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ServiceNow vs ServiceNow Discovery comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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
6.5
ServiceNow enhances efficiency and ROI through automation, with payback periods ranging from three months to five years.
Sentiment score
6.1
ServiceNow Discovery's ROI is inconsistent, with full benefits seen when combined with other services for operational efficiency.
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
7.0
ServiceNow's customer service is responsive but can lack in-depth support, with experience varying by issue complexity and account size.
Sentiment score
6.0
ServiceNow Discovery's support varies, with mixed experiences on responsiveness and effectiveness, improving with advanced support tiers and partnerships.
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
The 'follow the sun' model, where the time of raising the ticket and where it lands, plays a crucial role.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
This rating is because there are features on the tool that never worked and despite calling our support, there were no results.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow offers excellent scalability, though custom setups may pose challenges; effective support ensures smooth integration and expansion.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow Discovery is highly scalable, suited for large infrastructures, compatible with AWS and Azure, but requires careful cost management.
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
I would rate it as a nine on a scale of one to ten, indicating it is highly scalable.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Small companies will not be able to afford ServiceNow Discovery from the pricing perspective.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It receives this rating because it can be difficult to troubleshoot when the discovery is failing.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow users enjoy excellent stability and high performance, with minimal downtime and minor issues tied to customizations.
Sentiment score
8.0
ServiceNow Discovery is highly stable and reliable, with minor configuration issues not affecting its strong overall performance ratings.
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
I would rate the stability of ServiceNow Discovery as nine, as we never had downtime.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
That is not a mistake of the product. It is due to excessive security on the network.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

ServiceNow's customization flexibility leads to challenges with usability, cost, integration, and a need for improved interfaces and support.
ServiceNow Discovery struggles with service mapping and integration, necessitating enhancements for usability, cloud capabilities, and easier licensing.
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
ServiceNow ITOM is particularly not very strong in terms of monitoring capabilities. They do not have any monitoring tool.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The areas of ServiceNow Discovery that have room for improvement are getting custom reports on the relationship between CIs that are not on the same table.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Setup Cost

ServiceNow's premium pricing offers broad functionality for enterprises, with negotiable fees and high costs for setup and customization.
ServiceNow Discovery is pricey but valued for advanced features, with potential discounts though standalone costs are high.
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
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I think the price of ServiceNow Discovery is cheaper than BMC.
IT Service Performance Manager at MTN
 

Valuable Features

ServiceNow provides customizable, scalable IT management with automation and analytics, enhancing decision-making and adaptability across diverse business needs.
ServiceNow Discovery integrates seamlessly with ServiceNow suite, enhancing IT operations through automated mapping, security, and cloud discovery.
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
The workflows are beneficial as they allow tasks to be assigned to respective teams without the need for coding.
Software Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ServiceNow Discovery helps with operations, audits, and allows people to assess how a particular change in infrastructure impacts other components.
Director, Information Technology at Gen™
ServiceNow Discovery has normal discovery of CIs, as well as horizontal discovery for understanding Service Mapping.
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow
Ranking in IT Asset Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
224
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
ServiceNow Discovery
Ranking in IT Asset Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (4th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the IT Asset Management category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 13.8%, down from 23.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 4.4%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Asset Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow13.8%
ServiceNow Discovery4.4%
Other81.8%
IT Asset Management
 

Featured Reviews

MT
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.
reviewer2759271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Solution/Service Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Has supported enterprise needs well and addresses discovery across environments
Small companies will not be able to afford ServiceNow Discovery from the pricing perspective. Hence, they will not opt for ServiceNow Discovery as a solution, either as an ITSM solution or ITOM solution. It will not be affordable. I am specifically talking about the Middle East and Africa region. ServiceNow ITOM is particularly not very strong in terms of monitoring capabilities. They do not have any monitoring tool. They use event management from getting events from other tools. In that front, they had a roadmap for going for an open-source solution, but I have not seen that materialize. There is a lack of tools perspective for monitoring. Perhaps they do not have a plan because there are hundreds of tools available, and they prefer to focus on integration and event management.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise166
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about ServiceNow Discovery?
The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?
The pricing information for ServiceNow Discovery was requested but not provided.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?
A CMDB debugging tool to give indication about the errors that appear would be appreciated.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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    
York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow vs. ServiceNow Discovery and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.