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OutSystems 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
Organizations using OutSystems see increased ROI through faster development, lower costs, and efficient in-house app development with skilled developers.
Sentiment score
6.5
Organizations experience varied ROI with ServiceNow, noting efficiency, cost savings, and project improvements despite initial adoption challenges.
Developing that same project in OutSystems can be completed in around 40 to 50% less time, requiring only six resources.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
Time efficiency. Your team can be deployed to work on different modules parallelly and you can really save time up to an enormous level.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They have removed the costs associated with on-prem infrastructure, including data center costs, power costs, and physical server costs.
General Manager at sPerception IT
The return on investment is good when implementing for ourselves and for other clients.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Manually, there are huge numbers that come up because these integrated tools help organizations make the right decisions with all the information in one place, while manual methods lack visibility.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
OutSystems' customer service is responsive with mixed feedback, praising speed but suggesting technical expertise and faster response improvements.
Sentiment score
6.9
ServiceNow's customer service is efficient but inconsistent, with strong community support and varying technical assistance effectiveness.
Many helpful videos and documentation are available on the OutSystems site, making it relatively easy to learn the platform.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
They do have the customer support ticketing system where you can raise the ticket, decide the priority, and depending upon your priority and urgency, they are going to resolve your problem.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There have been no issues with support,
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
The support is exemplary and deserves a perfect rating.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Obtaining support for maintenance is the current challenge because they don't have a presence in the local market.
General Manager at sPerception IT
Whenever we have had issues, they have provided good support, and those issues have never recurred.
Vice President Delivery & Operations at Rezilyens
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
OutSystems is scalable and adaptable, excelling in cloud integration with enterprise suitability, though pricing may be a concern.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow is praised for its scalability, efficiently supporting large enterprises with proper customization and adherence to best practices.
They can be deployed vertically and horizontally, supporting as many deployments as needed.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
There are no limitations or performance issues with ServiceNow; it is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
It is capable of vertical scaling with no issues.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I rate the scalability of ServiceNow as an eight on a scale of one to ten.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
OutSystems is stable, reliable, and efficient, with minor issues resolved quickly, supporting enterprise-scale applications with high user ratings.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow is reliable with minimal downtime and issues, offering proactive support and a positive user experience.
It is cloud-based, so it is highly scalable and performs well.
General Manager at sPerception IT
I haven't faced any issues with stability; I've rarely seen any downtime.
Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco
ServiceNow is stable enough.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
 

Room For Improvement

OutSystems struggles with performance, high costs, limited resources, and lacks robust features, customization, and flexible licensing options.
ServiceNow faces challenges with customization complexity, high costs, insufficient integration, inadequate documentation, and limited support and training resources.
It is crucial to be aware of which module corresponds to which application in real-time projects, as there are multiple applications.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
You have to design your architecture in a very magnificent and decent way so that how you process your data so that load can be easily balanced.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would like to see more integration between the use of artificial intelligence to speed up the process delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
It makes no sense in my opinion, and they should offer the team at the front to help customize the product to fit each company's needs, as every company has different demands and forms of submitting a request that need adjustment over time.
Manager of Security Engineering & Architecture at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
My priority points for improvement are the UI glitches and modern AI technology integrations for faster incident management.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow.
Team Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

OutSystems is expensive, with pricing based on users, starting at $4,000, suitable for larger enterprises but challenging for small companies.
ServiceNow's high pricing and complex licensing make negotiation crucial for users evaluating its cost against organizational needs.
Subsequent users can be added at an additional cost per user; exact pricing details can be found on the OutSystems site.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
ServiceNow does come with a price.
Associate Vice President at Wissen infotech
ServiceNow is expensive for all regions.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
 

Valuable Features

OutSystems enables rapid app development with low-code, visual modeling, seamless API integration, and efficient deployment, enhancing user experience.
ServiceNow provides flexible, customizable IT solutions with robust reporting, automation, and seamless incident management, suitable for diverse businesses.
OutSystems offers a lot of reusable components and solutions that I can simply drag and drop and use, which has a significant impact on project delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We use integration extensively in OutSystems, which allows us to connect our own internal systems to our newly created system applications.
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
OutSystems has a very good learning curve for developers.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
ServiceNow Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
Automation capabilities are impressive, bolstered by a vast repository of out-of-the-box connectors and plugins that facilitate integration with various applications worldwide.
Security Architect at وزارة الثقافة Ministry of Culture
The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status.
IT infra Admin at synu
 

Categories and Ranking

OutSystems
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (1st), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (6th)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
224
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 January 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of OutSystems is 5.2%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 7.2%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow7.2%
OutSystems5.2%
Other87.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Q&A Highlights

reviewer1800279 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
Jul 25, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

MA
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
OutSystems facilitates rapid application development and effective project management
What I find valuable about OutSystems is that it has a very good learning curve for developers. Within two weeks, we can gain knowledge in OutSystems, and it is very easy to learn. With my background being .NET, OutSystems is straightforward to learn, which is beneficial. Developing applications in OutSystems is good, and the flexibility allowed by OutSystems for application development is excellent compared to my experiences with other low-code technologies, where I've faced some challenges. The clean separation of concerns in the architecture provided by OutSystems is a key benefit compared to other platforms. OutSystems integrates with our existing tech infrastructure and provides flexible integration. If we want to integrate with third-party services, OutSystems has SOAP and RESTful services that allow us to consume external services, integrate with external databases such as SQL or Oracle, and includes integration studio for writing custom .NET code. After developing a .NET component, we can reference it in service studio, creating a reference file that makes integration easy. OutSystems officially supports various integrations and also includes an API discovery tool for consuming and exposing services, providing a lot of information about incoming URLs, similar to how we use Postman.
SP
General Manager at sPerception IT
Adopting flexible workflows with customized automation delivers measurable benefits
There are things that I would like to see improved in ServiceNow, such as the pricing, as it is a very costly solution compared to other tools. Additionally, its presence in the local market is very limited; in Pakistan, for example, I don't see any vendor or distributor of ServiceNow available. They need to increase their sales spectrum globally so people can easily access them and engage them for client meetings and more. From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have. When providing advice to users, I would suggest they consider making strategic decisions about their per user pricing since it is very high. In our region, people normally start with 5 to 10 users, but the per user price is quite steep. Moreover, ServiceNow does not charge based on data uploaded or downloaded, so they should reconsider their pricing and data policies to align better with the financial capabilities of the region.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rapid Application Development Software solutions are best for your needs.
880,511 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

reviewer1800279 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
Jul 25, 2023
Jul 25, 2023
I'd recommend considering OutSystems for developing non-ITSM Apps like CRM and Customer Care. OutSystems is known for its low-code development platform, which enables faster app development and deployment. This can be particularly advantageous for your company, as it allows you to streamline processes and meet customer needs efficiently. If you're interested in learning more about the benefits ...
2 out of 5 answers
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Mar 10, 2022
Hi @reviewer1529571, @reviewer1278699, @Jaikant S Rao, @Dawn McClure, @Gagan Pattanayak, @Roland Zuurveld, Can you please share your knowledge with the community? Thanks!​
Farid Abbasi - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant & CEO at Technosys Limited
Mar 10, 2022
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
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise165
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?
I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...
How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?
We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow?
Regarding the price of ServiceNow, I am not certain because our management team takes care of all pricing details, but I know it is quite high in the market.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak
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 OutSystems vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,511 professionals have used our research since 2012.