ADP Workforce Now vs Workday comparison

Read 58 Workday reviews

9,296 Views
6,507 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

ADP Workforce Now

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and ADP Workforce Now are two leading solutions in the human resources management category. Workday appears to have the upper hand in comprehensive features and integration capabilities, while ADP Workforce Now is preferred for payroll and flexibility in pricing.

Features: Workday offers comprehensive HCM functionalities, ease of integration, and a user-friendly interface, making it suitable for automating benefits enrollment and ensuring compliance. It also features extensive reporting and a unified HR platform design. ADP Workforce Now excels in payroll management, performance monitoring, and offers customizable reports, though it lacks the same integration depth as Workday.

Room for Improvement: Workday can expand its analytic capabilities, improve mobile app support, and extend payroll functionalities globally. Users also face challenges with complex reporting and workflow configuration flexibility. ADP Workforce Now needs to enhance international payroll processing, improve custom reporting options, and simplify the user interface for smaller businesses, as complexity can be a hurdle for some users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday offers flexible deployment in public, private, and hybrid cloud settings, with robust community support, although response times can be delayed. ADP Workforce Now is typically deployed on public or private clouds and is praised for responsive technical support and helpful community resources, but may require more external support for customization.

Pricing and ROI: Workday is known for high pricing, similar to luxury products, based on headcount and module selection, but often provides substantial ROI through process efficiencies. ADP Workforce Now's pricing is premium, tiered by employee usage and capabilities; while it provides good functionality, users sometimes find the cost high without matching value in customer support or feature enhancements.

To learn more, read our detailed ADP Workforce Now vs. Workday Report (Updated: January 2026).

ADP Workforce Now vs. Workday

Download the complete report

Helped 881,665 peers since 2012

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

18th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (5th)

Workday

Ranking in Benefits Administration

1st

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Talent Acquisition (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 Workday is 10.3%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Workday	10.3%
ADP Workforce Now	1.9%
Other	87.8%

Cloud HCM

Q&A Highlights

it_user477510

VP, Chief Information Officer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 12, 2016

Compare ADP WFN vs Workday for Payroll Administration & Processing

https://www.trustradius.com/reviews/adp-workforce-now-2016-01-08-11-09-24 That's my guideline from; My Mentor Christopher Carey, HRIP

Custom reporting tool with field grabber, easy modules for recruitment and provides numerous options for integration

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John

Director, People & Culture at a agriculture with 201-500 employees

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.

Read full review

Eslam Abo Elnaga

Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo

Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support

There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Read full review

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 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 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."

"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 platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations."

"I found the analysis features to be very useful for our company. I also found the modules installed to be aligned with our company's KPIs. These were the two features that stood out."

"It stores everything for the employee. It has also been able to store the information that we use for our payroll demand."

"The most valuable feature of Workday is the ease of use which is overall user-friendly."

"The user interface is good and very easy to use."

"The solution is stable."

"It is a one-stop solution for everything. You can look for information about other employees or you can track your information. There is a directory, so you can search for other employees. You can also see and track your personal details and salary details on the employee profile page."

"The platform itself is very robust and I generally like the reporting and analytics capability."

More Workday pros

Cons

"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."

"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."

"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."

"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."

"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."

"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."

"Workday could give us industry-specific or vertical-specific solutions."

"Workday does have a community site where people can go on and off for suggestions. They call them Brainstorms, and you can vote them up. That is something that they do well, but oftentimes, they seem to be racing to deliver something based on what a competitor is delivering. For example, if they hear SAP has this new functionality and learning that's going to be coming out, they prioritize there, which makes sense, but unfortunately, some of these Brainstorms may get neglected where the product might not be improved as quickly or as needed for the customers. You might be waiting for a year or two to get a feature that you'd like released. They should pay more attention to customer feedback and ensure that customer feedback is an essential part of their product roadmap."

"I'm not sure they have added this feature yet, but there should be a cellphone version, so we do not need to do it on a laptop. I'd like to log in on a cellphone and have the same features. I'm not sure if that is already available or if it's on the roadmap, but that would be a great feature."

"In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually."

"Workday has several helpful features. It has categorized payroll processes into sections, such as CTC separation and pay slips. It also provides detailed information on promotions and salary hikes, showing changes from the previous year to the current year. This includes a clear view of the new CTC and the monthly paycheck breakdown."

"The navigation of Workday is good but could be better."

"There is so much information floating around Workday that it becomes overwhelming to digest all of it."

"The finance module of this solution is not great and needs improvement."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."

"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."

"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 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."

"The solution is expensive."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."

"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."

"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."

