What's the difference between an application and a plugin?

George23
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee
  • An application is a standalone piece of code, such as an accounting program, that implements a collection of features.
  • A plugin is not standalone. It provides feature enhancements to installed applications.

 

Here's a video about the differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0yexJnQsfM

This helpful FAQ video will answer the 4 most commonly asked questions about ServiceNow plugins and applications. Questions answered in this video: 1. What's the difference between a ServiceNow App and a ServiceNow Plugin? 2. What's the process for getting a ServiceNow App? 3. Why is the plugin ...
3 REPLIES 3

Uncle Rob
Kilo Patron

Yet tons of applications are activated by looking at the plugins list.  
"How do I install <X> thing" is still an often too difficult task.
SPM is a great example of this.

Harish Bainsla
Tera Sage
Tera Sage

Plugins are software components that add functionality to installed applications on ServiceNow instances.

 

https://www.servicenow.com/community/now-platform-forum/what-is-the-difference-between-plugin-and-ap...

Amit Gujarathi
Giga Sage
Giga Sage

HI @George23 ,
I trust you are doing great.

In the context of ServiceNow, both applications and plugins play a vital role, but they serve different purposes:

  1. Application:

    • An application in ServiceNow refers to a set of modules, tables, and other components that collectively provide a specific functionality or service.
    • It is designed to manage a particular process or business need within the ServiceNow platform.
    • Examples include the Incident Management application, Change Management application, etc.
    • Applications can be custom-built using ServiceNow Studio or can be out-of-the-box applications provided by ServiceNow.
  2. Plugin:

    • A plugin, on the other hand, is an extension or add-on to the ServiceNow platform.
    • It is not a standalone entity but enhances or adds specific features to existing applications.
    • Plugins can be activated or deactivated, allowing administrators to choose which features they want to enable.
    • Examples include the LDAP Integration plugin, Orchestration plugin, etc.

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Regards,


Amit Gujrathi