ServiceNow Impact: The Hidden Costs No One Is Talking About and How to Negotiate Them Down

As companies across the U.S. and globally head into year-end renewal season, ServiceNow customers are encountering a familiar but increasingly forceful trend: ServiceNow is aggressively pushing Impact into nearly every renewal and expansion conversation.

Whether organizations are evaluating ServiceNow products like ITSM, Customer Service Management, Software Asset Management or even the new AI Now Assist packages, account reps are making Impact sound like a prerequisite for favorable pricing. But framing it as mandatory does not make it true, and customers should challenge that assumption before agreeing to anything.

Why ServiceNow Is Pushing Impact So Hard in Enterprise Deals

ServiceNow’s heightened push for Impact is not accidental. The program deepens ServiceNow’s relationship with customers by influencing long-term roadmaps and creating more upsell opportunities. While Impact bundles accelerators, expert access, observability, and premium support, customers consistently express concerns that the value does not justify the cost.

This disconnect becomes even more pronounced when customers realize that even the “free” tier may only provide minimal benefit, and the paid tiers appear structured to boost ServiceNow’s internal metrics more than deliver measurable customer outcomes, unless customers would actually receive meaningful benefit, which often doesn’t seem to be the case.

Understanding the ServiceNow Impact Pricing Model and Why It Frustrates Enterprise Buyers

Impact is priced as a percentage of annual subscription fees, making it unusually expensive compared to similar enterprise support offerings. The list price structure breaks down as:

• Impact Guided: 10% of subscription fees
• Impact Total: 30% of subscription fees

The real concern for ServiceNow customers is that these fees automatically increase as new products, volumes, or AI consumption are added/accelerated. Because the pricing is tied to total spend rather than actual usage or value delivered from Impact, the ROI becomes difficult to justify. Many ServiceNow customers view Impact as an artificial surcharge rather than a meaningful service investment.

How Companies Should Push Back During ServiceNow Negotiations

Despite how strongly ServiceNow positions Impact, customers have significant leverage, especially during year-end cycles when ServiceNow needs to hit attach-rate targets. A disciplined negotiation strategy is essential.

Customers should start by pushing for a substantially reduced percentage of annual subscription fees. These percentages are far from fixed, no matter how reps frame them.

Key negotiation steps include:

• Locking the negotiated percentage for the full term, ensuring it states and applies to all future expansions, preventing cost increases in-term.
• Ensuring that all renewal protections also apply to Impact, preventing cost increases beyond the immediate term.
• Securing the right to drop Impact at renewal without losing underlying protections.

If ServiceNow truly believes Impact is indispensable, they should have no issue granting customers the flexibility to exit later. Resistance reveals how strategically important Impact attach is internally, and therefore how much bargaining power customers have.

It is also wise to pre-negotiate how pricing works when moving between tiers. Securing predetermined percentages for upgrades or downgrades ensures predictability and prevents last-minute surprises.

Why ServiceNow AI Now Assist Pricing Directly Affects Your Impact Costs

With the rapid adoption of ServiceNow’s AI offerings across North America and globally, customers need to be particularly mindful of how AI unit consumption influences not only the total spend associated with these offerings and the number of assists, but also the resulting adjusted Impact fee. Since Impact pricing is tied to subscription fees, any increase in AI consumption, additional Assist packs, and Pro Plus offerings directly increases the amount paid for Impact as well.

ServiceNow customers should negotiate product pricing and Impact pricing together, making it clear that lowering underlying product pricing is a prerequisite for thoughtfully considering Impact at all.  ServiceNow customers should be taking this approach for all ServiceNow products as well, whether being added or being renewed.

A Unique Opportunity for ServiceNow Customers in Today’s Market Conditions

While organizations should avoid adding unnecessary products or upgrades solely for leverage, today’s negotiation environment presents a unique dynamic. Because ServiceNow is so heavily focused on increasing Impact adoption, customers may be able to secure new product or upgrades at surprisingly lower costs than expected, while also unlocking broader concessions across the agreement in place.

When aligned with business strategy, and with the right negotiation strategy in place, this approach can enhance long-term flexibility and strengthen the customer’s position.

Hold Your Ground in ServiceNow Renewal Negotiations

The most important message for ServiceNow customers, based on what we are seeing and hearing, particularly those negotiating year-end renewals, is clear: ServiceNow needs Impact in your deal far more than ServiceNow customers need Impact.

By pushing for reduced percentages, securing long-term protections and flexibility, connecting product pricing to Impact pricing, and rejecting claims of mandatory inclusion, ServiceNow customers can achieve stronger outcomes and avoid unnecessary overspending.

Year-end renewals are here, and ServiceNow is pushing Impact harder than ever. Don’t navigate these conversations alone. Tap into UpperEdge’s ServiceNow Advisory Practice to strengthen your negotiation strategy and reduce your total cost of ownership.