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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
40th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
29th
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
25th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
21st
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 June 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Cornerstone HR Suite is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.7%, up from 0.7% 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.
Anastacia Mahachi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior HR and Payroll Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Allows for storing comprehensive employee information
The most valuable features are employee historical information and reporting capabilities. Sage People is a comprehensive system that allows for storing a lot of employee information. Apart from basic details like name and surname, you can add links to other employee information such as cloud or team accounts, medical aids, and pension funds. You can also store historical data like position changes and salary increases. This information is valuable even for inactive employees. 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. So you can even build your own reports on top of the internal reports out of there. And on the reports, you have legally compliant reports available. So you won't even have to copy it. The auditors will give you a sample for reports. Those reports are already available in stage three and video group modules.

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 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."
"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."
"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 most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."
"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."
"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."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of Sage People is the integration with our payroll system."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms."
"The product lacks several features available in more mature products."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"Its stability could be better."
"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."
"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."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"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."
 

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."
"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."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"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."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"The pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

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

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: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.