IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs ServiceNow Orchestration comparison

IBM and ServiceNow are both solutions in the Process Automation category. IBM is ranked #21 with an average rating of 9.0, while ServiceNow is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 0.4% mindshare in PA, compared to ServiceNow’s 4.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of ServiceNow users who would recommend it.

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Read 2 IBM Cloud Pak for Automation reviews

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150 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ServiceNow Orchestration

Read 16 ServiceNow Orchestration reviews

2,130 Views
1,563 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

ServiceNow Orchestration

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

ServiceNow Orchestration and IBM Cloud Pak for Automation compete in business automation. ServiceNow stands out for its integration capabilities, while IBM is noted for its robustness and comprehensive functionalities.

Features: ServiceNow Orchestration focuses on task automation and smooth integration with the Now Platform, enhancing workflow efficiency across IT operations. It provides targeted orchestration with its straightforward tools. IBM Cloud Pak for Automation offers a wide range of automation options, including process mining and low-code tools. Its extensive suite makes it versatile, appealing to businesses aiming for a holistic approach.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow Orchestration benefits from easy deployment on the Now Platform and is user-friendly for existing clients. IBM Cloud Pak for Automation may have more complexity due to its vast features, but IBM's strong customer service effectively addresses client inquiries and deployment challenges.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow Orchestration provides a cost-effective solution for current ServiceNow users, minimizing initial setup costs and offering a favorable ROI for targeted orchestration. IBM Cloud Pak for Automation, while requiring higher initial investment, promises substantial ROI through its scalability and comprehensive features, making it suitable for businesses targeting long-term automation infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. ServiceNow Orchestration Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. ServiceNow Orchestration

April 2025

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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

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Ranking in Process Automation

21st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ServiceNow Orchestration

Ranking in Process Automation

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is 0.4%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Orchestration is 4.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

SYEDMUJTABA

Vice President - Digital Automation Services at Techvista Systems

Effectively handles parallel instances effectively

I find it quite straightforward, perhaps around 8.5 out of 10 in terms of ease. When we upgraded from the old version of IBM BPM to the new one within IBM Cloud Pak for Automation, we didn't encounter any major issues. There were some minor ones, but they were easy to overcome.The migration process was part of our deployment strategy. We had a plan to migrate two processes per week from on-premises to the cloud. The migration involved taking the instances and migrating them to the new environment. There is an inbuilt feature in IBM Cloud Pak for Automation that facilitates the migration process, although I personally haven't conducted it myself; it's managed by my team. Overall, the setup process was relatively smooth.

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ShaheenKapery

Solutions Architect at Altron

Easy to integrate, stable solution and incredibly good customer service

It is a long setup. It was customized to our company's requirements. Bearing in mind that there is not just an IT team. You've got an IT team consisting of end-users, consulting, and user support sides. Install support, ServiceNow support, application support, and so on. What ServiceNow does is it's really good at getting the tickets to the right person. That's the power of it. There's no issue with it. But you need to set that up in advance. You need to know the structure and who is responsible for each task. The initial setup does take a long time, and the organization might face some issues. But once you've got that resolved, it's amazing.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I believe two significant features of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation are the focus on SLA management and the capability to handle parallel instances effectively. Parallel instances, for instance, are valuable when dealing with a large number of users, enabling tasks to be performed concurrently for efficient system operation. The SLA aspect is crucial for tracking and ensuring timely completion of tasks. Additionally, the cloud compatibility of IBM BAW allows for seamless migration from on-premises to the cloud. This version also includes a business rule management system for storing and managing business rules effectively."

"What this product allows us to do is to move from on-prem instances where we are running independent instances of FileNet, Datacap, and ODM. It allows us to leverage container-based resiliency and availability modeling so that we have some visibility across the CP4BA ecosystem. We're now migrating all of our data to be in the Cloud Object Storage, and we can now use some of the features of Azure in terms of how we store and retrieve content for our members and our providers."

"The interface of the solution is very user friendly and it is easily accessible via a simple URL. This makes it easier to complete the UI based tasks but using other features require expertise in languages like Java. But along with that, there are limitation in terms of network connectivity testing and administrator faces regular challenges in conducting connectivity tests due to these limitations."

"This is a user-friendly solution where scripts can be made with ease. There are also many integration options, including Microsoft products, which gives the product a competitive edge."

"Employee onboarding, de-boarding, and other service-provision features make the process easier and it saves us a lot of time."

"It's probably the best product out there."

"The product has a flexible interface for development."

"It's scalable."

"Great with IT processes and business processes."

"Provisioning of new systems is among the most impactful features for automating complex workflows with ServiceNow Orchestration."

