---
sourceDocument: Australia Build or modify applications
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/application-development

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Build or modify applications

ft:clusterId :

    - cadev

bundleId :

    - cadev

workflow :

    - Development, Data, and Analytics


---

# Modifying versus building an application

# Modifying versus building an application {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
At a certain point in the lifetime of your applications, it might make sense to create
an application to replace the old one. Cost savings, maintenance effort, and features available in
new apps can help you determine if it's better to build a new application or modify an existing
one.
Consider building a new application for the following reasons:

* The existing application is outdated and doesn't run well on newer hardware.
* Building a new application would produce cost savings over updating and maintaining the existing application.
* The existing application doesn't fundamentally meet your business needs.
* The existing application's features can easily transfer to a new application.
* Updating the existing application would cause significant disruptions to your UI and workflow because the existing application does not support the features you want to add.
* A new application would resonate with more users through an updated UI, more features, and ease of use than the existing application.
* Building a new application would be a quicker and easier process on low-code platforms like App Engine Studio (AES) than maintaining the existing application.
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For more information, see the following topics:

* [Use App Engine instead of customizations](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/lCFPM_FaNd8BYF3ynwwYmQ "Use App Engine development tools to extend the ServiceNow AI Platform without customizing existing applications. Building a new app preserves upgrade compatibility and keeps your changes isolated and easier to maintain.")
* [Customization vs configuration with ServiceNow Studio](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/UqclRzfkNB0EtvVJaTv2Tg "There are important differences between customizing and configuring ServiceNow applications. The ServiceNow platform is built to embrace customization and configuration, but how you do so can have significant impacts on ServiceNow support, upgrading to future ServiceNow platform versions, and the functionality of the ServiceNow platform.")
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