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ADP Workforce Now vs Dayforce HCM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ADP Workforce Now
Ranking in Talent Management
18th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (7th), HR Analytics Software (5th)
Dayforce HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
14th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 1.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.5%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dayforce HCM2.5%
ADP Workforce Now1.9%
Other95.6%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, People & Culture at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Custom reporting tool with field grabber, easy modules for recruitment and provides numerous options for integration
The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-party vendor you can integrate that way. But the only issue is that because it's complex, there needs to be some sort of system, at least on the back end, for the admins to understand what leads to what. We expect AI to improve multiple things with HR processes. The most obvious and common one would be the self-service function for employees, like a chatbot to help with FAQs. We are also building an AI tool that can possibly help managers make better talent management decisions. This tool will pull from the performance management tool, the talent profile, and the reports that we generally have to score employees across all different dimensions.
Thomas Noorkah - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Enterprise Financial Systems at City of Columbus
Greatly improved our efficiency with its integrated time and attendance module
Dayforce has given us near to real-time access to time sheets and clockings since it has an integrated time and attendance module. Within six minutes of someone clocking in, we can see them on the timesheets. Dayforce has enabled us to smooth out our payroll system so not everything is happening at the end of the payroll cycle. We can see the impacts during the week and make it a lot more manageable. It's also been helpful for benefits administration with employees being able to file life and work events online. They can access their pay stubs, request leave, change their address, update their direct deposit details, and other things. We've become much more efficient, and much less paper driven.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."
"The way that ADP helped us improve our organization is by making the payroll process clean and efficient because if you make a mistake there, you're in big trouble."
"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."
"The most interesting feature for me on ADP is the custom reporting tool. It's got something called a field grabber, which makes it so much easier to generate your own custom reports simply by pulling tabs from any feature."
"In my day-to-day work, attendance tracking would be most important. That's because I have a really diverse group of employees, and I have a subset of younger folks who are struggling with their attendance. So, that's the thing that I'm most involved with currently."
"It is a scalable solution."
"I have not encountered many bugs, and in the rare instances where problems occurred, Ceridian Dayforce HCM promptly fixed them. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"The implementation was through a team assigned to us by Ceridian. They were extremely knowledgeable and it made the implementation go very smoothly."
"The time capture from time cards to charging to projects has greatly improved because it is now all automated and flows into the GL very easily."
"The tool has improved a lot in the area of its mobile application, especially considering its added security features, like single sign-on capabilities."
"Great time and attendance payroll and benefits administration which has improved our efficiency."
"The product has a pretty clean look."
"Our employee benefits enrollment is managed through Ceridian Dayforce, which makes for a limited manual process."
"It provides real-time information with great reports."
 

Cons

"When I'm not working with the implementation team and I'm just talking to customer service or something, they're just not a lot of help. They don't understand how it works. They'll tell you to do something that I know would affect something else. So, it's less about the software and more about just training their folks to a higher level."
"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."
"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"It would be nice if retro pay calculations were made automatically for salaried payroll, so a calculation and manual entry do not have to be done."
"An area for improvement could be a little more testing before implementing hotfixes to make sure they do not interfere with any active customized products."
"I would also like to see some improvement in standard reports. A standard report should be available to pull the required information for Affirmative Action Plans. I do not think I should have to build or create one."
"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"Dayforce has its gaps like every HR system, but nothing comes to mind at the moment."
"The solution has a lot of glitches."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I know some of what we're currently paying. Most customers would say it's too high, but I don't have a comparison to know that."
"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."
"It is expensive."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"The solution is expensive."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."
"In terms of pricing, the product is expensive. However, it is crucial to take into account the manner in which the solution will be utilized and the availability of other alternatives."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"The XOXO program associated with Dayforce allows you to earn credits towards registration and accommodations at their annual Insight Conferences, which can be a real savings to the company when sending employees to the conference."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Legal Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Non Profit
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ADP Workforce Now?
The licensing is on the pricer side, given that there aren't a lot of other tools out there that are applicable, we just decided to go ahead with ADP anyway. I would definitely recommend ADP to oth...
What needs improvement with ADP Workforce Now?
The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-part...
What advice do you have for others considering ADP Workforce Now?
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. It's got a lot of features. The reason I'm not giving it a full score is largely due to the complexity and the customer service.
What do you like most about Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined.
What needs improvement with Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users. The search functionality is poor as there's no way for administrators to tag keywords t...
What is your primary use case for Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
We have used Dayforce HCM for our HR functionalities and for the learning module over the last five years. We actually just migrated to a new learning management system.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
ACCO Brands
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Dayforce HCM and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.