Let's be real – choosing between Salesforce and ServiceNow is a big decision that impacts how your teams operate and how your business performs. These powerful platforms dominate their respective spaces, but figuring out which one actually makes sense for your specific needs can be pretty confusing.
In this guide, we'll break down what each platform does well (and not so well), how their pricing works, and which features actually matter for your business. We'll also show how Zeeg's scheduling tools can integrate with either choice to create a system that genuinely fits your needs. Ready to dive in?
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce launched in 1999 as a cloud-based CRM solution and has since grown into the world's #1 customer relationship management platform.¹ At its core, Salesforce gives businesses a centralized system to track, manage, and analyze customer interactions throughout the entire customer journey.
The heart of Salesforce is its ability to connect sales, service, marketing, and IT teams through a single platform. This means your sales team can see what your marketing team is doing with a lead, and your service team can view the complete sales history when helping customers.
Salesforce organizes its platform into several "Clouds" that handle different aspects of customer relationships:
- Sales Cloud: Helps sales teams manage leads, opportunities, and deals through the pipeline
- Service Cloud: Enables customer service teams to handle cases, knowledge bases, and omnichannel support
- Marketing Cloud: Provides tools for email marketing, social media engagement, and customer journey mapping
- Commerce Cloud: Powers e-commerce experiences across web, mobile, and social channels
What makes Salesforce stand out is how these components work together. Instead of having customer data scattered across five different tools, Salesforce keeps everything connected in what they call their "Customer 360" view.
Over 150,000 companies worldwide use Salesforce, including major brands like American Express, Uber Eats and NASA.² The platform has earned a reputation for being highly customizable and scalable, though this flexibility can sometimes come with complexity.
What is ServiceNow?
ServiceNow, founded in 2004, started as an IT ticket management system but has evolved into a broad workflow automation platform. Unlike Salesforce's focus on customer relationships, ServiceNow was built to manage internal service relationships and IT processes first.
At its core, ServiceNow is an IT Service Management (ITSM) platform that helps organizations manage their technology infrastructure. It puts all IT service requests, incidents, problems, and changes into one system where they can be tracked, assigned, and resolved efficiently.
ServiceNow organizes its platform into several key products:
- IT Service Management (ITSM): Manages IT services, incidents, and requests
- IT Operations Management (ITOM): Monitors and manages IT infrastructure
- Customer Service Management (CSM): Handles customer service cases and workflows
- HR Service Delivery: Streamlines HR processes and employee services
- Security Operations: Manages security incidents and vulnerabilities
- App Engine: Allows custom application development on the Now Platform
What sets ServiceNow apart is its workflow automation capabilities. The platform is great at taking complex business processes that span multiple departments and turning them into automated, digital workflows. This reduces manual effort, eliminates bottlenecks, and creates more consistent experiences.
ServiceNow serves over 7,700 enterprise customers globally, including approximately 85% of the Fortune 500. Companies like Bayer, Coca-Cola and Siemens rely on ServiceNow to run critical business processes.³
ServiceNow vs Salesforce: Comparison overview
Detailed comparison: Salesforce vs ServiceNow
Now that we've got a basic overview, let's dive deeper into how these platforms compare across key areas that matter most to businesses.
Customer relationship management: Salesforce dominates
When it comes to managing customer relationships, Salesforce is the clear winner – no surprise, since that's literally what CRM stands for. Salesforce gives you a 360-degree view of your customers across their entire journey, from first interaction to long-term loyalty.
For sales teams, Sales Cloud delivers exactly what they need to close more deals:
- Visual pipeline management that makes it easy to track deals
- Lead scoring to prioritize your most promising prospects
- Territory management for organizing sales efforts geographically
- Opportunity tracking to monitor potential deals
- Customizable dashboards that show real-time sales metrics
ServiceNow isn't built to combine workflows for sales, marketing, and service teams the way Salesforce does. While ServiceNow offers a Customer Service Management (CSM) product that "goes beyond traditional CRM," it's not designed with the same sales-oriented functionality that Salesforce provides.
The difference between these platforms is fundamental: Salesforce was built from the ground up to manage customer relationships, while ServiceNow has added some CRM-like capabilities to its core ITSM platform.
IT service management: ServiceNow leads the pack
When it comes to managing IT services and infrastructure, ServiceNow has a clear advantage. As an ITSM platform by design, ServiceNow offers specialized tools for IT teams that Salesforce simply can't match.
