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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs ServiceNow Now Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd)
ServiceNow Now Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
13th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No-Code Development Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 7.5%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Now Platform is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Application Express (APEX)7.5%
ServiceNow Now Platform1.9%
Other90.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
SiddharthZunjarrao - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to have significant improvements in operational efficiency
ServiceNow is highly scalable from a customization point of view, allowing for the building of portals, adding and configuring widgets, and designing workflows as preferred. The text-to-code feature is particularly useful for turning natural language instructions into recognizable code on the ServiceNow platform, aiding both implementation teams and customers. The case summarization feature is also great, as it summarizes user comments and agent notes into a resolution code without needing to review the entire activity history.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One standout feature of Oracle APEX is its seamless integration with backend procedures, allowing for quick updates without changing the front-end interface."
"It provides attractive GUIs allowing professionally-styled applications without the need to know HTML, CSS, or JavaScript."
"It has a well-designed architecture and is a simple 3rd party application."
"I particularly enjoy the web builder capabilities, especially the Page Designer. It offers so many elements or components to choose from, which is a major plus for me."
"It has many ready modules that can be used and developed."
"Oracle is always adding very important updates"
"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."
"With only a browser, it is very easy to develop in a web environment."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
"The most valuable features are the ease of use, stability, and the ability to change or upgrade seamlessly."
"It can integrate anywhere, and you can make any kind of workflow."
"In ServiceNow, the best features are the reports. We have more options there."
"The tool helps to automate IT service management processes. It's the market-leading technology. It can provide the company with chatbots and a unique process or workflow orchestration. It can be customized to the customer's specific needs, enabling semi-automatic or full automation processes. It integrates fully with SAP and offers a wide range of advantages for both us and our clients."
"The tool is generally easy to use, making it a very user-friendly product."
"The solution is very comprehensive."
"The level of automation within the platform is great."
 

Cons

"You also need an APEX specialist for deployment because not many people use it."
"There is a bit of a learning curve involved when first using the solution."
"Currently, APEX doesn't have a building workflow engine. I think that's the most important improvement that could be made at this point."
"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."
"The product's stability has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"I don't like the URL syntax."
"Apex has effectively incorporated new market trends into its features. The platform's user-friendly nature is notable, guiding developers through the development process. While advanced customization of the user interface with HTML and CSS is possible, the out-of-the-box options often suffice, providing 80-90% of the required functionality. The IDE is commendable, yet an enhancement in the Page Designer to allow a real-time preview of layout changes would be beneficial. Currently, running the page is necessary to visualize layout adjustments, but an immediate preview during the design phase would be a valuable improvement."
"The problem of sending emails arises when Oracle Application Express (APEX) is inside Oracle Cloud Infrastructure since it is a bit complicated or difficult to understand where to take care of the setup part to be able to just send out emails properly."
"The number of API calls processed by the tool, specifically when the API calls increase, will cause a lot of load on the platform, and it tends to not work very efficiently."
"The tool has a lot of limitations."
"ServiceNow Now Platform's technical support needs to improve."
"We would like to see AI used to automate some of the functionality in this solution."
"ServiceNow Now Platform's automation process needs improvement."
"They should reduce the solution's cost and make it more affordable for buyers."
"From an improvement perspective, the product's complicated initial setup phase can be made a bit easier."
"The UI and mobile UI need to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a full Oracle E-Business Suite license, and we use that license to develop applications. There's no license required for developing Oracle applications."
"I rate the product's price as ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"Apex is not priced separately; instead, it is associated with the Oracle database. A free option for Oracle database and Apex can be downloaded and installed on this complimentary database version. This aligns with our current approach."
"The solution is moderately priced, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The pricing is very good and less expensive than Mendix or OutSystems."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"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."
"APEX itslelf is a free product, but you will need to license peripheral components."
"Price-wise, I would describe the product's cost to be more than the average, but it compensates for that with the functionalities that it provides."
"I don't have much exposure to the costs attached to the solution. I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest price, and ten is the highest price since it is a costly tool."
"It's expensive and if you need some analytical views of your activity, there is an additional cost."
"ServiceNow is not open source, so there is a license you must pay. As for how much it costs, what I have observed is that it often depends on your subscriptions."
"Pricing is based on the number of users and user licenses, but the product is 20% to 30% more than the competition."
"People seem to be buying the tool a lot. I think its licensing is okay."
"The product is very expensive."
"In my opinion, it is expensive. However, they do offer favorable licensing for charities, for example."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I consider Oracle Application Express (APEX) to be good value for the money because it has infinite quality for money since it's included in any Oracle database license. It's free once you have the...
What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
One of the things that could be done to improve Oracle Application Express (APEX) is if Oracle decided to open it up to other databases. It needs to be an enterprise database; therefore, it needs t...
What do you like most about ServiceNow Now Platform?
The integration with other tools is pretty good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Now Platform?
From what I have heard only from our sales team, ServiceNow Now Platform falls within the more expensive tier of a product, but I can't really judge it.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Now Platform?
What could be improved in ServiceNow Now Platform is the availability of skill sets. For some reason, we don't get too many people who know this technology easily. Regarding their pricing, I would ...
 

Also Known As

Oracle APEX
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
experian, beachbody, health partners
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. ServiceNow Now Platform and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.