<PAGE>   1
                                                    Registration No. ___________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                  VERITY, INC.
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

               DELAWARE                              77-0182779
---------------------------------          -----------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction             (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                                 894 ROSS DRIVE
                           SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94089
                --------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                  VERITY, INC.
                       1996 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN
                       -----------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                               DONALD C. MCCAULEY
                   VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
                                  VERITY, INC.
                                 894 ROSS DRIVE
                           SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94089
                     ---------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  415/541-1500

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Securities Act").




<PAGE>   2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                   Proposed            Proposed
                                                    maximum            maximum
Title of Securities to       Amount to be        offering price        aggregate             Amount of
    be registered             registered           per share(1)      offering price      registration fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                            <C>                 <C>                  <C>                  <C>     
Common Stock                   300,000             $7.03125            $2,109,375.00         $639.20
Par Value $0.001
</TABLE>






--------

(1)    Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
       registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low
       prices of the Common Stock on May 7, 1997 as reported on the National
       Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.


<PAGE>   3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


Item 3.       Incorporation of Documents by Reference

               Verity, Inc. (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

              (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K, filed
pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the "Exchange Act"), containing audited financial information for the
Company's latest fiscal year.

              (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of
the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the document
referred to in (a) above.

              (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A, filed pursuant to Section 12 of
the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

              (d) The description of the Company's Preferred Stock Purchase
Rights contained in the Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A, filed
pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report
filed for the purpose of updating such description.

              All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to
Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of
a post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that
all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.       Description of Securities

              The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section
12 of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.       Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

              Inapplicable.



<PAGE>   4
Item 6.       Indemnification of Directors and Officers

              Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.

              The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of
Incorporation which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the
Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach
of their duty of care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of
its directors, officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by
the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of
incorporation, including those circumstances in which indemnification would
otherwise be discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms
sufficiently broad to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances,
for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the
Securities Act.

Item 7.       Exemption From Registration Claimed

              Inapplicable.

Item 8.       Exhibits

              See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.       Undertakings

              (a)      Rule 415 Offering

              The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

              (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

                       (i) To include any prospectus required by Section
10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

                       (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most
recent post-effective


<PAGE>   5
amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a
fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement;

                       (iii) To include any material information with respect to
the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement
or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(l)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

              (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

              (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

         (b) Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

             The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

         (h) Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of
registration statement on Form S-8

             Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection


<PAGE>   6
with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion
of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a
court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by
it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the
final adjudication of such issue.


                                    SIGNATURE

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Sunnyvale, State of California, on May 8, 1997.

                                             Verity, Inc.



                                             By:   /s/ DONALD C. McCAULEY
                                                  ------------------------------
                                                   Donald C. McCauley, Vice
                                                   President and Chief Financial
                                                   Officer


<PAGE>   7
                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

         The officers and directors of Verity, Inc. whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Philippe F. Courtot and Donald C. McCauley,
and each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on May 8, 1997.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Signature                                                 Title
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<S>                                 <C>

/s/ Philippe F. Courtot
--------------------------------
Philippe F. Courtot                 President, Chief Executive Officer and
                                    Chairman of the Board (Principal
                                    Executive Officer)
/s/ Donald C. McCauley
--------------------------------
Donald C. McCauley                  Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
                                    (Principal Financial and Accounting
                                    Officer)
/s/ Steven M. Krausz
--------------------------------
Steven M. Krausz                    Director


/s/ Stephen A. MacDonald
--------------------------------
Stephen A. MacDonald                Director


/s/ Charles P. Waite, Jr.
--------------------------------
Charles P. Waite, Jr.               Director


/s/ Dominique Trempont
--------------------------------
Dominique Trempont                  Director
</TABLE>



<PAGE>   8
                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

<TABLE>
<S>      <C>
4.1      Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated by
         reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
         Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August
         25, 1995, as amended (File No. 33-96228)

4.2      Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to
         the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
         Securities and Exchange Commission on August 25, 1995, as amended (File
         No. 33-96228)

4.3      Agreement and Plan of Merger between Verity, Inc., a California
         corporation, and the Company, filed September 22, 1995, is incorporated
         by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
         Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August
         25, 1995, as amended (File No. 33-96228)

4.4      Stock Purchase Rights Plan is incorporated by reference to the exhibits
         to the Company's report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and
         Exchange Commission on October 10, 1996

5        Opinion re legality

23.1     Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2     Consent of Independent Accountants

