ServiceNow Discovery vs Zenoss Cloud comparison

ServiceNow and Zenoss are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. ServiceNow is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Zenoss is ranked #23. ServiceNow holds a 4.0% mindshare in SM, compared to Zenoss’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zenoss users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow Discovery

Read 41 ServiceNow Discovery reviews

2,622 Views
1,285 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Zenoss Cloud

Read 8 Zenoss Cloud reviews

358 Views
249 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ServiceNow Discovery

Zenoss Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Zenoss Cloud and ServiceNow Discovery are two leading IT operations management solutions. Zenoss Cloud holds the upper hand in ease of deployment and customer support, while ServiceNow Discovery excels in features and overall user satisfaction.

Features: Users value Zenoss Cloud's real-time alerting, extensive monitoring capabilities, and ease of deployment. ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its comprehensive asset discovery, integration with IT Service Management, and robust feature set, making it preferable for users needing in-depth asset management.

Room for Improvement: Zenoss Cloud could improve its scalability, integrations, and feature breadth. ServiceNow Discovery needs enhancements in dashboard customization, speed, and system complexity. Both products exhibit areas for growth, but Zenoss Cloud’s improvements are focused on expanding integration capabilities, whereas ServiceNow Discovery should enhance user experience facets.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zenoss Cloud users report quick deployment times and responsive customer service. ServiceNow Discovery’s deployment is considered more complex and time-consuming, though its customer service is well-rated but not as prompt as Zenoss Cloud’s.

Pricing and ROI: Zenoss Cloud is highlighted for its reasonable setup costs and good ROI. ServiceNow Discovery, though more expensive, offers extensive features and higher ROI as perceived by users. Zenoss Cloud is framed as more cost-effective but ServiceNow Discovery provides higher long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud

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 Discovery

Ranking in Server Monitoring

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (4th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)

Zenoss Cloud

Ranking in Server Monitoring

23rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (33rd), Event Monitoring (14th), Network Monitoring Software (76th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (53rd), Container Monitoring (10th), Cloud Monitoring Software (40th), AIOps (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 4.0%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zenoss Cloud is 0.9%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Kaustubh Partha

Technical Support Analyst at CLSA

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.

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ClaudiaChen

Cloud Architect - Senior Technology Architect at Telstra

Generates close to real-time alerts so users can resolve issues, but needs more integration and public cloud monitoring features

As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's discovery feature is valuable due to its accuracy, reliability, and the high prestige associated with the information it provides."

"The most valuable asset is relationship building because the solution discovers and builds auto relationships in a way that makes cleanup very easy."

"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."

"They provide the ability to see into the Discovery tools I want. They offer the best tool view."

"ServiceNow's Discovery feature is quite significant because it allows for service mapping and integrates with VIN management. It involves adding a business context to servers, routers, switches, and data centers. This means understanding not only what's installed on these systems and how they function together but also recognizing their significance in terms of business applications from the business's perspective and how they impact business processes and capabilities. So when we delve into these aspects and connect them to the essential components, it can help you engage in more meaningful discussions to enhance capacity management practices. In essence, it contributes to the overall IT portfolio, almost functioning as a business platform. This platform is accessible to users who leverage the data to initiate incidents, implement changes, and resolve problems. Consequently, consolidating all configuration items or assets into a unified platform makes sense, especially considering you already have Discovery in place. If the cost is reasonable, the other two components might not provide much value, except for their user-friendliness, which is often less important to leaders compared to the desired outcomes."

"The product provides great scalability features."

"We mostly use the solution's ITSM and ITOM capabilities in most workflows."

"ServiceNow Discovery has played a vital role in improving service visibility through automated IT service management processes, including change and problem management."

More ServiceNow Discovery pros

"The custom built integration is one of the most valuable features because you can see all the especially critical items."

"What I like most about Zenoss Service Dynamics is that it monitors the devices and gives close to real-time alerts. For example, in case the device is not available, Zenoss Service Dynamics generates an alert so my team can resolve the issue."

"The most valuable feature is the flexible discovery mechanism."

"The product offers good documentation that helps with initial training."

"They have also accommodated many state-of-the-art technologies like Docker and ZooKeeper."

"It's easy to use."

"Its Docker Container concept is mind blowing. It is the first monitoring tool which comes with Docker features."

Cons

"In future releases, I would like to see more AI-oriented enhancements in the solution. It would automate most of the things that we have to do manually write the scripts and go on the teleservice, what to do. So if we have something in place and if we can train the module, then AI would be a good thing."

