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OpenText Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB vs ServiceNow CMDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

OpenText Universal Discover...
Ranking in Configuration Management Databases
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ServiceNow CMDB
Ranking in Configuration Management Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Configuration Management Databases category, the mindshare of OpenText Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB is 12.7%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow CMDB is 32.7%, down from 42.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Configuration Management Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow CMDB32.7%
OpenText Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB12.7%
Other54.599999999999994%
Configuration Management Databases
 

Featured Reviews

RakeshKumar15 - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure with a quick setup and helpful support
Based on the latest version, there were multiple changes done. It had multiple fixes. However, it's based on the customer's requirements. They have modified and created, and released the changes according to those needs. The UI could be better. The page loading is very slow. The customer wants faster loading. Before releases, it would be nice to be able to upgrade to the new release and check it out in order to see the new functionality and what they have changed.
Ravi Nidadavolu - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a user-centric approach
My advice to new users is that choosing the right ITSM software, like ServiceNow CMDB, depends on your specific organizational requirements. It is similar to buying a car; there are numerous options, and the choice should be based on factors such as your budget, the effort you are willing to invest, and the level of support you need. Selecting the right software isn't a decision to rush; it involves researching available options and finding the best match based on your organization's needs. I would suggest researching both the advantages and disadvantages of ServiceNow online and considering it as an option. I have worked with BMC Remedy for years, and I have noticed that ServiceNow, especially its user interface, has improved significantly. However, keep in mind that when a tool is being updated to meet current market needs, it goes through stages of development, which may take time to reach its full potential. This is similar to how traditional automakers have entered the electric vehicle market. So, while ServiceNow could be a good choice, it is important to do your homework to ensure it suits your specific requirements. Overall, I would rate ServiceNow CMDB as a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It can discover various pieces from hardware, software, custom applications, and tie them together to create a map using ASM."
"The product is easy to set up."
"It scales easily with future expansion."
"The auto-discovery feature is great."
"Precision, trustworthiness, reconciliation, and user-friendly presentation are the key features I value most."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the discovery."
"It can discover almost everything and creates relationship among discovered CIs, along with creating topology modeling."
"We can use ServiceNow CMDB to create more tables that can provide granular information."
"ServiceNow CMDB is fully integrated and complete. ServiceNow has modules for everything an IT service company needs, and it's flexible."
"The solution has a single database, architecture, and data model."
"I like ServiceNow CMDB's discovery tools. If you have discovery tools and the discovery tools are built around a philosophy of mapping, then we can implement a top-down architectural mapping of the elements in the upper structure and create your CI."
"It is a dependable source of data. If I want to understand what technologies are used to deliver certain business outcomes, this is what I would use. I can know that this particular server is being used to deliver this business application or business service."
"The CMDB for us is fed by our discovery tools, and it lets us be able to track the changes that we make to any incidents or escalation points that we have associated with a CI."
"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."
"CMDB provides a centralized repository for your assets and support representatives throughout the organization."
 

Cons

"Improve the GUI and documentation."
"The page loading is very slow."
"The implementation could be simplified."
"Making it simpler to set up and understand would be a big improvement."
"When we work in an environment, the production environment continuously changes and at that time we should have knowledge about the new server (node). However, the auto-discovery part should automatically discover the new CI (node/servers) in an environment and inform the IT person."
"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."
"Definitely, the price needs to be lower because there are clients that I work with who cannot afford ServiceNow. I have to end up proposing alternate solutions to fit their budget."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
"The discovery process and service mapping could be improved."
"There are areas that could be improved, but that's a longer discussion. It all depends on what you are looking to do with it and then it becomes an issue of how do you configure the CMDB accordingly."
"If you select any CI, the associated applications with that CI should also be made available for users since, currently, the tool lacks such a feature."
"I don't think it's a failure of Service Now or something that they don't offer, but I haven't seen any training modules."
"We have various service levels and SLAs for our customers like platinum, gold, etc. Each SLA has an associated hardware and computing configuration. We cannot define that in ServiceNow for each customer. For example, a customer with 100 servers might be in the platinum category while a client with 25 would be in gold."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared with other solutions, I would say that it's more expensive especially since we have an on-premise version and an older implementation."
"It is competitive."
"The product price falls on the higher side of the spectrum."
"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."
"The product is pricey."
"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."
"In comparison to the cost of other solutions, you get value for your money with ServiceNow CMDB. It could definitely be cheaper though."
"The market sees ServiceNow as the Ferrari in terms of pricing. It's at the very top, and its cost is very, very high."
"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
14%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Wholesaler/Distributor
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Universal CMDB?
OpenText's pricing is fine. It is not too expensive. I would rate it a six out of ten in terms of costliness.
What needs improvement with Universal CMDB?
Based on my experience and what I have heard from clients, there are two main areas where Universal CMDB could get better. First, the way it shows results to users could be more user-friendly. Seco...
What is your primary use case for Universal CMDB?
I use Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB for two main tasks: first, to discover what is happening in our IT system, like finding out what devices and software we have. Then, we use Universal CM...
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

Micro Focus Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB, Micro Focus Universal CMDB, UCMDB, HPE Universal CMDB
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China Merchants Bank, NNIT, Alfa-Bank, Sprint
Wayfair, Siemens, Allianz, Experian, Vitas Healthcare
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB vs. ServiceNow CMDB and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.