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ADP Workforce Now vs Workday HCM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 21, 2026

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
24th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
HR Analytics Software (5th)
Workday HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
1st
Ranking in Talent Management
2nd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday HCM is 9.5%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workday HCM9.5%
ADP Workforce Now2.2%
Other88.3%
Cloud HCM
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user477510 - PeerSpot reviewer
VP, Chief Information Officer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jul 12, 2016
 

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.
Amit_Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Automation has transformed hire to retire processes and delivers powerful HR analytics
In Workday Human Capital Management, I feel that the security part needs to be improved. Workday gives complete control to the implementers regarding security and who is going to see what data. There are sometimes loopholes that are not identified unless fully tested. If Workday had a security alert system, even a small alert would help the security architect secure all information better, especially sensitive data such as payroll. Additionally, customization is another area of improvement, as Workday provides a default blue and yellow theme, which may not align with a company's branding. If Workday provided the option to customize themes based on a company's preferences, it would enhance the user experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 product allows for accurate, consistent payrolls."
"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 most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."
"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."
"Payroll: It is very easy and user-friendly."
"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It's a fully consolidated system. All the transactions and configuration are co-located in one fully in-memory system, so there is no need to go to different data sources (multiple DBs) to pull data; it’s all in one place."
"I like that it's easy to use and flexible."
"Workday is highly intuitive from a customer experience perspective, and it was effortless for us to understand what to do even though we didn't have any related training, making it easy to use without guidance."
"The most helpful Workday features for our HR processes were in HCM, particularly in areas like talent, compensation, benefits, and learning."
"Workday has improved our organization by being a centralized spot for payroll and benefits information."
"I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees."
"The technical support services are excellent."
"Workday's best features are planning and finance."
 

Cons

"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."
"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"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 workflow is a bit weak."
"The Call Centre: The extension number takes too many digits to get through and the wait time is too long."
"Support leaves a lot to be desired."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"It does not integrate with some of the career management softwares, like LinkedIn."
"In terms of reporting, we have to rely on a consultant to do the report customization. The most important thing is to be able to do your own reporting, which it can't do. We rely so much on our consultant to customize reports for us."
"The user interface could be modernized somehow."
"The implementation time should be addressed, as it is too slow. Also, the solution should be more user-friendly."
"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."
"It's great for operational / detailed reporting and some low-level analytics, but for heavy-duty analysis against large data sets, I find it's a bit lacking."
"The solution needs to be updated with generative UI."
 

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."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"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."
"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."
"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."
"The solution’s pricing is better than SAP SuccessFactors."
"I rate the product’s pricing a ten out of ten."
"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."
"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
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 Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?
I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Workday Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

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!
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Workday HCM and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,076 professionals have used our research since 2012.