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ADP Workforce Now vs Sage People 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 Benefits Administration
10th
Ranking in Talent Management
25th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
17th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sage People
Ranking in Benefits Administration
17th
Ranking in Talent Management
24th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
19th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.7%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ADP Workforce Now2.2%
Sage People1.7%
Other96.1%
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.
Spencer Gray - PeerSpot reviewer
People Advisor at Thomas International
Highly customizable, robust, and access to helpful online community
In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms. While I understand that this system is not solely focused on performance management and is more of a generalist solution, it still lacks the capabilities and features that you can find in other specialized platforms. If we were to switch to a provider solely focused on performance management, we would have access to a wider range of features and capabilities that are not currently available in this system. Sage People offers a wide range of functions that meet most requirements. However, there is still room for improvement. One feature that I would like to see added is the ability to detect and address any failures in the custom processes or functions built within the system. I would like to see a tool that can automatically sense and identify any issues in the system. Currently, when something goes wrong, it's not always immediately obvious and requires a lot of manual troubleshooting. It would be helpful if there was an error message that clearly explained why the system is failing. This would speed up the investigation process and make it ten times faster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The product allows for accurate, consistent payrolls."
"Payroll: It is very easy and user-friendly."
"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"The most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."
"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."
"For small to mid-sized companies, Workforce Now is one of the better products on the market, clean with an easy interface that is simple to maneuver around, stable, and will continue to improve into the future."
"Compared to the other HR systems I have used in the past, I can say that Sage is in my top five when it comes to recommendations."
"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."
"We are now able to visualize global team structures, and as we rollout other features, the organization will benefit from an easy to use system and standard processes."
"Without a doubt, the most valuable aspect of this solution is the reports, as it offers endless possibilities for report customization. You can easily build any report you can imagine with this system."
"It is easy to see all the information we have for a person across two screens, and reports are easy to run, view, amend, and add."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."
"The most valuable feature of Sage People is the integration with our payroll system."
 

Cons

"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"The Call Centre: The extension number takes too many digits to get through and the wait time is too long."
"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The workflow is a bit weak."
"Their “new and improved” message center (where you get notifications and go to approve things like time off) is actually not as easy as it used to be."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."
"ADP provides a quarterly Error Notification Report that allows you to check for compliance errors based on payments made to employees that quarter. The report only shows employees by their file #; however, the recent ADP upgrade has an "Archive" feature that makes it impossible to search for employees by file number so currently, there is no way to identify the employees listed on the report without calling ADP."
"If Sage People were to become a fully cloud-based solution, it could lead to significant improvements. With the COVID pandemic highlighting the benefits of remote work, a complete shift to cloud-based functionality would be a welcome development for users."
"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."
"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets. In my previous experiences with other HR software, we had to buy another solution to obtain this functionality, and it would be a great feature for Sage to consider adding. For an HR system, Sage would do very well to include it."
"In comparison with other HRIS reporting tools (like Discoverer / OBIEE for Oracle, Business Objects, Crystal Reports etc. which I have used extensively for over 10 years), I think that Fairsail’s reports functionality is quite limited and only available for Administrator profiles."
"Within the absence screens, we have it set up to automatically allow up to five days holiday to carry over. If staff members are allowed to carry over, it’s a bit difficult to add it in easily."
"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"The user interface is not great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"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."
"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."
"From an SME standpoint, I wouldn't necessarily describe it as expensive. However, for the average startup, it may not be affordable since our current annual expenditure on the system, which supports approximately 210-220 users, amounts to approximately £15,000 to £18,000."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The cost of Sage People varies depending on the financial resources of the organization. While it may be affordable for middle-level companies, it may be more challenging for young companies to bear the cost."
"There is other software on the market that can do similar functions to Sage People that could be better in price. Some solution allows you to do your payroll processes by month or by the process. Small companies could benefit by using another solution."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Construction Company
16%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

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 Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Sage People and other solutions. Updated: July 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.