ServiceNow Discovery vs Zenoss Cloud comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ServiceNow and Zenoss are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. ServiceNow is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.4, while Zenoss is ranked #25. ServiceNow holds a 2.3% mindshare in SM, compared to Zenoss’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zenoss users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow Discovery

Read 46 ServiceNow Discovery reviews

6,406 Views
2,819 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Zenoss Cloud

Read 8 Zenoss Cloud reviews

8,128 Views
2,195 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ServiceNow Discovery

Zenoss Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Zenoss Cloud and ServiceNow Discovery are two leading IT operations management solutions. Zenoss Cloud holds the upper hand in ease of deployment and customer support, while ServiceNow Discovery excels in features and overall user satisfaction.

Features: Users value Zenoss Cloud's real-time alerting, extensive monitoring capabilities, and ease of deployment. ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its comprehensive asset discovery, integration with IT Service Management, and robust feature set, making it preferable for users needing in-depth asset management.

Room for Improvement: Zenoss Cloud could improve its scalability, integrations, and feature breadth. ServiceNow Discovery needs enhancements in dashboard customization, speed, and system complexity. Both products exhibit areas for growth, but Zenoss Cloud’s improvements are focused on expanding integration capabilities, whereas ServiceNow Discovery should enhance user experience facets.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zenoss Cloud users report quick deployment times and responsive customer service. ServiceNow Discovery’s deployment is considered more complex and time-consuming, though its customer service is well-rated but not as prompt as Zenoss Cloud’s.

Pricing and ROI: Zenoss Cloud is highlighted for its reasonable setup costs and good ROI. ServiceNow Discovery, though more expensive, offers extensive features and higher ROI as perceived by users. Zenoss Cloud is framed as more cost-effective but ServiceNow Discovery provides higher long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud

November 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 920,769 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

ServiceNow Discovery

Ranking in Server Monitoring

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (10th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)

Zenoss Cloud

Ranking in Server Monitoring

25th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (19th), Event Monitoring (14th), Network Monitoring Software (63rd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (52nd), Container Monitoring (9th), Cloud Monitoring Software (42nd), AIOps (28th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 2.3%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zenoss Cloud is 3.2%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ServiceNow Discovery	2.3%
Zenoss Cloud	3.2%
Other	94.5%

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Abhinay Sharma

Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

Cloud discovery has improved asset visibility and reporting but still needs smarter automation

The impact of ServiceNow Discovery on my organization's strategic planning depends on various factors. Some customers have their own discovery tools which they do not want to switch from, even if we explain why ServiceNow might be better, because they have been using them for a long time. Some customers are dynamic, so we need to have some kind of proposition that comes with ServiceNow. Sometimes, we need to talk with ServiceNow people themselves to give them a bundle offer in which we can have Discovery and ITSM at a much more affordable price than the competitors, so that is our main goal. Currently, I would say there might be a possibility if we can use some AI discovery features that could be helpful for our organization. If we can get discovery jobs running based on AI schedules, that would be beneficial. I believe in the coming future that I want to see myself working more with ServiceNow in this capacity.

Read full review

ClaudiaChen

Cloud Architect - Senior Technology Architect at Telstra

Generates close to real-time alerts so users can resolve issues, but needs more integration and public cloud monitoring features

As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"Discovery enables us to get an accurate inventory that's updated daily. It eliminates human error and the need for people to update configuration changes manually. We have not implemented them yet but plan to set up alerts on CIs that are being audited to see if there are any changes."

"It's pretty robust, and it's agentless for the most part. So, you don't need to deploy agents, which makes it a lot easier to stand up."

"The product provides great scalability features."

"The best thing about Discovery is maintaining all the CIs in one place. I can sort the data, export it to Excel for manipulation, and build reports like how many computers or servers we have and their capacity."

"We can find servers or services we were unaware of and stumble on vulnerabilities from those devices."

"ServiceNow Discovery is useful for discovering the servers, like the servers of Windows and Linux, from the client network."

"It has given us an understanding of each layer from a server application."

More ServiceNow Discovery pros

"Overall, it's a great solution, and I consider it to be one of the best."

"The most valuable feature is the flexible discovery mechanism."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past."

"It's easy to use."

"What I like most about Zenoss Service Dynamics is that it monitors the devices and gives close to real-time alerts. For example, in case the device is not available, Zenoss Service Dynamics generates an alert so my team can resolve the issue."

