ServiceNow vs. Palantir: Both Sell AI SaaS Platforms to Governments and Enterprises. Here's the Number That Actually Separates Their Growth Rates.
Micah Zimmerman, The Motley Fool
Tue, August 18, 2026 at 1:30 PM GMT+3 4 min read
If you put ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) and Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) side by side, they both look like slick artificial intelligence (AI) businesses selling software as a service (SaaS) to big governments and global enterprises. The stories feel similar until you zero in on one number that really explains why their growth rates look so different: how fast U.S. commercial revenue is growing.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
ServiceNow: steady AI growth on a big base
ServiceNow comes into this comparison as a mature cloud platform. It already sits inside thousands of large organizations, running workflows for IT, HR, security, and customer service. The AI products it is pushing now, like Now Assist, are layered onto a foundation built long before the current AI wave.
In Q2 2026, ServiceNow reported total revenue of about $3.9 billion, with subscription revenue up roughly 23% year over year in constant currency. That is healthy growth for a company of its size and age. The more telling numbers are in the order backlog. Remaining performance obligations reached about $29 billion, and current RPO, the contract revenue due in the next 12 months, stood at about $13.2 billion with growth of a bit more than 21%.
ServiceNow's AI story fits that profile. AI annual contract value crossed $1 billion in Q2, driven by hundreds of seven-figure deals and expanding commitments from existing customers. This is AI as an accelerator atop a large installed base. Growth is strong, but it is tied to a world where many customers already use ServiceNow and are now paying more for AI-infused workflows.
Palantir: U.S. commercial in hypergrowth
Palantir lives in a different part of the curve. Historically, it was known as a government and defense contractor, selling powerful data platforms to militaries and intelligence agencies. During the past two years, its AI Platform, AIP, has turned it into an enterprise software company with a very different growth profile.
In Q2 the company reported 93% year-over-year revenue growth to about $1.94 billion, which is impressive on its own. The number that really jumps out, though, is U.S. commercial revenue. Revenue in the segment rose 149% year over year and 28% sequentially to $764 million, and Palantir raised its full-year U.S. commercial forecast to more than $3.42 billion, implying at least 134% growth for 2026.
This tells you that Palantir's AI SaaS business is not just upselling existing customers at the margin. It is pulling in new commercial clients at a blistering pace and pushing a much larger share of the company's total revenue into the U.S. enterprise bucket. U.S. government revenue is still growing fast at about 90% annually, but commercial is now growing even faster and nearly matches government in absolute dollars.
The number that separates them
So both companies are selling AI platforms. Both serve governments and big enterprises. The metric that really separates their growth rates is U.S. commercial revenue growth.
For ServiceNow, most growth is in the mid-20% range, backed by a huge backlog and many existing relationships. AI is helping that number, but it is not blowing it up. For Palantir, U.S. commercial revenue is growing well into triple-percentage digits, and that segment alone is now big enough to define the company's trajectory.
If you care about durability, ServiceNow's 20% or more growth, tied to a $29 billion backlog, feels reassuring. If you care about raw acceleration, Palantir's 149% U.S. commercial growth tells you its AI SaaS engine is still in hyperdrive. In the long run, the gap between those two numbers will do more to shape how each stock trades than any single AI product announcement.
Should you buy stock in ServiceNow right now?
Before you buy stock in ServiceNow, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and ServiceNow wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $421,511!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,381,960!*
That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by nearly 5x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul.
*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2026.
Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies and ServiceNow. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
ServiceNow vs. Palantir: Both Sell AI SaaS Platforms to Governments and Enterprises. Here's the Number That Actually Separates Their Growth Rates. was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yorumlar (0)
Giriş yaparak yorum yazabilirsin.
İlk yorumu sen yaz.