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ServiceNow Security Operations vs Splunk Security Essentials comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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 Security Operations
Ranking in Security Incident Response
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (9th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (17th)
Splunk Security Essentials
Ranking in Security Incident Response
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (12th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Security Incident Response category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Security Operations is 9.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Security Essentials is 2.6%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Incident Response Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ServiceNow Security Operations9.3%
Splunk Security Essentials2.6%
Other88.1%
Security Incident Response
 

Featured Reviews

SH
Freelancer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Gaining unified control over vulnerabilities has improved governance but pricing and support need work
The market price is slightly high. The pricing should be a little lower because this is a SaaS-based product. Everyone using ServiceNow might be getting many modules, but the overall module cost becomes high with license consumption one by one. I personally see that if ServiceNow is to grow over the next decade, they need to work on the pricing part. Cheap providers are emerging, and in the age of AI, it is evident that the chatbot and the virtual agent features, which are prominent features of ServiceNow, could be completely compromised and replaced by people choosing other tools. If ServiceNow develops a strategy to lower the price and increase the customer base, it could help ServiceNow to grow for another decade. I encountered one issue in ServiceNow Security Operations. The different tools, for example, Tenable and TVM, discovered vulnerabilities that had very limited information when imported. However, the same vulnerabilities from different sources, the TVM and Tenable, had shorter descriptions than what was present in the common vulnerabilities or CVE. If this depends on the implementer, such as Tenable or how other security operations implement them, the text was very limited. Customers were asking questions about why this was happening and if ServiceNow was working properly. The vulnerability information should be updated and the common text should be displayed every time, regardless of how many different tools are used for integration. The vulnerability database should be consistent when it comes to the description to avoid confusion for customers implementing it for the first time. This is an improvement that ServiceNow can make.
reviewer2836941 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Centralized monitoring has given our SOC real-time visibility into security and application activity
When I first implemented Splunk Security Essentials in this environment, it took a week for each log source to onboard and to create use cases and implement the data model, CIM, etc., for production readiness. Training is mandatory, and we need at least the Splunk Security Essentials User certification because it is a very critical resource in the organization, as we are handling security logs. In my organization, Splunk Security Essentials is used not only by the SOC but also for monitoring logs across different teams, as it is important for handling both security and application logs, given its capability to manage unstructured logs. Splunk Security Essentials has dramatically impacted my organization, as without it, we were blind to what is happening from both a security and application perspective, and it provides vital visibility into the organization's operations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When things are set up correctly it goes really smooth, however, it's getting there that takes time."
"Multiple projects use the ServiceNow tool because it is a low-cost and open-source tool."
"It streamlines processes; it collects data, takes that data and turns it into information, and allows you to manage through dashboards and work lists, improving every facet of the overall process."
"We refer to the setup and installation guide provided by ServiceNow. They have good documentation, which makes it easier to handle the process."
"​Integration to other security tools allows for a consolidated view of all vulnerabilities, incidents, etc. for all sorts of leverage in a single platform to assess governance risk and compliance as well as an enhanced, enriched intelligence.​"
"This product is a good value for the money."
"It gives you the ability to bring data into the system. The workflows are out of the box, and it gives you the ability to auto-assign the incidents based on criteria and vulnerabilities."
"The most valuable features are service management and case management, and ServiceNow Security Operations also takes care of problem management as well as GRC, governance, risk, and compliance, enabling it to provide risk assessment."
"They have a good catalog of plans to use to resist the attacks."
"I would have to rate Splunk Security Essentials a 10 out of 10 because it's free and there's tons of usable content."
"Splunk Security Essentials has dramatically impacted my organization, as without it, we were blind to what is happening from both a security and application perspective, and it provides vital visibility into the organization's operations."
"We are focusing on security to ensure incidents are reported efficiently. In addition to that, for reporting purposes, we are utilizing our dashboards or creating new ones. We will be using free visualization tools for this purpose."
"Splunk Security Essentials has impacted my organization in that we have been getting the results that we wanted."
"The network monitoring feature is particularly valuable for gathering information about users, login times, and other statistics."
 

Cons

"It's very slow. When you click a button or update a field, it takes forever to actually react."
"It is challenging for the customers to understand the processes for SecOps. It needs to be simplified."
"A one-year delay from their go-live date is a bit too long."
"An area for improvement I observed in ServiceNow Security Operations is the need to maintain correct CMDB data because if you're unable to do this, you can't perfectly maintain the vulnerability data. CMDB data in ServiceNow Security Operations needs to be accurate. As I've been working on ServiceNow Security Operations for only seven months, I still need more time to try all its modules before I can give recommendations regarding additional features I'd like to see in the solution."
"There are limitations for the third-parties that are providing the inputs. They should increase the robustness of the solution."
"ServiceNow Security Operations is not specifically a vulnerability management or incident tool, but rather a data aggregator."
"The product of ServiceNow Security Operations needs more features. The product is called SecOps, but it is not security operations in terms of SIEM solutions."
"It would be ideal if there were already integrations available in ServiceNow with third-party tools."
"The reporting feature needs to be more user-friendly."
"They could add more AI content or AI and machine learning."
"The biggest friction points I have with Splunk Security Essentials are the high license costs and user behavior that causes performance issues due to inappropriate wildcard searches."
"The price could be improved."
"It takes a lot of time to install Splunk Security Essentials. It's not very difficult, but it requires time."
"If I could change one thing about Splunk Security Essentials, it would be pricing. I believe they are still very costly as compared to the competition."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to competitor tools, ServiceNow Security Operations is more affordable"
"The product is more expensive than other solutions."
"If you're going to implement it on your own, there would be internal costs. If you're going to implement it through a contractor or consultant, you have to pay for that."
"The solution is more expensive than BMC Remedy, the other ITSM tool available in the market."
"It is an expensive product."
"This product is a good value for the money."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
Construction Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Security Operations?
In my opinion, the pricing is quite affordable considering the features, and I do not find it expensive. I would not call it cheap; rather, I am looking at it as a product owner.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Security Operations?
I would like to see new features added, particularly regarding the incident upgrading part. For instance, if you have an instance and need to transfer it to a particular team, being able to show th...
What advice do you have for others considering ServiceNow Security Operations?
For someone looking to use ServiceNow Security Operations, I recommend that they read about the documentation and spend one or two hours familiarizing themselves with FortiGating, and that will be ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk Security Essentials?
Our SecOps manager and CISO were more familiar with Splunk, and the price was right. That was probably the primary driver, and we did evaluation as well with strict criteria and Gartner ratings.
What needs improvement with Splunk Security Essentials?
The biggest friction points I have with Splunk Security Essentials are the high license costs and user behavior that causes performance issues due to inappropriate wildcard searches. Additionally, ...
What is your primary use case for Splunk Security Essentials?
My main use case for Splunk Security Essentials is for Enterprise Security, specifically the ES app. Splunk Security Essentials is my primary tool for threat detection and monitoring because as a S...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

DXC Technology, Freedom Security Alliance, Prime Therapeutics, Seton Hall University, York Risk Services
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Security Operations vs. Splunk Security Essentials and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.