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ServiceNow Discovery vs VMware vCenter comparison

ServiceNow and VMware are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. ServiceNow is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while VMware is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6. ServiceNow holds a 4.3% mindshare in SM, compared to VMware’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of VMware users who would recommend it.
ServiceNow Discovery
Read 41 ServiceNow Discovery reviews
  • 2,622 Views
  • 1,285 Comparison Views
97% willing to recommend
VMware vCenter
Read 35 VMware vCenter reviews
  • 187 Views
  • 80 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

ServiceNow Discovery and VMware vCenter are popular tools for IT operations management. User reviews indicate VMware vCenter slightly edges out in terms of advanced features, while ServiceNow Discovery is favored for better overall value due to its pricing and support.

Features: ServiceNow Discovery offers thorough asset and service mapping, efficient IT asset visibility, and excellent tracking capabilities. VMware vCenter provides robust virtualization capabilities, an extensive feature set for managing virtual environments, and automation tools specifically for virtual machines.

Room for Improvement: ServiceNow Discovery could benefit from enhanced integration, better automation features, and improved scalability. VMware vCenter needs simplification in deployment processes, enhanced user interface, and better native integration with other IT systems.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow Discovery users find the deployment straightforward and commend the responsive customer service. VMware vCenter, while more complex to deploy, is noted for its support team’s expertise.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow Discovery is noted for competitive setup costs and favorable ROI due to efficient asset management. VMware vCenter, despite being higher-priced, offers strong ROI through advanced virtual environment management.

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Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Discovery vs. VMware vCenter
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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
ROI from ServiceNow Discovery varies, influenced by efficiency, data use challenges, automation benefits, and implementation strategies.
Sentiment score
8.5
VMware vCenter offers cost-effective management, enhances scalability and security, and ensures positive financial impact with reliable support.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
ServiceNow Discovery's support is inconsistent, ranging from responsive to inadequate, with reliance on community forums and documentation.
Sentiment score
7.4
VMware vCenter customer service quality has declined, with inconsistent support and slower response times compared to previous years.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Discovery report
The technical support is good.
For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vCenter report
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
ServiceNow Discovery is scalable for diverse infrastructures with challenges in legacy apps and Google Cloud, impacting smaller entities' cost.
Sentiment score
7.9
VMware vCenter is praised for its scalability, robust architecture, and reliability in managing diverse and expansive infrastructures.
I would rate it as a nine on a scale of one to ten, indicating it is highly scalable.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Discovery report
The scalability is good in vCenter.
For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vCenter report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its stability and reliability, performing well across updates with minimal issues when properly resourced.
Sentiment score
3.0
VMware vCenter is highly stable, reliable, with minimal downtime, offering strong support despite minor log and compatibility concerns.
 

Room For Improvement

ServiceNow Discovery needs improved integration, UI, pricing, cloud features, AI utilization, and support for ease and flexibility.
VMware vCenter users face challenges in cost, management, and usability, requiring improvements in support, integration, and feature simplification.
Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Discovery report
Better redundancy options can be achieved by using multiple vCenter machines.
The personal portal is difficult to navigate.
For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vCenter report
reviewer1651011 - PeerSpot reviewerMuhammad Fahad - PeerSpot reviewerMaryam Abdrabo Eid - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

ServiceNow Discovery is considered costly, but many users find its advanced features and automation worth the investment.
VMware vCenter pricing is complex and expensive, with varied licensing options and potential hidden costs for advanced features.
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Discovery report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vCenter report
 

