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Sage People vs SmartRecruiters comparison

Sage and SmartRecruiters are both solutions in the Talent Acquisition category. Sage is ranked #16, while SmartRecruiters is ranked #10. Sage holds a 2.4% mindshare in TA, compared to SmartRecruiters’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Sage users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of SmartRecruiters users who would recommend it.

Sage People

Read 15 Sage People reviews

3,734 Views
1,494 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

SmartRecruiters

Read 15 SmartRecruiters reviews

2,963 Views
1,719 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Sage People

SmartRecruiters

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

SmartRecruiters and Sage People compete in the recruitment and HR software category. SmartRecruiters has the upper hand with its advanced candidate sourcing and recruitment features.

Features: SmartRecruiters offers strong candidate sourcing capabilities, effective candidate pipeline management, and customization options for recruitment processes. It seamlessly integrates with other systems and supports collaboration among users. Sage People provides comprehensive HR management features including robust reporting, absence management, and payroll integration. It is designed to consolidate various HR processes into a unified system.

Room for Improvement: SmartRecruiters needs to enhance its global accessibility and improve system integration. Users request more advanced onboarding solutions and enhanced customization options. Sage People requires better automation, enhanced reporting capabilities, and increased customization for workflows and interfaces.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SmartRecruiters primarily offers public cloud deployment with responsive customer support through ticket systems, though users want easier access to live help. Sage People provides flexible deployment options including public, private, and on-premises solutions. Its technical support is good, but there are noted delays, and users seek more direct support channels.

Pricing and ROI: SmartRecruiters is priced at the higher end but delivers significant value with comprehensive features that contribute to a positive ROI through streamlined recruitment processes. Discounts for non-profits are appreciated. Sage People's pricing is moderate, ideal for larger SMEs, although potentially costly for startups. Its scalable HR functionalities provide value for extensive usage.

To learn more, read our detailed Sage People vs. SmartRecruiters Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sage People vs. SmartRecruiters

September 2026

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Helped 920,929 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

Sage People

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (14th), Talent Management (24th), Cloud HCM (19th), HR Analytics Software (7th)

SmartRecruiters

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Talent Acquisition category, the mindshare of Sage People is 2.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SmartRecruiters is 2.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Talent Acquisition Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SmartRecruiters	2.4%
Sage People	2.4%
Other	95.2%

Talent Acquisition

Featured Reviews

Spencer Gray

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.

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SUMANTA GHOSH

Regional Recruitment Lead at IQ-EQ

A user-friendly tool that functions without any glitches

With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, but we manage the employee lifecycle with the help of SAP, and I don't see the integration of SmartRecruiters with SAP happening quite seamlessly, making it an area where improvements are required.

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

"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."

"Compared to the other HR systems I have used in the past, I can say that Sage is in my top five when it comes to recommendations."

"The solution is beneficial overall."

"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."

"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."

"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 provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."

More Sage People pros

"With just a click of a button, we can manage the process. Even generating offer letters and obtaining electronic signatures through DocSign are integrated into this application."

"The all-encompassing ability to manage the process cohesively out of the SmartRecruiter system was valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the way that they've set it up for collaboration."

"We absolutely saw ROI, and it was massive."

"It is a really user-friendly tool, and its implementation is quite wide."

"Job publishing and application tracking are the most valuable features. You can keep the flow of a candidate's application into one system. The whole collaboration can also be done within the system, which means that you can schedule interviews and add your feedback and ratings there. You can also communicate with the candidates. The analytics part of it is also very valuable. It is a useful feature that we use quite a lot. We don't really use other features such as recruitment marketing or CRM candidate relationship management in SmartRecruiters."

"SmartRecruiters' ease of use, experience, and data compliance with GDPR were the main reasons for switching to this."

