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Compare · ServiceNow Otto

ServiceNow Otto alternative for cited, permission-aware enterprise search without the platform

ServiceNow Otto is the newest thing to happen to enterprise AI search, and it is a consolidation story. ServiceNow announced Otto at Knowledge 2026 on May 5, 2026, describing it in its own newsroom as 'a new AI experience that combines the intelligence of Now Assist, Moveworks, and AI Experience to complete work across every department and system.' Three separately sold, separately branded capabilities became one conversational front door. If you bought Moveworks before ServiceNow closed that acquisition on December 15, 2025, or if you have been running Now Assist, Otto is where that investment now lives.

One search · cited answers · permission-aware

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The search piece is real. ServiceNow says Otto can 'search across documents, wikis, databases, and SharePoint, delivering direct answers personalized to role, location, and department.' At announcement it was available in ServiceNow EmployeeWorks and AI Control Tower, with a stated rollout across all products in the year ahead. So it is a genuine enterprise search and answer layer, not just a ticket bot.

The honest question for a buyer is whether the enterprise search you want should arrive attached to a workflow platform. Otto is at its strongest when ServiceNow is already the system of record for IT, HR and employee service, because the value is not the answer alone, it is the answer plus the fulfillment action behind it. If ServiceNow is not your center of gravity, you are buying a large platform to get a search box. InSearch is the focused alternative: one query across Drive, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Gmail, Jira and Salesforce, a written answer with inline citations to the exact source, item-level permissions enforced at query time, and one transparent per-seat price with no platform to own.

ServiceNow Otto unified Now Assist, Moveworks and AI Experience into one conversational layer on the ServiceNow AI Platform, announced May 5, 2026. It is strongest where ServiceNow already owns the workflow. InSearch is the focused alternative for teams who want cited, permission-aware cross-app search without adopting a workflow platform.

Side by side

ServiceNow Otto vs InSearch, honestly

A fair look at what each does well. Both are capable tools. Here is where they differ.

What matters InSearch ServiceNow Otto
What you are buying Enterprise search that returns one cited answer A conversational AI layer on top of the ServiceNow AI Platform, spanning search, assistance and workflow execution
Product history One product, one name, no consolidation in flight Merged Now Assist, Moveworks and AI Experience in May 2026, rolling out product by product
Prerequisite None. Connect your apps and ask Assumes ServiceNow is deployed and is your system of record
Search coverage Drive, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Gmail, Jira and Salesforce in one query ServiceNow says documents, wikis, databases and SharePoint, personalized to role, location and department
Permission handling Item-level permissions inherited from each source and enforced live at query time Governed access, personalized by role, location and department
Action and fulfillment Answers questions. It does not run your service catalog Genuinely strong. Routes requests, crosses systems and completes the work. This is the real advantage
Pricing Transparent per-seat pricing, published No public list price. ServiceNow platform agreements are negotiated, and reported Moveworks deals ran into six figures a year
Best suited for Teams that want cited answers across the apps they already use ServiceNow-centric enterprises consolidating employee service and IT onto one platform

Comparison reflects general, publicly understood positioning. Capabilities change, so check each product for the latest.

Why teams pick InSearch

One cited, permission-aware search across every app

Consolidation is the story

Otto folded Now Assist, Moveworks and AI Experience into one brand. Anything you read about buying those separately is now out of date, so evaluate the merged product, not the old datasheets.

Platform gravity is the real cost

Otto pays off when ServiceNow already owns your workflows, because the answer comes with the action. Without that gravity you are funding a platform to get a search experience.

Cited answers, scoped per person

InSearch returns a written answer with inline citations to the exact source document, limited to what each person can already open, and never trains on your data.

Good questions

ServiceNow Otto vs InSearch, answered

Otto is ServiceNow's unified AI experience, announced at Knowledge 2026 on May 5, 2026. ServiceNow describes it as a new AI experience combining the intelligence of Now Assist, Moveworks and AI Experience to complete work across every department and system. It is a single conversational entry point for search, assistance and workflow execution.
Now Assist was ServiceNow's generative AI feature set inside the platform, handling summarization, categorization and in-product assistance. Otto is the layer above it. Otto unified Now Assist with Moveworks and AI Experience into one conversational front door, so Now Assist capability now reaches users through Otto rather than as a separate branded product.
It absorbs it. ServiceNow closed the Moveworks acquisition on December 15, 2025, and Otto brings the Moveworks conversational layer together with Now Assist and AI Experience under one name. Existing Moveworks customers are not left without a product, but the roadmap and branding now run through Otto.
Partly. At the May 2026 announcement ServiceNow said Otto was available in ServiceNow EmployeeWorks and AI Control Tower, and would be rolled out across all products in the year ahead. Check which of your ServiceNow products Otto has actually reached before you plan a rollout around it.
ServiceNow does not publish list pricing for Otto or for its platform generally. Pricing is negotiated per agreement and depends on your existing ServiceNow footprint. For scale, publicly listed Moveworks pricing on AWS Marketplace ran about $150 per user per year in the 1,000 to 2,500 seat band, which put deals into six figures annually.
If you want the cited cross-app answer without adopting a workflow platform, a focused enterprise search product is the cleaner fit. InSearch searches Drive, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Gmail, Jira and Salesforce in one query, cites the exact source behind every answer, enforces item-level permissions at query time and prices transparently per seat.

Find any answer at work with InSearch

One search across all your company apps, a clear cited answer, scoped to exactly what each person can see, and never trained on your data.

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One search across every app · cited answers · permission-aware · never trains on your data