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ADP Workforce Now vs Sage People comparison

 

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 Benefits Administration
8th
Ranking in Talent Management
17th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
12th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sage People
Ranking in Benefits Administration
12th
Ranking in Talent Management
12th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
11th
Ranking in HR Analytics Software
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Vineeth John - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ruth Baker - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly scalable product that provides excellent dashboard and reporting features
The initial setup is easy. We need to be technically savvy. We need to have experience with HR systems to be involved in the setups. For someone who's never had an HR system before, it's going to be very overwhelming. The solution has got a lot of functionalities, which is brilliant. It is 90% customizable. We can configure it exactly as we want it. We would definitely need someone with HR systems experience to understand the backend. We can configure the back end as much as we like. We can also do it once we’ve gone live with the system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are the reporting and benefits piece."
"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."
"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 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."
"The most valuable feature to me is performance management because we just started using that."
"The most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."
"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."
"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."
"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."
"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."
"Without a doubt, the most valuable aspect of this solution is the reports, as it offers endless possibilities for report customization. You can easily build any report you can imagine with this system."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
 

Cons

"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."
"The complexity is the key challenge with a tool like ADP ."
"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 report functionality is not as good as competitive products."
"I would like to see the payroll side improved and there are a few kinks that need to be worked out."
"The ease of developing and creating reports could definitely use some improvement."
"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."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"The user interface is not great."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"Its stability could be better."
"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."
"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."
"In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."
"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."
"I give the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is expensive and I would say it is below average for the value it provides based on the high cost."
"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 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."
"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."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
22%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 just decided to go ahead with ADP anyway. I would definitely recommend ADP to oth...
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 features you can possibly think of. If it isn't there, there's always a third-part...
What do you like most about Sage People?
The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sage People?
The product is definitely not cheap. However, it's probably not uber-expensive. It is definitely on the higher end. Companies must understand that the more modules they choose, the more expensive t...
What needs improvement with Sage People?
There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves. So, we had to do another project that cost us. The product must improve how absence works.
 

Comparisons

 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lawrence and Schiller, The Children's Center, The Kansas City Royals
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about ADP Workforce Now vs. Sage People and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.