ServiceNow ITSM provides:
- Incident management to track and resolve IT issues
- Problem management to address underlying causes
- Change management to control IT modifications
- Configuration management database (CMDB) to track IT assets
- Service catalog for standardizing IT services
- Knowledge management for self-service support
If you're specifically looking for software that can manage tasks and workflows related to IT infrastructure, Salesforce's versatility doesn't count for much. ServiceNow users can manage higher-level service tasks like automated application framework testing, robust service-level management capabilities, integrated service chatbot experiences, modular service portals, and intuitive service catalog builders.
The gap here is substantial. While Salesforce's Service Cloud can handle customer-facing service requests and basic ticketing, it lacks the deep IT infrastructure management capabilities that ServiceNow was built to provide. If your organization needs comprehensive ITSM functionality, ServiceNow is the clear choice.
AI capabilities: Both platforms deliver, but differently
Salesforce has Einstein AI. Salesforce launched Einstein AI back when most CRMs were still figuring out basic automation. Now it's embedded throughout their platform and does things that actually matter - like telling sales teams which leads are worth calling first, which deals might be slipping away, and getting customer problems to the right agent without the usual email ping-pong.
Einstein uses OpenAI to handle tedious tasks that previously consumed hours of valuable work time. Key capabilities include:
- Creating internal documents and drafting client emails automatically
- Analyzing customer behavior patterns and translating data into actionable insights
- Building smart assistants without requiring any coding knowledge
ServiceNow has Now Assist. This feature is focused on IT and service workflows. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, ServiceNow built their AI specifically for what their users actually need. They've developed custom language models that understand the kinds of questions IT professionals ask and the language they use.
When an IT issue pops up, Now Assist delivers specialized functionality:
- Detecting anomalies before they become major problems
- Automatically routing tickets to the appropriate teams
- Powering virtual agents that handle common requests without human intervention
The system is designed to make sense of the complex world of IT operations and translate it into actionable insights.
The main difference comes down to focus – Salesforce's AI shines brightest in sales and marketing scenarios, while ServiceNow's AI is at its best when handling IT service management and workflow automation. Both are genuinely helpful, but they're built to solve different problems for different teams.
Workflow automation: Different strengths for different needs
Salesforce puts all its automation muscle behind your customer-facing teams. Their tools make life easier for sales and marketing folks who need to nurture leads and close deals. The platform includes:
- Process Builder and Flow Builder for creating everything from simple to complex automation sequences
- Einstein Automation that adds AI smarts to predict customer behavior and automate responses
- Sales and marketing automation to handle lead nurturing and pipeline management
What's nice about Salesforce is that even their cheaper plans include the essentials like task automation and email sequences. Upgrade to higher plans and you'll get the more powerful features – workflows that branch based on customer actions, AI that scores leads without human input, and automatic report creation so nobody has to crunch numbers manually.
ServiceNow, meanwhile, is all about keeping your internal operations running smoothly. Their automation suite focuses on IT and business processes that happen behind the scenes. Key components include:
- Visual workflow tools like Workflow Editor and Flow Designer for building process automation
- Integration Hub for connecting different systems throughout your organization
- Robotic Process Automation to handle repetitive tasks that used to require manual effort
Their Automation Engine is particularly impressive. It ties together all your systems – even the ancient ones nobody wants to touch – and gets them talking to each other. With over a thousand pre-built components ready to go, you can automate cross-departmental workflows without starting from scratch.
The difference comes down to direction: Salesforce looks outward, automating how you engage with customers, while ServiceNow looks inward, streamlining your company's internal operations and IT processes.
App development: Both offer strong low-code capabilities
If you need custom apps but don't have developers on speed dial, both platforms have you covered with their low-code tools.
Salesforce gives you Lightning App Builder, which works like digital Legos for business applications. You drag components where you want them, connect them to your CRM data, and you've got a working app. Everything automatically works on mobile, and if you're using Einstein 1 Platform, your apps can even tap into Salesforce's AI capabilities.
Taking a similar approach, ServiceNow's App Engine Studio offers a clean, widget-based interface. Their pre-built templates and components make it surprisingly easy to create both desktop and mobile applications that can connect to virtually any third-party system through ServiceNow's extensive APIs.
Both platforms understand that businesses need custom applications without hiring dedicated development teams.