"The custom built integration is one of the most valuable features because you can see all the especially critical items."

"With this solution, they can have one million users at the same time with no crashes."

"They have also accommodated many state-of-the-art technologies like Docker and ZooKeeper."

More Zenoss Cloud pros

Cons

"We would like more flexibility with the licensing. Discovery is bundled with ServiceNow's ITOM license. It was more affordable when it was sold separately, but we bought a package license to get more functionality out of the CMDB. We'd prefer to buy only the pieces we need instead of taking things we don't want or solutions that aren't yet mature enough to use."

"Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough."

"The service mapping component is less developed than it is in other solutions, and is in need of improvement."

"What needs improvement in ServiceNow Discovery is the reporting UI because I didn't find it as friendly compared to other tools. Other tools have better reporting UI than what's currently in ServiceNow Discovery. What I'd like to see in the next release of ServiceNow Discovery is more user-friendly out-of-the-box reporting that would be helpful for non-technical users. Some users such as managers would want to just do a few clicks to access the reports and shouldn't be required to do search queries, but right now, reporting in the tool isn't very user-friendly."

"ServiceNow Discovery should be updated to provide its users with more out-of-the-box information and attributes to support the routers and switches from Cisco."

"It does create quite a few duplicate CIs, you need to monitor and clean them up."

"I believe there is room for improvement in ServiceNow Discovery, particularly in providing more detailed information about network usage and communication between ServiceNow and the infrastructure."

"Sometimes, I believe one or two tickets took longer than two weeks, but other than that, they are quick with the resolution."

More ServiceNow Discovery cons

"The AI aspect needs to improve."

"It would be ideal if the product offered sound alerts."

"This solution is complex for beginners so it takes some time to learn."

"The inclusion of a feature to show a graphical view of the network would be a helpful improvement."

"Now it is stable, but they should design threshold parameters in percentage instead of raw values."

"As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor."

"Technical support is 3/10, poor: Incomplete and poor documentation Undocumented processes Inconsistent solutions to problems depending on source"

"There was a problem with Zenoss and storage monitoring."

More Zenoss Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ServiceNow Discovery has very broad pricing, so it becomes costly. It would be better if it had a pay-as-you-use licensing model because the total cost of ownership is quite high."

"There is a subscription for ServiceNow Discovery. It's expensive, but I think it's one of the best solutions on the market, so it's worth it."

"It costs a lot. It is probably close to over a hundred thousand. It's an expensive platform, but you can't compare ServiceNow's Discovery functionality to other discovery tools. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison of ServiceNow to a configuration management tool to an asset management tool because it does those things, but it's not those things."

"You need a subscription to ServiceNow Discovery, so you can use its features. You can also use specific plugins with the tool, and some of the plugins are free. I don't have information on how much my company pays for the subscription to ServiceNow Discovery."

"ROI (Return on Investment) is good. ServiceNow don't disclose the price publicly. They'll assess your organization's needs and then come up with a price."

"The solution is very expensive."

"ServiceNow Discovery's licensing is not a very small investment, but it definitely pays off."

"I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten. We had availed some discount from the standard pricing. Even then, the tool's pricing is expensive. You have to pay some vendor service fees for the product's implementation."

More ServiceNow Discovery pricing and cost advice

"It depends on the customer, what he wants."

"The pricing depends on the environment, the number of services, and the size of the data center. It can go from $100,000 to a million dollars."

"There are additional costs you'll have to pay apart from the license fee for Zenoss Service Dynamics. I can't remember exactly how much my company is paying because I don't handle the finance part, but the cost is paid annually. On a scale of one to five, with one being the cheapest and five being the most expensive, I'm rating the solution three out of five."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past. The company is gaining a lot with respect to the cost factor. It provides agentless monitoring and in a very cheap way."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

15%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Transportation Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?

Regarding pricing, I have not dealt much with it. I am more focused on the feature side of things, so I cannot comment on the latest pricing because it is dynamic as well. Sometimes it is cheaper f...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?

ServiceNow could improve ServiceNow Discovery by integrating artificial intelligence capabilities. The system could study frequently created queries for the CMDB, whether related to applications, c...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ServiceNow Discovery?

