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ADP Workforce Now vs Dayforce HCM comparison

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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

ADP Workforce Now
Ranking in Talent Management
24th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (10th), HR Analytics Software (5th)
Dayforce HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
16th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.4%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dayforce HCM2.4%
ADP Workforce Now2.2%
Other95.4%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, People & Culture at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Custom reporting tool with field grabber, easy modules for recruitment and provides numerous options for integration
The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-party vendor you can integrate that way. But the only issue is that because it's complex, there needs to be some sort of system, at least on the back end, for the admins to understand what leads to what. We expect AI to improve multiple things with HR processes. The most obvious and common one would be the self-service function for employees, like a chatbot to help with FAQs. We are also building an AI tool that can possibly help managers make better talent management decisions. This tool will pull from the performance management tool, the talent profile, and the reports that we generally have to score employees across all different dimensions.
Thomas Noorkah - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Enterprise Financial Systems at City of Columbus
Greatly improved our efficiency with its integrated time and attendance module
Dayforce has given us near to real-time access to time sheets and clockings since it has an integrated time and attendance module. Within six minutes of someone clocking in, we can see them on the timesheets. Dayforce has enabled us to smooth out our payroll system so not everything is happening at the end of the payroll cycle. We can see the impacts during the week and make it a lot more manageable. It's also been helpful for benefits administration with employees being able to file life and work events online. They can access their pay stubs, request leave, change their address, update their direct deposit details, and other things. We've become much more efficient, and much less paper driven.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For small to mid-sized companies, Workforce Now is one of the better products on the market, clean with an easy interface that is simple to maneuver around, stable, and will continue to improve into the future."
"Payroll: It is very easy and user-friendly."
"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."
"The most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."
"The most interesting feature for me on ADP is the custom reporting tool. It's got something called a field grabber, which makes it so much easier to generate your own custom reports simply by pulling tabs from any feature."
"In my day-to-day work, attendance tracking would be most important. That's because I have a really diverse group of employees, and I have a subset of younger folks who are struggling with their attendance. So, that's the thing that I'm most involved with currently."
"I love the integration of HR, payroll, tax filing, benefits, time and attendance, GL, ACA, employee/manager self-service, reporting and analytics."
"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."
"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."
"The tool has improved a lot in the area of its mobile application, especially considering its added security features, like single sign-on capabilities."
"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."
"The time capture from time cards to charging to projects has greatly improved because it is now all automated and flows into the GL very easily."
"The initial setup is easy."
"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."
"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
 

Cons

"ADP provides a quarterly Error Notification Report that allows you to check for compliance errors based on payments made to employees that quarter. The report only shows employees by their file #; however, the recent ADP upgrade has an "Archive" feature that makes it impossible to search for employees by file number so currently, there is no way to identify the employees listed on the report without calling ADP."
"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The Call Centre: The extension number takes too many digits to get through and the wait time is too long."
"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"Support leaves a lot to be desired."
"When I'm not working with the implementation team and I'm just talking to customer service or something, they're just not a lot of help. They don't understand how it works. They'll tell you to do something that I know would affect something else. So, it's less about the software and more about just training their folks to a higher level."
"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."
"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."
"I would like to see more built-in forms, like government issued forms (T2200). This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"The reporting could be improved."
"Our current software program offers a home page with important company documents and a place for company announcements. Unfortunately, Ceridian Dayfoce does not offer this."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"It would be nice if retro pay calculations were made automatically for salaried payroll, so a calculation and manual entry do not have to be done."
"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."
"It is expensive."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"I know some of what we're currently paying. Most customers would say it's too high, but I don't have a comparison to know that."
"The solution is expensive."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."
"The XOXO program associated with Dayforce allows you to earn credits towards registration and accommodations at their annual Insight Conferences, which can be a real savings to the company when sending employees to the conference."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"In terms of pricing, the product is expensive. However, it is crucial to take into account the manner in which the solution will be utilized and the availability of other alternatives."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users. The search functionality is poor as there's no way for administrators to tag keywords t...
What is your primary use case for Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
We have used Dayforce HCM for our HR functionalities and for the learning module over the last five years. We actually just migrated to a new learning management system.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
The Learning Module add-on to Dayforce HCM was relatively inexpensive per user compared to other LMS’s.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
ACCO Brands
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Dayforce HCM and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.