ADP Workforce Now vs SAP HCM vs UKG comparison

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89% willing to recommend

ADP Workforce Now

SAP HCM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ADP Workforce Now, SAP HCM, and UKG based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud HCM Report (Updated: March 2026).

Cloud HCM

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Helped 885,667 peers since 2012

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 April 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of ADP Workforce Now is 2.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HCM is 4.5%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UKG is 4.9%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SAP HCM	4.5%
UKG	4.9%
ADP Workforce Now	2.1%
Other	88.5%

Cloud HCM

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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Saptak Samadder

Assistant Manager at Kashiv Biosciences

Centralized global HR data has improved expense control and supports secure employee management

The features of SAP HCM are valued by me as it had a clear idea about what was expected from the user point. The person or the application has a lot of features and it had actually all the information needed from our part. That aspect is nice. Apart from that, the T-codes are really helpful to understand which particular option we need when we put the T-code in the search box. The stability and reliability of SAP HCM product are really nice, very helpful, and secured. It has no point of leakage and is mostly reliable, as most companies and organizations prefer SAP over many tools. As for security, it's already secured from the beginning itself, and that is the only reason our organization relies on it. Since it's very useful at a global scale, it is a very useful tool and is very easy to access and handle.

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Harish_Mahanta

Works

Streamlined time tracking boosts operational efficiency across multiple regions

The time tracking feature is the most effective for employee management. UKG is used in Europe, the United States, Australia, and East Asian countries for HR activities like payroll. The application is like an ERP, providing comprehensive features for organizations, simplifying their processes, and reducing the need to use multiple software solutions.

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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

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

"Payroll: It is very easy and user-friendly."

"It is a scalable solution."

"It is hard to go wrong with choosing ADP as a solution for nearly any company."

"I love the integration of HR, payroll, tax filing, benefits, time and attendance, GL, ACA, employee/manager self-service, reporting and analytics."

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

"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."

More ADP Workforce Now pros

"SAP HCM has valuable features for analytics data management."

"When you maintain your data in SAP, you can generate any kind of HR report with one click."

"SAP HCM is a competitive and comprehensive tool that covers major programs in the enterprise and supports the global process."

"HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate and control the cost of their human resources."

"SAP HCM is a solution that I recommend."

"Core HR data management for employee and organizational data is very stable and flexible."

"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."

"Recently, the localization versions for different countries were increased, and that added value to the solution."

More SAP HCM pros

"It is valuable to have the employee information starting with them applying for a position prior to hire, it is easy to set up a new hire since all the info is there, and it is also great that employees can edit their information and their performance reviews are all in one system."

"We went from tracking our recruiting on an excel spreadsheet to have a well-functioning, process-oriented recruiting program in place!"

"Customer service is fabulous by some levels."

"The attention paid to what customers want in product services."

"Customer service is excellent."

"Our account manager is fantastic which makes our experience great."

"I am learning new aspects of the program every week and as new modules open I look forward to what this program will do for our business!"

"We have leveraged the Business Intelligence module highly and find it the best reporting solution available."

More UKG pros

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."

"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."

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

"The workflow is a bit weak."

"Their “new and improved” message center (where you get notifications and go to approve things like time off) is actually not as easy as it used to be."

"Its benefits portal could be user-friendly."

More ADP Workforce Now cons

"SAP HCM's long and tedious transactions can be improved."

"The organizational structure visualization could be improved in future releases. The solution has a very poor interface."

"System usability is a challenge. It needs a lot of end user training as it is not intuitive at all."

"The Time Management feature is not very user-friendly."

"The implementation of the solution can be a bit difficult. They should make it easier. If it could be as simple as the SuccessFactors implementation that would be ideal."

"The product's learning and development features could be better, including new exclusive LMS tools."

"The setup comes with a set of challenges as well."

