Top 11 ServiceNow Competitors & Alternatives

ServiceNow is a cloud-based SaaS platform that provides workflow automation. The company was founded as Glidesoft in 2003 by Fred Luddy, rebranded in 2006, and went public in a $210 million IPO in Jun 2012.

Based in Santa Clara, California, ServiceNow expanded from only five employees in 2005 to over 12,500 employees in 2020. In 2018, ServiceNow was number one on Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative Companies.

Over 6,200 organizations today use its solutions to streamline their processes and improve operational efficiency. In 2020, ServiceNow’s total annual revenue was $4.52 billion.

The company generated $4.39 billion from subscriptions and $233.7 million from professional services. [1]

ServiceNow has expanded through acquisition to become the go-to company for digital workflow automation. The company acquired eight companies in the past year, including Attivio, Element AI, Lightstep, and Swarm64.

These strategic acquisitions increase its competitive edge and market dominance. The company has seen a surge in demand for its services in the past year. It added 1,201 customers and attracted over $1 million in contracts from Apr to Jul 2021.

For FY 2021, ServiceNow expects subscription revenue of $5.53 billion to $5.54 billion. To protect its revenue, ServiceNow has to fend off competitors like Zendesk, Jira, and ConnectWise. [2]

Table of Contents

Here is an in-depth analysis of ServiceNow’s 11 competitors and alternatives:

1. Salesforce

Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: San Francisco, California

Salesforce is the world’s leading customer relationship management (CRM) software company. More than 150,000 organizations use its CRM to automate sales, marketing, and other business processes. In 2020, Salesforce generated $21.25 billion in revenues.

The main competitive advantage for Salesforce over ServiceNow is its integrated platform. Unlike ServiceNow, Salesforce is a one-stop shop for process automation. Sales Cloud contributes about 34% of its revenues, 30% comes from Service Cloud, 15% from Marketing Cloud, and 20% from other segments.

The company controls around 18% of the global cloud SaaS market. Salesforce’s robust CRM makes it the best ServiceNow alternative for enterprises. [3]

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— Salesforce (@salesforce) June 24, 2022

2. Zendesk

Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: San Francisco, California

Zendesk is a SaaS company that provides CRM, helpdesk, and knowledge management platforms. The company’s products include Zendesk Support, Zendesk Talk, Zendesk Explore, Zendesk Gather, and Zendesk Sell.

With 3,570 employees, Zendesk is one of the largest companies in this space. In 2020, Zendesk’s annual revenue surged 26%, from $816.4 million in 2019 to $1.03 billion. [4]

Zendesk leverages AI to help organizations automate customer conversations, boost productivity, and increase operational efficiency. In Aug 2021, Zendesk acquired AI startup Cleverly to grow its customer service capabilities. This acquisition will increase Zendesk’s competitive advantage over ServiceNow.

Zendesk uses a flexible pricing model to fit the needs of different businesses. SMBs can pay as little as $5/month for customer support and $19/month for sales. In the first half of 2021, the company has seen significant revenue growth with a 29% y-o-y gain in Q2. Zendesk’s growing revenues and robust platform make it a formidable ServiceNow competitor. [5]

We support our employees. Zendesk's recent announcement that provides travel expenses of up to $3K annually for U.S. employees, their spouses, and dependents needing to travel for access to reproductive care became even more important today. Learn more: https://t.co/8NbgnEsayI
— Zendesk (@Zendesk) June 24, 2022

3. Oracle

Year founded: 1977
Headquarter: Redwood City, California

Oracle is a leading provider of enterprise solutions. The company’s Oracle Cloud Platform helps businesses manage and leverage their data to improve operational processes. For the fiscal year 2021, Oracle’s revenue was $40.5 billion. The tech giant has more than 136,000 employees, about ten times more than ServiceNow.

Oracle competes with ServiceNow across the business spectrum. In the process automation sector, Oracle PeopleSoft helps businesses improve operational efficiency and cut costs. Companies also use PeopleSoft Cloud Manager to automate lifecycle management and cloud migration routines. Oracle’s Global HR Cloud and Talent Management Cloud compete with ServiceNow HR Service Delivery.

