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PagerDuty Operations Cloud vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
PagerDuty Operations Cloud optimizes incident management, reduces downtime, enhances customer service, and improves operational efficiency and engineer productivity.
Sentiment score
6.5
Organizations experience varied ROI with ServiceNow, noting efficiency, cost savings, and project improvements despite initial adoption challenges.
The escalation was not possible at all before, which led to the L1 team being under too much stress.
Software Developer at Webspruce
The automated system efficiently monitors the infrastructure and notifies us about problems, benefiting both our customers and the bank's reputation.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
Time to respond, time to initiate, and time to mitigate are key metrics influenced positively.
Lead Platform at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
General Manager at sPerception IT
The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Manually, there are huge numbers that come up because these integrated tools help organizations make the right decisions with all the information in one place, while manual methods lack visibility.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
PagerDuty Operations Cloud excels in customer service with minimal support needed and highly rated quick, knowledgeable assistance.
Sentiment score
6.9
ServiceNow's customer service is efficient but inconsistent, with strong community support and varying technical assistance effectiveness.
we have never had an issue when reaching out to someone in customer service
Senior Cloud Operations Engineer at IMO Health
They understand our concerns and are willing to implement solutions that integrate into PagerDuty Operations Cloud effectively.
Senior SRE at IBM
I have not needed to contact the customer support of PagerDuty Operations Cloud, as they provided thorough knowledge transfer once they handed over the services.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
General Manager at sPerception IT
Whenever we have had issues, they have provided good support, and those issues have never recurred.
Vice President Delivery & Operations at Rezilyens
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
PagerDuty Operations Cloud scales effectively, supporting growth, user integration, and complex environments, making it ideal for large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow is praised for its scalability, efficiently supporting large enterprises with proper customization and adherence to best practices.
The product was highly scalable, with no limits on the number of applications or event routing rules.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
The scalability of PagerDuty Operations Cloud is very good, and it can handle increasing traffic as our organization expands without any issues.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is scalable; we can easily add teams, manage tags, and create teams.
Software Developer at Webspruce
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is stable and reliable, supporting effective incident management despite minor inconsistencies in device alerts.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow is reliable with minimal downtime and issues, offering proactive support and a positive user experience.
We have never experienced any downtime or latency issues from PagerDuty Operations Cloud.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
PagerDuty Operations Cloud is definitely stable, providing faster incident management and making managing our on-call roster easy along with effective escalation and notification channels.
Senior SRE at IBM
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco
ServiceNow is stable enough.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
 

Room For Improvement

PagerDuty Operations Cloud users encounter challenges with scheduling, alerts, integration, customization, costs, and machine-learning capabilities.
ServiceNow faces challenges with customization complexity, high costs, insufficient integration, inadequate documentation, and limited support and training resources.
It would be useful to have a way to define all configurations in code that is similar to how Terraform operates.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
With many new members, they need training to set up runbook workflows, event orchestration, and manage complex on-call schedules across 23 services, making it a challenge for new users.
Senior SRE at IBM
Once a user acknowledges the alert, it may be unnecessary to continue calling again and again, as it distracts from their work on resolving the issue.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
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.
Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
My priority points for improvement are the UI glitches and modern AI technology integrations for faster incident management.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

PagerDuty Operations Cloud offers competitive pricing but limited license flexibility, prompting some to consider alternatives like OpsGenie.
ServiceNow's high pricing and complex licensing make negotiation crucial for users evaluating its cost against organizational needs.
I had around seven users part of it for a base pricing of around $450 per user, primarily for custom workflows and the ITSM part.
Senior SRE at IBM
We have been using PagerDuty Operations Cloud for several years, so our pricing and cost have definitely increased over time, especially as we have hired additional engineers.
Senior Cloud Operations Engineer at IMO Health
Pricing, setup cost, and licensing were not my headaches, and the organization already provided me with everything set up.
Digital Specialist Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
ServiceNow does come with a price.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
 

