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Cornerstone HR Suite 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

Cornerstone HR Suite
Ranking in Talent Management
35th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
27th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
10th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sage People
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
Benefits Administration (17th), Talent Acquisition (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Cornerstone HR Suite is 1.0%, up from 0.5% 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 (%)
Sage People1.7%
Cornerstone HR Suite1.0%
Other97.3%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Manager, BO Transformation at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
A easy-to-use solution for onboarding and training that needs to let its users locate information easily
The most concerning point about these applications is that they offer cloud solutions, and everything goes and works well. But they are not committed or involved in the connection activity. We need to run those applications on the cloud. Since we are a company, We have a lot of information on on-premise platforms. So they are not responsible for building any connection, interconnection, or interface between those legacy systems. And most of the time, the company must consider the proposed plans in making the interfaces. And building the interfaces is something we need to do on our own, and it's separate from the solution. I rate this solution a seven out of ten.
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

"Cornerstone is easy to use...Cornerstone is used for playing training courses and short videos based on company requirements."
"The advantage of choosing Cornerstone HR Suite is that if a company does not have an existing tool and plans to adopt automation, then there is a chance to gain from implementing this solution."
"The flexibility and the fact that it covers all different HR modules are the most valuable aspects of Cornerstone, as it was organically built so all modules are integrated with the same way of managing the configuration, contextualization, availability, and reporting across all of the modules."
"Compared to the other system that we were using, I think Sage is more friendly. As an administrator, Sage's dashboard is visually friendly and many tasks are easier to accomplish. Another feature that we've liked since we started using Sage is the reporting. With the other system, we needed to configure a lot of things manually when it came to reporting, but with Sage the reporting tasks are much simpler."
"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."
"Sage makes all the information accessible, like pulling a file because an employee needs something ASAP. It's all in the system. It's easy to find old reports if I need them for payroll purposes. It might take days to do some of this work by hand."
"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."
"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."
"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."
"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
 

Cons

"The solution's interface is really, really old and requires improvements...Cornerstone should use newer technologies to improve its UI, UX, and content."
"The recruitment module can be improved and also the general reporting can be improved."
"We're using different tools like tracking systems, exploring workforce management, and also using payroll, which is another tool, so we need to know where exactly the information is present. This feature needs improvement in the next release."
"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets."
"The user interface is not great."
"The budget module does not work. Sage People need to maybe make it more user-friendly."
"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."
"The automation in Sage People could improve. The solution is the best used for data storage but the automation could be better to have more functionality."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."
"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product can be considered as not being on the high-end side of the price spectrum, as many other products are much more expensive. However, it cannot be said that it is cheap either."
"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."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Retailer
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Construction Company
16%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Also Known As

No data available
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Wendys, RSM, Nestle, New Belgium
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Sage People and other solutions. Updated: July 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.