"It has a neat functionality built in where it rates candidates. So, before you even look at the resume, you see a rating, and it is based on keywords. For example, it will tell you that an applicant is a frontend engineer and has used React, Angular, etc. It gives you a heads up so that you don't have to go through a hundred resumes on Monday morning eliminating applicants. It will tell you that this applicant's skills match 87%, which is pretty neat. You can skip the ones that are rated 25% or something."

More SmartRecruiters pros

Cons

"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."

"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 product lacks several features available in more mature products."

"Within the absence screens, we have it set up to automatically allow up to five days holiday to carry over. If staff members are allowed to carry over, it’s a bit difficult to add it in easily."

"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."

"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 integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."

"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets."

More Sage People cons

"We require greater flexibility for customization with our employer branding. Currently, it is very much driven by the SmartRecruiters design. We are using a SaaS solution, so we are powered by what is in the core product itself. A disadvantage of being a SaaS solution is that there aren't many customization options because you are literally buying it out of the box. You use whatever is offered to you in a box as much as you can, and that might be a problem sometimes because customizations are not achievable. They should definitely improve and provide more flexibility for customizations. For a large organization like ours, they can provide more flexibility on the authorization side of things. They could create a much more flexible way of access and separate the IT or help desk access when they need to go into the system and do some fixes. Currently, it is set up in a way that that you have access for everything or nothing, which is not useful in terms of the separation of duty that we have. There are also other things like matrix, where we can have a better and deeper kind of analysis."

"There were problems with integrations around other systems and each one had to be custom-built, which took a little while to get set up and running."

"One thing that has been a bit of a struggle is getting tech support."

"Around 2015 and into '17, I worked at a federal contractor. I had to switch to a different applicant system as I didn't know if SmartRecruiters was OFCCP compliant, which is something that, as a US-based federal contractor, you have to ensure. They should work to appeal to the contractor industry and get the product OFCCP compliant."

"I don't see the integration of SmartRecruiters with SAP happening quite seamlessly, making it an area where improvements are required."

"A disadvantage of being a SaaS solution is that there aren't many customization options because you are literally buying it out of the box."

"There were limitations with the system that we would have liked, not in the time, but the company in Germany really dictated that. So we couldn't do everything in the system we would have liked to it."

"We ran into some serious issues related to language barriers."

More SmartRecruiters cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."

"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."

"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"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."

"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."

"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."

More Sage People pricing and cost advice

"They are pretty competitive. As the product matures, it has much more functionality and different pricing models. It can relatively cost a lot more if you want to use additional features, but, in general, it is competitive in the industry. We work on a yearly license agreement based on the company size. There are the support costs, which are a part of the additional cost based on the percentage of the licensing fee. So, it has a license plus support cost. Then, of course, there are other add-on options that we can purchase and procure whenever we want to based on certain negotiated arrangements."

"Back in 2018, when I engaged with their sales, they wanted to charge around $10,000 for an annual subscription. Depending on your organization, that either could or couldn't be expensive. I personally think it's a fair price. However, I engaged them and negotiated a lower price with them. I think I got closer to $6,000. It came with a commitment of three years."

"SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors. Considering the type of features and services it provides, it is probably one of the best solutions in the market. Others may offer a similar price, but their services won't be that good or the user-friendliness won't be that great. The licensing works based on how many users are there in a company. If you are using other functionalities, like CRM and HRS, the price increases."

"There were implementation costs in the first year to get everything set up and running, and then they have various modules on top, which are optional and available at an extra charge."

"SmartRecruiters is an expensive solution."

"I wasn't involved in its acquisition, but I would assume that SmartRecruiters is pretty pricey."

