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SAP SuccessFactors HCM 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

SAP SuccessFactors HCM
Ranking in Cloud HCM
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Workday HCM
Ranking in Cloud HCM
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (1st), Talent Management (2nd), Talent Acquisition (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors HCM is 1.1%, up from 0.4% 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%
SAP SuccessFactors HCM1.1%
Other89.4%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Stuti Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
VP – Skills Architecture And Management at Standard Chartered Bank
Unified talent workflows have streamlined performance reviews and continuous feedback
Based on my experience with SAP SuccessFactors HCM, there are a lot of improvements needed. They are improving definitely, but SAP SuccessFactors HCM needs a lot more integrated flow of data and information across different modules because it is sitting in a lot of places. The biggest improvement is that SAP SuccessFactors HCM is very plain and vanilla and is not very engaging in terms of UI/UX. From a UI/UX perspective, it is not very intuitive. You need to know where to go and navigate and what information is sitting there. Therefore, we have to do a lot of change management education, a lot of guidance work, and a lot of change management to get higher adoption and engagement on the platform. Something that would be really intuitive could fit better with the flow.
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

"The SAP SuccessFactors HCM tool is a fantastic platform to work with, offering end-to-end employee lifecycle coverage."
"The employee experience management tools have had a very positive impact on employee satisfaction and well-being within our organization."
"SAP SuccessFactors HCM has positively impacted my customer's environment by ensuring they are digital; we promote using DocuSign for document signing and ensuring effective onboarding, and post-implementation we provide hyper-care and digital adoption reports after six months or a year to show how much more paperless and workflow-enabled their organization has become after SAP SuccessFactors HCM implementation."
"The feature I appreciate the most about this solution is the integration with SAP S/4HANA system."
"Using SAP SuccessFactors HCM analytics and insights helps my customers in data-driven decision-making."
"Regarding how SAP SuccessFactors HCM has helped my organization, we have timelines that work with the platform in terms of when we set up our goals and record them, performance reviews, check-ins, and everything work seamlessly."
"Since adopting Workday, we have reduced HR administrative processing time by 45%."
"According to me, the most valuable feature is autonomy of business processes and the security configuration within the tenant, specifically the configuration. The solution is highly stable. It’s designed to handle most tasks automatically. I rate it a nine out of ten. The solution is highly scalable. I rate it an eight out of ten. This solution consistently supports its customers through its implementation partners or sales support. The setup is designed to be user-friendly and straightforward. Workday HCM is user-friendly and easier to implement within the organization"
"We use Workday for all our employee-related information. It is a central hub where we can access pay slips, tax-related information, tax automation, and tax rules. Additionally, it manages employee hiring processes and other HR functions. It's a one-stop solution where employees can find everything about their profile, work experience, and associated technologies."
"The user interface is good and very easy to use."
"It is fairly easy to set up"
"The platform itself is very robust and I generally like the reporting and analytics capability."
"There is a lot of scope for customization with this solution"
"Overall, it delivers a really seamless solution that allows for operational efficiencies and operational excellence."
 

Cons

"The main area for improvement would be implementing a better pricing model. It is expensive, and with people discussing Workday more frequently, SAP needs to compete by becoming more free-flowing and dynamic compared to traditional SAP systems."
"The pricing of the solution is very high concerning pricing, setup cost, and licensing of this tool."
"The SAP SuccessFactors HCM has room for improvement in terms of product development nimbleness. Additionally, the speed of the application platform occasionally reduces, primarily due to data center related issues."
"Based on my experience with SAP SuccessFactors HCM, there are a lot of improvements needed."
"The reporting part is quite weak in SAP SuccessFactors HCM because the drill-down capabilities are not what a customer wants compared to what it offers."
"It is very difficult to purchase SAP SuccessFactors HCM over here for smaller or medium-sized organizations, mainly because of the price."
"I'm not sure they have added this feature yet, but there should be a cellphone version, so we do not need to do it on a laptop. I'd like to log in on a cellphone and have the same features. I'm not sure if that is already available or if it's on the roadmap, but that would be a great feature."
"The implementation could have gone a little smoother."
"Workday would be improved with more API connectors."
"Workday does not support many Korean language features. So, it will be great if they have some development on the Korean language side – then it will be really powerful in our market."
"We would like to see improvement in the mobile app variant of this solution. The time sheet entry and approval, and the geo-tagging features all need to have their functionality updated, in order to be comparable with other products on the market."
"The finance module of this solution is not great and needs improvement."
"There are other enhancements that go untended that have been languishing for years."
"In addition to the lost data, the solution is slow to pull up information and I am not sure if this is due to the botched implementation or if it is the solution itself."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution’s pricing is better than SAP SuccessFactors."
"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."
"Each module comes with an additional cost. It operates on a mid-price model. So, there is an additional payment for each module needed. The solution might be costlier for smaller companies, making it more suitable for mid to large-sized enterprises."
"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
"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 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 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
Manufacturing Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
The pricing of SAP SuccessFactors HCM is a bit expensive; its HCM without SuccessFactors was reasonable when it was on-site, but SuccessFactors is very expensive. On-premise HCM was good regarding ...
What needs improvement with SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
Based on my experience with SAP SuccessFactors HCM, there are a lot of improvements needed. They are improving definitely, but SAP SuccessFactors HCM needs a lot more integrated flow of data and in...
What is your primary use case for SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
I have hands-on experience with SAP SuccessFactors HCM and we use different modules. As an HR person, I work from that side of the platform. I am the customer of SAP SuccessFactors HCM. We utilize ...
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

Information Not Available
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 SAP SuccessFactors HCM vs. Workday HCM and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.