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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs ServiceNow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd), Low-Code Development Platforms (4th)
ServiceNow
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
224
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (1st), IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 6.0%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 6.5%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ServiceNow6.5%
Oracle Application Express (APEX)6.0%
Other87.5%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software developer at QV Systems
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.
SP
General Manager at sPerception IT
Adopting flexible workflows with customized automation delivers measurable benefits
There are things that I would like to see improved in ServiceNow, such as the pricing, as it is a very costly solution compared to other tools. Additionally, its presence in the local market is very limited; in Pakistan, for example, I don't see any vendor or distributor of ServiceNow available. They need to increase their sales spectrum globally so people can easily access them and engage them for client meetings and more. From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have. When providing advice to users, I would suggest they consider making strategic decisions about their per user pricing since it is very high. In our region, people normally start with 5 to 10 users, but the per user price is quite steep. Moreover, ServiceNow does not charge based on data uploaded or downloaded, so they should reconsider their pricing and data policies to align better with the financial capabilities of the region.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like best about Oracle Application Express (APEX) is that it doesn't require hard coding for reporting and building applications. It's a GUI-based application builder that even end-users with little development and language knowledge can develop applications on Oracle Application Express (APEX). The software is also very user-friendly, which I find valuable."
"Oracle APEX is very easy to use and comes with a lot of ready-made components that speed up the process of creating reports and dashboards."
"You don't have to know a lot of PL because it's built on PL/SQL. You don't need developers. You only need to design a good application that resolves a problem, or many problems, for companies and you're ready to go."
"You can customize the solution to create a console where only business users can access and download files if they want to extract the data."
"It's fairly easy to make a user-friendly interface."
"I like the way that it automatically goes into the spreadsheets and the users can deal with it."
"It's low code, or even no code. It's very flexible, allowing you to achieve what you want. You can customize applications with very little code, which is the best part."
"The most valuable features are security, stability, and ease of implementation."
"What I like the most is the functionality, it's features are rich, and there is a high degree of compliance with IT standards."
"The biggest feature is that it is cloud-based, so it's always updated, it's always current. We don't have to worry about patches, revisions. We're always working with the latest version."
"We used ServiceNow for change management, release management, and event management."
"There are lots of modules around IT service management such as IT business management and human resource management (HRC)."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of development for customization."
"I have found the workflows and integration the most valuable in this solution."
"It offers ready-built automation and simpler configuration for workflows."
"I would rate ServiceNow nine out of ten."
 

Cons

"Oracle is more of a database-oriented solution and is not very flexible in app development."
"I would like to see easier integration into active directory authentication. Also, maybe integration of JavaScript frameworks would resolve some issues."
"Source control could be stronger in Oracle Application Express (APEX). It needs some work."
"There is not a lot of Wiki help or in Google, but there is some."
"Another issue I used to encounter was with the debugging functions. I believe this is an area where Oracle APEX could improve significantly in terms of displaying error messages or error pages. It is very difficult to detect bugs or which bugs you are having when it comes to errors or which errors you have."
"Occasionally when trying to un a page, I would be faced with an error number; however, not much information would be provided on the error itself outside of the programming language. It would be nice if more information could be provided."
"The migration process is difficult in Oracle Application Express."
"For beginners, understanding the installation process can be challenging because documentation is limited."
"The solution’s pricing is expensive and could be improved."
"Currently, we are finding it a bit difficult to monitor the subscriptions that are being used. The reporting feature related to this can be improved. Its ITOM functionality can be improved. BMC does a better job than ServiceNow in terms of capturing utilization and other such things."
"When we are using the solution on mobile phones on their networks the performance is reduced with a delay of approximately 8 seconds. There is less delay using the desktop computers connected to the WiFi or to the network directly."
"There are sometimes challenges with the portal being a bit confusing for new users."
"The level of complexity and the level of discovery are the two areas that can be improved. Its UI needs to evolve. They focus a lot on cool colors and other little things, which don't bring value in terms of functionality. They need to focus less on presentation and more on the functionality within the UI. Its discovery mechanism should be improved. There is a component in ServiceNow that discovers the assets, but it doesn't do an immediate discovery, and there is a lag. If I want to open a ticket for a laptop or an asset, that asset needs to exist within ServiceNow for me to be able to say that I need to have its disk space or memory increased. It is referred to as a CI or configuration item in ServiceNow. Sometimes, ServiceNow doesn't discover these items, and as a result, I cannot open a ticket and tag that system or asset. If a system was introduced to the environment last week and it is still not listed, it becomes a problem. I will either have to wait or manually enter that system or asset. So, if I have a laptop with only 8 GB of memory and I want to request 16 GB of memory, I won't be able to do that in ServiceNow because my system or asset hasn't been discovered yet. Discovery is not immediate, and there is a lag."
"The asset management application could be improved. They have a lot of the infrastructure built, but it does not come with already made compatibility with some of the most popular vendors, such as Cisco and Microsoft. You have to fix it yourself."
"I am interested to see the firm's strategic plans for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and how the particular areas it will expand on from its existing investments (that feature, for example, in its ITSM Pro and CSM Pro modules)."
"The high price is a huge barrier in Portugal."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is free with the Oracle Database license."
"When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"It's a free solution with no additional costs."
"The pricing is mid-range so is neither expensive nor cheap."
"The pricing is very good and less expensive than Mendix or OutSystems."
"I do not think this would be an ideal option for a small sized company or a startup when considering the salary requirements for Oracle DBA'a and developers."
"Oracle Application Express (APEX) is free, so this is another magic of the solution. You just get charged for the database license, which I don't need."
"The price is okay for us. It's reasonable."
"The first impact for the customer is that it is expensive, but do not forget that it is a solution that includes infrastructure; a single cost, easy to justify."
"Getting the solution up and running is expensive."
"It's sold as a less expensive solution, but it has to be highly modified. That's where you get into the cost."
"There are licensing fees."
"The price could be a little lower for the solution. Many of my customers have issues with the licensing process, they have to make it easier and straightforward."
"The licensing cost is based on your partnership with ServiceNow and what you have selected for implementation. There is an annual license cost which is calculated based on your number of devices."
"It is very expensive because it is a big organization. You have to pay for additional things."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise166
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I have only tried it with an Oracle database, not with other databases. For beginners, understanding the installation process can be challenging because documentation is limited. It is hard to unde...
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...
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.
 

Also Known As

Oracle APEX
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
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 Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.