"I haven't been so involved with pricing, so I don't have all details, but I know that we are paying per head when it comes to different countries. There is an additional fee for new features that they release. If it is something that we would like to use, we need to pay some extra for it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Healthcare Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	8

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

PeopleSoft vs Sage People

Compared 6% of the time

UKG vs Sage People

Compared 5% of the time

ADP Workforce Now vs Sage People

Compared 4% of the time

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SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting vs SmartRecruiters

Compared 12% of the time

Workday HCM vs SmartRecruiters

Compared 9% of the time

Ashby vs SmartRecruiters

Compared 8% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs SmartRecruiters

Compared 6% of the time

PeopleSoft vs SmartRecruiters

Compared 3% of the time

More SmartRecruiters Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Sage People

October 2026

Download Sage People product report

Buyer's Guide

SmartRecruiters

October 2026

Download SmartRecruiters product report

Also Known As

Fairsail

No data available

Overview

Sage People offers customizable reporting, system integration, and HR management capabilities tailored to companies managing diverse teams globally through Salesforce technology. It enhances workforce engagement and enables seamless interaction with payroll and financial systems.

Sage People is built for managing HR services, including payroll integration, employee data handling, and talent acquisition. It provides a visually appealing interface powered by Salesforce, enhancing employee processes with functions like time-off management and legally compliant reporting. Implementation supports global operations across APAC, EMEA, and Americas, optimizing workforce engagement and standardizing HR processes.

What are Sage People's key features?

Customizable Reporting: Enables detailed analysis and evaluation of HR metrics
Payroll Integration: Seamlessly connects with payroll systems to streamline financial transactions
Global Team Visualization: Visualizes team structures for better management
Employee Information Management: Centralizes employee data for easy access and updates
Cloud and On-Premise Support: Allows flexibility in deployment and ensures robust performance

What benefits are important to consider in reviews?

Process Standardization: Facilitates consistent HR practices across various regions
Employee Engagement: Enhances workforce interaction and satisfaction
Mobile Access: Provides remote accessibility for team management
Efficient Integration: Connects with existing financial systems for simplified workflows

Sage People is widely used across industries for efficient HR management, especially in talent acquisition and onboarding processes. Its adaptability enables companies to customize according to workforce requirements, whether in the cloud or on-premise, supporting comprehensive payroll management and application oversight.

Sage

SmartRecruiters offers user-friendly recruitment solutions, excelling in diverse candidate sourcing, cost-efficiency, and seamless integration. It simplifies candidate tracking, job publication, and communication while providing valuable data analysis and customizable workflows.

SmartRecruiters is a comprehensive talent acquisition and applicant tracking system that streamlines recruitment from job postings to offer letters. Healthcare organizations utilize SmartRecruiters for its seamless HRS integration and candidate tracking, valuing its capability to source diverse candidates. It facilitates efficient job publication, resume analysis, interview scheduling, and communication, enhancing recruitment through automated notifications and feedback features. However, challenges like regulatory compliance, customization options, and integration with other systems persist. Users cite issues such as complex application processes, language barriers, and inefficiencies in workflow customization.

What are the most important features of SmartRecruiters?

User-Friendliness: Easy to navigate and use, facilitating feedback sharing.
Candidate Tracking: Effective management of the candidate lifecycle.
Job Publication: Efficient posting and advertising of job positions.
Data Analysis: Provides valuable insights through reporting tools.
Customizable Workflows: Tailors processes to meet specific needs.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses in the recruiting process.
Diverse Candidate Sourcing: Supports inclusivity and broadens talent pool.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with HRS for streamlined operations.
Feedback Mechanisms: Enhances communication with candidates.
Communication Efficiency: Allows for effective candidate interaction.

SmartRecruiters is widely adopted in industries focused on talent acquisition, such as healthcare, emphasizing its user-friendly design and adaptability to low-bandwidth environments. It supports end-to-end recruitment processes, enabling improvements in job requisition creation, career page updates, data management, and offer letter generation, promoting consistency and efficiency.

SmartRecruiters

Sample Customers

Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair

Atlassian, Aol, IBM, Napa, Skechers

Buyer's Guide

Sage People vs. SmartRecruiters

September 2026

Free Report: Sage People vs. SmartRecruiters

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