ADP Workforce Now vs PeopleSoft vs Workday comparison

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ADP Workforce Now

PeopleSoft

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ADP Workforce Now, PeopleSoft, and Workday based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Workday, Oracle, SAP and others in Benefits Administration.

To learn more, read our detailed Benefits Administration Report (Updated: April 2025).

Benefits Administration

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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:

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 3.0%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PeopleSoft is 9.0%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 19.4%, up from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Benefits Administration

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John

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.

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UshaKatyal

Owner at Kaydex Systems Ltd.

A mature solution that needs right implementation

I think PeopleSoft HR is pretty good and very mature. The people who built PeopleSoft now work on Workday. Workday has asked me to join them as an employee a few times, but I don't take anyone's employment because Workday isn't very user-friendly. With PeopleSoft, you can do a lot. Oracle now bundles PeopleSoft and calls it Oracle Cloud, but the programs are the same. Recruiters often don't know this and say you're not qualified if you don't have Oracle Cloud experience. However, Oracle has just put PeopleSoft in the cloud and packaged it as Oracle Cloud. Overall, if the solution is implemented correctly, it runs very smoothly. I think people shouldn't customize it. They should use it as is and try to adapt to it. Many people didn't understand PeopleSoft at first. For example, during COVID, some companies hired offshore people who didn't know what they were doing and messed everything up. You need to know the rules and regulations of the country where you're implementing the tool because every country has different rules for HR, benefits, and payroll. Canadian payroll differs from US payroll, but they're on the same platform in the solution. It's a very mature system, but people prefer newer options like Oracle Cloud. I was also involved with SAP S/4HANA. I don't think it's good for the government sector because government workers are a bit lazy about technical things. I understand S/4HANA because I have a technical background. It has a different structure, while PeopleSoft has more of a file and table structure, which is easier. If the tables are set up wrong, things go wrong. But if you know how to set it up correctly, it runs smoothly, and you can adjust it if needed. The problem is that companies are hiring big consulting firms that want money. They hire offshore people who don't know the country's rules and do programming. If you buy a package and still have to do custom programming, why buy the package at all? These days, I'm doing a lot of business process reengineering for people because they don't know how to implement it correctly. If you implement it right, you can reduce manual work. However, it depends on change management and how senior management handles it. It works fine if you implement the tool on-site or hybrid, not cloud and do it correctly. But in a cloud situation, there are problems. Many countries change their payroll and benefits rules often. With the cloud, you can't easily change things. You have to ask the company to make changes, which costs much money. People who don't want an IT department go for the cloud. But I've seen many companies fail with the cloud. The cloud is just everything packaged together. Your data sits in someone else's cloud, and you must accept whatever they do. Payroll is very sensitive. If payroll is wrong, the whole company suffers. I've worked on the financial and school sides, too. I'm comfortable with the tool if it's implemented correctly. But many companies don't implement it right, which is why they might say it is too much. I did a big project for an oil and gas company. I was a program control manager with 51 people under me. We used Oracle, but Oracle isn't as good as PeopleSoft for payroll. If the solution is implemented correctly, it's fine. But you need the right implementer. Big consulting firms often give wrong information and use inexperienced people. For maintenance, PeopleSoft sends updated rules to new tables at year-end. You compile the new tables and start the new year. But you need to know which changes apply to your country. I talk to many senior PeopleSoft people and always get LinkedIn messages about business opportunities. I now help about 50 clients when they have problems, but I'm not traveling. If you know the HR and payroll business well, you can implement anything - PeopleSoft, Oracle, or S/4HANA. I've done all of these. S/4HANA is more complicated and technical. It's similar to an old software called IDMS. You have to be very technical, and if you don't do it right, it won't work. I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

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Akash Nigam

Manager for enterprise Solution at PeopleTechGroup

User-friendly, well-organized, offering a structured step-by-step process for configuration

I would really like to see a more robust timekeeping solution in Workday. Currently, most organizations are using Kronos for timekeeping and Workday for HR data. They then integrate Workday with Dimensions to manage time-related activities and payroll processing. I think if Workday could enhance its timekeeping solution to match the functionality and flexibility of Dimensions, it would be a really good product. Another area for improvement is payroll. Workday payroll is not very extensively used in the North American market, but it is more widely used in Europe. There is a lot of complexity in payroll processing in North America, but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement in Workday. In the next release, I would like to see pre-built or predefined connectors for Dimensions and other applications. Currently, we have to use Boomi or another middleware application to integrate Workday with these systems. I think pre-built connectors would be very helpful, especially for Dimensions, which we do not currently have a connector for.

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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

"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."

"The most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."

"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."

"The way that ADP helped us improve our organization is by making the payroll process clean and efficient because if you make a mistake there, you're in big trouble."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The platform is on a private cloud that is fully secure with no way for hacker penetration."

"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."

"The customizations allow us to come up with a lot of complex labor rules. In the Philippines, there's a lot of different kinds of rules you need to be in compliance with. The solution offers up a lot of flexibility and customization that is perfect for our region's requirements."

"PeopleSoft is easy to understand, where any end user that is logged in can easily navigate through the menus."

