Checkmk vs ServiceNow Discovery comparison

Checkmk and ServiceNow are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. Checkmk is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.4, while ServiceNow is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4. Checkmk holds a 11.3% mindshare in SM, compared to ServiceNow’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of ServiceNow users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

2,593 Views
194 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ServiceNow Discovery

Read 42 ServiceNow Discovery reviews

2,432 Views
389 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Checkmk

ServiceNow Discovery

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

ServiceNow Discovery and Checkmk are robust IT operations management tools. ServiceNow Discovery offers extensive automation and integration features, while Checkmk shines in flexibility and customization options, making it superior in certain use cases.

Features: ServiceNow Discovery is known for its automated asset discovery, service mapping, and integration capabilities. Checkmk is recognized for its flexibility, customizable alerting, and detailed monitoring insights.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow Discovery needs improvement in its initial setup complexity and reporting tools. Checkmk could benefit from enhancements in dashboard customization and scalability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow Discovery requires a more involved setup and professional services, but its customer support is highly rated. Checkmk has an easier deployment process, though it offers limited support options.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow Discovery is high-cost but offers extensive features and support, leading to positive ROI. Checkmk has lower setup costs and quicker ROI due to its efficient monitoring capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. ServiceNow Discovery Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. ServiceNow Discovery

June 2025

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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

Checkmk

Ranking in Server Monitoring

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (7th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

ServiceNow Discovery

Ranking in Server Monitoring

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (2nd), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 11.3%, up from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 3.8%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Paolo Sala

Application performance and System monitoring at Agos

A reasonably priced tool for system and application monitoring

The main room for improvement is in the solution's presentation and the integration area. In our company, we use the integration capabilities from ServiceNow. We also have another big monitoring solution in place in our company, which is Dynatrace. At the moment, there doesn't exist an out-of-the-box integration for Dynatrace. I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most. The only implementation of Checkmk that allows high availability is the virtual appliance that has the option for the availability of a different box. Otherwise, you have to find a way to implement it manually with some custom solution, which could be an improvement.

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Ayobanji Iluyomade

IT Service Performance Manager at MTN

Service helps organizations with network discovery and IT infrastructure management but troubleshooting challenges remain

ServiceNow Discovery was adopted by my organization. We use ServiceNow Discovery for discovery and ITSM The most beneficial features of ServiceNow Discovery for maintaining my IT infrastructure are the CMDB top and discovery of network switches. The areas of ServiceNow Discovery that have room…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable features of Checkmk are its resource monitoring, infra monitoring, and log factor configuration."

"It's versatile, scalable, and easier to use compared to other solutions like Nagios and OMD."

"Checkmk was built on a platform that was user-friendly, and I could build my charts easily."

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

"Overall, from one to ten, I rate Checkmk a nine."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

More Checkmk pros

"The product's discovery feature is valuable due to its accuracy, reliability, and the high prestige associated with the information it provides."

"The service management and operations management modules are valuable."

"It is a stable solution...The initial setup of the product is straightforward."

"I would rate the stability of ServiceNow Discovery as nine, as we never had downtime."

"The biggest advantage of ServiceNow is the value that it brings."

"This solution provides excellent insights."

"We can find servers or services we were unaware of and stumble on vulnerabilities from those devices."

"ServiceNow's Discovery feature is quite significant because it allows for service mapping and integrates with VIN management. It involves adding a business context to servers, routers, switches, and data centers. This means understanding not only what's installed on these systems and how they function together but also recognizing their significance in terms of business applications from the business's perspective and how they impact business processes and capabilities. So when we delve into these aspects and connect them to the essential components, it can help you engage in more meaningful discussions to enhance capacity management practices. In essence, it contributes to the overall IT portfolio, almost functioning as a business platform. This platform is accessible to users who leverage the data to initiate incidents, implement changes, and resolve problems. Consequently, consolidating all configuration items or assets into a unified platform makes sense, especially considering you already have Discovery in place. If the cost is reasonable, the other two components might not provide much value, except for their user-friendliness, which is often less important to leaders compared to the desired outcomes."

More ServiceNow Discovery pros

Cons

"Checkmk does not allow running scripts at varying intervals."

"It is easy for tech-savvy people, but newcomers might find it intimidating."

"If an alert is generated for a specific pattern in the log, and if Checkmk catches that log, it will stay there even after the alert is resolved."

"I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"Checkmk does not work too easily with the PowerStore. I use a PowerShell script as Checkmk runs on Linux and a Windows system, connecting with the Checkmk agent."

"In Checkmk, the documentation can probably be improved a bit more."

"The main challenge for us is that we're moving from Nagios to Checkmk, and we're still getting used to the new way of working."