More ServiceNow Orchestration pros

Cons

"I believe there is room for improvement in the user interface, particularly in the Process Portal that customers use to view and manage their tasks. The UI of the Process Portal needs enhancement. Additionally, in the next release, I would like to see improved compatibility with Angular, allowing for direct integration with front-end systems. It would be beneficial to have built-in GUI features based on Angular within the system, rather than developing separate applications externally. This, in turn, would provide a more seamless and enhanced front-end experience."

"One of the challenges we're having is finding vendors who have experience in developing on the cloud. We can find developers on the old platform, but it is leading-edge technology. So, we are having some challenges, and IBM is assisting us to find vendor partners. To be able to leverage all the capabilities of the new platform, we have to upgrade our existing ecosystem of FileNet applications. Upgrading to the new platform while trying to modernize is always challenging because it is like you have a moving target."

"The third-party integrations are challenging when the tools are not from ServiceNow partners. This presents issues when integrating solutions from other vendors."

"ServiceNow Orchestration needs to improve multiple aspects in which their event monitoring system is one. The solution lacks event monitoring systems which makes them non-competitive. They need to include improvements in a similar manner that they did in Sweden."

"There is still room for more integrations. Or, it would be nice to bundle multiple products together rather than selling everything as a model as that turns out to be a bit costly."

"The flow rate for releases and updates is very, very slow and does not meet customers' objectives for scalability."

"We cannot perform GUI automation using the tool."

"The automatic remediation needs enhancement, particularly integrating ServiceNow with tools like SolarWinds and Logic Monitor. It is functional, but it needs improvement."

"I would like a user experience module to be added."

"The deployment requires awareness among the project staff."

More ServiceNow Orchestration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its cost is almost the same or comparable to what we pay with FileNet, but I'm not sure what we pay a year. A good part of CP4BA is the CPU-based licensing model. When we're dealing with 50,000 dentists, for example, if we were to use Salesforce, we would be hit with the licensing of 50,000 dentists, whereas when we build out in CP4BA, it is just based on our CPU usage, not on individual licenses."

"IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is relatively expensive, especially considering it is designed for long-living processes, not for normal automation needs. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pricing at around 9. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees, but IBM has multiple pricing models that make it expensive in its own way. Different plans are available, but overall, the experience suggests it is a costly solution."

"This is an expensive product, but it is the best in the market considering the features and lack of competitors."

"It is not very expensive."

"In terms of price, this solution is at the higher end of what you'll find."

"ServiceNow doesn't give a clear cost indication. They have different contracts with different organizations and it's all about negotiation, so you don't know how they are doing at the cost level."

"The solution is costly and orchestrations are very expensive."

"Pricing is custom to every customer."

"The cost of the solution is based on the number of plugins, conductors and integrations used and is charged annually. The licensing cause has been increasing gradually which makes it difficult to access. Initially offer free features but over the time the charges rise which make it an expensive solution with limited features. Along with that, the integration issues persist and require additional middle where and internet connectivity for effective usage."

"It is quite expensive because we've had some customers come back and say it's quite pricey because in order for them to go ahead with Orchestration, they must have already been paying for Discovery, service mapping, and a few other things."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Cloud Pak for Automation?

I believe two significant features of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation are the focus on SLA management and the capability to handle parallel instances effectively. Parallel instances, for instance, ar...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Automation?

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is relatively expensive, especially considering it is designed for long-living processes, not for normal automation needs. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Automation?

I believe there is room for improvement in the user interface, particularly in the Process Portal that customers use to view and manage their tasks. The UI of the Process Portal needs enhancement. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about ServiceNow Orchestration?

The interface of the solution is very user friendly and it is easily accessible via a simple URL. This makes it easier to complete the UI based tasks but using other features require expertise in l...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Orchestration?

Pricing is custom to every customer.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow Orchestration?

I remember last time I said there is no need for improvement. It's fine. Due to the limited scope, I cannot comment further. However, it should be integrated with AI and messaging or chatting featu...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM BPM vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 100% of the time

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Camunda vs ServiceNow Orchestration

Compared 55% of the time

Control-M vs ServiceNow Orchestration

Compared 15% of the time

IBM BPM vs ServiceNow Orchestration

Compared 7% of the time

Temporal vs ServiceNow Orchestration

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs ServiceNow Orchestration

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Process Automation

April 2025

Download IBM Cloud Pak for Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Orchestration

March 2025

Download ServiceNow Orchestration product report

Overview

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation offers design, build, run, and automation services to rapidly scale your programs and fully execute and operationalize an automation strategy.

IBM

ServiceNow is the fastest-growing enterprise cloud software company in the world above $1 billion (2018 revenue was $2.6 billion, up 36% year over year). We deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity to approximately 5,400 enterprise customers worldwide, including almost 75% of the Fortune 500.

ServiceNow

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

experian, BEACHBODY, HealthPartners, Banosoft

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. ServiceNow Orchestration

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. ServiceNow Orchestration

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