"Its integration with legacy apps is one area for improvement. ServiceNow Discovery offers out-of-the-box reports, and though that's okay, allowing easier report customization would improve the solution."

"What needs improvement in ServiceNow Discovery is the reporting UI because I didn't find it as friendly compared to other tools. Other tools have better reporting UI than what's currently in ServiceNow Discovery. What I'd like to see in the next release of ServiceNow Discovery is more user-friendly out-of-the-box reporting that would be helpful for non-technical users. Some users such as managers would want to just do a few clicks to access the reports and shouldn't be required to do search queries, but right now, reporting in the tool isn't very user-friendly."

"The product could improve some of the visualization and architecture setups."

"Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough."

"In my opinion, it's quite slow compared to other tools, like Device42. Also, there are predefined fields in Device42 that are not available in ServiceNow. These are the basic things I think can be improved here."

"The solution needs to improve the cost of the solution. There are a few different solutions and they do act the same and have the same types of capabilities, however, the cost is quite high."

"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."

More ServiceNow Discovery cons

"Now it is stable, but they should design threshold parameters in percentage instead of raw values."

"It would be ideal if the product offered sound alerts."

"The AI aspect needs to improve."

"There is room for improvement with the administrative part. They introduced Control Center to manage things in Zenoss 5. The services that Zenoss provides remained the same, but the administrative part, since they introduced Docker, etc., has become a little complex"

"As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor."

"The inclusion of a feature to show a graphical view of the network would be a helpful improvement."

"There was a problem with Zenoss and storage monitoring."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not inexpensive so pricing is rated a three out of ten."

"It is not recommended for smaller companies because of the price."

"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."

"If the product is not deployed properly, it can be very expensive."

"This solution is a paid option within the ServiceNow framework."

"It's on a yearly basis. We renew our contract for three years at a time."

"ROI (Return on Investment) is good. ServiceNow don't disclose the price publicly. They'll assess your organization's needs and then come up with a price."

"It's a bit expensive compared to other products in the market, but it's worth the money you pay because it's far advanced in terms of features, automation, and capabilities compared to other products."

More ServiceNow Discovery pricing and cost advice

"There are additional costs you'll have to pay apart from the license fee for Zenoss Service Dynamics. I can't remember exactly how much my company is paying because I don't handle the finance part, but the cost is paid annually. On a scale of one to five, with one being the cheapest and five being the most expensive, I'm rating the solution three out of five."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past. The company is gaining a lot with respect to the cost factor. It provides agentless monitoring and in a very cheap way."

"It depends on the customer, what he wants."

"The pricing depends on the environment, the number of services, and the size of the data center. It can go from $100,000 to a million dollars."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

In my experience, I worked with many monitoring software, but the one that gave me the most functionalities of a large-scale company is Zenoss, due to its ability to monitor completely hybrid and a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Tanium vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 27% of the time

Lansweeper vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 22% of the time

BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 5% of the time

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Zabbix vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 38% of the time

Nagios XI vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 35% of the time

SolarWinds AppOptics vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 15% of the time

Centreon vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery

April 2025

Download ServiceNow Discovery product report

Buyer's Guide

Zenoss Cloud

April 2025

Download Zenoss Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cloud Monitoring, Zenoss Service Dynamics

Overview

ServiceNow Discovery finds applications and devices on your network, and then updates the CMDB with the information it finds. Discovery is available as a separate subscription from the rest of the Now Platform.

ServiceNow

Zenoss Cloud revolutionizes IT infrastructure monitoring with a service-centric approach, prioritizing the overall health of services and applications. Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIOps), Zenoss Cloud offers end-to-end visibility across servers, networks, storage, and applications. Real-time monitoring, event correlation, and automated remediation ensure immediate insights and efficient issue resolution. The customizable dashboards empower users to tailor visualizations to their needs, while scalability accommodates diverse infrastructures. Zenoss Cloud guarantees improved application performance, reduced downtime, and enhanced IT efficiency, making it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes, from small enterprises seeking simplicity to large corporations requiring advanced scalability. Experience unified monitoring and proactive management with Zenoss Cloud, a comprehensive solution that transforms IT infrastructure optimization in today's complex environments.

Zenoss

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY

2degrees, Rackspace, State of North Dakota, El Paso Independent School District, NWN Corporation

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud

April 2025

Free Report: ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zenoss Cloud

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