More Checkmk cons

"What needs improvement in ServiceNow Discovery is the reporting UI because I didn't find it as friendly compared to other tools. Other tools have better reporting UI than what's currently in ServiceNow Discovery. What I'd like to see in the next release of ServiceNow Discovery is more user-friendly out-of-the-box reporting that would be helpful for non-technical users. Some users such as managers would want to just do a few clicks to access the reports and shouldn't be required to do search queries, but right now, reporting in the tool isn't very user-friendly."

"In a few instances, ServiceNow has failed to discover some basic things. Some other tools are better at network discovery than ServiceNow. I'm not talking about database servers or any other infrastructure—only networking. Cloud discovery could also be better."

"It is one of the most costly applications in terms of subscription costs."

"Its integration with legacy apps is one area for improvement. ServiceNow Discovery offers out-of-the-box reports, and though that's okay, allowing easier report customization would improve the solution."

"They can expand on the plugins for some of the other tools."

"The solution needs to improve the cost of the solution. There are a few different solutions and they do act the same and have the same types of capabilities, however, the cost is quite high."

"The product could improve some of the visualization and architecture setups."

"We would like more flexibility with the licensing. Discovery is bundled with ServiceNow's ITOM license. It was more affordable when it was sold separately, but we bought a package license to get more functionality out of the CMDB. We'd prefer to buy only the pieces we need instead of taking things we don't want or solutions that aren't yet mature enough to use."

More ServiceNow Discovery cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Checkmk is cheaper compared to other enterprise products."

"The product is affordable."

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

"It costs a lot. It is probably close to over a hundred thousand. It's an expensive platform, but you can't compare ServiceNow's Discovery functionality to other discovery tools. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison of ServiceNow to a configuration management tool to an asset management tool because it does those things, but it's not those things."

"It's a bit expensive compared to other products in the market, but it's worth the money you pay because it's far advanced in terms of features, automation, and capabilities compared to other products."

"If the product is not deployed properly, it can be very expensive."

"ServiceNow Discovery's licensing is not a very small investment, but it definitely pays off."

"The solution is not inexpensive so pricing is rated a three out of ten."

"The price could be better. It's a bit on the pricey side."

"The product is not cheap."

"ServiceNow Discovery has very broad pricing, so it becomes costly. It would be better if it had a pay-as-you-use licensing model because the total cost of ownership is quite high."

More ServiceNow Discovery pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Checkmk?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Checkmk?

I will get more information about Checkmk when the proof of concept is done. It's going to be before the summer. There will be a report about the tool and a recommendation to use it. So far, it loo...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

Checkmk ( /products/checkmk-reviews ) is a monitoring tool, so that's what I will use it for. Right now, it's not in production, but it's in a proof of concept phase. It looks good, so probably, du...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?

I think the price of ServiceNow Discovery is cheaper than BMC.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?

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.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Icinga vs Checkmk

Compared 8% of the time

LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 7% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Checkmk

Compared 5% of the time

Centreon vs Checkmk

Compared 4% of the time

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Tanium vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 25% of the time

Lansweeper vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 21% of the time

BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

Flexera One vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 6% of the time

More ServiceNow Discovery Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

June 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery

May 2025

Download ServiceNow Discovery product report

Overview

Checkmk is a powerful tool for monitoring IT infrastructure, providing vital insights on servers, databases, network devices, and custom applications.

Primarily used for supervising IT infrastructure, Checkmk helps organizations ensure service availability by monitoring hosts, processes, load, storage, and network appliances. With support for both Linux and Windows environments across multiple data centers, Checkmk performs compliance checks and preserves historical data for core network devices.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-discovery: Automatically identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules.
Custom monitoring: Enhances MySQL performance tracking.
Slack integration: Provides immediate downtime alerts.
Graphical trend analysis: Offers 400 days of trend data.
Multiple site monitoring: Ensures seamless data synchronization through task automation.
Resource and infrastructure monitoring: Configures log factors to fit budget constraints.
System metric imports: Includes servers, SQL, file systems, and application monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Time-saving: Auto-discovery and task automation streamline processes.
Proactive alerts: Immediate downtime notifications optimize response times.
Historical insights: Long-term graphical trend analysis aids strategic planning.
Cost efficiency: Resource monitoring aligned with budget constraints.

Checkmk is deployed extensively in large enterprise environments for monitoring critical infrastructure. It proves particularly useful under conditions of frequent power outages or network issues, helping maintain smooth operations. While the alert acknowledgment process and interface require improvements, and the lack of an agent-less platform complicates server management, the strengths in auto-discovery, integration, and comprehensive monitoring make Checkmk a strong contender for IT infrastructure monitoring.

Checkmk

ServiceNow Discovery finds applications and devices on your network, and then updates the CMDB with the information it finds. Discovery is available as a separate subscription from the rest of the Now Platform.

ServiceNow

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. ServiceNow Discovery

June 2025

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