I mainly use ServiceNow Discovery for asset inventory in the estate. I primarily use it for linking applications versus inventory and creating disaster recovery plans, recovery time objectives, and...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

In my experience, I worked with many monitoring software, but the one that gave me the most functionalities of a large-scale company is Zenoss, due to its ability to monitor completely hybrid and a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 8% of the time

Lansweeper vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 6% of the time

Tanium vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 6% of the time

More ServiceNow Discovery Competitors

Zabbix vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Nagios XI vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

ScienceLogic vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Microsoft System Center vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

More Zenoss Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery

October 2026

Download ServiceNow Discovery product report

Buyer's Guide

Zenoss Cloud

October 2026

Download Zenoss Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cloud Monitoring, Zenoss Service Dynamics

Overview

ServiceNow Discovery automates relationship building with agentless discovery and accurate dependency mapping. It seamlessly integrates with CMDB, offering secure operations and efficient data management, suitable for multi-cloud operations.

ServiceNow Discovery transforms IT infrastructure management by automating the mapping of hardware and software components, enhancing application visibility, and supporting predictive monitoring. It boasts expansive plugin options, low maintenance, and centralized data storage, all while operating effectively across cloud and on-premises environments. Users benefit from robust performance, comprehensive impact analysis, and easy setup. However, improving unnecessary data elimination, simplifying debugging, and enhancing global deployment could make it more effective. It requires more intuitive interfaces and code-free customization for better reconciliation and discovery of remote devices. Improved reporting, competitive pricing, and seamless integration with legacy and newer applications are valued enhancements.

What are the key features of ServiceNow Discovery?

Automated Relationship Building: Facilitates seamless integration with CMDB.
Agentless Discovery: Offers accurate mapping without the need for additional agents.
Dependency Mapping: Provides detailed infrastructure insights.
Multi-cloud Support: Ensures operations are streamlined across cloud environments.
Centralized Data Storage: Supports efficient data management.
Comprehensive Impact Analysis: Enhances capacity management.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Integration with CMDB: Enhances asset tracking and management.
Secure Operations: Minimizes security risks across IT environments.
Efficient Data Management: Streamlines processing and analysis of data.
Low Maintenance: Reduces operational overhead and downtime.
Robust Performance: Ensures reliability in diverse settings.

Companies in diverse sectors use ServiceNow Discovery for asset tracking, CMDB population, and identifying Configuration Items. This enables IT teams to map hardware and software components, enhance visibility, and facilitate predictive monitoring and auto-remediation processes. Integrating with other systems, ServiceNow Discovery provides valuable insights from IT environments, supporting both cloud and on-premises operations.

ServiceNow

Zenoss Cloud provides a comprehensive overview of IT environments, supporting cross-cloud functionality, scalability, and robust integrations. It offers dynamic monitoring through its intuitive dashboard and supports hybrid deployments across cloud and on-premises infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud enables users to monitor network infrastructure and operator platforms efficiently. With features like agentless monitoring and real-time alerts, Zenoss Cloud integrates seamlessly with external systems such as ITSM tools. Its flexible functionality allows for the management of both on-premises and cloud infrastructures like AWS and Azure. Users benefit from easy setup and strong technical support, although they seek enhancements in AI capabilities and simpler installation. The pricing model and complexity for beginners and storage monitoring are areas for improvement.

What are the key features of Zenoss Cloud?

Dynamic Monitoring: Enhances user experience with real-time insights.
Cross-Cloud Functionality: Supports hybrid deployments across AWS and Azure.
Agentless Monitoring: Simplifies deployment with minimal overhead.
Scalability: Grows with your network's demands.
Custom Integration: Supports notifications and alerts tailored to user requirements.

What benefits should users expect from Zenoss Cloud?

Time Efficiency: Quick setup and operation save resources.
Comprehensive Support: Extensive documentation streamlines troubleshooting.
Cost-effective Monitoring: Prevents multiple charges in server monitoring.
Enhanced User Experience: Offers seamless integration with existing IT infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud is widely used in monitoring solutions for industries including technology and data centers. It supports direct monitoring of systems like vSphere and NetApp, making it ideal for IT operations and managed services. Integration with tools such as ServiceNow and SolarWinds aligns it with diverse IT environments.

Zenoss

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY

2degrees, Rackspace, State of North Dakota, El Paso Independent School District, NWN Corporation

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud

November 2026

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