Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs ServiceNow comparison

Hornbill Systems Supportworks

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91% willing to recommend

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ServiceNow and Hornbill Systems Supportworks compete in the IT service management solutions category. ServiceNow often holds an advantage with extensive customization and integration capabilities, while Hornbill Systems Supportworks is preferred for intuitive design and straightforward deployment.

Features: ServiceNow features comprehensive workflow automation, extensive integration capabilities, and a wide range of modules covering ITIL processes. It appeals to large enterprises with its broad feature set. Hornbill Systems Supportworks focuses on ease of configuration, intuitive processes, and collaborative team dynamics, offering a more streamlined experience for smaller to mid-sized businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow provides a rich ecosystem but requires a more involved setup and technical expertise. Hornbill Systems Supportworks emphasizes a simplified, rapid deployment model supported by customer-friendly service, valued for quick implementation needs.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow involves higher initial setup costs and ongoing investment, tailored for businesses prioritizing expansive service management capabilities. Hornbill Systems Supportworks offers attractive pricing suitable for tighter budgets, facilitating quicker ROI for small to mid-sized organizations focused on essential functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. ServiceNow Report (Updated: January 2026).

Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. ServiceNow

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Helped 881,757 peers since 2012

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

Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Ranking in Help Desk Software

36th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

36th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

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

224

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of Hornbill Systems Supportworks is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 15.9%, down from 24.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ServiceNow	15.9%
Hornbill Systems Supportworks	1.0%
Other	83.1%

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Featured Reviews

it_user1262703

Service Desk Team Leader at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Excels in call logging and call flows but is limited in terms of scalability

I'd advise others to map their processes out before starting with the solution. Hornbill has recently generated a new version of its product and it meets some of the requirements that we would have been looking for. It's a bit more scalable, a bit more responsive to a customer-focused model for support, and they've improved a lot of things like process flow and self-service. In terms of rating the solution, it's difficult to grade. It really depends on the size of the organization that's trying to use it as that tool. One of the reasons why we're looking to shift is because we've grown quite a bit over the years that we've had it, which makes it difficult for it to meet our demands. However, for an organization the size of what we were when we started our journey with it, I'd rate it ten out of ten. Where we are now, with our company size and needs, I'd rate it six out of ten.

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MichaelTang1

Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Seamless data integration and advanced automation improve service delivery efficiency

I think that nothing needs to be improved with the product; you just need the user to commit and spend appropriate time to overcome that learning curve. Once that is done, the product itself is pretty wonderful. I've seen a very nicely built interface with ServiceNow, and I've also seen the ugliest version that feels outdated. ServiceNow does allow that team to exist. They should modernize their fonts and their layout, the UI friendliness. They did introduce AI, chatbots, and AI on the back end, so that's wonderful and extremely useful if you train it. If you don't train it, it's pretty useless. Assessing the impact of ServiceNow's automation on service delivery times is complicated. The engineers who operate on ServiceNow find it isn't straightforward because the data set is accessible by everybody. The problem is that understanding how to manage that data set requires an enormous amount of engineering skill set to run the product. I would not hand the key to the customer; I would highly recommend that ServiceNow take control of that. Instead of offering support for the software, they should offer administrative support for the software. They should provide professional service or some kind of support system that allows us to use their product at a faster pace. I'm sure they offer something, but it's often outrageously expensive, or they rely on another company to resell their product and offer professional service. It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's business process flow is quite strong. Its reporting is quite good. The standard, basic ITSM functionality like call logging and call flow, for example, are areas the solution really excels in."

"ServiceNow is a very powerful tool that can perform a lot of different functions."

"I like the incident module, which is useful for tracking your incidents and other things. It is a reliable solution."

"Consolidating multiple functionalities into a single platform reduces the need to invest in various separate solutions. ServiceNow integrates ITSM, CMDB, Discovery modules, and more into one cohesive system."

"It's great to do statuses or to review tasks."

"For change management, I find the CAB workbench very useful. I haven't seen any other solution that has a CAB workbench or advanced automated solutions for a change advisory board. ServiceNow also has the Workflow Engine which works very well and is very intuitive."

"Easy to integrate with third-party applications."

"You can have it installed and up and running within hours if you know what you're doing. Time to market would be one of the main things to consider."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

More ServiceNow pros

Cons

"It's worked well for us for a significant period of time. However, we are kind-of outgrowing it at the moment. We're struggling a bit with making it meet our requirements."

"The utilization of AI in ServiceNow needs enhancement."

