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BMC Atrium CMDB vs ServiceNow CMDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC Atrium CMDB
Ranking in Configuration Management Databases
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ServiceNow CMDB
Ranking in Configuration Management Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Configuration Management Databases category, the mindshare of BMC Atrium CMDB is 11.5%, down from 22.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow CMDB is 45.0%, down from 46.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Yousef Bayari - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 10, 2023
Serves as a repository for storing configuration items, encompassing both physical and logical entities
The Atrium CMDB is where you would store all your configuration items, whether they're physical or logical. For example, server PCs, routers, switches, and other network devices, as well as the software installed on these servers or devices. It also involves maintaining relationships between these…
EdwardScott - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 5, 2023
It has helped us consolidate information, improving reporting and visibility
The setup was pretty straightforward on the development side, but I don't think the expectations of the user community are properly set. There is a gap between what the development side is doing, and what the user community expects. For example, my company has used ServiceNow for several years. When I joined, they weren't using it for much besides change management. That was easy to set up and configure. It was immature but fairly usable because no other processes had access to CMDB. It was easy, but their knowledge of what to do with CMDB was underdeveloped. We redeployed it in nine months, but we're still building. I wouldn't say that the deployment is complete because we haven't finished service mapping yet. We spent nine months fixing old problems and ensuring discovery is dependable. A team of about six people is working on the deployment, including architects, developers, subject matter experts, and process owners.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Over the years, we have progressed to have close to a real-time up-to-date view into the assets in our environment."
"The main feature is the relational model database, where you define relationships between CIs. Being able to establish CI relationships and building a service model is a key aspect of CMDB."
"Atrium Integrator​ allows me to manage my data, with regular updates, etc. and integrate with multiple systems."
"It allows me to easily manage my data: Cleanse, load, and report on it."
"The rules functionality makes it easier to classify data for different groups."
"The most valuable features of BMC Atrium CMDB are its ease to build new classes. For example, let's say there are types of CIs or efforts that do not exist in BMC Atrium CMDB. You can create your own and their relationship to existing classes."
"This solution has improved our tracking."
"This solution makes it easy for us to access data, and seamlessly integrates with all ITSM as well as the monitoring parts."
"ServiceNow CMDB works great for large and small businesses."
"I deal mostly with asset management, and ServiceNow helps me do my job more effectively."
"The different tables are available in ServiceNow CMDB are quite good. We don't need to create many custom tables."
"We like that this solution allows us to easily track the relationship between our CI and the IT asset module, for troubleshooting purposes, or to check the impact of an incident site."
"As I work based on the IT governance framework, what I like best about ServiceNow CMDB is ITSM, so incident/service request management. I also like that it can be useful for project portfolio management."
"It's not too difficult to configure with regard to the UI. My experience working with ServiceNow CMDB has been a very comfortable one."
"Portfolio management is very useful for us."
"The initial setup isn't too complicated."
 

Cons

"Looking for a more streamlined interface; one that matches the other parts of the BMC Remedy product line."
"I am just waiting for the new release with the new enhanced UI."
"Recently, improvements have been more focused on the interface side."
"BMC Atrium CMDB could improve if they had a cloud version and made the interface better."
"We would like the service modelling functionality of this solution to be improved."
"There could be a provision in the back end to ensure unique collections and avoid duplicate services."
"Because I'm a SME, the most important thing is the technical help that I can get, so better, more useful technical support would be good."
"In general, the pain points are related to ServiceNow. There is a lack of development. ServiceNow is not a true configuration management tool. So, a lot of development is needed to get it to be the kind of tool that you would like it to be. It serves as a platform, and you only get out of it what you invest in terms of development. So, CMDB on its own isn't quite robust until you actually have a CMD project to make it robust. The same thing is there with asset management and all other parts of it. Out of the box, it's not competitive with a like-for-like application."
"ServiceNow CMDB may face performance issues if we try to make the solution too large by adding more CIs."
"The reporting function could be more advanced and has room for improvement."
"There is some customization we need from the customer side."
"They can improve the mobile application and the TGO tool, which is a built-in tool for development and implementation. As a developer, it is very frustrating to configure or customize the mobile app. In my opinion, this part of the application needs full rework and re-engineering."
"The initial setup can be very bad if the roadmap is not set up properly. You need a specialist to help you set up the roadmap."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CMDB is more expensive than one of its competitors."
"In comparison to the cost of other solutions, you get value for your money with ServiceNow CMDB. It could definitely be cheaper though."
"The product price falls on the higher side of the spectrum."
"It is really expensive. I don't know actually how much it costs, but in 2016, when a client decided to move from an old solution to ServiceNow and had to choose a supplier for ServiceNow, I had heard that it could cost $10 per hour, which is really expensive. I am not aware of any additional fees to the standard licensing fees. There is no standard ServiceNow solution. When a company wants to acquire ServiceNow, they already know which module they will choose. In a basic package, you would have Service Catalog, Incident Management, and Change Management. These modules are usually required in an IT company."
"The product is pricey."
"The market sees ServiceNow as the Ferrari in terms of pricing. It's at the very top, and its cost is very, very high."
"It is always fluctuating. It seems to change every six months. Every time they come out with a new iteration, it changes. It is pretty complicated, and they should improve it."
"I would like it to be cheaper. If you've got a large environment, it can get quite expensive quite quickly. You still get a return on investment, but everybody has a tight budget. In terms of licensing, everything is pretty much known upfront. Being SaaS-based, there are no real additional gotchas that we came across."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Atrium CMDB?
The main feature is the relational model database, where you define relationships between CIs. Being able to establish CI relationships and building a service model is a key aspect of CMDB.
What needs improvement with BMC Atrium CMDB?
Recently, improvements have been more focused on the interface side. The core code itself is stable. For instance, there's been a transition from using Flash on the interface to more modern externa...
What is your primary use case for BMC Atrium CMDB?
The Atrium CMDB is where you would store all your configuration items, whether they're physical or logical. For example, server PCs, routers, switches, and other network devices, as well as the sof...
What do you like most about ServiceNow CMDB?
The product's initial setup phase was simple.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow CMDB?
I don't currently see any problems with ServiceNow CMDB since everything works fine. If I click on some particular CIs at the moment, all the information related to that CI appears by default. Righ...
What is your primary use case for ServiceNow CMDB?
I use ServiceNow CMDB in my company to deal with areas like incidents, problems, and change management. I use ServiceNow CMDB in my company to deal with all the equipment inventories and our infras...
 

Also Known As

Atrium CMDB
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield
Wayfair, Siemens, Allianz, Experian, Vitas Healthcare
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Atrium CMDB vs. ServiceNow CMDB and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.