We performed a comparison between OutSystems and ServiceNow based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Rapid Application Development Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We can quickly develop an application using the tool."
"We used almost all of the features, themes, styling guide, and approach components. They are useful in our applications."
"Once built, web/mobile components can be reused in all new developments. In addition, the OutSystems Forge is very useful. We can exchange components and even already-built applications, reducing costs to build specific solutions."
"Reduces the manual labor in compiling and deploying applications and generating procedural code (by reducing development bureaucracy/processes, resulting in real gains). The LifeTime Server approach, requiring just a few steps to publish applications in production environments, is fantastic."
"It is a stable solution, and the initial setup is straightforward."
"For me, the most valuable feature is the flexibility the tools give us to change any customer requirements on the fly, when we are in a meeting. I also like how easy it is to deploy the code between environments and how easy it is to integrate OutSystems with other systems."
"The most valuable feature is Agile development. I love that you save a lot of time on development and can focus on logic and business requirements."
"The most valuable features of OutSystems are the user-friendly platform. The drag-and-drop feature is great. I have used other rapid application development tools before, but they were not as advanced as OutSystems. With the previous tools, I had to manually build certain features, but OutSystems does it automatically."
"It facilitates the monitoring of major incidents and provides insights into the effort expended to resolve each incident."
"Makes ticket information easy to access."
"It enables us to meet SLAs, track issues across the environment, and report those issues."
"This solution is a single-storage for our user community to submit help desk tickets."
"Some of the valuable features I have found the solution to have are it can serve many different types of businesses, it has strong platform capabilities, provides application development, built-in predictive intelligence, and performance analytics reports."
"ServiceNow is a very powerful tool that can perform a lot of different functions."
"ServiceNow is very easy to set up."
"ServiceNow was the first true enterprise to service management platform."
"The initial setup is a little difficult."
"It is hard to find the logic in OutSystems. From an improvement perspective, I want to be able to properly use logic in OutSystems."
"It needs improvement in the AI capability."
"The prices should be lower. It is a little bit too high for a small market."
"OutSystems does not provide any native reporting resources. All reports must be created with other tools or as a webpage."
"The latest version of the app generation tools could be more user-friendly."
"The solution's testing framework needs to be improved, and the workflow should be slightly more mature."
"The dashboards in OutSystems could improve. There are a lot of tabs in the service center that can be confusing."
"I am interested to see the firm's strategic plans for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and how the particular areas it will expand on from its existing investments (that feature, for example, in its ITSM Pro and CSM Pro modules)."
"We can't update bulk tickets using a simple query language. Jira lets us update hundreds of tickets with one command. In ServiceNow, you need to select each task separately to close them. The dashboards could also be more user-friendly. Monday.com has better dashboards."
"The RPA needs improvement. That's a new area for them that they're just entering into now."
"It's missing monitoring capabilities."
"We find it good in general. Obviously, there are areas of improvement for every capability. As they evolve more, if they keep on adding more intelligence into the capabilities, it will improve. The improvement areas are more integration across the landscape and more intelligence for the overall capability of the solution."
"Complexities in the organization made the initial deployment complex."
"There's always a room for improvement in terms of the ServiceNow UI. For customers, the UI is something that is a continuous improvement."
"I do not like the user interface."
OutSystems is ranked 3rd in Rapid Application Development Software with 46 reviews while ServiceNow is ranked 4th in Rapid Application Development Software with 211 reviews. OutSystems is rated 8.4, while ServiceNow is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of OutSystems writes "Useful natural speech to algorithm, reliable, and beneficial automatic task". On the other hand, the top reviewer of ServiceNow writes "A stable and scalable solution that has excellent features and is useful for collecting data and building KPIs". OutSystems is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, Appian, Mendix, Oracle Application Express (APEX) and Pega BPM, whereas ServiceNow is most compared with BMC Helix ITSM, Microsoft Power Apps, Pega BPM, IBM Maximo and Moveworks. See our OutSystems vs. ServiceNow report.
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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 the annual fee up in the knowledge that you have little choice. If this was in a consumer market they would have been stopped years ago on antitrust grounds. I have experienced senior management in Service Now laughing at the customers' lock-in.
Secondly, with Service Now, once you move beyond the workflow design you are straight into the deep valley of Java scripting. There is nothing in between. Most customers realize the limitations of the graphical environment very quickly. They are then stuck with having a never-ending bill for consultant fees. Many SN partners use this as their prime source of 'new' business. They talk of stickiness, meaning they are embedded in the clients' system perpetually.
There are many other reasons. I might come back and give a fuller review. Let's just say there are several platforms that outperform Service Now technically and economically. Service Now is quite happy to have its customers stuck with 1990s technology with a slightly fluffy front end.
ServiceNow
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