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ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs Splunk AppDynamics comparison

ServiceNow and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. ServiceNow is ranked #41 with an average rating of 7.5, while Splunk is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4. ServiceNow holds a 0.4% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Splunk users who would recommend it.
ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Read 4 ServiceNow Cloud Observability reviews
  • 754 Views
  • 583 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Splunk AppDynamics
Read 246 Splunk AppDynamics reviews
  • 13,079 Views
  • 8,520 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 11, 2025

Splunk AppDynamics and ServiceNow Cloud Observability are both competitive solutions in IT monitoring and management. Splunk AppDynamics may have an advantage in pricing and customer support, while ServiceNow Cloud Observability's advanced features might appeal to users needing comprehensive solutions.

Features: Splunk AppDynamics includes powerful analytics, machine learning capabilities, and application performance management that facilitate identifying and resolving application issues. It offers correlation and introspection within Java containers, ensuring less resource consumption, and automatic performance baselining to provide valuable insights. ServiceNow Cloud Observability integrates workflows, offers holistic cloud monitoring, and enables seamless operation across different environments, providing comprehensive oversight and advanced performance analytics for improved strategic insights.

Room for Improvement: Splunk AppDynamics could enhance its feature set by simplifying its setup for large-scale deployments and improving the intuitiveness of its interface. Additionally, expanding capabilities in real-time data visualization and better integration with third-party tools would be beneficial. ServiceNow Cloud Observability might improve by providing a more competitive pricing model, increasing flexibility in customization, and enhancing support for broader interoperability with existing IT systems.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow Cloud Observability offers rapid implementation with extensive enterprise support for smooth transitions. Conversely, Splunk AppDynamics provides effective customer service but may require a more complex setup for large-scale deployments, which could be streamlined for better user experience.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk AppDynamics presents a competitive pricing structure focused on maximizing ROI through effective monitoring tools. In contrast, ServiceNow Cloud Observability's higher setup cost may offer significant long-term benefits for those seeking comprehensive oversight capabilities, potentially yielding a solid ROI over time due to its all-inclusive feature set.

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Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. Splunk AppDynamics
April 2025
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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

ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
41st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Splunk AppDynamics
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
246
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (4th), IT Operations Analytics (2nd), Mobile APM (2nd), Container Monitoring (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Cloud Observability is 0.4%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk AppDynamics is 4.7%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

VinayKumar16 - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides ease of use in areas like analytics and reporting
The feature of the tool that is more impactful for cloud performance stems from the area revolving around analytics and reporting. It is an easy-to-use tool. There is something known as performance analytics within ServiceNow that offers complete analytics, which offers end-to-end analytics along with the KPI metrics with what we have in place and so on. With the aforementioned aspects of the tool, I think we should be able to create a dashboard according to the operations view called the operation dashboard view, specifically for C-level executives.
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Muhammad Zeeshan Siddiqui - PeerSpot reviewer
Dynamic mapping enhances workflows that are user-friendly
One aspect that requires improvement is the agent. Without an agent, gathering sufficient information on applications is challenging. Additionally, the agent sometimes creates performance issues in production environments. If AppDynamics could develop a means to monitor without an agent, it could significantly improve application performance and reduce potential problems. Moving to an agentless solution, like what some competitors are doing, would be beneficial.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"To a certain extent, it is possible to save on the costs of the product."
"The ability to create a stream based on different parameters, operation name, service name, URL, tags, and URI part, is one valuable feature."
"The solution Lightstep/ServiceNow has a couple of pretty advanced functionalities to help us investigate a deviation and help the development teams have better observability in the environment using distributed and complex services."
"The UI is very intuitive."
"Setting up the monitoring agents was straightforward."
"Data monitoring is the most valuable feature."
"The feature that I appreciate in AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is the intuitive and user-friendly dynamic mapping it creates for workflows."
"The proactive monitoring from AppDynamics definitely helps."
"The most valuable feature is that we can see how our end-users are interacting with our application across regions."
"After we implemented this solution, we can easily determine the root cause of issues."
"It has been stable, scalable and manageable."
"It is a stable solution."
More Splunk AppDynamics pros
 