Valuable Features

ServiceNow Discovery offers seamless integration, service mapping, security, and accurate data insights, enhancing IT operations and change management.
VMware vCenter enhances infrastructure with centralized management, high availability, intuitive interface, and features like DRS and vMotion for efficiency.
The workflows are beneficial as they allow tasks to be assigned to respective teams without the need for coding.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Discovery report
High availability is employed so if an ESXi server is down, the VM is supported on another ESXi on other servers.
In vCenter, I can easily manage storage and move it from one server to another, which is beneficial for the environment.
For more quotes and insights, download the VMware vCenter report
reviewer1651011 - PeerSpot reviewerMaryam Abdrabo Eid - PeerSpot reviewerMuhammad Fahad - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow Discovery
Ranking in Server Monitoring
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (4th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)
VMware vCenter
Ranking in Server Monitoring
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 4.3%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vCenter is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Kaustubh Partha - PeerSpot reviewer
Scans servers and network devices through SNMP and reduces manual maintenance for our infrastructure team
I like how ServiceNow Discovery scans servers and network devices through SNMP. Most fields on our forms are auto-filled, reducing manual maintenance for our infrastructure team. Post Discovery implementation there is hardly any maintenance. There are three to four fields that are customized. Otherwise, 90% of the data is auto-filled. Discovery can also run in bulk, which is helpful for organizations that cannot run it during weekdays. With identification rules, if a configuration item (CI) isn't in the CMDB, you can simply add the IP address, and it will be automatically added based on criteria like name or serial number, making CMDB maintenance easier.
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SivaKuppala - PeerSpot reviewer
Performance monitoring tools help track resource usage, identify performance bottlenecks, and optimize the efficiency of virtual environments
It is like a single point of failure. In an environment, vCenter is deployed as a single instance, which represents a single point of failure. The concern here is that tasks such as provisioning, monitoring, and maintenance may be impacted until the server is restored. This only affects management; users are not impacted. But, again, management capabilities will be impacted. The entire system goes down until recovery is completed. You will not be able to provision new VDI. Also, vCenter requires a lot of additional resources for managing capabilities. It uses a significant amount of CPU, memory, and network bandwidth, which can sometimes slow down. Proper sizing is important for vCenter so that it does not impact end-users. vCentre licensing cost is on the higher side as well.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ServiceNow Discovery?
The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?
ServiceNow is considered more expensive compared to other products. If I were to rate the pricing on a scale from one to ten in terms of expense, I would rate it quite high.
See all answers
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?
Improvements could include implementing chatbots to simplify ticket creation. Currently, each new product must be manually created if it is not already available in ServiceNow, which can be cumbers...
See all answers
What do you like most about VMware vCenter?
The filtering capabilities also enhance scalability by optimizing resource allocation.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware vCenter?
The pricing and setup cost are rated seven out of ten. It is mentioned that the price might be a little lower to increase customer adoption. The specific details of the financial cost were not prov...
See all answers
What needs improvement with VMware vCenter?
The performance is well, however, i didnot use different products to say my opinion.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 28% of the time
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Compared 23% of the time
BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery Logo
BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery
Compared 8% of the time
Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery Logo
Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery
Compared 7% of the time
Zabbix vs ServiceNow Discovery Logo
Zabbix vs ServiceNow Discovery
Compared 5% of the time
More ServiceNow Discovery Competitors
Microsoft Configuration Manager vs VMware vCenter Logo
Microsoft Configuration Manager vs VMware vCenter
Compared 100% of the time
More VMware vCenter Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Discovery
March 2025
ServiceNow Discovery reportDownload ServiceNow Discovery product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware vCenter
March 2025
VMware vCenter reportDownload VMware vCenter product report
 

Overview

ServiceNow Discovery finds applications and devices on your network, and then updates the CMDB with the information it finds. Discovery is available as a separate subscription from the rest of the Now Platform.

ServiceNow

VMware vCenter is essential for managing virtual machines, deploying systems for customers, and centralizing ESXi servers' management. It aids in monitoring hosts, handling backups, recovering data, and virtualizing compute resources.

Organizations leverage VMware vCenter to oversee virtual infrastructure, automate administrative tasks, and provide self-service portals. It simplifies the management of IT environments by offering features like host profiles, high availability, and cluster configuration. Other notable features include scalability, resource management, performance monitoring, cloning, snapshots, DRS, LACP, and lifecycle management. VMware vCenter ensures continuous system availability, benefiting sectors like healthcare through efficient server management and process automation. The platform's alerting mechanisms, backup and restore functionalities, and elastic resource allocation enhance operational efficiency.

What are the key features of VMware vCenter?
  • Host Profiles: Simplifies and standardizes host configurations.
  • High Availability: Ensures system uptime and reliability.
  • Centralized Management: Allows comprehensive control over multiple ESXi servers.
  • Scalability: Adapts to growing infrastructure needs.
  • Performance Monitoring: Assesses and optimizes virtual machine performance.
  • Cloning & Snapshots: Facilitates quick deployment and recovery.
  • DRS: Distributes resources efficiently across the cluster.
  • LACP: Enhances network performance and reliability.
  • Lifecycle Management: Manages software updates and hardware lifecycles effectively.
What benefits and ROI can users expect?
  • Operational Efficiency: Automates routine tasks and improves resource management.
  • System Availability: Minimizes downtime and ensures continuous operations.
  • Cost Management: Optimizes resource usage and reduces operational costs.
  • Scalability: Grows with the company's infrastructure needs.
  • Enhanced Performance: Monitors and optimizes virtual machine performance.

Healthcare organizations use VMware vCenter to ensure uninterrupted access to critical applications and patient data. It helps manage large volumes of virtual servers, providing necessary performance and reliability. This platform's automation and monitoring capabilities are crucial for maintaining efficient IT operations and supporting healthcare needs.

VMware
 

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY
1. Amazon 2. Apple 3. ATT 4. Bank of America 5. Cisco Systems 6. CocaCola 7. Dell 8. ebay 9. Facebook 10. Google 11. HP 12. IBM 13. Intel 14. JPMorgan Chase 15. LinkedIn 16. Microsoft 17. Netflix 18. Oracle 19. PayPal 20. SAP 21. Siemens 22. Tesla 23. Toyota 24. Twitter 25. Visa 26. Walmart 27. WeWork 28. World Bank
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Discovery vs. VMware vCenter
April 2025
Free Report: ServiceNow Discovery vs. VMware vCenter
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