Icinga vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management comparison

Icinga and ServiceNow are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Icinga is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.7, while ServiceNow is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5. Icinga holds a 4.0% mindshare in IM, compared to ServiceNow’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Icinga users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of ServiceNow users who would recommend it.

Icinga

Read 17 Icinga reviews

3,310 Views
2,955 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

Read 40 ServiceNow IT Operations Management reviews

3,304 Views
2,571 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Icinga

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Icinga and ServiceNow IT Operations Management compete in IT operations management. ServiceNow IT Operations Management is often considered superior for comprehensive enterprise solutions, offering more extensive IT service management capabilities.

Features: Icinga offers strong monitoring capabilities, a modular design, and integration with various systems, suitable for customizable monitoring solutions. ServiceNow IT Operations Management provides a holistic IT platform with robust incident management, predictive analytics, and automation tools, ideal for enterprises.

Room for Improvement: Icinga could benefit from easier setup for those with limited technical expertise, enhanced scalability, and more intuitive user interfaces. ServiceNow IT Operations Management may improve by offering more affordable pricing options, simpler customization processes, and faster implementation times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Icinga's straightforward deployment process is appealing but may require technical expertise for optimal setup. ServiceNow IT Operations Management offers cloud-based deployment and comprehensive training and support, suitable for larger organizations seeking a seamless setup.

Pricing and ROI: Icinga's open-source model provides a low initial investment with significant ROI for monitoring solutions. ServiceNow IT Operations Management involves a higher setup cost but justifies it with enhanced capabilities and integration options, delivering greater long-term value for enterprises needing extensive IT management solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Icinga vs. ServiceNow IT Operations Management Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Icinga vs. ServiceNow IT Operations Management

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

Icinga

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

16th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (17th), Server Monitoring (7th), Cloud Monitoring Software (14th)

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Event Monitoring (1st), Cloud Management (9th), AIOps (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Icinga is 4.0%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is 2.3%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Harrison Bulley

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at Net Consulting

A stable, scalable and cost-effective solution that helps with inbuilt scripts for easy modification

I think the software is quite good, but we have had problems with getting it to recognize certain areas and amend certain checks, where we needed so we would have to create backend scripts for those checks. Though, being open source, it has the support to create backend scripts, it would be better to have these scripts in-built.

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RichardG

Account Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Effortlessly blends management systems for comprehensive infrastructure insight

ServiceNow IT Operations Management brought together Intune and SCCM or MECM really well. It provided out-of-the-box integrations, requiring only minimal effort, typically a couple of days, to massage those systems into a seamless operation. Additionally, the performance analytics of ServiceNow was especially beneficial for setting thresholds, aggregating, and correlating infrastructure data.

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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

"We have found the solution to be stable."

"An affordable solution for small organizations to do basic network monitoring."

"There's a module called Icinga Director, which helps us configure the product using an intuitive interface through clicks instead of creating a text configuration. It's very helpful for us."

"Icinga does the job and is fairly stable."

"The drafts are easy but what I like about Icinga is that there are many add-ons that you can download."

"I like the ability to amend and adjust things really easily, which is useful in a case where you could make it auto-discover and then set a template to say all of these applications or servers under this template have an automatic threshold set that you’d set up manually."

"The apply rules feature saves a lot of time."

"Macros and the ability to connect it to Google Maps are valuable features."

More Icinga pros

"ITOM communicates information about incidents and maintains them. It handles tickets change, manages service networks, and reduces IT service downtime for the organization."

"The most valuable feature of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is the user interface."

"The scalability of ServiceNow is good."

"I am impressed with the tool's ability to track information in an easy way."

"I like the tool's discovery feature."

"Our ROI since implementing ServiceNow ITOM has been significant."

"You can improve integrations of the operation with the solution."

"I like the tool's CMBD connection with Discovery. The solution is also flexible."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management pros

Cons

"The solution lacks many features important to higher-level IT management and network support."

"One of the areas that are frustrating is remote monitoring for more than one machine."

"Icinga is a complex solution that's hard to learn. It's a powerful product for monitoring, but new users will have a hard time figuring out what to do."

"At this time, the layout of the website is a bit difficult. It should be more user-friendly for changing the background and logos."

"It needs Trap SNMP. I saw the documentation for Zabbix, that it has its own built-in product which handles SNMP traps, and there's nothing similar in Icinga or Nagios. I think this feature is most important for me."

