We performed a comparison between Appian and ServiceNow based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: ServiceNow comes out ahead in this comparison. It enables organizations to deliver solutions faster and allows users to track solutions using real-time data to ensure continual progress and positive, effective outcomes. ServiceNow is very robust and stable and updates frequently so users always have the best tools available to them.
"The setup is easy."
"The initial setup was seamless. We didn't run into any hardships at all."
"The process models provide self-documenting systems."
"With low-code, we don't need a lot of coding, and then from the plumbing perspective, there is a complete CI/CD pipeline that exists within Appian that can be leveraged for open deployment."
"Appian is a very low code platform. It's very easy to learn and use."
"There is no need to worry about vulnerabilities in the system, because Appian built a secure system."
"The agile manner that we require to create our workflows. This is probably the most critical part of our solution and the time it takes to start processing the solution."
"The solution has a lot of strong features for the financial industry, it is very easy to use."
"It's more about the ease of use of ServiceNow. Plus, everything is there in a single platform. If you need any additional functionality, you just need to enable the plugins without even installing anything on the servers"
"We have found the service easy to use, although, we have ended up customising a lot of parameters."
"It offers enhanced and efficient communication between the requester and the four pillar EDR through an online chat platform."
"I like ServiceNow's Workspace feature. With Jira, we had to edit a ticket by going into it. We couldn't perform edits from within the project plan. ServiceNow allows you to edit everything from one screen. It's like an Excel spreadsheet, but Jira requires you to drill down into the ticket. ServiceNow is more convenient if you are working on multiple projects and workflows."
"I find almost all the features valuable. It can do nearly everything except make your coffee, as my colleagues always say. It's got pros and cons, like every software, but the good thing about it is that it has a very structured approach."
"The subsequent chain of tasks, I believe, is valuable."
"For change management, I find the CAB workbench very useful. I haven't seen any other solution that has a CAB workbench or advanced automated solutions for a change advisory board. ServiceNow also has the Workflow Engine which works very well and is very intuitive."
"There are lots of modules around IT service management such as IT business management and human resource management (HRC)."
"There are some restrictions with respect to using external components within Appian. So, for example, if we do not have a particular feature available, there's a long cycle of getting approvals and all of that. That does not offer flexibility, which definitely can be improved on."
"It is difficult to set up the on-premise version."
"It would be useful if they could create an academy or forum in the future to help active users answer questions they have about the solution."
"A point of improvement would be the SAIL forms. The built-in tool used to generate forms does not have debugging support (to view local variables as they change on live preview, and step-by-step valuation) which is a big drawback for form development. Moreover, the script language used to build SAIL forms does not support inheritance or lambda expressions (functions as arguments of other functions), which makes the code base more verbose."
"We would like to have more granular control for interface styling."
"While Appian is generally flexible, it's rigid in some ways. It takes longer to do something that isn't available out of the box."
"The solution needs more features. For example, a way to connect to our viewing database, to record, and more interface and component design."
"Lacks business rules management as part of the solution."
"We would like to have an Asset Management and/or Project Management feature enabled in this version and in the IT Service Management edition."
"HR Service Management is one module that needs a lot of improvement because it's a pretty new module. It was introduced in the last two years. It's becoming more mature day by day, but there is a lot of scope for improvement in that module."
"Where it could be improved is Discovery. This may sound odd since I just praised the value of ServiceNow Discovery, but improvements to its automatic detection, the breadth of devices, and the depth of devices covered, as well as keeping up with new technologies, are all essential."
"Most people are discussing UIs, but I'm a developer. I would say 80-90% of the people would appreciate that, that's easy for them, but from a developer perspective, it's hard for me, because for me it's clunky"
"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."
"We are struggling with the scheduling part, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a ServiceNow issue. It could be the way we have configured it. We don't have it configured in a way where you can schedule a support call with our end users. We are looking for more automation in the box and the chat feature."
"All the screens are similar. It's the same platform for everything and you need to familiarize yourself with it. In the past, you used to have one screen per application. Now, you have everything integrated into one. Everybody will manage the same screen and they need to navigate into the same screen as the Internet Explorer with a toolbar with the categories and look for the things you want to see or the models you want to use."
"The RPA needs improvement. That's a new area for them that they're just entering into now."
Appian is ranked 6th in Rapid Application Development Software with 58 reviews while ServiceNow is ranked 4th in Rapid Application Development Software with 212 reviews. Appian is rated 8.4, while ServiceNow is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Appian writes "Low resource consumption, easy setup, and stable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of ServiceNow writes "A stable and scalable solution that has excellent features and is useful for collecting data and building KPIs". Appian is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, OutSystems, Camunda, Pega BPM and Mendix, whereas ServiceNow is most compared with BMC Helix ITSM, Microsoft Power Apps, Pega BPM, IBM Maximo and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. See our Appian vs. ServiceNow report.
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