ServiceNow Discovery vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ServiceNow and Progress Software are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. ServiceNow is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.4, while Progress Software is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.0. ServiceNow holds a 2.3% mindshare in SM, compared to Progress Software’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow Discovery

Read 46 ServiceNow Discovery reviews

6,116 Views
2,630 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

15,052 Views
2,559 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

ServiceNow Discovery

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and ServiceNow Discovery are both prominent network management tools, but they cater to slightly different user needs. ServiceNow Discovery has an edge due to its comprehensive features.

Features: Users like WhatsUp Gold for its intuitive monitoring capabilities, ease of visualization, and user-friendly interface. ServiceNow Discovery is praised for its in-depth automation, extensive infrastructure mapping, and comprehensive discovery processes.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold needs enhancements in scalability, deeper integration with other tools, and improved fault management. ServiceNow Discovery requires better reporting functionalities, a more intuitive setup process, and enhanced speed during asset discovery.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold is often noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. ServiceNow Discovery can be complex to set up but offers robust long-term support once implemented.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold has competitive setup costs and provides a solid return on investment for small to medium businesses. ServiceNow Discovery, though more expensive, is considered worth the investment due to its powerful enterprise-level functionalities, providing substantial ROI benefits in large-scale deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 917,433 peers since 2012

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

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (9th), Cloud Resource Discovery Services (1st)

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Server Monitoring

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (39th), Network Monitoring Software (26th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (20th), Configuration Management (21st), Log Management (41st), Cloud Monitoring Software (26th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Discovery is 2.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 3.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ServiceNow Discovery	2.3%
WhatsUp Gold	3.8%
Other	93.9%

Server Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Abhinay Sharma

Service Now Developer at Bangmetric services pvt ltd

Cloud discovery has improved asset visibility and reporting but still needs smarter automation

The impact of ServiceNow Discovery on my organization's strategic planning depends on various factors. Some customers have their own discovery tools which they do not want to switch from, even if we explain why ServiceNow might be better, because they have been using them for a long time. Some customers are dynamic, so we need to have some kind of proposition that comes with ServiceNow. Sometimes, we need to talk with ServiceNow people themselves to give them a bundle offer in which we can have Discovery and ITSM at a much more affordable price than the competitors, so that is our main goal. Currently, I would say there might be a possibility if we can use some AI discovery features that could be helpful for our organization. If we can get discovery jobs running based on AI schedules, that would be beneficial. I believe in the coming future that I want to see myself working more with ServiceNow in this capacity.

Read full review

Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

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

"The value that they get from the product is good, and once you set it up, it is easily scalable with a large scope for automation and the product keeps expanding."

"ServiceNow's Discovery feature is quite significant because it allows for service mapping and integrates with VIN management. It involves adding a business context to servers, routers, switches, and data centers. This means understanding not only what's installed on these systems and how they function together but also recognizing their significance in terms of business applications from the business's perspective and how they impact business processes and capabilities. So when we delve into these aspects and connect them to the essential components, it can help you engage in more meaningful discussions to enhance capacity management practices. In essence, it contributes to the overall IT portfolio, almost functioning as a business platform. This platform is accessible to users who leverage the data to initiate incidents, implement changes, and resolve problems. Consequently, consolidating all configuration items or assets into a unified platform makes sense, especially considering you already have Discovery in place. If the cost is reasonable, the other two components might not provide much value, except for their user-friendliness, which is often less important to leaders compared to the desired outcomes."

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

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

"This is one of the best tools for organizations looking for a tool with agentless applications."

"The service management and operations management modules are valuable."

"Service Now has a great drag and drop functionality, which makes it easier to use than, say, EMC, and it is dedicated to designing an easy-to-use tool for IT defense, giving users better leverage."

More ServiceNow Discovery pros

"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the application monitors that allow for discreet roaming on network devices."

"The most valuable features are network bandwidth monitoring and monitoring device health."

"The new version has a lot of improved features."

"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."

"The documentation is very good."

"It is easy to access and discover devices, as well as monitor them automatically. The topology discover is also a useful feature."

"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."

"It is stable."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"I find it valuable to enhance IP address management. I've been in this field since around 2011, and my experience since then has revolved around automation, deployment, distribution, and comprehensive inventory management, all crucial for deploying various components, including patches. When we talk about patch management or vulnerability management, it's more complex than just applying patches; sometimes, you need to undergo significant upgrades or phase out old components for new ones, and this can turn into a substantial project, explaining why vulnerabilities persist. Now, the role of ServiceNow Discovery and security operations, or at one point, looking at vulnerability management in ServiceNow Discovery, is crucial. It allows you to identify vulnerabilities on assets and, with the addition of discovery, service mapping, and event management, you gain a business context for these vulnerabilities. It's not merely about knowing they exist on a server; it's about understanding which services are responsible for critical business processes or transactions, like payroll. This knowledge changes the approach and execution of vulnerability remediation."

"Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough."

"Application discovery could be improved. And, right now, ServiceNow needs to be coupled with another solution in order to verify information."

"I would rate technical support for ServiceNow Discovery as four. This rating is because there are features on the tool that never worked and despite calling our support, there were no results."

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

"ServiceNow Discovery could improve the interface. The navigation bar could improve. It would be helpful to have a landing page to go to find all the elements in one place."

"The initial setup could be made easier. We hired professionals to implement it, and they trained our employees for ongoing processes."

"The current limitation requires having mid servers or discovery servers in each data center for proper discovery, hindering the ability to discover assets across continents such as Asia Pacific and Europe."

More ServiceNow Discovery cons

"My understanding is that there are better products out there that do a better job."

"The new release cadence needs to be improved. It takes a while for them to add new features and functionality. There should be a quicker turnaround with new versions."

"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be beneficial."

"Sometimes it's a little bit slow."

"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."

"The interface needs some work."

"The licensing model could be improved. Right now, the levels are too far apart. This causes the solution to be more expensive than it needs to be."

"Setting up WhatsUp Gold is complicated and not easy because it requires managing SNMP and many complex settings in the devices it's monitoring, and fine-tuning it to fit our needs is also not very easy."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be better. It's a bit on the pricey side."

"The product is not cheap."

"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."

"It's on a yearly basis. We renew our contract for three years at a time."

"It's a bit expensive compared to other products in the market, but it's worth the money you pay because it's far advanced in terms of features, automation, and capabilities compared to other products."

"There is a subscription for ServiceNow Discovery. It's expensive, but I think it's one of the best solutions on the market, so it's worth it."

"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

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

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

Regarding pricing, I have not dealt much with it. I am more focused on the feature side of things, so I cannot comment on the latest pricing because it is dynamic as well. Sometimes it is cheaper f...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow Discovery?

ServiceNow could improve ServiceNow Discovery by integrating artificial intelligence capabilities. The system could study frequently created queries for the CMDB, whether related to applications, c...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ServiceNow Discovery?

I mainly use ServiceNow Discovery for asset inventory in the estate. I primarily use it for linking applications versus inventory and creating disaster recovery plans, recovery time objectives, and...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.

See all answers

Comparisons

Lansweeper vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

BMC Helix Discovery vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

Tanium vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 7% of the time

HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) vs ServiceNow Discovery

Compared 6% of the time

More ServiceNow Discovery Competitors

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SCOM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

NinjaOne vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery

September 2026

Download ServiceNow Discovery product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Overview

ServiceNow Discovery automates relationship building with agentless discovery and accurate dependency mapping. It seamlessly integrates with CMDB, offering secure operations and efficient data management, suitable for multi-cloud operations.

ServiceNow Discovery transforms IT infrastructure management by automating the mapping of hardware and software components, enhancing application visibility, and supporting predictive monitoring. It boasts expansive plugin options, low maintenance, and centralized data storage, all while operating effectively across cloud and on-premises environments. Users benefit from robust performance, comprehensive impact analysis, and easy setup. However, improving unnecessary data elimination, simplifying debugging, and enhancing global deployment could make it more effective. It requires more intuitive interfaces and code-free customization for better reconciliation and discovery of remote devices. Improved reporting, competitive pricing, and seamless integration with legacy and newer applications are valued enhancements.

What are the key features of ServiceNow Discovery?

Automated Relationship Building: Facilitates seamless integration with CMDB.
Agentless Discovery: Offers accurate mapping without the need for additional agents.
Dependency Mapping: Provides detailed infrastructure insights.
Multi-cloud Support: Ensures operations are streamlined across cloud environments.
Centralized Data Storage: Supports efficient data management.
Comprehensive Impact Analysis: Enhances capacity management.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Integration with CMDB: Enhances asset tracking and management.
Secure Operations: Minimizes security risks across IT environments.
Efficient Data Management: Streamlines processing and analysis of data.
Low Maintenance: Reduces operational overhead and downtime.
Robust Performance: Ensures reliability in diverse settings.

Companies in diverse sectors use ServiceNow Discovery for asset tracking, CMDB population, and identifying Configuration Items. This enables IT teams to map hardware and software components, enhance visibility, and facilitate predictive monitoring and auto-remediation processes. Integrating with other systems, ServiceNow Discovery provides valuable insights from IT environments, supporting both cloud and on-premises operations.

ServiceNow

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

York, National Grid, DXC Technology, experian, BEACHBODY

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Free Report: ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our ServiceNow Discovery vs. WhatsUp Gold report.

See our list of best Server Monitoring vendors.

We monitor all Server Monitoring reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.