"We have found some problems with Nagios, and support isn't very responsive."

"There is room for improvement in multi-tenancy. It's not perfect, not even really good. It's average, but it should be improved."

"The tool currently fails to provide notifications to users."

More Icinga cons

"The initial setup phase was hard and could be made easier."

"There is a slower learning curve associated with the tool's scripting part. It is also not cheap."

"I advise others not to customize a lot while using the solution."

"Service Mapping is a time-consuming process. The time and effort versus the benefits are very difficult to articulate to customers."

"The solution needs to add mobilization, where we can connect mobile devices or wireless devices to do wireless scanning and bring assets into the database."

"The product needs to add a workflow insight tool."

"The service discovery tool should include HR automations that automatically remove an employee who is leaving."

"The most complaints we have received from our clients are the solution's discovery aspect. I've heard a few concerns from the customers where we have to integrate with a third-party tool to make a full-fledged discovery along with ServiceNow. ServiceNow alone does not do the total capacity of the discovery. The discovery portion of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is not in-depth as what the customers are looking for. The information that it gathers from the assets is a little more limited than what other tools provide."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution with paid support."

"The solution is free to use."

"We're using the free version of Icinga."

"The product is inexpensive compared to other DBM products."

"It is cost-effective, and the return on investment can be very interesting because the price is low."

"The solution is cheap."

"It's an open-source solution."

"Even though Icinga's financial cost is low, it is an expensive product regarding the resources required to maintain and operate it."

"The solution offers yearly licenses and a subscription model for add-on features."

"It has different subscription models."

"I would rate the product's pricing a five out of ten since there are vendors who are cheaper."

"It is expensive. It is around 10 Euros per server per month."

"It is moderately expensive. The pricing itself and the licensing options are depending on the model and the customization."

"The pricing is high and may be excluding the small to medium-sized enterprise businesses."

"This solution offers good value but comes at a very high premium. Pricing could be reduced by 10 to 20%."

"ServiceNow IT Operations Management is a costly solution. I'd rate the price at ten, on a scale from one to ten with one being the lowest and ten being the highest price. Some clients do have a problem with the price, but most find that the solution is worth the cost."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Icinga?

The best thing about the solution is how it highlights errors, the issues, and what needs my attention. The solution directs me to areas that I should look for first.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Icinga?

It is cost-effective, and the return on investment can be very interesting because the price is low. If you want to include this product in the services you offer to your customers, the return on i...

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What needs improvement with Icinga?

There is room for improvement in multi-tenancy. It's not perfect, not even really good. It's average, but it should be improved. For instance, multi-tenancy for monitoring the virtual infrastructur...

See all answers

What do you like most about ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

From my perspective as an asset manager, the most valuable feature of the solution is the configuration management portion, where I can actively add something to the database.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

We obtained discovery licenses at about seven dollars Australian per unit, which we found to be reasonable and competitive. The pricing model offers scaling where not everything consumes a license ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

There is room for improvement in service mapping within ServiceNow ITOM. When we have more time, we'll look to extend that and apply it to business-critical services like email.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs Icinga

Compared 46% of the time

Nagios Core vs Icinga

Compared 23% of the time

Checkmk vs Icinga

Compared 10% of the time

Nagios XI vs Icinga

Compared 3% of the time

Centreon vs Icinga

Compared 3% of the time

More Icinga Competitors

OpsRamp vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management

Compared 14% of the time

Dynatrace vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management

Compared 9% of the time

Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management

Compared 6% of the time

Moogsoft vs ServiceNow IT Operations Management

Compared 6% of the time

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Icinga

April 2025

Download Icinga product report

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow IT Operations Management

March 2025

ServiceNow IT Operations Management report

Download ServiceNow IT Operations Management product report

Also Known As

Icinga Cloud Monitoring

ServiceNow ITOM

Overview

Icinga monitors systems, network devices, infrastructure, and services, helping manage and analyze server resources. It automates ticket incidents and alerting, providing oversight of client Windows and Linux systems.

Icinga offers comprehensive monitoring of servers including CPU utilization and RAM space, facilitating automated incident management and alerting. Frequently deployed on-premises, this monitoring tool is key for managed services providers and organizations to oversee and ensure optimal performance of various environments, including applications like databases and web servers. It provides extensive features for creating custom plugins, stabilization, scalability, and high customization capabilities suitable for different infrastructure needs.