24       Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
         statement)
</TABLE>
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 15027}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "VERITY INC \\DE\\", "cik": "0000949956", "assigned-sic": "7374", "irs-number": "770182779", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "0531"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-26869", "film-number": "97600008"}, "business-address": {"street1": "894 ROSS AVE", "city": "SUNNYVALE", "state": "CA", "zip": "94089", "phone": "4155411500"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "894 ROSS AVENUE", "city": "SUNNYVALE", "state": "CA", "zip": "94089"}}
1
                                                    Registration No. ___________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                  VERITY, INC.
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

               DELAWARE                              77-0182779
---------------------------------          -----------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction             (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                                 894 ROSS DRIVE
                           SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94089
                --------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                  VERITY, INC.
                       1996 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN
                       -----------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                               DONALD C. MCCAULEY
                   VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
                                  VERITY, INC.
                                 894 ROSS DRIVE
                           SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94089
                     ---------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  415/541-1500

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Securities Act").
2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed            Proposed
                                                    maximum            maximum
Title of Securities to       Amount to be        offering price        aggregate             Amount of
    be registered             registered           per share(1)      offering price      registration fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock                   300,000             $7.03125            $2,109,375.00         $639.20
Par Value $0.001
--------

(1)    Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
       registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low
       prices of the Common Stock on May 7, 1997 as reported on the National
       Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.
3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.       Incorporation of Documents by Reference

               Verity, Inc. (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

              (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K, filed
pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the "Exchange Act"), containing audited financial information for the
Company's latest fiscal year.

              (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of
the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the document
referred to in (a) above.

              (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A, filed pursuant to Section 12 of
the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

              (d) The description of the Company's Preferred Stock Purchase
Rights contained in the Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A, filed
pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report
filed for the purpose of updating such description.

              All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to
Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of
a post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that
all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.       Description of Securities

              The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section
12 of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.       Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

              Inapplicable.
4
Item 6.       Indemnification of Directors and Officers

              Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.

              The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of
Incorporation which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the
Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach
of their duty of care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of
its directors, officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by
the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of
incorporation, including those circumstances in which indemnification would
otherwise be discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms
sufficiently broad to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances,
for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the
Securities Act.

Item 7.       Exemption From Registration Claimed

              Inapplicable.

Item 8.       Exhibits

              See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.       Undertakings

              (a)      Rule 415 Offering

              The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

              (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

                       (i) To include any prospectus required by Section
10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

                       (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most
recent post-effective
5
amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a
fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement;

                       (iii) To include any material information with respect to
the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement
or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(l)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

              (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

              (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

         (b) Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

             The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

         (h) Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of
registration statement on Form S-8

             Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection
6
with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion
of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a
court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by
it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the
final adjudication of such issue.

                                    SIGNATURE

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Sunnyvale, State of California, on May 8, 1997.

                                             Verity, Inc.

                                             By:   /s/ DONALD C. McCAULEY
                                                  ------------------------------
                                                   Donald C. McCauley, Vice
                                                   President and Chief Financial
                                                   Officer
7
                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

         The officers and directors of Verity, Inc. whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Philippe F. Courtot and Donald C. McCauley,
and each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on May 8, 1997.
Signature                                                 Title
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/s/ Philippe F. Courtot
--------------------------------
Philippe F. Courtot                 President, Chief Executive Officer and
                                    Chairman of the Board (Principal
                                    Executive Officer)
/s/ Donald C. McCauley
--------------------------------
Donald C. McCauley                  Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
                                    (Principal Financial and Accounting
                                    Officer)
/s/ Steven M. Krausz
--------------------------------
Steven M. Krausz                    Director

/s/ Stephen A. MacDonald
--------------------------------
Stephen A. MacDonald                Director

/s/ Charles P. Waite, Jr.
--------------------------------
Charles P. Waite, Jr.               Director

/s/ Dominique Trempont
--------------------------------
Dominique Trempont                  Director
8
                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
4.1      Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated by
         reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
         Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August
         25, 1995, as amended (File No. 33-96228)

4.2      Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to
         the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
         Securities and Exchange Commission on August 25, 1995, as amended (File
         No. 33-96228)

4.3      Agreement and Plan of Merger between Verity, Inc., a California
         corporation, and the Company, filed September 22, 1995, is incorporated
         by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
         Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August
         25, 1995, as amended (File No. 33-96228)

4.4      Stock Purchase Rights Plan is incorporated by reference to the exhibits
         to the Company's report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and
         Exchange Commission on October 10, 1996

5        Opinion re legality

23.1     Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2     Consent of Independent Accountants

24       Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
         statement)