"I would like it to move more towards a single data space, a single data source. SAP as a platform relies on multiple data sources because traditionally, it's been bolted together by the acquisition of other products rather than a single database. That's why there are lots of points of failure and lots of required points of integration. They need a single integration point."

More SAP HCM cons

"UTM and core connectivity: this should be way more straightforward!"

"The system is slow sometimes."

"Technical support is 4/10."

"Customer service is sometimes frustrating."

"Our deployment had a lot of issues...but with my few months at the company, I am finding these are self inflicted."

"Customer service is awful. Technical support is awful."

"We did encounter some deployment issues."

"Export of time takes too much time; would like to be able to push through some changes once we open payroll; would like to "undo" an import after submit and calc without having to start over from the start; benefits feeds; negative deduction refunds without earnings and improved communication from Ulti to tax filing."

More UKG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

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

"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."

"It is expensive."

"The solution is expensive and everyone complains about the price."

"Licensing is pretty complex. SAP does not have a straight forward way of licensing, and it differs from client to client."

"The product is expensive."

"The pricing is not reasonable at all."

"The cost depends on the size of the organization. Compared to others, I'd say Oracle is number one, followed by Workday and SAP HCM."

"The pricing is really high."

"For implementation, SAP offers little support unless you buy SAP Safeguarding from SAP Consulting."

"In my view, this product is a waste of money for SMB because there are much better products available and licensing is an issue."

"SAP is expensive, but if you're using the product, then the expensive product becomes inexpensive. Considering its performance and features, I find it quite reasonable."

More SAP HCM pricing and cost advice

"If you're going for the full suite, it can be fairly pricey."

"While I am unsure of the licensing cost itself, the total cost of implementation and licensing for a company with over 5000 employees would be around 6,00,000. So, there are additional costs beyond licensing."

"UKG's pricing and licensing model involves ongoing expenses based on the number of employees paid. The initial implementation cost is low when UKG implements it directly. However, when partners handle the implementation, it becomes more expensive since partners don't receive the monthly recurring fees."

"The pricing depends on the number of licenses we buy."

"I wasn't involved in the pricing part. I'm a user, and I believe it is based on the user count. One thing that is nice about Ultimate is that you can learn how to use the system without additional fees. The learning aspect is the life of a product, and the training was a huge reason why we went with Ultimate. We did have some integration costs. They were a part of the implementation because of the integrations to other systems that we included in our implementation."

"The platform is not affordable but also not the most expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	39

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	48
Midsize Enterprise	43
Large Enterprise	48

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 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 advice do you have for others considering ADP Workforce Now?

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. It's got a lot of features. The reason I'm not giving it a fu...

What do you like most about SAP HCM?

SAP HCM is the one of the best ERP for an organization with a small to large scale business. It has the most efficien...

What do you like most about SAP HCM?

HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate ...

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 expe...

What needs improvement with UKG?

UKG needs more publicity. It is a productive ERP ( /categories/erp ) application, but many people in the IT market ar...

What is your primary use case for UKG?

I worked for a healthcare organization and a university. Most organizations use UKG ( /products/ukg-reviews ) to trac...

What advice do you have for others considering UKG?

Publicity is very important for any software. If people aren't aware of UKG, despite its productivity, they won't use...

Workday vs ADP Workforce Now

Comparisons

Compared 7% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 5% of the time

ADP GlobalView Payroll vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 5% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 4% of the time

MHR iTrent vs ADP Workforce Now

Compared 4% of the time

More ADP Workforce Now Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs SAP HCM

Compared 20% of the time

Workday vs SAP HCM

Compared 19% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs SAP HCM

Compared 6% of the time

ADP GlobalView Payroll vs SAP HCM

Compared 5% of the time

P&I LogaHR vs SAP HCM

Compared 4% of the time

More SAP HCM Competitors

Workday vs UKG

Compared 15% of the time

SAP SuccessFactors vs UKG

Compared 7% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs UKG

Compared 6% of the time

PeopleSoft vs UKG

Compared 3% of the time

BambooHR vs UKG

Compared 2% of the time

More UKG Competitors

Product Reports

ADP Workforce Now

Download ADP Workforce Now product report

SAP HCM

Download SAP HCM product report

Download UKG product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAP Human Capital Management

UKG Pro, UKG Dimensons, UKG Ready

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

SAP HCM is a benefits administration solution that has a comprehensive set of tools and features for managing and optimizing all aspects of human resources. SAP HCM covers various HR functions including payroll, time and attendance management, talent management, succession planning, and employee performance evaluation.