Integration capabilities: Salesforce offers more pre-built integrations
Salesforce's integration ecosystem includes:
- AppExchange with over 7,000 pre-built apps and integrations
- API access for custom integrations
- MuleSoft for enterprise integration (acquired by Salesforce)
- Native connections to popular business tools
- Zapier integration for no-code connections
ServiceNow's integrations include:
- IntegrationHub for connecting to external systems
- REST and SOAP APIs for custom integrations
- Flow Designer for visual integration creation
- 900+ pre-built integrations
- Zapier compatibility for simple connections
Both apps have powerful automation and integration capabilities. In terms of connecting to other apps, Salesforce and ServiceNow offer loads of native integrations (over 7,000 and 900, respectively). But the two apps also integrate with Zapier, which means you can connect them to all the other tools you use at work.
While Salesforce offers more pre-built integrations through its larger AppExchange ecosystem, both platforms provide the tools needed to connect with virtually any other business application. The difference is less about capability and more about how many integrations come ready out of the box versus requiring custom development.
Pricing: Salesforce communicates main prices, ServiceNow keeps it custom
Understanding the cost structure of enterprise software is crucial for making informed decisions. Salesforce and ServiceNow take different approaches to pricing.
Salesforce pricing for their main products:
- Starter Suite: $25 per user/month (billed monthly or annually)
- Professional: $80 per user/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise: $165 per user/month (billed annually)
- Unlimited: $330 per user/month (billed annually)
- Einstein 1 Sales: $500 per user/month (billed annually)⁴
Even though Salesforce is openly communicating and offering per-user pricing tiers online for their main products, the pricing structure of various add-on and implementation options can be very complex and confusing. Watch out – the bill can climb quickly if you have a large team or need those fancy specialized features.
Behind closed doors is where ServiceNow keeps their pricing, preferring the "call us for a quote" method typical of enterprise software vendors. You'll need to speak directly with their sales team to get numbers based on your company's specific situation. While this custom approach might get you a package tailored to your needs, it makes comparing costs difficult without investing time in their sales process. After some research, we found two comments of reddit users, that give some insights to the prices⁵:
These contrasting strategies mirror each company's market focus – one aims to serve businesses of all sizes with a straightforward, scalable model, while the other primarily courts large enterprise customers who expect customized pricing packages.
👉 Read more:
- Salesforce Sales Cloud: Your Complete Guide for 2025
- Salesforce Small Business Pricing: Complete Cost Guide
Pros and cons: Salesforce
Pros and cons: ServiceNow
Zeeg’s scheduling streamlines your CRM experience
Whether you choose Salesforce, ServiceNow or both: Scheduling meetings and appointments with customers and team members remains a critical function. This is where Zeeg comes in as the perfect companion to either platform.
Zeeg is a GDPR-compliant scheduling solution that integrates seamlessly with both Salesforce and ServiceNow, adding powerful scheduling capabilities to your customer management or IT service management system.
Key benefits of using Zeeg with your CRM or ITSM:
- Smart routing with lead qualification: Automatically direct meetings to the right team members based on customer attributes and needs, with customizable intake forms that qualify leads or service requests.
- Team scheduling with round-robin distribution: Ensure fair distribution of meetings among team members while matching clients with the right specialists for their needs.
- Full GDPR compliance with European data hosting: Keep your customer data secure and compliant with privacy regulations, especially important for organizations with European operations.
- Customizable booking pages with branding options: Create a professional, branded scheduling experience that aligns with your company's visual identity.
- Automated workflows for reminders and follow-ups: Reduce no-shows and improve follow-through with automated email and SMS reminders.
- Integration with multiple calendar platforms: Connect with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar, and more to keep all your schedules in sync.
- Payment processing for paid consultations: Collect payments at the time of booking for consultations, service appointments, or other paid sessions.
When integrated with Salesforce or ServiceNow through zapier, Zeeg ensures that all appointment information automatically syncs to your platform of choice. This eliminates manual data entry and keeps your customer or service records always up to date.
Both platforms Connecting Salesforce with Zeeg enhances the lead management and customer service workflows by streamlining the scheduling process. When you integrate ServiceNow with Zeeg, it complements the IT service management capabilities by making it easier to schedule service appointments and consultations.
Starting at just $10 per user per month, Zeeg offers an affordable way to add professional scheduling capabilities to either platform. There's also a free plan that's yours to keep forever, perfect for testing the waters before committing to a paid subscription.
