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ServiceNow Discovery pros and cons

Vendor: ServiceNow
4.0 out of 5
Badge Ranked 1

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

ServiceNow Discovery comes bundled with a CMDB, offering ease of use and excellent insights.
ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its robustness, stability, and maintenance-free operations post-implementation, with automated Discovery features that provide accurate inventory and eliminate human error.
ServiceNow Discovery is valued for its scriptability and integration capabilities with data centers, enhancing data collection and server/service discovery without requiring deployment agents.
It is recognized for its ability to discover and build auto-relationships, allowing easy cleanup while integrating seamlessly with the CMDB and supporting service mapping for better capacity management.
ServiceNow Discovery provides significant scalability, prioritizing discovery of IP ranges, and automatically classifying Discovery CIs into the correct CMDB class.

CONS

Sometimes, tickets take longer than expected for resolution, application discovery needs improvement, and ServiceNow Discovery must be paired with another tool for complete verification.
Users have experienced issues with features that do not work, with inadequate technical support addressing these problems, making the discovery of new releases occasionally problematic.
The service mapping component and cloud capabilities of ServiceNow Discovery require further development to be on par with competitors. The cost of ServiceNow Discovery is notably high compared to other similar tools that offer the same capabilities.
Debugging processes are difficult, and manual pattern matching during system upgrades is tedious and time-consuming.
ServiceNow Discovery's integration across different continents is limited due to the necessity of mid servers or discovery servers, impeding extensive asset discovery.
 

ServiceNow Discovery Pros review quotes

reviewer1034670 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Jan 26, 2020
The best part about ServiceNow Discovery is that it is included in the ServiceNow suite.
KR
Practice Leader, Solutions architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Apr 1, 2020
It's a single system of record and it captures the relationships.
KS
Technical Architect at Sysintegra Ptv Ltd.
Apr 26, 2020
They provide the ability to see into the Discovery tools I want. They offer the best tool view.
Learn what your peers think about ServiceNow Discovery. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
884,122 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mohamed Mansoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Support Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Jun 25, 2020
The process involving the original setup of the solution is excellent.
reviewer1446474 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Automation Consultant (ITOM/ITAM, Cloud, DevOps at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Dec 9, 2020
The biggest advantage of ServiceNow is the value that it brings.
it_user1384359 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Feb 18, 2021
I find that the Discovery and scripting features are the most useful.
NS
Specialist (US IT Recruiter) at MOURI Tech
Feb 27, 2021
The initial setup is pretty easy.
JB
Sr. Servicenow Developer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
May 1, 2021
It does a good job of collecting the data that's necessary for data centers, and IT's operations.
AnkurAshok - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager - Retail Sales at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Jan 26, 2022
This solution provides excellent insights.
EdwardScott - PeerSpot reviewer
Configuration Manager at Adtalem Global Education
Jun 3, 2022
It's pretty robust, and it's agentless for the most part. So, you don't need to deploy agents, which makes it a lot easier to stand up.
 

ServiceNow Discovery Cons review quotes

reviewer1034670 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Jan 26, 2020
The service mapping component is less developed than it is in other solutions, and is in need of improvement.
KR
Practice Leader, Solutions architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Apr 1, 2020
Without improvement in the patters, applications can't be discovered
KS
Technical Architect at Sysintegra Ptv Ltd.
Apr 26, 2020
In terms of improvement, I would like for it to be possible to use without coding. I would like a dropdown so that every customer can do it easily for himself and can understand it.
Learn what your peers think about ServiceNow Discovery. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
884,122 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mohamed Mansoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Support Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Jun 25, 2020
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.
reviewer1446474 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Automation Consultant (ITOM/ITAM, Cloud, DevOps at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Dec 9, 2020
They can expand on the plugins for some of the other tools.
it_user1384359 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Feb 18, 2021
On the Software Asset Management part of it, I expect additional reconciliation and Discovery features there.
NS
Specialist (US IT Recruiter) at MOURI Tech
Feb 27, 2021
Technical support has not been helpful when we have come across problems.
JB
Sr. Servicenow Developer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
May 1, 2021
When you switch versions, for example, when you go from Paris to Quebec they will introduce many new things and occasionally things break when they do that.
AnkurAshok - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager - Retail Sales at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Jan 26, 2022
Application discovery could be improved. And, right now, ServiceNow needs to be coupled with another solution in order to verify information.
EdwardScott - PeerSpot reviewer
Configuration Manager at Adtalem Global Education
Jun 3, 2022
It's an expensive platform.