CMDB questions: answers on alternatives, accuracy and pricing

A configuration management database: the system of record for configuration items such as servers, applications and network devices, and the relationships between them. Incident, change and request work relies on it. Lesson 1.

Because most records were entered or imported once and then aged. Drift follows five patterns: missing assets, ghosts, duplicates, stale fields and lost owners. Lesson 2.

No. An inventory lists what you own; a CMDB records what IT runs and how it connects. They overlap but differ, which is why the two lists disagree. Lesson 3.

Comparing what several sources say about the same asset, matching the records and deciding which value wins for each field. Lesson 5.

Track coverage against trusted lists, a monthly sampled correctness rate, duplicate and ghost counts, owner coverage and record age. Lesson 9.

A CMDB filled by discovery, connectors or a reconciliation layer rather than by people typing. The three routes are compared in lesson 4.

Three kinds: CMDBs with their own discovery, platforms that reconcile data from tools you already run and sync it to the CMDB, and network discovery tools that feed it. The ranking scores nine options across all three.

JupiterOne, runZero and Lansweeper publish price lists. Axonius publishes its device-based pricing meter, a starting figure of $8.55 per asset for 15,000 to 24,999 assets and a 500-asset AWS Marketplace package. Freshservice publishes service desk agent prices, but its CMDB is licensed in Asset Units with no price shown. Device42 publishes its pricing model without amounts, and Armis shows only an AWS Marketplace minimum. ServiceNow and Oomnitza do not publish prices. See each profile.

runZero has a free Community Edition up to 100 assets and a 21-day trial; Lansweeper is free up to 100 assets after a 14-day trial; Device42 offers a free trial download; Freshservice lists a 14-day free trial. The other pages reviewed do not publish trial terms.

Each pair has its own page, for example Axonius or ServiceNow CMDB, and Compare records puts up to five side by side.

Use the drift cost calculator: enter your asset count, the share of records going stale each month and the minutes per fix.

Run a 30-day pilot against a baseline of your own accuracy measures. Lesson 10 gives a day-by-day plan.

Axonius at 83.2, followed by Lansweeper at 69.8 and runZero at 69.3, on our default weights.

No. Axonius keeps a CMDB such as ServiceNow accurate: it correlates data from your other tools and documents creating, updating and retiring ServiceNow records. ServiceNow stays the system of record. Profile.

It leads actionability at 94 but scores 40 on effort to maintain and publishes no prices. Profile.

runZero leads effort to maintain at 86: no agents, credentials or appliances. Profile.

JupiterOne leads ownership mapping because owners are modelled in its graph; Oomnitza follows through lifecycle workflows tied to HR and identity systems. Lesson 7.

ServiceNow completed its Armis acquisition on 20 April 2026, and Dragos announced it had acquired runZero on 21 September 2026. Axonius announced a CMDB Reconciliation Workspace on 22 July 2026. See Record notes.

Seven criteria scored 0 to 100, weighted and summed in code. Completeness and data trust carry 20% each, CMDB sync 16%, upkeep 14%, ownership 12%, actionability 10% and pricing 8%. Method.

No. Scores are an editorial assessment of public vendor pages read on 27 September and 11 October 2026.

An evidence summary for each option: five lines (found, matched, owned, synced, current) marked documented, partial or not documented from the vendor's own pages. It is not scored by itself.

Yes, in the drift cost calculator. The method page also shows how the order changes under four other weightings.

Use the contact form with the topic Correction to vendor information and a link to the public source.