What are the key features of Icinga?

Event Handler: Facilitates automatic self-healing of systems.
Extensive Plugin Library: Offers a wide range of plugins for monitoring.
Ease of Use: Simplifies user experience with an intuitive interface and Icinga Director for easy configurations.
Open-Source Nature: Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Automation Capabilities: Integrates with APIs and Ansible Collections for automation.
Custom Plugins: Users can create and integrate their own plugins.
Stability and Scalability: Provides reliable performance across different scale infrastructures.

What are the benefits or ROI to look for when evaluating Icinga?

Critical Issue Highlighting: Effectively identifies and notifies about critical problems.
High Customization: Offers flexibility for diverse monitoring needs.
Automated Alerting: Reduces manual effort and improves response times.
Extensive Integration: Works seamlessly with other tools and platforms.

Icinga implementations span multiple industries, providing essential monitoring for IT infrastructure in healthcare, finance, and education. Managed services providers utilize Icinga to maintain and monitor client systems across various environments while ensuring optimal performance and compliance. It is highly valued in these sectors for its ability to customize monitoring, improving operational efficiency and reducing downtime.

Icinga

ServiceNow IT Operations Management (ITOM) is a cloud management and infrastructure tool that facilitates the administrative and development process of creating, planning, and operating digital services, technology, application requirements, and components for organizations. Service Now ensures effectiveness, performance, and availability throughout an organization's processes and services.

ServiceNow ITOM will help organizations facilitate consistent policies with regard to deployment, support, and services to ensure trustworthiness and quality of service (QoS). ServiceNow ITOM will ensure that all applications, services, and infrastructure are consistently available and stable.

ServiceNow IT Operations Management Features

Help Desk: ServiceNow ITOM help desk enables IT and operations administrators to better communicate issues concerning managing data latencies, controlling the monitoring of user profiles, executing disaster recovery plans, and any other problematic incidents.
Device and server management: ServiceNow ITOM will ensure IT operations teams can better handle general maintenance, upgrading, and patching for server-related concerns. The solution will also help to maintain the health of organization devices such as laptops, phones, tablets, mobile devices, and desktops.
Infrastructure maintenance: ServiceNow ITOM helps organizations set up remote access networks, maintain network security, regulate communication with external servers and firewalls, and also monitor and manage internal telephone systems.

ServiceNow IT Operations Management Benefits

Improve DevOps: ServiceNow ITOM improves the ability to inspect microservices, which enables DevOps and SRE teams to improve incident response.
Improve data control: The solution will help to manage the entire digital lifecycle, and will also enhance the organization's configuration management database (CMDB) to enable a more robust data foundation.
Problem-solve: ITOM is able to proactively identify anomalies before they become issues/problems with tremendous accuracy. ITOM helps organizations minimize outages and reduce the negative impact to end users so that they do not experience any downtime or service degradations. ITOM will also use artificial intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) along with machine learning (ML) to reduce the possibility of false positives, saving time and increasing productivity.
Automate workflows: ITOM offers a pre-designed workbook and no-code/low-code workflows to reduce redundant tasks and improve recovery times. ITOM provides intuitive workable processes to be shared easily with all teams throughout the organization.

ServiceNow ITOM enables organizations to become robust, strategic operations able to successfully anticipate issues before they have an impact on the organization. Organizations that use ServiceNOw ITOM will be able to easily automate workflows and improve how their IT teams communicate and work together to deliver successful outcomes and maintain productivity and profitability 24/7.

Reviews from Real Users

“With this solution, operational costs will be reduced. Your maintenance cost will be reduced when you use the item model. You will deliver a fast solution to the customers. If something happens on the server-side or router-side, it will be immediately caught. Efficiencies are improved. “ - Rupesh J., Solutions Architect at Globant

“It has been very useful for tracking. It has evolved a lot over time, and there is a single pane of glass where you can track and see everything.” - Uday T., Project Manager at MindTree

ServiceNow

Sample Customers

Puppet Labs, Audi, Spacex, Debian, Snapdeal, McGill, RIPE Network Coordination Centre

servicenow, TransAlta, NATS, Symantec

Buyer's Guide

Icinga vs. ServiceNow IT Operations Management

April 2025

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