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Salesforce Service Cloud vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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
6.5
Salesforce Service Cloud boosts ROI with improved efficiency, productivity, customer satisfaction, and significant KPI advancements, yielding a 135% ROI.
Sentiment score
6.5
ServiceNow offers long-term ROI through automation, integration, and cost savings, though implementation timelines vary among users.
The ROI depends on the context; if I am comparing one application to another, it might be around ten percent, but if it is from manual to a streamlined process, the ROI is much higher—sometimes reaching forty percent for parts return and the first-time fix rate.
Preseales And Solution Head at Tata Consultancy
Salesforce Service Cloud requires significant maintenance effort to see ROI.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Thanks to ServiceNow's end-to-end automation, we save five to ten days of cycle time for each invoice.
Application Development Associate & Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ 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
ServiceNow offers a great return on investment because it saves us a lot of time and increases the efficiency of team members to complete their tickets and work on the PRBs to solve the root cause.
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Salesforce Service Cloud offers praised support but experiences vary; premium support and community engagement improve issue resolution.
Sentiment score
7.0
ServiceNow offers responsive support and technical knowledge, though complex issues may face delays; satisfaction varies by interaction quality.
Unless you have premium support, assistance is restricted.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Salesforce directly does not give you the support, and it is through the partner that you have to go, leading to some time delays.
Head Of Information Technology at SAISOFT
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
8.1
Salesforce Service Cloud is praised for its robust scalability, easily supporting growth and integrating across enterprise applications.
Sentiment score
7.4
ServiceNow effectively scales for various business sizes, handling large user volumes efficiently, but costs and configurations may impact performance.
Salesforce Service Cloud is the most advanced in scalability, rating around nine to ten.
Head Of Information Technology at SAISOFT
Nobody can compete with Salesforce Service Cloud's scalability.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
I would rate scalability highly because it is scalable, and there are always parts or other improvements.
Preseales And Solution Head at Tata Consultancy
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
ServiceNow's scalability is very good as it can be deployed in each environment.
Workload Automation at nab
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Salesforce Service Cloud is stable, robust, and reliable, with occasional performance issues, and stability is valued despite its cost.
Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow offers reliable stability and scalability, with minimal disruptions or bugs quickly resolved by effective support.
We rarely encounter stability issues with Salesforce Service Cloud, although when they occur, they cause significant disruption.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
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.
Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd
 

Room For Improvement

Salesforce Service Cloud needs enhancements in integration, functionality, customization, performance, and user-friendly features for better efficiency and usability.
ServiceNow improvements include cost reduction, intuitive interface, expanded AI, mobile functionality, better integrations, training, and enhanced customization.
Salesforce Service Cloud should focus on simplification.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Configuring Flows in Salesforce Service Cloud is very difficult.
Assosiate Partner at Autana Business Partners
It could be better in areas such as media; it does not handle media effectively, particularly with pictures and uploads.
CTO at Glenavoo Digital
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

Salesforce Service Cloud is costly, yet negotiable and flexible, ideal for larger enterprises considering infrastructure and staffing savings.
ServiceNow offers high-value, comprehensive enterprise features, but costs may escalate with extensive use, posing challenges for smaller businesses.
The approximate licensing costs for Salesforce Service Cloud are around three hundred dollars a year per user.
Application Owner at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Salesforce Service Cloud is expensive.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Regarding pricing, I would say Salesforce field service is affordable, but the cost is increasing a little bit.
Preseales And Solution Head at Tata Consultancy
ServiceNow's pricing can be justified if more functionality is required.
Service Now 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

Salesforce Service Cloud offers robust case management, integration, and customization, enhancing service operations with user-friendly, flexible features.
ServiceNow offers customizable integration, automation, incident management, and seamless workflows, enhancing productivity, communication, and asset management.
I can easily connect with the customer, have agent AI to directly communicate with them, and customers can create a case without any intervention.
Preseales And Solution Head at Tata Consultancy
Salesforce Service Cloud improved our organization with its mobile capabilities.
Application Owner at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Salesforce Service Cloud offers pre-built packages that are best in class.
Lead Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
ServiceNow provides a wide range of functionality, covering all the necessary modules, unlike Jira which is primarily for IT.
Service Now 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

Salesforce Service Cloud
Ranking in Help Desk Software
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (2nd), Knowledge Management Software (4th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (8th)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
228
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Salesforce Service Cloud is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 11.2%, down from 22.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow11.2%
Salesforce Service Cloud2.0%
Other86.8%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Sukanya Sen - PeerSpot reviewer
Preseales And Solution Head at Tata Consultancy
Field service has become more customer focused but asset-centric workflows still need improvement
Regarding the positive aspects of the product, the first advantage is that it is integrated with the CRM customer, making it highly customer-focused. I can easily connect with the customer, have agent AI to directly communicate with them, and customers can create a case without any intervention. Technicians can reach out to customers, making communication seamless. The knowledge base in the product definitely helps resolve customer issues. I use the knowledge base mainly for the technicians; they get the details, pre-work brief, and information on probable cases based on what the customer reports, including what parts they need to carry. Omni-channel support definitely improves customer engagement, but it has been available for a long time, so it is nothing new currently.
Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Structured workflows have improved SLA compliance and now support prioritized incident handling
I think the licensing and pricing of ServiceNow is quite expensive compared to other tools. For large organizations, it is acceptable, but specifically for small and medium organizations to track incidents or change requests, ServiceNow is quite expensive. Sometimes performance can be slow when workflows and integrations are configured for complex tasks. For advanced customizations or advanced features which we rarely use, the documentation is not up to standard. The documentation needs to be improved for advanced customization features. However, the platform is stable overall and the features are quite good. The user experience and performance concerns I mentioned are areas I want to be improved. When many workflows and interactions are configured, performance is slow. For the features it is providing, it is quite expensive. If these performance features are improved, we can easily pay that price and get the return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise171
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Service Cloud?
Regarding pricing, I would say Salesforce field service is affordable, but the cost is increasing a little bit.
What needs improvement with Salesforce Service Cloud?
While Salesforce Service Cloud is more customer-focused, I believe a little more focus on assets is necessary. Customers who are asset-heavy prefer to stay with ServiceMax and other field service a...
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Service Cloud?
I mainly use Salesforce Service Cloud for field service. Field Service Lightning is a major feature I have used in the product. It definitely assists on-site support operations.
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

Service Cloud
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Stanley Black & Decker, Coca-Cola, Activision, Wells Fargo, Spotify, Aldo, Philips, The Red Cross, Blue Shield of California, Sprouts Farmers Market, Direct Energy Solar, Inspirato, Kiva
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 Salesforce Service Cloud vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.