"The solution's scalability is good."

"The most valuable feature is that it's easy to use."

"A valuable feature is HCM."

"I've worked with HR, payroll, benefits, time and labor, health and safety, and every module. I've also worked on different modules for the education, health, and financial sectors. My 25 years of experience cover different industries and implementations. I've also worked in the public sector, which is a bit different. I implemented PeopleSoft for the state of Massachusetts, covering 168 schools, colleges, and universities."

"In general, this solution is user friendly and also performs well. There are two types of forms. One is a standardized form, which you can define things into. The other, you can customize so more repetition can be done in an even manner. That way, it can be designed for what the public or user actually wants. It's not very tough for any person, or layman to understand exactly what the screen requires one to do."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

More PeopleSoft pros

"I'm happy with the features Workday offers. But in particular, Core HCM is the best."

"The payroll and benefits engine is the most valuable Workday solution in my opinion. It is also easy to access."

"This product is leaps and bounds above the competition. Part of the reason is that it is built with modern technology. It has no legacy coding in it at all."

"It helps the users to enroll for the benefits automatically and update their life events without the involvement of HR individuals or back-office staff. It enables a person to take action on their own. It reduces the administrative burden on HR and puts the ownership on the person that is going through the life event, whether it is having a child, taking a leave of absence, or something else. There are easy ways to integrate Workday with your common benefits. At least in the USA, it can be integrated with common benefits providers such as Fidelity, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, etc. It has got a connector that is able to connect with the vendor or the third party to which you are trying to send the eligibility file. It basically allows us to automate or set up the tool, and the integration with the provider is a lot quicker than competing tools. When it comes to reporting on just eligibility and SLSA, it is a lot more user-intuitive. Depending on the purpose of what you are doing, you can grant security rights or roles, for example, you can control whether someone is a benefits administrator doing an independent audit. Workday makes it very easy to do that. It significantly simplifies the reporting process."

"It is fairly easy to set up"

"We use this solution to manage financials, payroll and recruiting."

"I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees."

"We have fewer systems, less manual data entry, and less processing."

More Workday pros

Cons

"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."

"The report functionality is not as good as competitive products."

"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."

"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."

"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."

"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."

"The solution could improve by offering PeopleSoft site licenses. Currently, Oracle is pushing for everyone to transition to the cloud, but clients are discontent with this approach. Offering new PeopleSoft site licenses would be the most beneficial for our clients."

"The solution's initial setup is not straightforward."

"It would be nice if it became even more declarative in its development."

"There could be more adaptability of the system."

"It would be helpful for the end-user if the reports were customized. They would be able to select the fields while generating their reports."

"Global payroll could be easier to use."

"Agile system configurations to accommodate business dynamics."

"One aspect where PeopleSoft could see improvement is in its level of customization."

More PeopleSoft cons

"In terms of reporting, we have to rely on a consultant to do the report customization. The most important thing is to be able to do your own reporting, which it can't do. We rely so much on our consultant to customize reports for us."

"They could provide a web chatbot feature in the dashboard for Workday."

"They could improve the product areas such as enhancing the interview scheduling module to support more flexible online assessments within the platform."

"My only suggestion might be to include a brief description of any new fields we introduce, making it easier for people to use them. Perhaps this is something they can consider implementing."

"The expenses and reimbursements module could be improved. Creating expense reports is time consuming and inefficient compared to other expense solutions."

"One area that could be improved with Workday is the analytics side."

"If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive."

"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

"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."

"It is expensive."

"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."

"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."

"This solution offers annual licensing. We pay per user."

"I don't know if they are still providing licenses or if they have suspending licenses."

"It's approximately $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 USD per year."

"The solution is priced per module."

"The licensing cost for PeopleSoft is 3,500 per course and the annual subscription fee is 6,500."

"We are a University and the cost and license are negotiated privately."

"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"PeopleSoft has a yearly maintenance fee."

More PeopleSoft pricing and cost advice

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

"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."

"I rate the product’s pricing a ten out of ten."

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

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

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

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Government

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

28%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ADP Workforce Now?

It is a scalable solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ADP Workforce Now?

The licensing is on the pricer side, given that there aren't a lot of other tools out there that are applicable, we j...

What needs improvement with ADP Workforce Now?

The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP because it has all the bells and whistles and all the key fe...

What are the differences between Oracle HCM Cloud and PeopleSoft?

Although both are solutions to manage HR, their differences make each one suitable for different companies. Oracle C...

What do you like most about PeopleSoft?

I use the reporting feature occasionally to check for potential improvements in timesheets. We have integrated it wit...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PeopleSoft?

The solution is priced per module.

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 customizatio...

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.

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 m...