"It's very, very expensive."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud HCM solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Legal Firm

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	42

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?

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 are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?

Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...

What do you like most about Workday?

I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?

If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...

ADP GlobalView Payroll vs ADP Workforce Now

Comparisons

Compared 8% of the time

UKG vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 7% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 6% of the time

MHR iTrent vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 5% of the time

PeopleSoft vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 4% of the time

More ADP Workforce Now Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday

Compared 24% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

SAP HCM vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

More Workday Competitors

Product Reports

ADP Workforce Now

Download ADP Workforce Now product report

Download Workday product report

Overview

ADP Workforce Now is a web-based, complete HR suite that integrates the essential payroll and human resource management procedures into a single database-driven platform. This safe and simple solution gives you everything you need to maximize your workforce and communicate with your staff.

ADP Workforce Now is designed specifically for your company's needs. As a result, the menus and menu selections you see will differ depending on your function and the services your firm uses. As a portal administrator, you customize the site and control what employees can view and do. You can design your site's theme, set approval and notification processes, and manage security groups.

ADP Workforce Now includes these useful capabilities:

Payroll computation and tax filing
Performance regulation
Compensation handling
Talent acquisition
Time and labor logistics
Benefits governance
Analytics
Total management of human resources

ADP Workforce Now Features

ADP Workforce Now has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Single dashboard, single database: Manage your whole workforce from a single dashboard, which is powered by a single database, ensuring that the relevant data is always available when you need it.
- Get a complete HR suite that includes payroll, time, HR, talent, and benefits all in one place.
- Enter data once and it will function across all workflows
- With proactive error detection and can't-miss alerts, you can cut down on mistakes.
- Protect your business with enterprise-grade data security privacy procedures and extensive compliance experience.

Powerful analytics and reporting: With a single database that connects your entire firm, you can access all of your data in one location.
- Create better reports in less time, without ever leaving the page you're on.
- Make use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to help you make confident decisions based on personalized information.

Robust management of HR: Spend less time on paperwork and more time on managing and improving your employees.
- Workflows can be customized, and documents can be stored online.
- Self-service functionalities enable employees and supervisors to be more productive and collaborative.
Customized service and implementation: ADP Workforce Now offers community and chat support and a dedicated implementation team.

In-house implementation by a team of professionals who understand how to optimize the solution for your industry.
For all your questions, ADP Workforce Now offers quick response support, training, and in-product resources.
Client-service specialists with years of experience offer deep knowledge and skills to assist, secure, and support your business.
Flexible service choices can assist your company in navigating strategic and tactical changes, as well as continual system optimization.

ADP

Workday is a cloud-based software solution that specializes in developing applications for capital and finance management applications. The system is built to work in global workforces and is adaptable. The global system ensures that users are up to date and can manage internal career-related information, and everyday business problems like timesheets, payrolls, and time off.

“A Pioneer in Software-as-a-Service”

Workday Human Capital Management tool is designed to simplify and streamline your work. It leverages machine learning to adapt capital management to a changing environment.

The Workday model is based on delivering a single system that uses a single source of data and a single security model to deliver a unique user experience. The system is user-friendly and ensures that employees and management can use it from any and all devices. Workday HCM integrates into a central system that includes financial management, payroll, recruiting, learning, and planning. Managers and employees can provide feedback to one another, too.

Workday’s features include:

Flexible framework that lets you organize your staff according to different criteria. You can group employees by function, hierarchy, or department.
Personalized career guidance: Knowledge management and career guidance that can be easily customized for each staff member and also done at scale.
Augmented reporting and analytics: Configure, change, update, and publish reports, scorecards, and dashboards. The system centralizes the transactional and analytical data so you can act on the data from anywhere.
Compensation tools: Compensatio, payroll, and time tracking are automated and simplified.
Workforce planning allows you to uncover and address talent gaps and get visibility of your staff.
Mobile-first ensign approach: Users can access all resources from any device, and they are always in sync.
Machine learning capabilities enable personalized enterprise experiences and faster business processes.

Workday smart platform consists of the following modules:

Human resource management
Business process management
Reporting and analytics
Benefits administration
Compensation management
Talent management
Survey framework
Employee and management self-service

Reviews from Real Users

Many organizations choose Workday because it provides an all-in-one modular solution for human capital and finance management. Our users say they like the ease of use for time-off requests, career and development segments, and overall HR management. The records and reporting capabilities are another popular feature.

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations," said one user. Another said that the best feature is the optimization of the work day experience with a unified platform that can be applied across different business units. “You will never find a use case that cannot be covered," said a third.

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals

AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!

ADP Workforce Now vs. Workday