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ADP Workforce Now vs SAP 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 Benefits Administration
7th
Ranking in Talent Management
14th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
HR Analytics Software (5th)
SAP HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
3rd
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.3%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HCM is 3.9%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP HCM3.9%
ADP Workforce Now2.3%
Other93.8%
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.
SS
Assistant Manager at Kashiv Biosciences
Centralized global HR data has improved expense control and supports secure employee management
The features of SAP HCM are valued by me as it had a clear idea about what was expected from the user point. The person or the application has a lot of features and it had actually all the information needed from our part. That aspect is nice. Apart from that, the T-codes are really helpful to understand which particular option we need when we put the T-code in the search box. The stability and reliability of SAP HCM product are really nice, very helpful, and secured. It has no point of leakage and is mostly reliable, as most companies and organizations prefer SAP over many tools. As for security, it's already secured from the beginning itself, and that is the only reason our organization relies on it. Since it's very useful at a global scale, it is a very useful tool and is very easy to access and handle.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I love the integration of HR, payroll, tax filing, benefits, time and attendance, GL, ACA, employee/manager self-service, reporting and analytics."
"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The integration between the different models like personnel administration, work management, payroll, and time management are the most valuable and key features."
"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."
"They provide the most stable and powerful technology in the areas of human resources, information systems, and ERP."
"It simplifies everything for human capital management, and all users can do self-enrollment for leaves and those kinds of things. The employee self-service feature is quite a powerful feature for me. You can install it on your mobile phone or iPad and do your employee service activity there."
"SAP gives the best automation solution, which not only reduces paperwork but also with minimal manpower we can obtain maximum results."
"It has the best data management features."
"SAP HCM has valuable features for analytics data management."
"The most valuable feature is the Personnel Administration."
 

Cons

"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The Call Centre: The extension number takes too many digits to get through and the wait time is too long."
"The workflow is a bit weak."
"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."
"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."
"Support leaves a lot to be desired."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"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."
"There needs to be a renovation of the interface and functionalities of the talent management modules."
"It would be nice if the solution migrated to S/4HANA, although this is not an immediate need of ours."
"The Core Talent Modules should have been improved, but SAP has introduced SuccessFactors, which has the best solution for Talent Management."
"SAP HCM could improve by having more resources and making it more user-friendly. It is complex."
"Integration is challenging and companies are struggling when it comes to integration between HCM and other systems."
"SAP HCM needs to be more customizable to fit unique organizational processes."
"SAP costs a lot of money. In my view, this product is a waste of money for SMB because there are much better products available and licensing is an issue."
"SAP HCM is costly compared to other ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics or Oracle, and I would rate the cost as one out of ten."
 

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."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is expensive."
"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"The pricing depends upon the specific model and number of user accounts included in a bundle."
"You pay per license. There not any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"We have an annual license for this solution, and the price depends on the number of users."
"The cost of SAP HCM is high, the license should be reduced. SAP HCM has a lot of hidden costs."
"SAP is extremely expensive. The integration costs and customization costs are also a lot."
"We purchase the product's yearly license."
"The solution is a little expensive and we are charged per user for the license. The solution can be paid monthly or annually."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
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 Business19
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise39
 

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 SAP HCM?
SAP HCM is the one of the best ERP for an organization with a small to large scale business. It has the most efficient payroll functionality. Regards : SAP HR classes in pune
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate and control the cost of their human resources.
What is better, SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors?
When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skrill Group Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. SAP HCM and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.