ADP TotalSource vs ADP Workforce Now

Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

ADP GlobalView Payroll vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 17% of the time

UKG vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 12% of the time

Netsuite SuitePeople vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 8% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 6% of the time

More ADP Workforce Now Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs PeopleSoft

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP vs PeopleSoft

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs PeopleSoft

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs PeopleSoft

Compared 9% of the time

DarwinBox vs PeopleSoft

Compared 1% of the time

More PeopleSoft Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday

Compared 30% of the time

SAP HCM vs Workday

Compared 12% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 11% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 6% of the time

More Workday Competitors

Product Reports

ADP Workforce Now

Download ADP Workforce Now product report

PeopleSoft

Download PeopleSoft product report

Download Workday product report

March 2025

Overview

ADP Workforce Now is a web-based, complete HR suite that integrates the essential payroll and human resource management procedures into a single database-driven platform. This safe and simple solution gives you everything you need to maximize your workforce and communicate with your staff.

ADP Workforce Now is designed specifically for your company's needs. As a result, the menus and menu selections you see will differ depending on your function and the services your firm uses. As a portal administrator, you customize the site and control what employees can view and do. You can design your site's theme, set approval and notification processes, and manage security groups.

ADP Workforce Now includes these useful capabilities:

Payroll computation and tax filing
Performance regulation
Compensation handling
Talent acquisition
Time and labor logistics
Benefits governance
Analytics
Total management of human resources

ADP Workforce Now Features

ADP Workforce Now has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Single dashboard, single database: Manage your whole workforce from a single dashboard, which is powered by a single database, ensuring that the relevant data is always available when you need it.
- Get a complete HR suite that includes payroll, time, HR, talent, and benefits all in one place.
- Enter data once and it will function across all workflows
- With proactive error detection and can't-miss alerts, you can cut down on mistakes.
- Protect your business with enterprise-grade data security privacy procedures and extensive compliance experience.

Powerful analytics and reporting: With a single database that connects your entire firm, you can access all of your data in one location.
- Create better reports in less time, without ever leaving the page you're on.
- Make use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to help you make confident decisions based on personalized information.

Robust management of HR: Spend less time on paperwork and more time on managing and improving your employees.
- Workflows can be customized, and documents can be stored online.
- Self-service functionalities enable employees and supervisors to be more productive and collaborative.
Customized service and implementation: ADP Workforce Now offers community and chat support and a dedicated implementation team.

In-house implementation by a team of professionals who understand how to optimize the solution for your industry.
For all your questions, ADP Workforce Now offers quick response support, training, and in-product resources.
Client-service specialists with years of experience offer deep knowledge and skills to assist, secure, and support your business.
Flexible service choices can assist your company in navigating strategic and tactical changes, as well as continual system optimization.

ADP

PeopleSoft is an ERP solution that provides businesses with tools for managing their entire workforce including human resources and financial operations, such as payroll, benefits, talent management, and supply chain management. Originally developed by PeopleSoft, Inc., and later acquired by Oracle Corporation, the software helps address talent management needs and maximize employee productivity and efficiency.

PeopleSoft Features

PeopleSoft has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Simple and intuitive: PeopleSoft HCM delivers a clean, consistent, and user-friendly design, resulting in greater user satisfaction that leads to higher adoption without the high cost of training employees.

Anywhere, anytime mobility: With mobile devices being such an integral part of today’s modern work life, PeopleSoft offers today’s mobile and wireless managers and employees an effective and secure method for accessing the information they need, with the ability to effectively execute HR transactions from anywhere, at any time.

Flexible and configurable: PeopleSoft enables you to leverage a single application optimized for all form factors that works on any mobile device – no need for separate applications for mobile and desktop.

Robust: Because the solution is robust, you can use it to increase retention and improve employee engagement.

Powerful and actionable, embedded analytics: PeopleSoft’s actionable, embedded analytics help you spend less time gathering data and more time analyzing and executing employee data.

PeopleSoft Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing PeopleSoft. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Greater employee satisfaction: Users will find PeopleSoft’s software easy to use, leading to better productivity levels and also increased employee satisfaction.

Manage dynamic workforce: The solution provides secure access to employee information so users can manage essential HR functions effectively.

Increased administrator productivity: PeopleSoft empowers employees and managers by enabling them to execute common HR tasks so administrators can focus on other top priorities.

Quickly make informed decisions: By using PeopleSoft’s embedded, real-time, multidimensional analysis capabilities, users can make more informed business decisions.

Reviews from Real Users

PeopleSoft is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has a lot of functionality and is customizable.

A Regional Director at a tech services company mentions, “The most valuable feature is that it's wide and broad and it does about everything anybody needs in a major organization from a back-office systems point of view.”

"PeopleSoft is a good core system. It has a lot of functionality. "They frequently update the solution and recently they have added some good enhancement features for higher education. We just switched to the new fluid interface and that is working very well for us. It is very good," says another reviewer who is an HR/Pay Systems Administrator/Director at a university.

A Senior Manager for DevOps Infrastructure at a financial services firm, explains why he finds the solution so beneficial: "It is a customizable product. We can customize it based on our needs, which is one of the features that I like about PeopleSoft. As far as financial accounting is concerned, the user interface is very good. You can also configure a Chart of Accounts for all performance insights."

Oracle

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

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals

BMI Healthcare, Lone Star College System, Jefferson County Public Schools, Griffith University, Los Rios Community College District, Tervita Corporation, INFRA S.A. de C.V., ICF Habitat, Central Washington University, Tech Mahindra Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Stanford Childrens Health

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!

Benefits Administration