Cornerstone HR Suite vs Workday comparison

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Cornerstone HR Suite

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and Cornerstone HR Suite are competing products in the HR software market, with each offering robust workforce management solutions. Cornerstone HR Suite is perceived to have the upper hand because of its comprehensive features that justify its cost.

Features: Workday provides advanced reporting and analytics for detailed workforce insights, seamless integration with enterprise systems, and a wide range of HR functionalities. Cornerstone HR Suite is strong in learning and development with tools for performance management, career planning, and enriching employee growth experiences.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday's cloud-native deployment is known for smooth integration but requires an intensive initial setup. Its customer service is reliable and responsive. Cornerstone HR Suite features a cloud-based solution with quicker implementation, intuitive interfaces, and a dedicated support system that proactively assists during deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Workday's setup costs are higher, reflecting its extensive capabilities, yet promises strong ROI through efficiency and workforce visibility. Cornerstone HR Suite is more economical initially, focusing on employee development, leading to better long-term ROI with enhanced employee engagement and retention.

To learn more, read our detailed Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Workday Report (Updated: January 2026).

Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Workday

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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

52nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

31st

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (10th)

Workday

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (1st), Talent Acquisition (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Cornerstone HR Suite is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 10.8%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Workday	10.8%
Cornerstone HR Suite	0.8%
Other	88.4%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

mmaldonadoj

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.

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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.

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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 is the most valuable aspect of Cornerstone. They did 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."

"The software is easy to learn and use. When compared to SAP HR and SAP HCM, the tool is easy to access and understand. We have a hierarchy and structural connectivity in Workday. There is a certification for the solution and when we do it, we become the certified partners of the company"

"There is a lot of scope for customization with this solution"

"It is fairly easy to set up"

"What I appreciate best about Workday is the recruiting component."

"The solution is easy to use and provides great flexibility and security."

"The solution is extremely stable."

"The interface of Workday is superior; it is easy and clear, everything is organized effectively, and I enjoy using Workday extensively."

"The most valuable feature of Workday is the ease of navigation to browse the application. The solution can hold information about the company and people with accounts can be discovered by others in the whole company."

More Workday pros

Cons

"The recruitment module can be improved and also the general reporting can be improved."

"The solution's interface is really, really old and requires improvements...Cornerstone should use newer technologies to improve its UI, UX, and content."

"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 should be more user-friendly."

"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."

"Reporting systems should be improved. If you want to report it on paper, if you want something more BI oriented, more high level predictive or more data-driven, it should be improved."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the load time when pulling up information."

"The UI, UX (user experience) is very bad. It is not very interactive."

"It's possible that the way things are integrated could be improved"

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

"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."

More Workday cons

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."

"It is on a yearly basis."

"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."

"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."

"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."

"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."

"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."

"It's very, very expensive."

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

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

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...

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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.

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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...

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Comparisons

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 15% of the time

ADP Workforce Now vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 14% of the time

UKG vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 12% of the time

PeopleStrong vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 12% of the time

Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 11% of the time

More Cornerstone HR Suite Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday

Compared 25% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 9% of the time

SAP HCM vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs Workday

Compared 4% of the time

More Workday Competitors

Product Reports

Cloud HCM

Download Cornerstone HR Suite product report

Download Workday product report

Overview

Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD) was founded with a passion for empowering people through learning and a conviction that people should be your organization’s greatest competitive advantage. Cornerstone is a recognized global human capital management (HCM) leader with a core belief that companies thrive when they help their employees to realize their potential. Putting this belief into practice, Cornerstone offers solutions to help companies strategically manage and continuously develop their talent throughout the entire employee lifecycle. Featuring comprehensive recruiting, personalized learning, development-driven performance management and holistic HR planning, Cornerstone’s human capital management is successfully used by more than 3,500 global clients of all sizes, representing all major industries, spanning over 40 million users across 192 countries and 43 languages. Using one data model and one integrated, extensible platform, Cornerstone HCM platform gives clients greater talent insights, recommendations and supporting tools to meet their growing human capital management needs.

Cornerstone OnDemand

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

Wendys, RSM, Nestle, New Belgium

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!

Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Workday