We performed a comparison between OutSystems 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."The product is mostly stable."
"Our previous solution had other overheads such as release management, version management, code management, monitoring, etc., all of which are built-in with OutSystems."
"The scalability of OutSystems is very good, it scales automatically very useful for us."
"The drag-and-drop feature is very valuable."
"One thing I like about OutSystems is that there's no lock-in. You can keep running your applications because it's on .NET and hosted centrally. That's one of the advantages I see there in terms of not having an IT strategy that has a dependency on a particular platform."
"You can go huge - so it is definitely a scalable solution."
"Scalability proved to be an exceptionally beneficial feature."
"We can do the validation before calling the API."
"I like that in ServiceNow creating workflows is simpler than that in HP Service Manager. Also, I really like the customization feature. It allows us to customize the service portal and permits us to do a lot of customization per business needs."
"Data in reports and dashboards are easily accessible."
"We can keep track of incidences. There is a bucket where we keep all our information, and it enables communication between stakeholders. It helps us collaborate with each other."
"The workflow makes things extremely efficient and it improves effectiveness."
"The most valuable feature is that this is a Cloud solution."
"Makes ticket information easy to access."
"Straightforward tool."
"It uses a common base of data and allows different types of records to pull from that same base of data."
"OutSystems does not provide any native reporting resources. All reports must be created with other tools or as a webpage."
"Its ability to create and run automated tasks could be better."
"The resource availability needs to be increased."
"The product could be improved if there was a shortcut, or predefined, predictable templates provided."
"There are not enough resources on the market."
"The integration points need to be increased. People have also started to adopt this solution for their regular needs. That means it's not only the big enterprises that are adopting this solution. There are also small and medium enterprises that are adopting it. I've read that where you have large deployments, OutSystems starts to crumble a bit. That is the idea that no customer would know at the beginning and would also not like to hit the wall there. When it is on the client, there are a lot of applications already on low-code, and then suddenly you realize that you want to do some big applications, and you face hurdles. This is the general feedback for all such platforms."
"Since we first started using OutSystems, they switched their language support from Java and .NET to .NET only, which was a bit of a surprise. Their language support could be better in this sense, although on our resource side it is now a bit more flexible."
"The dashboards in OutSystems could improve. There are a lot of tabs in the service center that can be confusing."
"In an upcoming release, there should be more administration tools."
"The user interface for accessing assistance sometimes disconnects."
"Some enhancements to the self-service platform would be helpful. That part is still a little barebone... Also, the mobile app is not bad, but it's limited."
"The user interface could be much improved, and the developer tools and sets can be improved greatly, they are lacking."
"They can maybe improve the area of agile project management. They do have user storyboards and other things, but we kind of lean on Jira for that work. This is perhaps an area that could be looked at a little more."
"I am interested to see the firm's strategic plans for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and how the particular areas it will expand on from its existing investments (that feature, for example, in its ITSM Pro and CSM Pro modules)."
"The high price is a huge barrier in Portugal."
"The level of complexity and the level of discovery are the two areas that can be improved. Its UI needs to evolve. They focus a lot on cool colors and other little things, which don't bring value in terms of functionality. They need to focus less on presentation and more on the functionality within the UI. Its discovery mechanism should be improved. There is a component in ServiceNow that discovers the assets, but it doesn't do an immediate discovery, and there is a lag. If I want to open a ticket for a laptop or an asset, that asset needs to exist within ServiceNow for me to be able to say that I need to have its disk space or memory increased. It is referred to as a CI or configuration item in ServiceNow. Sometimes, ServiceNow doesn't discover these items, and as a result, I cannot open a ticket and tag that system or asset. If a system was introduced to the environment last week and it is still not listed, it becomes a problem. I will either have to wait or manually enter that system or asset. So, if I have a laptop with only 8 GB of memory and I want to request 16 GB of memory, I won't be able to do that in ServiceNow because my system or asset hasn't been discovered yet. Discovery is not immediate, and there is a lag."
OutSystems is ranked 3rd in Rapid Application Development Software with 46 reviews while ServiceNow is ranked 4th in Rapid Application Development Software with 212 reviews. OutSystems is rated 8.4, while ServiceNow is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of OutSystems writes "The visual program provides the advantage of only requiring one skill set for both the front and backend ". 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". OutSystems is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, Appian, Mendix, Oracle Application Express (APEX) and Pega BPM, whereas ServiceNow is most compared with BMC Helix ITSM, Microsoft Power Apps, Pega BPM, IBM Maximo and Moveworks. See our OutSystems vs. ServiceNow report.
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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 annual fee up in the knowledge that you have little choice. If this was in a consumer market they would have been stopped years ago on antitrust grounds. I have experienced senior management in Service Now laughing at the customers' lock-in.
Secondly, with Service Now, once you move beyond the workflow design you are straight into the deep valley of Java scripting. There is nothing in between. Most customers realize the limitations of the graphical environment very quickly. They are then stuck with having a never-ending bill for consultant fees. Many SN partners use this as their prime source of 'new' business. They talk of stickiness, meaning they are embedded in the clients' system perpetually.
There are many other reasons. I might come back and give a fuller review. Let's just say there are several platforms that outperform Service Now technically and economically. Service Now is quite happy to have its customers stuck with 1990s technology with a slightly fluffy front end.
ServiceNow
Hello @Gerry Fitzpatrick,
'Customer Service Management' and 'IT Service Management' applications run on the same ServiceNow platform.
Whilst 'Customer Service' gives you the CRM capability (external facing), ITSM gives you the supporting framework (internal facing). The two work very well together. There is no need for you to invest in building custom apps. However, if you still want to build custom apps then the ServiceNow platform allows you to do that with a very good mobile SDK.
ServiceNow also has an App Store, which is a really good source to see what integrations and applications are available to purchase (some are free). This would help you get value from your investment in ServiceNow quicker.
Regards,
Farid