I use the tool for IT change management.
Project Manager & Managing Director at Geo Consulting (Aust) Pty Ltd
A scalable tool with good incident problem change management feature
Pros and Cons
- "I am impressed with the tool's incident problem change management."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I am impressed with the tool's incident problem change management.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Discovery
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about ServiceNow Discovery. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the product's stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the product's scalability a seven out of ten. The tool's discovery component was quite difficult to scale up. My company has thousands of users for the solution. We have plans to increase the usage.
How are customer service and support?
The tool's tech support has a slow response. We have encountered scenarios where there was a lack of response even. They didn't really understand the nature of the problem.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I evaluated the value of the BMC solution and found it to be better.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's setup was complex. It would rate its setup a six out of ten. The product's overall deployment took two and a half months to complete. We required five staff to complete the deployment process.
What about the implementation team?
We did the solution's deployment in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the product a seven out of ten. You need to consider the tool's alternatives before choosing the product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Technical Lead
Reliable with okay support but is complex to set up
Pros and Cons
- "They have a very good network in the infrastructure of Discovery."
- "It creates quite a bit of duplication, so that needs to be fixed."
What is our primary use case?
This is a part of ITOM. We use the product to identify servers and network equipment in our data centers.
How has it helped my organization?
To some extent, it has improved the way our organization functions.
What is most valuable?
Discovering of network related equipment was an area where we had lot of success with. This was after we helped identify issues with loopback interfaces and such.
It is stable.
Support is okay.
What needs improvement?
It does create quite a few duplicate CIs, you need to monitor and clean them up.
The initial setup is complex.
We do not need any extra features.
Printer discovery is limited, Server or Workstation categorization depends on OS, which can lead to wrong labeling.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for the last two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This product is not exactly scalable, or, at least, we haven't really had a chance to test its scalability potential.
We have about six users on the product in our organization.
We are only using 40% to 60% of capacity. We are not planning to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is hit or miss. They can be helpful or not, depending on who you get.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had a different solution. However, the previous product was not customizable, which is why we switched.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is complex to set up. It took us nine months to implement the product.
We need four to six people in order to deploy the solution.
What about the implementation team?
We did have someone help us with the implementation.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI to some extent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We tend to deal with three-year licenses. I'm not aware of the exact pricing of the product. You do not have to pay for acquiring extra features.
What other advice do I have?
We're a customer. This solution goes hand in hand with ITOM.
I'd rate the solution at a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Discovery
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about ServiceNow Discovery. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Digital Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Data comes in without the need for creating new interfaces or dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "I like ServiceNow Discovery's overall structure and the way data comes in without creating a different dashboard or interface."
- "ServiceNow has a constant development environment. Hence they get constant bugs which result in incorrect performance. It should also improve customer service."
What is most valuable?
I like ServiceNow Discovery's overall structure and the way data comes in without creating a different dashboard or interface.
What needs improvement?
ServiceNow has a constant development environment. Hence they get constant bugs which result in incorrect performance. It should also improve customer service.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for quite some time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate ServiceNow Discovery's scalability a ten out of ten. One of my current customers has over 10,000 users for the product.
How was the initial setup?
The product's setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is not cheap.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate ServiceNow Discovery a ten out of ten. You would need to go on training before using the solution.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Manager - Retail Sales at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Stable product that offers strong insights but does not have enough features to function independently
Pros and Cons
- "This solution provides excellent insights."
- "Application discovery could be improved. And, right now, ServiceNow needs to be coupled with another solution in order to verify information."
What is our primary use case?
When my team starting any project or learning a new environment, we always implement ServiceNow Discovery which can be used along with other products. We are able to extract details on the environment to help transition services.
What is most valuable?
This solution provides excellent insights.
What needs improvement?
Application discovery could be improved. Right now, ServiceNow needs to be coupled with another solution in order to verify the information.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product, especially since it is within a public cloud.
How are customer service and support?
We have not needed to use support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy but expect to have to take some time to learn the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is an expensive product with a price that depends on the models that you wish to purchase.
What other advice do I have?
This is something that I would recommend for medium or large companies.
I would rate this a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
ServiceNow Consultant at Nexus Technologies,Inc.
