OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs ServiceNow comparison

OpenText Service Management...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ServiceNow and OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) are competitors in the IT service management category. ServiceNow appears to have an upper hand due to its broader adoption rate, while SMAX stands out with its powerful automation features and industry-specific functionalities.

Features: ServiceNow offers integrated workflows, powerful analytics, and a robust ecosystem enabling scalability. SMAX provides AI-driven automation, flexible orchestration, and seamless integration with OpenText products, making it appealing for advanced customization needs.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow may benefit from simplified deployment processes, more competitive pricing, and enhanced industry-specific functionalities. SMAX could improve its market presence, expand its community resources, and further streamline integration with non-OpenText solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow is praised for expedited setup and comprehensive training, with extensive documentation and support. SMAX offers streamlined deployment with reduced initial configuration and focuses on personalized customer service tailored to organizational needs.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow generally comes with higher setup costs but aims for high ROI through extensive functionalities over time. SMAX has a competitive pricing structure that attracts cost-conscious organizations, promising quick ROI through reduced implementation times and operational efficiencies.

To learn more, read our detailed OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. ServiceNow Report (Updated: April 2025).

OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. ServiceNow

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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

OpenText Service Management...

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

16th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ServiceNow

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

219

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is 2.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 23.9%, down from 27.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Featured Reviews

Mourad Ali

ITSM Consultancy Head at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Offers topic analytics for incident and problem management

The only challenge with Azure customers is when they have a specific requirement that is not available out of the box and is inflexible to adjust. Sometimes, customers have tough requirements that are not flexible enough to be adjusted, even if SMAX can provide a better alternative. They need this specific feature. This challenge is common with SMAX, BMC, ServiceNow, IBM, or other similar tools. When working with enterprise tools that are not developed in-house, I don't have access to the source code and am limited to the features and capabilities provided by the leading vendors. So, this challenge is common across SMAX, BMC, and ServiceNow. The solution could have more customization flexibility.

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Somnath Kand

Team Lead at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech

Custom integration and reporting lead to efficient ticket management

There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow. Although there are child incidents or tickets, tracking primary issues or bugs within enhancements is not present. The reporting features in the new portal could be more user-friendly. While it provides options to minimize chart and image sizes, actual implementation doesn't always reflect these changes.

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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

"It offers a range of tools for sales and configuration. It's like a business process improvement platform, suitable for various lines of business operations."

"This is a cordless application that can be used throughout any organization."

"The most valuable features of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) are that it is user-friendly, easy to configure, and adaptable."

"The product provides an interface for the end users to make requests."

"OpenText Service Management Automation X provides valuable features such as topic analytics for incident and problem management. It also includes natural language processing for analyzing technical descriptions. Additionally, it features a virtual chatbot capable of processing natural language to interact effectively with end users. This service enhances customer support and is not subject to the limitations often found in offerings from other vendors."

"The tool is very easy to use."

"The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients."

"The analytics - we like to keep track of how much work everyone is doing."

"I like the ease of use."

"I really like what they've done with their common service data model because now I can make a connection between the business process and technology."

"I like that in ServiceNow creating workflows is simpler than that in HP Service Manager. Also, I really like the customization feature. It allows us to customize the service portal and permits us to do a lot of customization per business needs."

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

"What I like the most is the functionality, it's features are rich, and there is a high degree of compliance with IT standards."

"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."

More ServiceNow pros

Cons

"The solution lacks sufficient documentation."

"The contract management feature can be improved."

"The initial setup of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is complicated, but once it is set up the configuration is straightforward to adapt to the users' or customers' needs."

"The product's connectivity with third-party products is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The tool has negatively impacted our productivity."

"For me, there's a real opportunity, especially within the IT Service Management suite, to give a much better overall view of the workflow that individuals have across the different applications. At the moment, a lot of information is quite siloed in the different tables in ServiceNow."

"This solution needs to be improved for global use. Currently, it's very oriented to the processes and needs of the US customer base, like their compliance solution or GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), and not so much for customers from other parts of the world. Some users may like the things that ServiceNow is improving, but those are very oriented to users based in the United States and Europe."

"Before implementing this solution, you should have the ITSM model in place for chain management requests. That is a prerequisite because you cannot perform tasks without it."

"I do not like the user interface."

"A new user does need training or time to learn the solution before jumping in. It was very hard in the beginning to understand everything. I couldn't find the models I needed at the time."

"It should have more artificial intelligence for business and work capabilities. The community is not so active. There must be initiatives to make the community talk more and share more information."

"When we are using the solution on mobile phones on their networks the performance is reduced with a delay of approximately 8 seconds. There is less delay using the desktop computers connected to the WiFi or to the network directly."

"There are things that I would like to see improved in ServiceNow, such as the pricing, as it is a very costly solution compared to other tools."

More ServiceNow cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the license for SMAX varies depending on the configuration, including the number of seats for users and the customer's specific requirements. It's not a fixed cost and can vary."

"The solution is somewhat cheaper than the competitors."

"I know that it's not too bad because people continue to use it and they are happy to renew up their contract."

"Isn't pricing always too much? We really do chafe at the ITIL licensing. ITOM is also pretty expensive."

"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 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."

"The product cost is higher than that of other vendors."

"There are licensing fees."

"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 solution is expensive."

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

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?

The tool is very easy to use.

What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?

The solution is used for the end-user portal. It is used for incident management, requests, and other informational purposes.

What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?

The tool is appropriate if we don't have a complicated use case. It is the right tool for simple use cases. It's a lot cheaper than ServiceNow. It is an appropriate tool for a smaller business or m...

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.

JIRA Service Management vs OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX)

Comparisons

Compared 26% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX)

Compared 21% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX)

Compared 11% of the time

HaloITSM vs OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX)

Compared 7% of the time

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BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow

Compared 7% of the time

Pega Platform vs ServiceNow

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs ServiceNow

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Maximo vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Download OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) product report

OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) report

Download ServiceNow product report

Also Known As

OpenText Service Manager, Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)

No data available

Interactive Demo

OpenText

Demo not available

Overview

OpenText™ SMAX is a SaaS-based solution that delivers a smart approach to IT and enterprise service management with built-in analytics, codeless configurations, and private generative AI chatbots.

OpenText SMAX delivers a smart approach to service management, with full capabilities for IT service management (ITSM), IT asset management (ITAM), and enterprise service management (ESM). Empower users to self-resolve common requests with private generative AI chatbots that offer human-like responses. Give your team what they need—ITIL best-practice templates, codeless configurations, and built-in AI and analytics for automating workflows, improving processes, and solving issues. With SaaS deployment, SMAX eliminates the hassle of installation, maintenance, and upgrade. What’s more, SMAX offers flexible and affordable licensing that adapts to your business needs and saves you money.

SMAX has a flexible and transparent pricing model that lets you change license allocations or add capabilities without costly surprises. Pricing starts at $79 per agent per month for a full range of processes and features that include a service portal, mobile app, AI, analytics, federated CMDB, ITSM, ESM, discovery, and orchestration. Visit the OpenText ITSM SaaS pricing page for details.

OpenText

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

Zurich Airport, Envirosuite, Norsk Helsenett, Achmea, University of Milan, World Vision, Petroleum Development Oman, Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).

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

OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. ServiceNow