ServiceNow Discovery vs Zabbix comparison

Read 104 Zabbix reviews

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ServiceNow Discovery

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Zabbix and ServiceNow Discovery are both prominent solutions in the network and application monitoring space. Zabbix's pricing and support receive higher satisfaction from users. However, ServiceNow Discovery is often considered superior due to its feature set, justifying its higher price.

Features: Zabbix users appreciate its robust monitoring capabilities, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. ServiceNow Discovery users value its comprehensive asset management, integration with ITOM products, and extensive feature set, making it the preferred choice for larger organizations needing in-depth IT infrastructure insights.

Room for Improvement: Zabbix users frequently mention the need for a more streamlined setup process, better official documentation, and improved user interface design. ServiceNow Discovery users suggest improvements in the complexity of configuration, enhanced performance speed, and more intuitive user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zabbix deployment is often highlighted for its straightforward setup in user reviews, though some find support lacking in responsiveness. ServiceNow Discovery deployment is seen as more complex, but users praise its customer service for being highly supportive and efficient.

Pricing and ROI: Zabbix is seen as cost-effective, providing a high return on investment with lower setup costs. Conversely, ServiceNow Discovery has higher upfront costs but users feel the extensive features and integrations justify the investment over time.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zabbix Report (Updated: January 2025).

ServiceNow Discovery vs. Zabbix

January 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

ServiceNow Discovery

Ranking in Server Monitoring

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (5th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)

Zabbix

Ranking in Server Monitoring

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (9th), Network Monitoring Software (1st), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 8.9%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zabbix is 21.7%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Kaustubh Partha

Technical Support Analyst at CLSA

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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ASM Naushad Alam

Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes

We have not yet purchased the commercial version so have a lack of technical ability. We do not yet fully know the key points or key features of the solution. We just use what we use along with WhatsUp Gold. Based on our use only, stability is rated a seven out of ten.

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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

"ServiceNow Discovery works better than other products I've used."

"We mostly use the solution's ITSM and ITOM capabilities in most workflows."

"The initial setup is pretty easy."

"The solution finds public cloud infrastructures globally and updates the integration management database, service catalogs, and asset management details."

"They have a very good network in the infrastructure of Discovery."

"The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB."

"It is a stable solution...The initial setup of the product is straightforward."

"I like ServiceNow Discovery's overall structure and the way data comes in without creating a different dashboard or interface."

More ServiceNow Discovery pros

"In terms of customization and integration, we have more flexibility. We can automate configurations, define deletion rules, and customize based on the needs. The client interface allows for further configuration, making it quite comprehensive."

"The solution is open-source, easy to manage, and user-friendly making it easy for anyone to use."

"The most valuable feature is the alert and alarm monitoring."

"The level of discovery-based configuration that lets us auto-configure the monitoring for various systems is a valuable feature."

"Zabbix has a roadmap and they are continuously and frequently adding new features."

"We are able to do problem determination on runaway processes."

"Zabbix is an excellent performance monitoring tool."

"The most valuable features are the monitoring and the ease with which we can set it up at customer sites with our custom Zabbix proxy and tools."

More Zabbix pros

Cons

"In terms of improvement, I would like for it to be possible to use without coding. I would like a dropdown so that every customer can do it easily for himself and can understand it."

"The solution needs to improve the cost of the solution. There are a few different solutions and they do act the same and have the same types of capabilities, however, the cost is quite high."

"Instead of AI, even GenAI should be introduced in ServiceNow Discovery."

"When you switch versions, for example, when you go from Paris to Quebec they will introduce many new things and occasionally things break when they do that."

"The product could improve some of the visualization and architecture setups."

"It's an expensive platform."

"Technical support has not been helpful when we have come across problems."

"In a few instances, ServiceNow has failed to discover some basic things. Some other tools are better at network discovery than ServiceNow. I'm not talking about database servers or any other infrastructure—only networking. Cloud discovery could also be better."

More ServiceNow Discovery cons

"The dashboard and the graph section could be a little bit more professional."

"It should be easy to modify the front end."

"It would be helpful if they translated the documentation to Cyrillic languages."

"I would like to remotely connect to the computer, and Zabbix doesn't have this capability."

"The product delivers false positives during reporting because of flapping. Other reasonably priced alternatives may have better performance."

"The performance reporting could be improved."

"Implementing Zabbix is difficult. I've deployed many solutions over the years, and Zabbix is the hardest to implement. You have to do some development to get it to work with IBM, Micro Focus, or HP products."

"Implementation is always tailored to the customer and the kind of information we need from the client to carry it out can make them very uncomfortable. Sometimes the clients are not ready to share it."

More Zabbix cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If the product is not deployed properly, it can be very expensive."

"There is a need to make payments every quarter of a year towards the licensing costs of the solution. ServiceNow Discovery is an expensive tool."

"The solution is very expensive."

"It is an expensive product with a price that depends on the models that you wish to purchase."

"I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten. We had availed some discount from the standard pricing. Even then, the tool's pricing is expensive. You have to pay some vendor service fees for the product's implementation."

"ROI (Return on Investment) is good. ServiceNow don't disclose the price publicly. They'll assess your organization's needs and then come up with a price."

"ServiceNow Discovery is expensive, but the company has a monopoly and we need to use the solution. We use it because we do not have a choice."

"Setting up and licensing for ServiceNow can be expensive, especially for enterprise service management."

More ServiceNow Discovery pricing and cost advice

"It is open source. If you want to have a subscription or official support, you can pay for it. They have different plans, which are not that expensive. The plans are based on per monitoring server, not per monitored equipment. So, it is not at all expensive, and you can also live without the support if you want a cheaper option."

"It is a true open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."

"There is no license but we need to pay for support."

"The solution is free. However, many open-sourced tools start out free but eventually start charging."

"The solution is free to use but they offer support as a paid service. If you can go read the manuals and do the fine-tuning based on your needs, you do not need to pay anything and you will have a full solution."

"The solution is open source so is free."

"This solution is open-source and free to use."

"Zabbix is open-source so if one wishes to implement it in-house, they must have qualified professionals to set up and optimize databases, Linux/Unix OS, PHP, Apache, and depending on what is monitored, a full-stack network and systems administrator may be needed."

More Zabbix pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

39%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Discovery?

The product pricing is fair and reasonable for the value it provides. However, it is important to factor in the ongoing maintenance costs, as the system requires professional upkeep to ensure optim...

What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?

The continuous improvement in the quality and customization of the product features would be beneficial, particularly as more customers rely heavily on its capabilities.

What do you like most about Zabbix?

The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zabbix?

I use the tool's free version.

What needs improvement with Zabbix?

I'm using the free version of Zabbix, and I'd like to see more customization options, especially for setting trigger thresholds.

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Product Reports

Download ServiceNow Discovery product report

ServiceNow Discovery

December 2024

Download Zabbix product report

December 2024

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ServiceNow

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.

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software that provides real-time monitoring and alerting for servers, networks, applications, and services.

It offers a wide range of features including data collection, visualization, and reporting.

With its user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards, Zabbix helps organizations ensure the availability and performance of their IT infrastructure.

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY

1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba