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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
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
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 November 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 7.3%, 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)7.3%
ServiceNow Now Platform1.9%
Other90.8%
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

"We set up the HTTP server and installed the Apex Xamarin DB using the Mark Hill SQL packages for an older version. That's the extent of our configuration."
"Oracle is always adding very important updates"
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."
"This product will speed up development time with helpful production aids."
"A user interface is relatively simple to create."
"This is a good application for quickly creating public applications."
"You can customize the solution to create a console where only business users can access and download files if they want to extract the data."
"The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable."
"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."
"It's very intuitive and easy to use. The flexibility and user-friendliness of ServiceNow are key reasons it's such a popular cloud solution."
"The solution provides a single platform for multiple systems and software to operate from. We have found the solution to be stable The initial setup and deployment of the solution was very easy. The technical support team are very helpful, we contact them whenever we are unable to fix an issue."
"The tool is generally easy to use, making it a very user-friendly product."
"The CMDB is robust, with a strong data model and well-structured data."
"Learning materials, such as online courses, are readily available."
"ServiceNow Now Platform is quite useful, scalable, and flexible. The user interface is very good."
"The solution is fast enough for our workflow automations and has integration capability. It aligns with many use cases in our organization and for others we have planned."
 

Cons

"Better connection and integration with non-Oracle databases is needed."
"When exporting, we can't export dynamic reports, only static reports. For example, when we want to export charts or tables it is only exported as a static report so we can't drop down on these reports; however, we can see this information when we are on the dashboard itself."
"I don't like the URL syntax."
"Currently, APEX doesn't have a building workflow engine. I think that's the most important improvement that could be made at this point."
"Some of the application interfaces of Oracle Application Express are not very attractive and could be improved."
"Reporting needs to be accessed via third party tools."
"There is not a lot of Wiki help or in Google, but there is some."
"It has a bit of a strict framework, you have to make all the time adjustments in their JavaScript. Another downside is that it's only available for Oracle databases."
"The price is a bit high and can be a bit of a barrier for some customers."
"The Playbooks feature is useful for visualizing steps in a process, however, it lacks support for rollbacks in case of complex customer processes."
"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."
"The solution's user interface is very average, and it needs to be more enriched and user-friendly."
"There's always room for improvement, but I think the biggest challenge with ServiceNow is the licensing model. It's not very clear and changes frequently."
"ServiceNow Now Platform wants AI embedded in the product to make it more powerful. Generative AI that will be a part of ServiceNow Now Platform is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The Robotic Process Automation features are not mature enough. ServiceNow could work toward that because we can leverage RP only from this platform."
"The UI is very bad and needs to be updated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is mid-range so is neither expensive nor cheap."
"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."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"The tool is not 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."
"When buying the data license, APEX is included."
"Pricing is expensive, overall on an enterprise system but we consider that it gives corresponding value in the product."
"People seem to be buying the tool a lot. I think its licensing is okay."
"The price of the product falls on the higher side of the spectrum."
"ServiceNow is not open source, so there is a license you must pay. As for how much it costs, what I have observed is that it often depends on your subscriptions."
"Pricing is based on the number of users and user licenses, but the product is 20% to 30% more than the competition."
"It's expensive and if you need some analytical views of your activity, there is an additional cost."
"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."
"There are extra expenses for maintaining the product apart from the licenses."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
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 Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise33
 

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.
873,209 professionals have used our research since 2012.