Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

ServiceNow Discovery vs Tanium comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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 Discovery
Ranking in Server Monitoring
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (2nd), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)
Tanium
Ranking in Server Monitoring
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (21st), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (34th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 3.8%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 5.9%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Ayobanji Iluyomade - PeerSpot reviewer
Service helps organizations with network discovery and IT infrastructure management but troubleshooting challenges remain
ServiceNow Discovery was adopted by my organization. We use ServiceNow Discovery for discovery and ITSM The most beneficial features of ServiceNow Discovery for maintaining my IT infrastructure are the CMDB top and discovery of network switches. The areas of ServiceNow Discovery that have room…
Ed Jarecki - PeerSpot reviewer
A scalable solution that helps to understand how infrastructure works
We use the tool as an infrastructure operational management solution.  The solution is scalable and helps to understand how infrastructure works. It helps to improve the health of the organization.  Any movement into a SaaS solution has challenges since the processes and data flows are not well…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable solution...The initial setup of the product is straightforward."
"It has given us an understanding of each layer from a server application."
"They have a very good network in the infrastructure of Discovery."
"It's a single system of record and it captures the relationships."
"The workflows are beneficial as they allow tasks to be assigned to respective teams without the need for coding."
"Discovery enables us to get an accurate inventory that's updated daily. It eliminates human error and the need for people to update configuration changes manually. We have not implemented them yet but plan to set up alerts on CIs that are being audited to see if there are any changes."
"The best thing about Discovery is maintaining all the CIs in one place. I can sort the data, export it to Excel for manipulation, and build reports like how many computers or servers we have and their capacity."
"It has been stable since deployment."
"For incident response tasks, all these tasks can get done in minutes with minimal disruption to the end-user."
"The security features are very valuable."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the consolidation of all historical data on device endpoints, security drivers, firmware, and Software version gaps."
"Tanium's most valuable features are patch management, inventory, and distribution software."
"Tanium’s linear-chain architecture is valuable."
"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."
"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."
"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."
 

Cons

"They can expand on the plugins for some of the other tools."
"I would rate technical support for ServiceNow Discovery as four. This rating is because there are features on the tool that never worked and despite calling our support, there were no results."
"The product should improve its customer interface, web interface, and front end. I would like to see the integration of keyboard chat with the solution."
"Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation."
"It is one of the most costly applications in terms of subscription costs."
"The solution is too high priced."
"Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough."
"ServiceNow Discovery should improve its cloud capabilities."
"The performance could improve in future releases. We have had performance issues in specialized web environments, but overall I think the problems are less than 2% of the computer systems being used."
"The most painful thing is the interface. It's a bit unclear sometimes."
"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."
"The solution lacks mobility."
"The reporting could be improved."
"Tanium required local admin or root rights on Mac devices, which did not comply with our security policies. This made the solution less suitable for our restrictive environment."
"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium."
"It is not really additional functions, or the features that are needed, rather the complexity would be reduced based on the number of modules required to put together a comprehensive operational security and risk compliance model."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is a paid option within the ServiceNow framework."
"ServiceNow Discovery has very broad pricing, so it becomes costly. It would be better if it had a pay-as-you-use licensing model because the total cost of ownership is quite high."
"It costs a lot. It is probably close to over a hundred thousand. It's an expensive platform, but you can't compare ServiceNow's Discovery functionality to other discovery tools. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison of ServiceNow to a configuration management tool to an asset management tool because it does those things, but it's not those things."
"As per a general discussion I had with the stakeholders, I figured out that it is a costly tool. There is a need to make additional payments apart from the licensing fees for better support services from ServiceNow."
"The product pricing is fair and reasonable for the value it provides."
"The price could be better. It's a bit on the pricey side."
"I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten. We had availed some discount from the standard pricing. Even then, the tool's pricing is expensive. You have to pay some vendor service fees for the product's implementation."
"The solution is not inexpensive so pricing is rated a three out of ten."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."
"The solution offers value for money."
"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."
"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."
"It is higher than some competitors in the market."
"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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?
I think the price of ServiceNow Discovery is cheaper than BMC.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?
The areas of ServiceNow Discovery that have room for improvement are getting custom reports on the relationship between CIs that are not on the same table.
What do you like most about Tanium?
Tanium’s linear-chain architecture is valuable.
What needs improvement with Tanium?
While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.
What is your primary use case for Tanium?
The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the core functions.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY
JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Discovery vs. Tanium and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.