Cycloid vs. ServiceNow

Compare the two platforms

ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform that automates workflows and helps companies improve their operational efficiency by streamlining and automating routine work tasks. It is known for its problem management software, which is based on a tracking system that meets the needs of end-users for assistance and developers for tracking issues. The ServiceNow Platform connects people, functions, and systems across an organization through digital workflows. It offers IT workflows to transform businesses with digital IT workflows, modernizing operations to optimize productivity, cost, and resilience with a single platform for IT.

Cycloid improves developer and end-users’ experience by allowing anyone to use tools, cloud and automation without expert knowledge. Therefore, it improves operational efficiency by decreasing the number of tickets opened by end-users on ServiceNow for example. Cycloid facilitates change management & accelerates hybrid cloud & DevOps at scale by allowing you to create your own opinionated platform to define the level of governance and flexibility desired. In API or through the console, we provide modules for Governance, Deployment, Operations, FinOps and GreenOps. Your platform team will define the self-service portal used by end-users. It’s based on your Git, and is tool and cloud provider-agnostic.

Competitors or Complementary?

Cycloid and ServiceNow should be seen as complementary not competitors even if we both aim to improve operational efficiency. The DNA of ServiceNow is to provide ITSM solutions for the IT department, closed source by design, where they have added some additional functionalities over time. The DNA of Cycloid is to provide a sustainable self-service portal for end-users, designed by DevOps, SRE and platform teams based on a GitOps approach and is Open-Source by design. While ServiceNow has been designed through a demand generation approach with workflow, Cycloid focuses on leveraging the automation, cloud and tools developed by tech experts to be accessible to anyone in the IT department. While ServiceNow works on end-to-end single platform for IT, we focus on Governance, deployment, operations, FinOps and GreenOps in a context of multi-cloud and DevOps, which helps us provide many more functionalities and flexibility on these topics. These functionalities should be seen as complementary and a lot of Cycloid modules can populate ServiceNow in a unique workflow.

A full-rounded solution

While both strive to solve the same challenges, Cycloid offers a stronger UX/UI, a better developer experience, and a more product oriented approach based on GitOps and Open Source. We also provide a much more competitive pricing model.

Feature comparison

Installation

Self-hosted

Control the way critical data is stored and processed in your own secure infrastructure (bare metal, VM and Kubernetes) and comply with security requirements for your organization.

Dedicated SaaS

Host a dedicated SaaS on the cloud provider of your choice: AWS, GCP, Azure etc. 

SaaS

Enjoy the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of cloud computing and start using the platform right away.

Governance

Role Based Access Control

Grant access and permissions based on user role

Organization Policies

Set rules to enforce best practices and security compliance at organization level. 

Quota Management

Allocate and keep track of public and private cloud resources in your organization.

Self-service portal & orchestration

Service Catalog

Build and deploy pre-configured services in a reproducible manner across your environments in a full GitOps approach. Use a public or private self-service catalog for your specific business needs. 

Simplified service catalog

Disable features in service catalog

Stackforms

Create your workflow with simple user-friendly webforms to hide tools and infra complexity.

Infra Import

Automatically create an IaC service catalog from manually-deployed infrastructure and start with your automation quicker in a reproducible and controlled manner across all your environments. 

Role Based Access Control

Grant access and permissions based on user role.

Infra ImportOrganization Policies

Set rules to enforce best practices and security compliance at organization level.

Third party integration/plugins

Add any plugins through Open Source.

CI/CD Pipelines

Execute process automation through workflows in your environments with a pipeline engine and interact with third party APIs. 

API & CLI

Take automation to another level and build scripts to automate any task in the “behind-the-scenes” toolbox.

Infra-as-Code & Resource Management

Quota Management

Allocate and keep track of public and private cloud resources in your organization.

Pipeline overview

Monitor the status of your pipeline jobs at a glance including per build, version of resources used, output of automation scripts and more. 

Asset Inventory

Get a 360° view of your public and private cloud resources.

Infrastructure mapping

Build graphical representations of your infrastructure and allow all relevant teams to see actively deployed resources and their connections in a simple, user-friendly way.

Events

Track actions and participants in real time

KPIs

Monitor the performance of your projects based on selected KPIs presented in a dashboard. 

Reporting

Get custom reports on cloud resource usage.

FinOps & GreenOps

Cost estimation

Estimate the cloud cost of your environments before they are deployed.

Cloud cost management

Get a holistic overview of your cloud spending per cloud provider, project, region, date etc in a single place. 

Cloud Cost Optimization

View and execute recommendations for resource and cost optimization.

Reserved instances optimization

Analyse, automate and optimize your reserved instances that could also be financed

Budget Managment

Allocate a budget per organization, team or project across your cloud providers. 

Cloud carbon footprint

Carbon footprint impact on your infrastructure. 

Want to see how Cycloid can help you achieve your goals?

If the information above is inaccurate or outdated, please contact us at marketing@cycloid.io and we’ll set it right straight away!