OutSystems vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

OutSystems
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (1st), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
212
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (1st), IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the market share of OutSystems is 9.9% and it increased by 13.8% compared to the previous year. The market share of ServiceNow is 12.7% and it increased by 39.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software
Unique Categories:
Mobile Development Platforms
20.2%
Low-Code Development Platforms
11.8%
Help Desk Software
27.2%
IT Asset Management
20.6%
 

Q&A Highlights

GF
Jul 25, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Feb 7, 2023
Provides a good ecosystem with highly integrated flow editor, user interface, and data logic
For some of the business processes, we want the process owners to be able to set up their own flow-throughs, process flows, workflows, etc. They don't need to have any kind of prior coding experience. They should be able to establish workflows for their respective processes by just dragging and…
Mangesh Shaharkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 11, 2023
A versatile platform with efficient workflow automation and extensive customization capabilities that streamlines business processes, enhances collaboration, and offers comprehensive IT service manage
I have been exploring the wireless designer service on ServiceNow Although verbal explanations may be challenging, I can provide detailed comments and notes in the code. This facilitates collaborative learning in the catalog domain, making understanding various efforts and products simpler. It's…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important features of this tool are its visual modeling capabilities and drag and drop functionality. You can see what you are coding which makes it easy to understand and maintain. They have also created a big revolution in digital transformation by introducing native mobile app development under the same IDE."
"The most valuable features of OutSystems are the user-friendly platform. The drag-and-drop feature is great. I have used other rapid application development tools before, but they were not as advanced as OutSystems. With the previous tools, I had to manually build certain features, but OutSystems does it automatically."
"The most valuable feature of OutSystems with discipline and the development processes. Instead of each developer doing tasks on their own with their own approach, et cetera, the solution would help bring some organization to the development process."
"There is literally a ton of stuff it can do. It's very flexible."
"The scratch coding is useful. The solution is easy to understand."
"Reduces the manual labor in compiling and deploying applications and generating procedural code (by reducing development bureaucracy/processes, resulting in real gains). The LifeTime Server approach, requiring just a few steps to publish applications in production environments, is fantastic."
"For me, the most valuable feature is the flexibility the tools give us to change any customer requirements on the fly, when we are in a meeting. I also like how easy it is to deploy the code between environments and how easy it is to integrate OutSystems with other systems."
"It is easy to use."
"The flow designer feature of ServiceNow has had the biggest impact on our productivity because it has helped me reduce manual efforts by creating automation and robotics."
"It's easy to integrate. For instance, yesterday we closed the integration with SAP for the IP business management module to manage the forecast of projects. We created an interface between ServiceNow and SAP to control projects for accounting and on the forecast of the project. It was really easy. We don't have any problems with ServiceNow at the moment. As a company, they are improving constantly."
"I really like what they've done with their common service data model because now I can make a connection between the business process and technology."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"If you stick to the out-of-the-box solution, it's an easy setup."
"Easy to integrate with third-party applications."
"ServiceNow is a very powerful tool that can perform a lot of different functions."
"ServiceNow has been implemented to streamline team workflows across different departments in our company. Users, including traveling leaders, were able to approve requests and authorize additional rights through the mobile platform."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is a little difficult."
"I would like to see OutSystems improve its integration capabilities, especially with emerging technologies like AI and GPT."
"The integration Studio could be improved. It needs a tool in which we could develop C# code and then integrate into OutSystems. The application could have a better UI."
"I think OutSystems needs to improve in many areas. First, sometimes Service Studio becomes really slow and even hangs for long periods. Also, if I have not published my module in some time, and some kind of Service Studio exception occurs, I lose my work."
"The largest obstacle currently associated with OutSystems is its high cost and limited availability of skilled personnel. Despite being a rapid application development platform, having a highly skilled individual familiar with the platform can be much more beneficial than an inexperienced individual. Because there is a shortage of people with the necessary OutSystems skills, utilizing the platform can become expensive. This makes little sense, considering that a rapid application development platform should be accessible to the average person. However, having a highly skilled individual can greatly increase productivity, making the cost worthwhile."
"Since we first started using OutSystems, they switched their language support from Java and .NET to .NET only, which was a bit of a surprise. Their language support could be better in this sense, although on our resource side it is now a bit more flexible."
"Writing custom code still needs to be done via Integration Studio. This might have been added to the IDE."
"I have difficulty in using several new features. Some of the product's features are tricky to use as well."
"The interface can be a bit more intuitive."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"Change Management is the area I have found that this tool can be improved because there are so many fields which are missing, such as urgency of the customer request and how the priority is defined. These are some of the areas in which I found that BMC Remedy is much better than ServiceNow."
"Their GUI could be updated."
"Transparency in the pricing model needs to be improved."
"I would like the reporting aspect to be better, including the graphs. It could have some way for us to easily to export to a csv or spreadsheet so that if a graph cannot be provided by ServiceNow itself, we would be able to use other applications to create them. Also, if there was a feature that enabled us to interact with end users directly from ServiceNow, like an instant-messaging type of feature, that would be great."
"The visuals are the one area where there is opportunity for improvement."
"ServiceNow's mobile app should be seamless and it is not right now."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate it five to six out of ten."
"It is not an expensive product, especially if you have access to more features and deal with more projects."
"The price is okay. OutSystems isn't expensive. It's a mid-range solution."
"OutSystems was open to a deal that worked for both sides."
"It is very high price."
"The product is expensive and I would rate its pricing a seven out of ten. You need to pay a yearly subscription to use the product."
"You should contact OutSystems for more details but my opinion is that it is not for small business budgets."
"OutSystems is an expensive product. My company has to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"This is a pretty expensive product, so the licensing could be better."
"There are licensing fees."
"The cost is quite high."
"Initially, the licensing model ServiceNow came up with was very good. But now, from a licensing perspective, they are changing their model day by day. It is becoming a bit expensive for customers."
"It has a higher cost compared to local/regional solutions."
"ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."
"I am from Brazil. For Latin American markets, ServiceNow is very expensive as compared to other vendors, such as VMware."
"The pricing is reasonable and affordable, making it suitable for businesses ranging from small to large scale."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rapid Application Development Software solutions are best for your needs.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

GF
Jul 25, 2023
Jul 25, 2023
I'd recommend considering OutSystems for developing non-ITSM Apps like CRM and Customer Care. OutSystems is known for its low-code development platform, which enables faster app development and deployment. This can be particularly advantageous for your company, as it allows you to streamline processes and meet customer needs efficiently. If you're interested in learning more about the benefits ...
2 out of 5 answers
EB
Mar 10, 2022
Hi @reviewer1529571, @reviewer1278699, @Jaikant S Rao, @Dawn McClure, @Gagan Pattanayak, @Roland Zuurveld, Can you please share your knowledge with the community? Thanks!​
Farid Abbasi - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 10, 2022
Hello @Gerry Fitzpatrick, 'Customer Service Management' and 'IT Service Management' applications run on the same ServiceNow platform.  Whilst 'Customer Service' gives you the CRM capability (external facing), ITSM gives you the supporting framework (internal facing). The two work very well together. There is no need for you to invest in building custom apps. However, if you still want to build custom apps then the ServiceNow platform allows you to do that with a very good mobile SDK.  ServiceNow also has an App Store, which is a really good source to see what integrations and applications are available to purchase (some are free). This would help you get value from your investment in ServiceNow quicker. Regards, Farid
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?
I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...
How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?
We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...
What do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak
AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.