Salesforce vs ServiceNow: Our final verdict
After spending time with both platforms, one thing becomes obvious – each one shines bright in its own territory. The choice isn't really about which platform is "better" overall, but rather which one better aligns with your organization's specific needs:
Choose Salesforce if:
- Your focus is on customer acquisition and management. If your primary goal is to streamline sales, marketing, and customer service processes, Salesforce is the natural choice. It's built from the ground up for managing the customer lifecycle.
- You need a complete CRM solution. Salesforce offers the widest CRM capabilities on the market, with specialized tools for sales, marketing, commerce, and service teams.
- You want AI-powered sales and marketing. With powerful tools for lead scoring, opportunity insights, and automated marketing, Einstein AI can give your sales numbers a serious lift compared to manual processes alone.
- You value extensive third-party integrations. With over 7,000 apps on the AppExchange, Salesforce offers more pre-built integrations than almost any other business platform.
- You prefer transparent pricing. Salesforce's clear, tiered pricing model makes it easier to budget and plan for growth, even if the costs can add up for larger organizations.
Choose ServiceNow if:
- Your focus is on IT service management. If managing IT infrastructure, services, and processes is your primary concern, ServiceNow offers the most comprehensive ITSM solution available.
- You need powerful workflow automation. When it comes to handling complex workflows that touch different departments across your company, especially those related to IT services, few platforms can match ServiceNow's automation capabilities.
- You want specialized AI for IT operations. Built specifically for IT and service situations, Now Assist's AI tackles the exact challenges service desks face daily, from predicting potential system failures to automating routine support tasks.
- You need strong security and compliance features. For companies dealing with tight security rules and compliance headaches, the security operations features in ServiceNow handle everything from vulnerability tracking to automated threat response without breaking a sweat.
- You're looking for a single platform for IT, HR, and business operations. The wide range of capabilities that extend well beyond basic IT service management makes ServiceNow particularly attractive for cutting down on platform sprawl.
Many organizations actually find value in using both platforms together – Salesforce for managing customer relationships and ServiceNow for IT service management. With proper integration between the two systems, you can leverage the strengths of each platform while maintaining data consistency:
Consider both if:
- You have complex needs spanning sales, service, and IT. Some organizations might benefit from using both platforms for their respective strengths – Salesforce for CRM and ServiceNow for ITSM.
- You're undertaking a digital transformation initiative. Both platforms can play important roles in digital transformation efforts, with Salesforce handling customer-facing processes and ServiceNow managing internal operations.
The bottom line? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to the Salesforce vs ServiceNow question. The best choice depends on your organization's specific needs, priorities, and existing technology landscape. By understanding the strengths and limitations of each platform, you can make an informed decision that positions your business for success.
👉 You want to compare Salesforce to other tools? Read more:
- SugarCRM vs Salesforce
- HubSpot vs Salesforce
- Pipedrive vs Salesforce
- Salesforce Alternatives: The 15 best Competitors
Frequently asked questions about Salesforce vs ServiceNow
Is ServiceNow similar to Salesforce?
While there's some overlap in functionality, ServiceNow and Salesforce serve different primary purposes. Salesforce is a CRM platform focused on managing customer relationships throughout the sales and service lifecycle. ServiceNow is an ITSM platform designed to manage IT services, workflows, and internal processes. They're similar in that both are cloud-based enterprise platforms, but their core functions and strengths differ significantly.
Salesforce or ServiceNow, which is best?
Neither platform is universally "better" – they excel at different things. Salesforce is better for customer relationship management, sales automation, and marketing. ServiceNow is better for IT service management, workflow automation, and internal business processes. The right choice depends entirely on your specific business needs and priorities.
Can Salesforce and ServiceNow be used together?
Yes, many organizations use both platforms together. Salesforce handles customer-facing processes while ServiceNow manages internal IT services and workflows. Integration between the two systems can be achieved through APIs, middleware platforms like MuleSoft, or third-party connectors. This combined approach leverages the strengths of each platform for their respective domains.
Is ServiceNow better than Salesforce for IT departments?
Yes, for pure IT department functions, ServiceNow is generally better suited than Salesforce. ServiceNow was built specifically for IT service management and provides specialized tools for incident management, problem management, change management, and IT operations. While Salesforce can handle some basic IT ticketing through Service Cloud, it lacks the depth and breadth of IT-specific functionality that ServiceNow provides.
Sources:
² vention, Top Salesforce customers
³ ServiceNow, Customer Stories
⁴ Salesforce, Pricing
⁵ reddit, How much does SN cost?
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