With great out-of-the-box features like probes and patterns, the solution also provides stability
Pros and Cons
- "Stability-wise, I feel it is a good product."
- "ServiceNow Discovery should be updated to provide its users with more out-of-the-box information and attributes to support the routers and switches from Cisco."
What is our primary use case?
I can't discuss the use cases related to the product since I don't have many projects to deal with in my company that need the use of ServiceNow Discovery.
What is most valuable?
The out-of-the-box probes and patterns in ServiceNow Discovery are great features.
What needs improvement?
ServiceNow Discovery is a great tool. ServiceNow Discovery should be updated to provide its users with more out-of-the-box information and attributes to support the routers and switches from Cisco. It would be great if the tool could handle more out-of-the-box functionalities to retrieve the information for routers, especially those from Cisco, including the updated devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience with ServiceNow Discovery. My company has a partnership with ServiceNow.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I feel it is a good product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I do have experience with other tools similar to ServiceNow Discovery, but I don't remember the names of the tools I used in the past. Compared to the tools I have used previously, ServiceNow Discovery can be considered a useful product if someone wants to use an agentless solution, meaning you don't have to install any agent in your system.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The solution's deployment phase takes around a month to be completed.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Lead Consultant | Service Assurance & Automation at Column Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd
Easy to set up, provides better log reading, and lets you deploy proper ITSM without the need to install many tools
Pros and Cons
- "In the past, I found troubleshooting difficult in ServiceNow Discovery because I didn't have much exposure to the platform during that time, but then I explored some troubleshooting features, and I found that it wasn't that tough, so this is one of the qualities I like about ServiceNow Discovery. I also like that log reading in ServiceNow Discovery is much better than other tools. Another valuable feature of the tool is that you don't need to install many tools to deploy ITSM. You only need to subscribe to the modules to deploy the proper ITSM in your organization."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
My role right now in present projects is to deploy ServiceNow Discovery both on AWS cloud an on-premises. ServiceNow Discovery is populated directly into ServiceNow CMDB, so its use cases include managing CMDB identification and reconciliation, as well as creating dashboard reports and other types of reports.
What is most valuable?
In the past, I found troubleshooting difficult in ServiceNow Discovery because I didn't have much exposure to the platform during that time, but then I explored some troubleshooting features, and I found that it wasn't that tough, so this is one of the qualities I like about ServiceNow Discovery.
I also like that log reading in ServiceNow Discovery is much better than other tools.
Another valuable feature of the tool is that you don't need to install many tools to deploy ITSM. You only need to subscribe to the modules to deploy the proper ITSM in your organization.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been learning ServiceNow Discovery since 2015, and I started working on it for the last two years only. I'm still using it, particularly the San Diego version for one project and the Rome version for another project.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
ServiceNow Discovery is a stable tool.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
ServiceNow Discovery is a scalable tool, especially because the industry has now properly recognized it, so many of the network companies, for example, Cisco, release product versions that have compatibility with ServiceNow Discovery. Companies that manufacture network devices and storage devices also create plugins that have more compatibility with ServiceNow Discovery, which makes the tool scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't had the chance to contact technical support for ServiceNow Discovery yet. My team once raised a ticket to get help, but it was for cleaning a different solution, CMDB.
For any troubleshooting questions and solutions, I check the community forum and documentation. My team and I still have some pending issues with some features of ServiceNow Discovery and we didn't find very specific resolutions or proper answers in the documentation and the community forum.
How was the initial setup?
I found the initial setup of ServiceNow Discovery easy. The process is the same with other discovery tools where some prerequisites need to be deployed within your client's environment, both open and privileged requirements and service accounts to access the environment.
Setting up ServiceNow Discovery is easy because you're provided with a guided setup to install the features, so I found it easy.
The total time it takes to deploy the tool is between one to two days if you have all the required information. Once you have a subscription, you just need to enable some plugins and deploy one integration within your client's organization because ServiceNow Discovery is a cloud-based tool which means you need to deploy one application into the organization which doesn't take more than half an hour. That would also depend on how many MID servers are deployed, so in general, to make the environment ready to start discovery, it would take two days. What could take time would be the credential setups and other requirements provided by the clients, but in total, deployment would take just one to two days for ServiceNow Discovery.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You need a subscription to ServiceNow Discovery, so you can use its features. You can also use specific plugins with the tool, and some of the plugins are free. I don't have information on how much my company pays for the subscription to ServiceNow Discovery.