"The challenge with ServiceNow lies in its expansive portfolio of services. It can be complex, and users may find it expensive and challenging to understand. There is a need for a configurator within ServiceNow that guides users on how to utilize the tool effectively. This configurator should provide insights into licensing, team requirements, and the best licensing model based on whether companies prefer ownership or consumption-based models."

"I would like to see a mobile version of ServiceNow."

"Complexities in the organization made the initial deployment complex."

"There are sometimes challenges with the portal being a bit confusing for new users. The implementation of the portal and workspaces is quite different, and improvements in this area would be beneficial."

"Some enhancements to the self-service platform would be helpful. That part is still a little barebone... Also, the mobile app is not bad, but it's limited."

"Integration capabilities can improve."

"The reporting, which also includes dashboards, needs to be improved, and there should also be the ability to turn on and off portions of Project Management. Currently, as soon as you install the new version, you've got to go back there and make all the tweaks. There should be just a configuration file that goes to the new version. The Project Management module does not leverage the knowledge base the way it should, and there is no built-in ability to get to the articles. Resource management should be easier. It would be amazing if they can make resource management a little bit more graphical. There are other solutions that I've seen where resource management was a more visual experience."

More ServiceNow cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our organization pays about $40,000 annually. There are ongoing consultancy costs and if we want to change anything, we're charged a day rate. Other than that, there are no other extra costs involved in working with the solution."

"ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."

"This is a pretty expensive product, so the licensing could be better."

"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten. The pricing for ServiceNow is based on a SaaS platform with annual contracts. However, it may not offer much flexibility for adjusting usage in the short term."

"$230 per user."

"ServiceNow is an expensive solution."

"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."

"The price is okay for us. It's reasonable."

"The pricing is reasonable and affordable, making it suitable for businesses ranging from small to large scale."

More ServiceNow pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	166

Questions from the Community

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about ServiceNow?

The solution has a user-friendly interface.

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Comparisons

JIRA Service Management vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Compared 13% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Compared 12% of the time

Clarity SM vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Compared 12% of the time

Zendesk vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Compared 11% of the time

Cherwell Service Management vs Hornbill Systems Supportworks

Compared 10% of the time

More Hornbill Systems Supportworks Competitors

BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Maximo vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

Zendesk vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

Pega Platform vs ServiceNow

Compared 4% of the time

More ServiceNow Competitors

Product Reports

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Download Hornbill Systems Supportworks product report

Download ServiceNow product report

Also Known As

Supportworks

No data available

Overview

Supportworks brings you the ideal combination of business process automation, functionality and flexibility. It's a comprehensive ITIL-compatible application that satisfies most requirements out of the box. Fully integrated processes and support templates mean you can rapidly adopt key components of the service lifecycle. If you don't need all the disciplines immediately, just switch them off until you're ready. Supportworks has the flexibility to support any service desk requirement: HR and FM applications are available. which means you can run all your service desks on a single platform, eliminating duplicated effort, reducing hardware and software costs, and simplifying support.

Hornbill Systems

ServiceNow is a cloud-based task-management platform that specializes in IT operations management (ITOM), IT services management (ITSM), and IT business management (ITBM). ServiceNow allows users to manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions using a variety of different plugins and apps with which it easily integrates.

ServiceNow offers prebuilt applications to support any process, as well as a framework and tools that allow you to build your own.

ServiceNow’s service management solutions include change, request, incident, problem, and cost management, as well as HR, IT, field service, and facilities management solutions. They also cover business management solutions such as vendor performance management, financial management, performance analytics and project portfolio suite, as well as governance, risk, and compliance.

“The Smarter Way to Workflow”

ServiceNow’s activities, processes, and tasks are overseen as part of a comprehensive managed workflow that supports such features as real-time collaboration, communication, and resource sharing. ServiceNow’s suite of products allow for operation using serverless computing, and include the categories of Business Apps, Customer Service, HR, IT, and Security.

ServiceNow can be used to support most workflows because of the wide range of tools it offers. These include on-suite ticketing tools, predictive modeling to manage workflows, and benchmarking for the tracking of progress. ServiceNow can assist with artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and can be used to organize the cases of a help/service desk as well as for instance management and problem management. It also smoothly integrates with many legacy systems.

ServiceNow offers service management software for industries including:

Cloud services
Education
Financial services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Telecommunications

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot users prefer ServiceNow to its competitors because of its scalability, stability, and ease of use. It helps everyone in the company to be on the same page by creating a single source of record across all departments. One user stated that “I’ve definitely used over 20 project management solutions, but they can't be compared with ServiceNow.” Another said that “ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI.”

Sample Customers

Aylesbury Vale District Council

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

Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. ServiceNow