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ServiceNow Discovery vs Spiceworks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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
6.9
ROI from ServiceNow Discovery varies, influenced by efficiency, data use challenges, automation benefits, and implementation strategies.
Sentiment score
7.8
Spiceworks provides high ROI as a free tool, benefiting efficiency, issue resolution, and stability despite setup time investment.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
ServiceNow Discovery's support is inconsistent, ranging from responsive to inadequate, with reliance on community forums and documentation.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks offers excellent, free email-based support, with strong community assistance and some criticisms for lacking direct phone support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
ServiceNow Discovery is scalable for diverse infrastructures with challenges in legacy apps and Google Cloud, impacting smaller entities' cost.
Sentiment score
7.4
Spiceworks is scalable for small to large setups, though larger organizations may face challenges; newer versions improve scalability.
I would rate it as a nine on a scale of one to ten, indicating it is highly scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its stability and reliability, performing well across updates with minimal issues when properly resourced.
Sentiment score
6.6
Spiceworks is stable but may slow down or crash with large setups; proper configuration enhances performance and stability.
 

Room For Improvement

ServiceNow Discovery needs improved integration, UI, pricing, cloud features, AI utilization, and support for ease and flexibility.
Spiceworks users desire enhanced monitoring, scalability, reporting, integration, and user-friendly features with faster performance and lower resource consumption.
Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation.
 

Setup Cost

ServiceNow Discovery is considered costly, but many users find its advanced features and automation worth the investment.
Spiceworks provides a customizable, free help desk solution with optional costs for premium features, suitable for small to medium businesses.
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products.
 

Valuable Features

ServiceNow Discovery offers seamless integration, service mapping, security, and accurate data insights, enhancing IT operations and change management.
Spiceworks offers SMBs a free help desk, inventory management, user-friendly interface, and strong community support for IT needs.
The workflows are beneficial as they allow tasks to be assigned to respective teams without the need for coding.
Additionally, it is free software.
 

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow Discovery
Ranking in IT Asset Management
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (2nd), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)
Spiceworks
Ranking in IT Asset Management
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (17th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (45th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the IT Asset Management category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 5.8%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 2.6%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Asset Management
 

Featured Reviews

Kaustubh Partha - PeerSpot reviewer
Scans servers and network devices through SNMP and reduces manual maintenance for our infrastructure team
I like how ServiceNow Discovery scans servers and network devices through SNMP. Most fields on our forms are auto-filled, reducing manual maintenance for our infrastructure team. Post Discovery implementation there is hardly any maintenance. There are three to four fields that are customized. Otherwise, 90% of the data is auto-filled. Discovery can also run in bulk, which is helpful for organizations that cannot run it during weekdays. With identification rules, if a configuration item (CI) isn't in the CMDB, you can simply add the IP address, and it will be automatically added based on criteria like name or serial number, making CMDB maintenance easier.
Jeetendar Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Customizable, easy to use, easy to manage, and provides multiple features
I have used many software, but Spiceworks is the best. The tool provides multiple features. It is a valuable product for inventory. It is also useful as a ticketing system. The solution is easy to use and easy to manage. Many people can use it very easily. The features are not complicated. It is very easy to run, install, and understand. That is why my organization decided to use it. The solution’s asset management capabilities have benefitted us in many ways. We are able to manage all the inventory. We have a complete database. We have a record of everything. It is very valuable. I rate the usability of the user interface and dashboard a nine out of ten. The tool is easy to learn compared to other software.
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850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ServiceNow Discovery?
The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products. If I were to rate the pricing on a scale from one to ten in terms of expense, I would rate it quite high.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?
Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation. Currently, each new product must be manually created if it is not already available in ServiceNow, which can be cumbers...
What do you like most about Spiceworks?
The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.
What needs improvement with Spiceworks?
I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, there do not seem to be any issues.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY
Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Discovery vs. Spiceworks and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.