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SAP SuccessFactors vs SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Ranking in Global Payroll
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
100
Ranking in other categories
Talent Management (1st), Cloud HCM (1st), Talent Acquisition (1st)
SAP SuccessFactors Employee...
Ranking in Global Payroll
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Global Payroll category, the mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 4.5%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is 1.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Global Payroll Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP SuccessFactors4.5%
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll1.8%
Other93.7%
Global Payroll
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Assistant Manager at Kashiv Biosciences
HR has gained clear analytics for attrition, goals, and appraisals and manages talent efficiently
SAP SuccessFactors has a low error rate. We had many ad hoc reports that we needed to generate, and it was very easy to do so in SAP SuccessFactors. We also created many in-house reports according to our specific requirements with the help of this tool, which was a really big game changer for us. We did not depend on advanced Excel in those cases. We generated a lot of detailed reports whenever we needed them during emergency cases or board meetings. A lot of usefulness and time were saved in those cases. I will also mention that we conducted a comparative study for some recruitment cases. We had a recruitment model where we were looking for a very niche profile. Since the job profile was really different and rare, we had to depend on analytics to understand and shortlist from a large pool of candidates that we already had in our database. Analytics was really helpful in this situation.
HK
Consultant at BluTech Talent Plus LLP
Compensation cycles have become more secure and compliant while payroll data is now easier to validate
From a coding perspective, there are server timing issues. The system gets logged out, and there are issues from a coding perspective. From a feature perspective, most software has the same features, so they cannot implement more features in compensation because it is a crucial part. There are more issues with the software rather than the features. The time and saving time are problematic. There are some errors and rendering issues. Sometimes we get errors without our faults, which is where the inconsistency with their features exists. One area I want them to improve is the integration part where we can integrate systems with third-party software. Workday and Oracle provide very good integration suites, but SAP, because they are more focused on security, is hesitant. Their systems are somewhat legacy, so they do not support third-party software as comparably well. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll has introduced story reports in the analytics part, which is a good feature. They are removing legacy systems like detailed reporting and Canvas. In 2028, they plan to remove these systems. Story reports is a pretty good feature where we can view graphs, tiles, and all information on one screen with the data. I would suggest they improve their community. SAP Community is pretty good, but they can improve their database with tech tips and documentation where they put every single scenario into written documents so that every client can find solutions without waiting for replies. The community should be improved.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The self-service part is most valuable. Employees and managers can do a lot of things on their own, and they are not dependent on the HR organization."
"The best feature is that the solution has an open architecture and provides an open platform so it can coexist with other systems."
"The tool's most valuable feature is document generation."
"It covers all the everyday functions of the employee life cycle."
"It has improved my organization by enabling us to efficiently manage our personnel."
"This solution support our HR Transformation strategy. Provide ESS and MSS functionalities to employees."
"I hardly ever encounter any stability issues, as SAP SuccessFactors is very good and stable."
"The features of the solution that I found valuable for my business are its ability to create a dashboard, pie charts, and reporting functions, as well as advanced reporting capabilities."
"The strongest point of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is compliance and security, which is the most significant advantage they hold against other software in terms of compliance and security with local and international laws."
 

Cons

"Employee Central made an incredible improvement, but still is behind the SAP HCM On Prem solution."
"The graphical user interface (GUI) is not very friendly. On the homepage, it is not possible to place advisories or announcements at the top."
"I don't feel we get any ROI from SuccessFactors."
"LMS, the admin tool, is quite complex and requires a lot of admin work."
"SAP should also look into easily integrating with other applications or other tools. Technology has changed now, and it should be easier for any application to integrate with other apps. There needs to be more flexibility."
"The solution's technical support is weak."
"They have a set of web services and connections to them. The libraries were not up-to-date and this contributed to the complexity."
"The tool is not very nimble or customizable."
"There are more issues with the software rather than the features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are on an annual subscription to use SAP SuccessFactors. The pricing model is something that they could restructure a bit better. If it was based differently on the type of usage it would help."
"This is a more costly solution than comparable products, and training is not available in the open-market, so this has to be purchased separately from the vendor."
"For SAP, the product is pricey, both CAPEX and the OPEX. It's something that could be improved."
"It could be cheaper."
"The licensing fees are based on the number of modules that are being used, and the number of users."
"We don't utilize even half of the licenses because not everyone uses them. With SAP SuccessFactors, though, we're now conducting all our performance evaluations within the system, so I suppose we're making better use of those licenses. As for SAP for employee services and internal benefits processing, we do have licenses for those but don't utilize them."
"The product is expensive. The product is worth the money you pay for it."
"I think the pricing is a little better than most solutions out there. There are reasonable prices when it comes to some of the modules such as the Payroll module, and for the remaining modules I believe the pricing is fair in comparison to the rest of the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise70
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is better, SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors?
When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
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 needs improvement with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll?
From a coding perspective, there are server timing issues. The system gets logged out, and there are issues from a coding perspective. From a feature perspective, most software has the same feature...
What is your primary use case for SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll?
The client company has requirements to implement their compensation cycle. Every company has an increment cycle yearly, and we take advantage of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll to imple...
What advice do you have for others considering SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll?
Rather than providing a technical specialist, they could increase their community. SAP Community is pretty good, but they can improve their database with tech tips and documentation where they put ...
 

Also Known As

SuccessFactors
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skril
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Find out what your peers are saying about Deel, SAP, ADP and others in Global Payroll. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.