Both solutions help organizations streamline HR processes and manage the entire talent lifecycle, from sourcing candidates to onboarding new hires. Oracle’s comprehensive enterprise ecosystem can give ServiceNow a run for its money. [6]

"We believe that this revenue growth spike indicates that our infrastructure business has now entered a hyper-growth phase." Hear more about our #cloud business in @Reuters. https://t.co/pHBdfATnbr
— Oracle (@Oracle) June 24, 2022

4. Jira

Year founded: 2002
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia

Jira is a project management software and issues tracking platform with three segments: Jira Core, Jira Software, and Jira Service Desk. Like ServiceNow, the Jira Service Desk streamlines internal communication and collaboration. The platform is owned and operated by Atlassian, an Australian software company. In 2020, Atlassian had 5,752 employees and generated $1.6 billion in revenues.

The main selling point for Jira Service Desk is its simplicity. It offers easy-to-follow processes and seamless workflows, so anyone can use it regardless of their technical skills. With Jira Core, Jira Software, and Jira Service Desk, users can access software development, project management, IT support, and automation services in a single platform.

Atlassian recently acquired Trello and leveraged it to improve Jira’s user interface, Kanban system, and user experience. This acquisition increases Jira’s competitive edge over ServiceNow. Jira Service Desk is a worthy ServiceNow competitor and alternative. [7]

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— Atlassian Jira (@Jira) June 23, 2022

5. Workday

Year founded: 2005
Headquarter: Pleasanton, California

Workday is a human capital management (HCM) software company. It was founded by former execs and founders of PeopleSoft after Oracle’s hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. For FY 2021, Workday’s revenue was $3.79 billion versus $3.1 billion in FY 2020.

Workday HCM competes with ServiceNow HR Service Delivery. This cloud-based system helps organizations address evolving business. Workday also offers Workday Financial Management, Workday Payroll, Workday Recruiting, Workday Learning, and Workday Planning.

Users can access Workday HCM and all these products on a single platform. All-in-one offering increases Workday’s competitive edge over ServiceNow. [8]

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— Workday (@Workday) June 24, 2022

6. SAP SE

Year founded: 1972
Headquarter: Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

SAP is a German tech company that provides ERP software for managing business operations and customer relations. With a brand value of $57.58 billion, SAP is one of the most valuable tech companies globally. For FY 2020, SAP’s revenue was $32 billion, with a net income of $6 billion. The company has around 102,000 employees, about eight times more than ServiceNow. [9]

SAP’s SuccessFactors is the best alternative to ServiceNow HR Service Delivery. Organizations use SuccessFactors to align their strategies with objectives and manage workforce performance. This solution can help businesses improve efficiency, execution, and results.

In 2015, the company launched SAP S/4HANA to provide advanced cloud-based data analytics. S/4HANA is emerging as the go-to cloud platform for enterprise-level business management solutions. SAP is a worthy ServiceNow alternative.

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— SAP (@SAP) June 23, 2022

7. ConnectWise

Year founded: 2019
Headquarter: Tampa, Florida

ConnectWise is a software company that offers business automation and data management. Its software and services help tech providers to streamline their SaaS business. In 2019, Thoma Bravo acquired ConnectWise for $1.5 billion.

The new owners provided an additional $25-$40 million in cash for ConnectWise to enhance its products and delivery. The company laid off 4% of its workforce in 2020 and now has around 1,865 employees. [10]

The main competitive advantage for ConnectWise is its intuitive and security-centric platform. Since 2019, CEO Jason Magee has spearheaded ConnectWise’s transformation with strategic acquisitions like Continuum, StratoZen, and Perch Security.

CEO Magee’s innovative channel-focused strategies earned him a position on CRN’s 2021 Top 100 Executives. Both ServiceNow and ConnectWise offer process automation solutions. But ConnectWise also provides IT asset management tools and security optimization, which can entice security-minded companies.

