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Salesforce Service Cloud vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Service Cloud
Ranking in Help Desk Software
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (2nd), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), IT Alerting and Incident Management (6th)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
214
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (4th), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2024, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Salesforce Service Cloud is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 25.5%, down from 26.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

ChanchalSaxena - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2024
High scalability with good plugins and excellent customer visibility
The Primary objectives of our solution are to improve the customer experience, improve process efficiency, and eliminate the wasted costs involved in business operations. For example, we're focusing more on the improvement of DIY (Do it Yourself). The call load reduces the need for visits by…
Fabio QUINTANILHA - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2024
A stable and scalable solution that has excellent features and is useful for collecting data and building KPIs
I use the solution to collect data to build KPIs. We promote and foster the usage of workflows in the company We use the data to compare and review situations, propose improvements, and promote action items. SPM and ITSM features are the most helpful. The product’s standard user experience is…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I don't have the specific details, but I'm aware that Salesforce is used for campaigns, decision-making processes, and order submissions. I'm currently in the learning phase and not familiar with all the details."
"With Salesforce Service Cloud, customers can have end-to-end visibility from inquiry to delivery."
"We are very happy with the support team from Salesforce."
"The interface is quite user-friendly."
"Salesforce Service Cloud offers several notable features. It includes robust case routing, escalation capabilities, entitlement mapping, and entanglement rules. Additionally, it supports Computer Telephone Integration (CTI), which allows for automatic case generation when a call is made to a designated number."
"Salesforce accelerates time to market and streamlines workflows through automation. Integrating with other software systems, such as HR or ERP platforms, allows for seamless data exchange and enhances efficiency."
"The complexity of the solution is very less."
"The three major pillars of Salesforce Service Cloud are the SSL, Chatter, and the Dispatcher Console, which routes calls to the technicians."
"Creating a ticket is much simpler in this tool. That is one big advantage. Also, the simplicity and ease of use are much better. I've used HPSM and it is very complex in comparison to ServiceNow."
"We have found change management and CMDB to be very useful."
"I really like what they've done with their common service data model because now I can make a connection between the business process and technology."
"ServiceNow provides quite good insights about what is happening in the organization."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of development for customization."
"Easy to implement and consolidate different platforms and users with useful functionalities."
"I find almost all the features valuable. It can do nearly everything except make your coffee, as my colleagues always say. It's got pros and cons, like every software, but the good thing about it is that it has a very structured approach."
 

Cons

"The solution could continue improving its artificial intelligence capabilities."
"The pricing for what Salesforce Service Cloud offers is not great."
"The integrations with other solutions can be improved."
"There are some issues with backend connectivity in Salesforce Service Cloud."
"Salesforce Service Cloud's report functionality could be improved."
"I would like to add some bot features."
"The governor limits are a troubling feature of Salesforce"
"I'm not deeply engaged with this team, so I don't have extensive experience with it. As you mentioned, I haven't used it much yet, so my experience is limited."
"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 reporting, which also includes dashboards, needs to be improved, and there should also be the ability to turn on and off portions of Project Management. Currently, as soon as you install the new version, you've got to go back there and make all the tweaks. There should be just a configuration file that goes to the new version.  The Project Management module does not leverage the knowledge base the way it should, and there is no built-in ability to get to the articles. Resource management should be easier. It would be amazing if they can make resource management a little bit more graphical. There are other solutions that I've seen where resource management was a more visual experience."
"It's not very secure, it's web-based, and I prefer Remedy. Both the security and the web interface could be improved."
"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 challenge with ServiceNow lies in its expansive portfolio of services. It can be complex, and users may find it expensive and challenging to understand. There is a need for a configurator within ServiceNow that guides users on how to utilize the tool effectively. This configurator should provide insights into licensing, team requirements, and the best licensing model based on whether companies prefer ownership or consumption-based models."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"When we are using the solution on mobile phones on their networks the performance is reduced with a delay of approximately 8 seconds. There is less delay using the desktop computers connected to the WiFi or to the network directly."
"I know that discovery tools are not meant to be simple, but somehow, if they could make it more simple and robust, that would be great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is priced at 50 dollars a month per user."
"The price of the solution depends on how many users need access to it"
"Salesforce Service Cloud is expensive. I worked with ExactTarget over five years ago, and it was quite pricey then. Not everyone could afford it. Salesforce has different tiers for different kinds of users. It's expensive considering their features and services, but they offer best-in-class solutions."
"Only enterprise businesses can afford the solution, and small companies cannot afford it."
"The price is too expensive."
"The tool is pretty expensive."
"Salesforce Service Cloud is a highly expensive solution"
"Salesforce is not a cheap product. It can be expensive."
"Certainly, from a product-platform perspective, the price is not too bad."
"We are happy with the pricing."
"ServiceNow tends to be a little bit more expensive as compared to BMC Helix ITSM."
"The pricing is reasonable and affordable, making it suitable for businesses ranging from small to large scale."
"The CapEx version is great."
"Getting the solution up and running is expensive."
"I know that it's not too bad because people continue to use it and they are happy to renew up their contract."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Salesforce Service Cloud?
I use Salesforce as a CRM to pull data, update business opportunities, and support the sales team. I query the data through Snowflake or HANA using Tableau for analysis and market expectations.
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: October 2024.
813,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.