What other advice do I have?
Nowadays, I've been working on BMC Discovery, ServiceNow Discovery, and CMDB projects.
My company is a partner/implementer for ServiceNow Discovery, but many consultants within the company, apart from myself, also use the tool.
My advice, if you're looking into using ServiceNow Discovery for the first time, is to compare it with other tools and also consider your requirements because not all discovery tools provide all the features you need. For example, one discovery tool could be strong in this area, while the other tool could be strong in another area or feature. You should go for ServiceNow Discovery if it meets your requirements. Otherwise, use another discovery tool. ServiceNow Discovery is a platform that provides full IT infrastructure services, and it's very good for any organization, but that still depends on company requirements, so you need to evaluate those requirements first. For example, check existing devices and infrastructure already deployed in your company and what you'd like to discover through ServiceNow Discovery, whether it's just servers or network devices, etc.
I'm rating ServiceNow Discovery eight out of ten. Though it's a very important tool for users, I'm unable to give it a ten because it still needs to be more user-friendly in terms of reporting. The documentation for the tool also needs improvement, particularly because some features aren't explained well. The tool has very powerful features with no proper documentation available, so some users still have to search for answers in the community forum.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner/Implementer
Specialist (US IT Recruiter) at MOURI Tech
A stable and scalable tool to discover multiple CIs, servers, network devices, and computers
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution...The initial setup of the product is straightforward."
- "Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough."
What is our primary use case?
My company uses ServiceNow Discovery to discover multiple CIs, servers, network devices, computers, etc.
What is most valuable?
In our company, importing and scanning IP addresses with ServiceNow Discovery is a straightforward and easy process.
What needs improvement?
Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the solution.
The licensing cost of the solution is an area where ServiceNow can improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for more than three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
My company deals with multiple clients who prefer ServiceNow Discovery. I was involved with the implementation phase of the product for my company's clients.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the product is straightforward.
It doesn't take more than a week to implement the product.
As a part of the deployment process, you first need to understand the infrastructure of ServiceNow Discovery. Once you understand ServiceNow Discovery, you will be in a better position to use your data with the existing data in ServiceNow.
What about the implementation team?
My company has a six-member team to take care of the product's implementation process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a need to make payments every quarter of a year towards the licensing costs of the solution. ServiceNow Discovery is an expensive tool.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Enterprise Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Straightforward to set up, user-friendly, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "We can scale the solution."
- "ServiceNow is very costly."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is for all of our infra components.
What is most valuable?
The solution is straightforward to set up.
It is stable.
We can scale the solution.
The solution is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
Between SolarWinds and ServiceNow, there is some communication gap. SolarWinds is able to give infra-related things, however, from a ServiceNow perspective, it'll discover all the things from an IT management perspective in real-time.
If you're integrating both tools, it's not going to integrate. If I'm using SolarWinds Discovery and if I'm integrating it with ServiceNow, in ServiceNow, I cannot get a direct fit. I need to manually play with it. While they function together, we still need to do manual interventions.
ServiceNow is very costly.
You need to recruit some developer support if you want to do some coding, and that is the one improvement area they need to look at.
They should add in infra monitoring.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with the solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never had issues with stability. The solution is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. Even if it is on-premises, there are no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have escalated questions to support. However, they are more commercial than technical.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've also worked with SolarWinds for ten years.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very simple to set up and implement. It's not overly complex.
If you are just implementing ServiceNow, it doesn't take too much time. If I'm using their SaaS-based services, it might take two weeks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is an expensive solution. Per licensed user, it may be around $160 to $180. There may be additional models a company needs to buy for ITSM functionality.ITSM will not work independently, and therefore we need other models.
What other advice do I have?
I'm an end-user and integrator.
We are dealing with the latest version of the solution.
We're using both cloud and on-premises deployments.
I'd recommend the solution to other users.
I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer

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Updated: April 2025
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