Today, 1116 companies use ConnectWise Automate to manage their IT assets. ConnectWise’s innovative products and effective leadership make it a worthy ServiceNow competitor. [12]

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Throughout the month, we will share stories from ConnectWise colleagues discussing what being part of the LGBTQ+ community means to them. pic.twitter.com/MeNORdrxPA
— ConnectWise (@ConnectWise) June 23, 2022

8. SolarWinds

Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: Austin, Texas

SolarWinds is a software company that provides solutions to help businesses manage their IT infrastructure, networks, and systems. The company’s products simplify operational processes for IT professionals, MSPs, and DevOps.

For the full year 2020, SolarWinds’ annual revenue was $1.02 billion, up from $938.5 million earned in 2019. The company has around 3,200 employees.

SolarWinds offers several products, including an IT performance monitoring system called Orion. More than 30,000 organizations use Orion to manage their IT resources. In Sept 2019, hackers breached the SolarWinds network and injected a malicious code into Orion.

By Mar 2020, more than 18,000 SolarWinds customers installed Orion software updates with malicious code. Hackers accessed networks, systems, and data of thousands of SolarWinds customers. Although this hack eroded public trust, SolarWinds’s industry-leading solutions can still poach some customers from ServiceNow. [13]

SolarWinds is proud to have made DBTA’s Top 100 database company list for 2022! Thank you @dbtrends 🎉 https://t.co/f4fWsP2EO8 pic.twitter.com/NospybL1Ag
— SolarWinds (@solarwinds) June 24, 2022

9. Splunk

Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: San Francisco, California

Splunk is a tech company that provides AI-powered software for data analysis. Organizations use Splunk’s software to monitor, search, and analyze machine-generated data. In 2020, Splunk had over 7,500 employees and accumulated $2.36 billion in revenues.

With Splunk, organizations can leverage AI and machine learning to identify patterns in their data and acquire business intelligence to streamline operations. Businesses can use Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Light, or Splunk Cloud to address specific operational challenges.

Splunk’s growing customer list includes innovative companies like Cisco, Bosch, IBM, Motorola, Adobe, and Visa. Splunk is the best ServiceNow alternative for performance monitoring. [14]

Ahh, #splunkconf22. Oh, how we miss it already — good thing we’ve got @KirkDBorne’s recap to reminisce with as we’ve already started the countdown to #splunkconf23. 😉 https://t.co/y6iPPHDf4q
— Splunk (@splunk) June 23, 2022

10. Spiceworks Ziff Davis

Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: Austin, Texas

Spiceworks is a leading marketplace and network for IT professionals and technology brands. In 2019, Ziff Davis B2B acquired Spiceworks and merged to create Spiceworks Ziff Davis. The new company operates as a division of J2 Global, a global marketplace for tech vendors and buyers.

The company offers Spiceworks Help Desk that competes with ServiceNow.

Spiceworks Help Desk uses AI technologies to help organizations track internal users’ issues, share knowledge, and streamline operational processes. Spiceworks’s basic version is free, which can entice ServiceNow customers. The company’s SpiceWorld Conference attracts tech giants annually.

For SpiceWorld 2021, attendees can learn from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Spiceworks Help Desk is the best alternative to ServiceNow for SMBs and startups. [15]

As we live in an “instant” world, it’s no surprise that most companies (51%) now prefer real-time business chat apps over email. How will this communication transformation impact your business (and your buyers)? RSVP for our next LIVE event to learn more ➡️https://t.co/3z36fSGDHB pic.twitter.com/yjL0W5Doj5
— Spiceworks Ziff Davis (@SpiceworksZD) June 15, 2022

11. SupportBee

Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: Austin, Texas

SupportBee is a web-based ticketing system that helps small businesses organize and manage their customer support emails. SMBs use its customer portal and knowledge base software to enhance internal collaboration and connectivity.

SupportBee was founded by Indian entrepreneurs Nithya Rajaram and Hana Mohan. Today, the company serves around 450 businesses and generates over $540,000 in revenues.

SupportBee allows businesses to consolidate insights and data from platforms like Slack, Insightly, and FlowDock. It provides versatile ticket tracking features and an affordable pricing model.

The Startup plan costs $13/user/month, and the Enterprise plan goes for $17/user/month. SupportBee is one of the best ServiceNow alternatives for streamlining customer communications. [16]