Valuable Features

PagerDuty Operations Cloud streamlines incident management with automation, integration, and AI-driven features for efficient resolution and improved productivity.
ServiceNow provides flexible, customizable IT solutions with robust reporting, automation, and seamless incident management, suitable for diverse businesses.
It integrates with multiple applications and is highly customizable, with policies, escalation procedures, and an event routing tool that ensures contacting the right person.
Sr Director - Global Support APJ at HashiCorp
In addition to those features, I also find the integration and reporting aspects of PagerDuty Operations Cloud valuable, as it records all triggered calls and incidents, enabling us to analyze patterns and identify the times when systems go down, thus assisting us in understanding and addressing the underlying causes.
Senior Business Application Analyst (Product Team) at Kotak Mahindra Bank
Before, setting up everything was very difficult. Now, we don't have to think about it. We can simply set it up in PagerDuty and it works.
Software Developer at Webspruce
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Categories and Ranking

PagerDuty Operations Cloud
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (6th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (1st), AIOps (7th), Critical Event Management (CEM) (1st)
ServiceNow
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
224
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (1st), IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Process, Business Automation, and Digital Transformation solutions, they serve different purposes. PagerDuty Operations Cloud is designed for IT Alerting and Incident Management and holds a mindshare of 14.8%, down 23.5% compared to last year.
ServiceNow, on the other hand, focuses on IT Service Management (ITSM), holds 16.6% mindshare, down 24.9% since last year.
IT Alerting and Incident Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
PagerDuty Operations Cloud14.8%
Opsgenie9.4%
Rootly7.2%
Other68.6%
IT Alerting and Incident Management
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow16.6%
JIRA Service Management7.6%
BMC Helix ITSM6.0%
Other69.8%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Q&A Highlights

XY
Works at Alibaba Group
Apr 04, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

NS
Senior SRE at IBM
Automated incident workflows have transformed on-call operations and improved response times
Since I host our internal services, I want more customization relating to our specific use case. The needed improvements include the configuration process, as new team members face a steep learning curve to understand the platform. With many new members, they need training to set up runbook workflows, event orchestration, and manage complex on-call schedules across 23 services, making it a challenge for new users. Additionally, I feel the web interface requires improvements. I would rate PagerDuty Operations Cloud as eight out of ten because the cons include a complex configuration process and high costs for each add-on that I try to obtain, making subscriptions costly, along with limited customization in certain incident workflows. The primary reasons for rating it an eight include the complex configuration which makes it challenging for new users, as well as their difficulty in setting up advanced runbook workflows and managing complex on-call setups. The web user interface also requires improvement. Although I receive alerts via the mobile app, which is beneficial for handling schedule maintenance, the same features should be added to the web interface. Customization issues persist, such as the inability to clone entire schedules as part of the workflows, and I want to keep incidents open for a specified duration, neither of which I can currently customize. Thus, I raised a ticket with PagerDuty Operations Cloud to address these concerns. Furthermore, the cost is high, making it one of the more expensive incident management solutions.
SP
General Manager at sPerception IT
Adopting flexible workflows with customized automation delivers measurable benefits
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. Additionally, its presence in the local market is very limited; in Pakistan, for example, I don't see any vendor or distributor of ServiceNow available. They need to increase their sales spectrum globally so people can easily access them and engage them for client meetings and more. From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have. When providing advice to users, I would suggest they consider making strategic decisions about their per user pricing since it is very high. In our region, people normally start with 5 to 10 users, but the per user price is quite steep. Moreover, ServiceNow does not charge based on data uploaded or downloaded, so they should reconsider their pricing and data policies to align better with the financial capabilities of the region.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise166
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PagerDuty?
I purchased PagerDuty Operations Cloud through AWS Marketplace while at Intel, and my experience has been positive regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing. I had around seven users part of it...
What needs improvement with PagerDuty?
Since I host our internal services, I want more customization relating to our specific use case. The needed improvements include the configuration process, as new team members face a steep learning...
What is your primary use case for PagerDuty?
I have been working in my current field for over seven years as a DevOps and site reliability engineer, and my primary experience involves managing the reliability of infrastructure platforms hoste...
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

40% of the Fortune 100 TrustPagerDuty. Customers include: Slack, Intuit, Zendesk, Panasonic, Pinterest, Airbnb, eHarmony, McKesson, Comcast
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 PagerDuty, Splunk, Atlassian and others in IT Alerting and Incident Management. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.