Salesforce Platform vs ServiceNow comparison

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8,134 views|7,390 comparisons
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17,724 views|10,662 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Salesforce Platform and ServiceNow based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Rapid Application Development Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Platform vs. ServiceNow Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution scales extremely well.""What we like the most about it is the fact that it helps us track the record of our projects. It keeps everything on one interface, facilitating the operations and planning.""I like it because of the fact that it lets me know what I'm working on and what I've recently worked on. It also helps me and allows me to do tracking. If I want to go out and find out how many times I've touched customers, I can find that information out. It tracks such information, and we use it. If we send any type of promotions out, it tracks who gets those promotions and how they've responded to those promotions.""The solution's stability is fine. There are no issues with Salesforce's stability.""We haven't had any issues with stability so far.""We use this solution to track customer activities, opportunities and contact information.""Scalability to configure and integrate.""There are no major performance issues in the solution."

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"What I like the most is that it's a common service data model and the fact that everything is available on one platform.""The flow designer feature of ServiceNow has had the biggest impact on our productivity because it has helped me reduce manual efforts by creating automation and robotics.""It's great for keeping everyone informed in the company - not just IT. Everyone becomes aware of change requests and incidents so the entire company is on the same page.""There are lots of modules around IT service management such as IT business management and human resource management (HRC).""It's a straightforward and effective approach that minimizes the need for extensive explanations.""Makes ticket information easy to access.""It's great to do statuses or to review tasks.""Easy to implement and consolidate different platforms and users with useful functionalities."

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Cons
"The integration of Salesforce with other solutions could be improved.""When it switched to lightning, it threw me for a loop. When they changed the look and feel, I had a hard time finding things and doing what I used to do.""The solution's UI is horrible.""The back end really isn't user-friendly at all.""I would like to see the organizational details improved to make it less difficult to bring new clients on board.""Salesforce's mobile app could be better. Also, it could integrate more seamlessly with Gmail.""This platform is indeed on the expensive side.""The cost of data storage is an issue once the company grows."

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"Data access is a bit difficult, where you sometimes wish you had a relational database for some queries. The flexibility of data access in general is a bit on the low end. Of course, there is flexibility in some ways, but when I need a certain combination of data for some report, it can become a challenge.""The interface requires an upgrade.""The Express edition does not allow the option for scripting.""Licensing costs are very high.""Service mapping could be less complicated.""Integration capabilities can improve.""System deployment and automation capabilities could be within the platform, similar to competitors.""Local solutions have lower costs."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Costly, but it is the top product in SaaS/PaaS. Pricing is more for large to enterprise level companies."
  • "Pricing and license differ and depend on how much license you are purchasing from them."
  • "It is an expensive program."
  • "The licensing is per user per month, which we took out a contract on a long time back. It's really an okay price for what solutions are available and for how many features and what kind of functionality you get."
  • "The solution is a bit expensive."
  • "It is expensive. Licensing is on an annual basis."
  • "It is quite expensive. Its developers come at a premium cost, which makes it expensive."
  • "It is expensive."
  • More Salesforce Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The first impact for the customer is that it is expensive, but do not forget that it is a solution that includes infrastructure; a single cost, easy to justify."
  • "It has a higher cost compared to local/regional solutions."
  • "We know that ServiceNow is not cheap, it's more expensive than other solutions. But we are trying to increase our ability to handle tickets so that the cost per ticket is less."
  • "It's sold as a less expensive solution, but it has to be highly modified. That's where you get into the cost."
  • "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."
  • "ServiceNow is a leader and its pricing is quite good, quite competitive... Sometimes some plugins are not priced reasonably but, generally, the platform itself, its modules, are priced reasonably."
  • "Isn't pricing always too much? We really do chafe at the ITIL licensing. ITOM is also pretty expensive."
  • "Initially, the licensing model ServiceNow came up with was very good. But now, from a licensing perspective, they are changing their model day by day. It is becoming a bit expensive for customers."
  • More ServiceNow Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: I think it depends on your use case. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise products, PowerApps will work better in your environment. Similarly, if you have a Salesforce integration in… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform is not easy or intuitive to deploy. The difficulty will be impacted by the type of application that you are trying to use the platform to build. Organizations that… more »
    Top Answer:At my organization, we have only used Salesforce Platform's low-code builder. The reason for this is not because we do not like the pro-code option, but because we do not see the need of using it… more »
    Top Answer: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 the… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:The most impactful feature in our day-to-day operations is the ticket status, which provides crucial visibility into the progress of each resource or incident.
    Ranking
    Views
    8,134
    Comparisons
    7,390
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    439
    Rating
    8.2
    Views
    17,724
    Comparisons
    10,662
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    458
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Salesforce1, Force.com, Salesforce App Cloud
    Learn More
    Overview

    Salesforce Platform is a tool that provides application building with open application programming interfaces (APIs), integration tools, back-end services, starter templates, and developer environments. With a low-code interface, users are able to build applications and benefit from automated processes. The product helps customers to increase work productivity and save on IT costs through efficient, easy-to-understand, methods for creating applications.