The goal of SAP HCM is to help organizations streamline HR processes, improve workforce productivity and efficiency, and support strategic HR decision-making. With SAP HCM, HR departments can manage employee data, track and analyze key HR metrics, and automate various HR processes to save time and resources. It is widely used by large organizations across various industries.

SAP HCM Features

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

Personnel administration: With SAP HCM, users can manage employee master data, such as personal details, employment contracts, and job information.

Payroll: The solution provides automation of payroll processes, including tax calculation, payment generation, and reporting.

Time and attendance management: Automated tracking and management of employee time and attendance help users streamline HR processes.

Talent management: SAP HCM includes tools for recruiting, onboarding, training, and development of employees.

Succession planning: With this feature, users can plan and manage employee career development and succession within the organization.

Performance and goal management: SAP HCM is designed with performance evaluation, goal setting, and development planning for employees.

Compliance management: SAP HCM offers management of legal and regulatory requirements related to HR processes.

Reporting and analytics: Generation of reports and analysis of key HR metrics help support decision-making.

Integrations: The solution has integration with other SAP modules, such as SAP Finance and SAP Supply Chain, that provide a comprehensive solution for HR management.

SAP HCM Benefits

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

Improved HR processes: The solution’s automation of HR processes, helps reduce manual effort and increases efficiency.

Better data management: SAP HCM provides centralized management of employee data, improving data accuracy and reducing the risk of errors.

Increased productivity: Because the solution streamlines HR processes, it frees up HR staff to focus on other strategic tasks.

Improved compliance: SAP HCM helps businesses reduce the risk of non-compliance by making legal and regulatory requirements related to HR processes easy and manageable.

Better decision-making: Access to real-time HR data and analytics enables data-driven decision-making.

Increased transparency: SAP HCM improves visibility into HR processes, enabling HR departments to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement.

Better employee engagement: The solution’s provision of self-service options for employees improves employee satisfaction and engagement.

Cost control: SAP HCM’s automation of HR processes reduces costs associated with manual HR processes.

Talent management: The solution’s tools for attracting, retaining, and developing employees increase overall workforce productivity and effectiveness.

Reviews from Real Users

SAP HCM is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has good payroll and personnel administration, it’s a powerful tool for maintaining company data, and has valuable SuccessFactors talent modules.

According to Dave D., Project Manager at Telecom Namibia, “[SAP HCM] allows us to do all of our HR management processes, including payroll and personnel administration.” He also adds, “Technical support is excellent."

“I think that it's a very powerful tool for maintaining your company data. When you maintain your data in SAP, you can generate any kind of HR report with one click,” says Sameer Y., Team Leader at Fauji Meat Limited.

Another PeerSpot reviewer, Arsala A., SAP HCM / SF Consultant at a computer software company, explains what she likes most about SAP HCM: "Payroll processing is my favorite HCM feature, and I like all the SuccessFactors talent modules also. SAP is making good progress on enhancements to the features in the SF modules."

SAP

At UKG, our purpose is people — real people with real challenges, and a simple request. Help me keep my employees productive, connected, and happy. So that’s what we did.

We’ve created an unmatched suite of HR and workforce management solutions, backed by our people who care about yours. Our solutions deliver global workforce experiences that truly reflect the connection between life and work today. That means insights are deeper. Work is easier. And interactions are more meaningful.