution could be more user-friendly."
"A duplicate ticket option should be enabled - this feature can help to take the same information from a close incident thus decreasing manual time."
"Vulnerability management could be improved. Also, integration with tools such as Microsoft Defender ATP needs improvement."
"Data access is a bit difficult, where you sometimes wish you had a relational database for some queries."
"It is pricey, and for good reason."
"It's too complicated and there are too many options."
"We've been through about four different vendors over the three and a half years. Some of that code has been problematic for us."
"There should be greater integration with other enterprise applications. We're using Microsoft, Oracle, and other applications, and it would be good to have a greater integration on some of the immediate hiccups that you have with these services."
"I know that discovery tools are not meant to be simple, but somehow, if they could make it more simple and robust, that would be great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For an ITIL user, the cost is probably about 50 bucks a month."
"The solution is expensive."
"I am from Brazil. For Latin American markets, ServiceNow is very expensive as compared to other vendors, such as VMware."
"While the option exists to pay for a monthly license, we are dealing with large enterprises and these typically involve multi-year licenses of ten or five years, at a minimum."
"I would say it is moderately expensive, ranging from six to seven on a scale of ten."
"For the modules we use, we found it competitive. I can't think of any costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"The licensing expenses are excessively high."
"The price could be a little lower for the solution. Many of my customers have issues with the licensing process, they have to make it easier and straightforward."
"The license model is based on a number of fulfillers (active users who play some role within the ServiceNow functionality). Therefore, you can serve as many end-users as you want, without additional costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise175
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...
What do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ausenco, Highlights for Children, B/E Aerospace
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Find out what your peers are saying about Cherwell Service Management vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.