    Salesforce Platform allows companies to build and operate intelligent applications at scale and share them with employees and customers in real time. The tool secures companies' data while connecting and synchronizing it simultaneously across their Customer 360 accounts. The main components of the product are:

    • Application development: With low code, companies can build applications faster and automate their businesses.

    • Automation: The product can connect with Salesforce Genie, allowing employees to create seamless processes.

    • Security: The Shield component allows companies to secure their data and build applications.

    • Hyperforce: Companies have the option to scale globally and serve customers locally, providing secure, private, and agile solutions.

    • Einstein Intelligence: Organizations can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to create personalized experiences for customers, potentially increasing companies’ growth.

    • Sandboxes: Salesforce Platform offers developers secure development environments where they can test, build, and deploy changes before rolling out final products.

    Salesforce Platform Features

    Also referred to as a “drag and drop app builder," this solution offers various features for customers to create intelligent applications and build personalized services for clients, partners, and employees within the apps.

    • Mobile feature: The mobile feature of Salesforce Platform allows users to build applications for mobile as well as turn already-made apps into mobile apps instantly.

    • AI: Through AI, users are able to personalize their applications, utilizing the smart assistant of the platform (called Einstein). The creation of customized services for clients can drive engagement and scale customer experience.

    • Vision feature: The Vision feature also utilizes Einstein Platform, where users can take advantage of Einstein Prediction Builder, Bots, Vision, and Language to create AI-powered applications.

    • Data protection: Salesforce Platform offers a data protection feature called Salesforce Shield. With it, companies can monitor app and data use, automate security policies, run compliance audits, and encrypt sensitive data.

    • Privacy and identity feature: Salesforce Customer Identity is a feature for privacy that offers user access through a single login. The feature provides a seamless user experience while maintaining a high level of security.
    • Community feature: The community feature of the product offers a digital experience platform where companies can create secure portals, applications, and websites.

    • Builder feature: The application building feature of Salesforce Platform offers various ways for users to create apps, including through low-code builders and pro-code tools.

    Salesforce Platform Benefits

    The benefits of using Salesforce Platform include:

    • Compared to manual coding products, Salesforce Platform is simpler for beginner users who want to develop a product.

    • The tool requires a low amount of coding, making it a quick and agile way to develop applications.

    • The adaptable design of the platform offers multi-layered security which maintains data accessible to users while protecting it from outside sources.

    • The product can be incorporated with various platforms and coding languages for application development.

    • The platform can be used to create applications compatible with large database systems like MySQL and Oracle.

    • Salesforce Platform allows collaboration between users, as it offers simultaneous access to various users at the same time.

    • Salesforce Platform is compatible with desktop databases such as Microsoft Access.

    Reviews from Real Users

    A vice president at a healthcare company values Salesforce Platform because it is flexible and user-friendly with helpful pre-built schemas.

    Peter G., a senior technical consultant at a tech services company, rates Salesforce Platform highly because it is intuitive, quite easy to learn, and stores all kinds of relevant sales information.

    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
    ADP
    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    
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Non Profit5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization22%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise64%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise56%
    Buyer's Guide
    Salesforce Platform vs. ServiceNow
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce Platform vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Salesforce Platform is ranked 9th in Rapid Application Development Software with 29 reviews while ServiceNow is ranked 3rd in Rapid Application Development Software with 24 reviews. Salesforce Platform is rated 8.2, while ServiceNow is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Salesforce Platform writes "Offers out-of-the-box features and provides a wide range of capabilities under what they call "No code," "Low code," and "Pro code" options". On the other hand, the top reviewer of ServiceNow writes "Comprehensive IT service management with predefined processes, and seamless integration, empowering organizations to streamline workflows and enhance productivity". Salesforce Platform is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, Oracle Application Express (APEX), Microsoft Azure, Appian and Amazon AWS, whereas ServiceNow is most compared with BMC Helix ITSM, Microsoft Power Apps, Pega BPM and IBM Maximo. See our Salesforce Platform vs. ServiceNow report.

    See our list of best Rapid Application Development Software vendors and best No-Code Development Platforms vendors.

    We monitor all Rapid Application Development Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.