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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs ServiceNow Now Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

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

Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd)
ServiceNow Now Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
14th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No-Code Development Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 7.5%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Now Platform is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Application Express (APEX)7.5%
ServiceNow Now Platform1.9%
Other90.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.
SiddharthZunjarrao - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to have significant improvements in operational efficiency
ServiceNow is highly scalable from a customization point of view, allowing for the building of portals, adding and configuring widgets, and designing workflows as preferred. The text-to-code feature is particularly useful for turning natural language instructions into recognizable code on the ServiceNow platform, aiding both implementation teams and customers. The case summarization feature is also great, as it summarizes user comments and agent notes into a resolution code without needing to review the entire activity history.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Personally, I would say that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a powerful tool...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"I like the way that it automatically goes into the spreadsheets and the users can deal with it."
"It's low code, or even no code. It's very flexible, allowing you to achieve what you want. You can customize applications with very little code, which is the best part."
"I like that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is powerful and attractive, allowing my organization to modernize forms within two months. I also found its PWA feature very powerful because you can produce substantial mobile applications."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"One of the most valuable features is the ability to build very fast data-driven UIs."
"This product will speed up development time with helpful production aids."
"The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable."
"ServiceNow can document and produce a historical working tool that deals with projects themselves. The user interface is another strong suit."
"The incident management has been the most useful feature for us."
"The CMDB is robust, with a strong data model and well-structured data."
"We work on it directly to send out tickets. It enables us to work seamlessly, we don't need to send them out manually. We can create a ticket and assign it in the system."
"What I like most about the ServiceNow Now Platform is the flexibility of using JavaScript. I also like that the platform allows custom scripting, server-side scripting, and client-side scripting. Another valuable feature in the ServiceNow Now Platform is the Flow Designer which allows dragging and dropping code, and low code activities."
"The most valuable features are the ease of use, stability, and the ability to change or upgrade seamlessly."
"The solution is in Gartner's Magic Quadrant."
"It is a very stable solution."
 

Cons

"It should have the functionality to develop mobile applications. It would also be good if they can improve development in videos and other formats."
"Better connection and integration with non-Oracle databases is needed."
"I would like to see easier integration into active directory authentication. Also, maybe integration of JavaScript frameworks would resolve some issues."
"During the upcoming versions, we can modify the current configuration."
"We would like to see tighter integration with the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure."
"One area for improvement in Oracle APEX is its workflow orchestration capabilities."
"I've experienced some difficulties when using Oracle Application Express (APEX), particularly when I'm designing forms. For example, when I design a form, I add buttons and controls, but I'm unable to visualize how it'll look unless I run it. You want to design and do things your way, but if you don't have much experience, then you'll find that designing in Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a little complicated. This won't be a problem with anyone more experienced, though. If I wanted to create my design, for example, a different table format or some background images, it becomes a problem, and this is an area for improvement in Oracle Application Express (APEX). Designing should be easier, even for less experienced users. An additional feature I'd like to see in Oracle Application Express (APEX) is more plugins, particularly a repository that contains a lot of plugins, so you can go to that repository and download whichever you like and use it or add it to your project. Right now, I create my plugins, so it would be helpful if Oracle Application Express (APEX) has a repository of plugins people can use, download from anywhere in the world, and integrate into projects."
"Some of the application interfaces of Oracle Application Express are not very attractive and could be improved."
"The cost has room for improvement. It is currently expensive."
"The UI is not intuitive."
"If AI were better integrated into ServiceNow, it would lower the RPA costs and make the platform more accessible."
"In ServiceNow Now Platform, UI is an area with certain shortcomings requiring improvements."
"The programming language is currently limited to JavaScript. So I would like to see more programming languages available, especially since they have come up with the machine-learning features. Some more languages would be an additional improvement."
"The number of API calls processed by the tool, specifically when the API calls increase, will cause a lot of load on the platform, and it tends to not work very efficiently."
"From an improvement perspective, the product's complicated initial setup phase can be made a bit easier."
"What I didn't like in the ServiceNow Now Platform is testing, particularly with Visual Studio. It had a bad integration with Visual Studio because you can't compile and run it from there. You have to debug on your own and then find out where the error is through test scripts. The testing component in the ServiceNow Now Platform isn't that great. What I'd like to see in the next version of the ServiceNow Now Platform is an improvement in testing and writing scripts, and if there was a feature to just run it from the modules, then that would be great, instead of finding the error manually and checking where it is."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is moderately priced, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"Apex is not priced separately; instead, it is associated with the Oracle database. A free option for Oracle database and Apex can be downloaded and installed on this complimentary database version. This aligns with our current approach."
"Oracle Application Express (APEX) is free, so this is another magic of the solution. You just get charged for the database license, which I don't need."
"I believe that the solution's pricing is high."
"It is expensive in comparison to other products."
"It is expensive, but I don't know what the licensing cost is."
"We have a full Oracle E-Business Suite license, and we use that license to develop applications. There's no license required for developing Oracle applications."
"Oracle Application Express (APEX) comes with Oracle. The Oracle price itself. I do not know the exact cost. Oracle is flexible on its price. If you overspend on your hardware, then I don't think you will overpay. I heard that Oracle is more expensive than other databases, but when you consider Oracle is the best traditional relational database out there. You get what you pay for."
"From what I heard, the license for the ServiceNow Now Platform is paid monthly, and on a scale of one to five, I'm rating it a three in terms of pricing, so it's on the cheaper side. I don't know of any additional costs associated with the ServiceNow Now Platform, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"The product is very expensive."
"Price-wise, I would describe the product's cost to be more than the average, but it compensates for that with the functionalities that it provides."
"Pricing is based on the number of users and user licenses, but the product is 20% to 30% more than the competition."
"It is expensive only."
"The price of the product falls on the higher side of the spectrum."
"The solution is expensive, and I rate it a ten for pricing."
"People seem to be buying the tool a lot. I think its licensing is okay."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I consider Oracle Application Express (APEX) to be good value for the money because it has infinite quality for money since it's included in any Oracle database license. It's free once you have the...
What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
One of the things that could be done to improve Oracle Application Express (APEX) is if Oracle decided to open it up to other databases. It needs to be an enterprise database; therefore, it needs t...
What do you like most about ServiceNow Now Platform?
The integration with other tools is pretty good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Now Platform?
From what I have heard only from our sales team, ServiceNow Now Platform falls within the more expensive tier of a product, but I can't really judge it.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Now Platform?
What could be improved in ServiceNow Now Platform is the availability of skill sets. For some reason, we don't get too many people who know this technology easily. Regarding their pricing, I would ...
 

Also Known As

Oracle APEX
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
experian, beachbody, health partners
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. ServiceNow Now Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,832 professionals have used our research since 2012.