Cons

"The dashboard and graphics must be improved."
"In terms of licensing, users would want the product to offer them the ability to tailor the tasks offered in the solution to suit their needs."
"The design of this solution is not very intuitive and probably could come with more friendly tips for beginners."
"The support team could be better. Because of the different versions of different tactics of integrating reactive code base, the documentation is not very clear if someone has to be onboard. I would rate the documentation of Lightstep a five out of ten. It could need improvement."
"I am not very impressed with support. The service could be better."
"The solution is available at an inflated cost"
"The resolution time takes longer than expected."
"An improvement could be if the monitoring was able to be summarized into something more clear and simple for people who don't have the technical skills on the database side."
"Their agents sometimes claim to be very lightweight, especially with databases, but they are very heavy. They can take up more compute than the actual work that we need to do."
"I would like to see support for mobile testing and mobile monitoring."
"I would like to have customizable dashboards to use when I am monitoring certain applications."
"The product requires high maintenance."
More Splunk AppDynamics cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive. I rate the tool's pricing model an eight out of ten."
"AppDynamics is one of the most expensive solutions on the market."
"It does require licensing to be paid."
"There is an annual cost to use this solution. The licensing model could be improved by making it more cost-effective."
"The licensing cost is fairly high"
"Take into consideration what you get for specific pricing models and how much it costs to add on things you may need later.​"
"It could be cheaper. It's a little cost prohibitive. There are so many features that also show a lot of value, but it’s not always easy to justify the cost."
"AppDynamics Server Monitoring is a very expensive product, but if you negotiate well, you get value for money...My company used to make early payments toward the licensing costs of the solution, but now my company has opted for a different licensing model."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable for what features you receive."
More Splunk AppDynamics pricing and cost advice
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Educational Organization
47%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about LightStep?
The UI is very intuitive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with LightStep?
There are a lot of workflows and connectors. In terms of licensing, users would want the product to offer them the ability to tailor the tasks offered in the solution to suit their needs.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for LightStep?
I use the solution in my company since it has multiple tenants available. Basically, what happens in business is that you have a hybrid setup model, and for that, you extensively use a cloud platfo...
See all answers
Any advice about APM solutions?
There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...
See all answers
APM tools for a Managed Service Provider - Dynatrace vs. AppDynamics vs. Aternity vs. Ruxit
Hi Avi! It's great to see your thorough approach to selecting an APM package for your MSP company. Considering your focus on SMBs and enterprises in Israel, Dynatrace seems like a solid choice with...
See all answers
What do you like most about AppDynamics?
The solution saves time and cost.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Grafana vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Grafana vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 32% of the time
Datadog vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Datadog vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 22% of the time
Snyk AppRisk vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Snyk AppRisk vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 20% of the time
Dynatrace vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Dynatrace vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 16% of the time
New Relic vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
New Relic vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 10% of the time
More ServiceNow Cloud Observability Competitors
Dynatrace vs Splunk AppDynamics Logo
Dynatrace vs Splunk AppDynamics
Compared 15% of the time
Datadog vs Splunk AppDynamics Logo
Datadog vs Splunk AppDynamics
Compared 10% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Security vs Splunk AppDynamics Logo
Splunk Enterprise Security vs Splunk AppDynamics
Compared 8% of the time
New Relic vs Splunk AppDynamics Logo
New Relic vs Splunk AppDynamics
Compared 7% of the time
Grafana vs Splunk AppDynamics Logo
Grafana vs Splunk AppDynamics
Compared 5% of the time
More Splunk AppDynamics Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability
April 2025
ServiceNow Cloud Observability reportDownload ServiceNow Cloud Observability product report
Buyer's Guide
Splunk AppDynamics
April 2025
Splunk AppDynamics reportDownload Splunk AppDynamics product report
 

Also Known As

LightStep
No data available
 

Overview

ServiceNow Cloud Observability is a comprehensive platform designed to enhance visibility, control, and performance monitoring of your IT infrastructure and applications. It seamlessly integrates log management, trace management, metrics monitoring, and infrastructure monitoring in real-time, leveraging AI and machine learning for automated tasks and actionable insights. With benefits including improved visibility, faster incident resolution, enhanced application performance, simplified IT operations, and reduced costs, this cloud-native solution is ideal for businesses of all sizes with complex IT infrastructures. It integrates seamlessly with ServiceNow IT Operations Management (ITOM), supports OpenTelemetry standards, and provides AI-powered insights along with pre-built dashboards and reports. 

ServiceNow

Splunk AppDynamics enhances application performance monitoring with advanced diagnostics and real-time insights, offering seamless end-to-end transaction tracking and infrastructure visibility.

AppDynamics provides critical tools for businesses to analyze application behavior and performance. Through innovative features like transaction snapshot analysis and adaptable dashboards, users can quickly identify and address issues, ensuring high levels of system uptime and efficiency. It is designed to support complex environments including Kubernetes and AWS, enhancing user experience by detecting performance issues early. Despite needing improvements in network monitoring and integration, it remains a robust option for tracking application health.

What are the key features of AppDynamics?
  • Real-time Performance Monitoring: Offers immediate insights into application behavior.
  • Business Transaction Tracking: Tracks transactions from start to finish for bottleneck identification.
  • JVM Memory Monitoring: Provides detailed JVM metrics and memory use information.
  • Deep-dive Diagnostics: Enables in-depth analysis of code and stack traces.
  • Adaptable Dashboards: Customizable views for better data interpretation.
How does AppDynamics benefit users?
  • Improved Incident Resolution: Faster problem detection and solution implementation.
  • Enhanced Application Performance: Real-time monitoring optimizes system operations.
  • Comprehensive Visibility: Provides a full view of application infrastructure.
  • Informed Decision Making: Detailed analytics guide performance improvements.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Enhances user experience through faster issue resolutions.

In industries like financial services and e-commerce, AppDynamics facilitates performance tracking across distributed systems, optimizing infrastructure to meet consumer demands. It excels in environments needing precise transaction monitoring and is pivotal in delivering high value and satisfaction.

Splunk
 

Sample Customers

InVision, Twilio, Lyft, Yext, DigitalOcean,
Cisco, Sony, Nasdaq, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Edmunds.com, Puma, Fox News, DirecTV, Pizza Hut, T-Systems, Cornell University, OpenTable, BITMARCK, Green Mountain Power, Care.com, Overstock, Paddy Power, eHarmony, Kraft, The Motley Fool, The Container Store, and more See more customers
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. Splunk AppDynamics
April 2025
Free Report: ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. Splunk AppDynamics
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We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.