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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 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
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
222
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (1st), IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 7.6%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 10.5%, up from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Nikhil Gohil - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables effective incident management and seamless workflow automation with valuable mobile accessibility
I haven't thought deeply about improvements for ServiceNow or what might be missing right now. There are so many modules and features in ServiceNow that I haven't explored them all, so it's hard to say what might be missing or should be improved. I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The virtual patching feature is valuable."
"The autonomous database is valuable and provides the main structure for code development."
"Intuitive with a user-friendly UI."
"The most valuable features are security, stability, and ease of implementation."
"The solution can efficiently translate from English to another language including Arabic using the XLIFF format."
"It has a well-designed architecture and is a simple 3rd party application."
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."
"The product is easy to use."
"Operations and maintenance costs have been reduced using this solution. We have been able to deliver faster solutions to our customers and track progress using live data."
"Everything about the schema, including the design of ServiceNow, is great."
"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."
"The solution has very good automation tools."
"It's great to do statuses or to review tasks."
"ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform, so people won't need to worry about investing on hardware to host it. Being on the cloud, it is available 24x7. It's scalable, stable, and multifeatured, with a straightforward setup and good technical support."
"It can scale well if you are managing IT assets."
"A workflow automation platform that's reliable, performs well, and has good reporting and integration."
 

Cons

"Fixing bugs is difficult because of how the HTML code is generated. It is not always broadly compatible with browsers."
"The problem of sending emails arises when Oracle Application Express (APEX) is inside Oracle Cloud Infrastructure since it is a bit complicated or difficult to understand where to take care of the setup part to be able to just send out emails properly."
"The solution’s pricing is high if you use it on the OCA platform. It’s also a little bit costly. However, if we use it on an on-premises Oracle database, the pricing is cheaper."
"Source control could be stronger in Oracle Application Express (APEX). It needs some work."
"There is one disadvantage. When facing problems, it can be difficult to find solutions online (Google/YouTube), unlike with Java coding, where solutions are readily available on Google."
"The product's stability has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Oracle Application Express would be improved if you could use it on a mobile platform."
"One area for improvement in Oracle APEX is its workflow orchestration capabilities."
"I find the way you need to attach things like screenshots and stuff is a bit gimmicky. I'm a casual user. I'll use it once every two months and only when I have an incident that I need to report. You don't get a lot of experience with it when you're just using it once in a while like that. Therefore, it needs to be more intuitive so that you don't have to re-learn how to do simple tasks as the way to do certain things just isn't obvious."
"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."
"Compared to other products that I have been using, it is not as user-friendly."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"There are Virtual Task Boards in the tool in the latest releases. There are many of them in the Scaled Agile Framework. There is some room there for improvement. It's really quite promising but, at the same time, it could be improved and I believe it will be improved soon."
"ServiceNow doesn't cater to the Middle Eastern market."
"The setup was time-consuming and required a lot of internal resources."
"ServiceNow might need to improve its capabilities to integrate with third-party tools."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is moderately priced, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The pricing is very good and less expensive than Mendix or OutSystems."
"When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"The solution is free with your Oracle license or database and that is a good value."
"The tool is free with the Oracle Database license."
"I would rate it around an eight in terms of price, with one being low and ten being high."
"I rate the product's price as ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"I would say it is moderately expensive, ranging from six to seven on a scale of ten."
"For large-scale companies, the cost of ServiceNow is not expensive, but for small and mid-scale companies, it is higher."
"The price of the solution is comparable to industry standards. For the features that we received, it is reasonable."
"This is a pretty expensive product, so the licensing could be better."
"For the modules we use, we found it competitive. I can't think of any costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"The mandatory minimum is US$ 20,000 for licensing."
"The solution is expensive."
"Getting the solution up and running is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
Oracle APEX is part of our on-premises solution included in our agreement with Oracle E Business Suite, though I don't know the cost specifics. Power BI is licensed by the user.
What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
Using AI to analyze data without needing much code would be better. Also, although the interface is easy to change, it could have more features.
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
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 th...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
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 ...
What do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
 

Also Known As

Oracle APEX
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
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    
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.