Cornerstone HR Suite vs Paylocity comparison

Cornerstone OnDemand and Paylocity are both solutions in the Cloud HCM category. Cornerstone OnDemand is ranked #33, while Paylocity is ranked #30. Cornerstone OnDemand holds a 0.5% mindshare in CHCM, compared to Paylocity’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of Cornerstone OnDemand users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Paylocity users who would recommend it.

Cornerstone HR Suite

Read 3 Cornerstone HR Suite reviews

276 Views
243 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Paylocity

Read 1 Paylocity review

375 Views
263 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cornerstone HR Suite

Paylocity

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cornerstone HR Suite and Paylocity based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud HCM Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud HCM

August 2025

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Helped 865,384 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:

Categories and Ranking

Cornerstone HR Suite

Ranking in Talent Management

44th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

33rd

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (8th)

Paylocity

Ranking in Talent Management

48th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

30th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (26th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Cornerstone HR Suite is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Paylocity is 0.4%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

mmaldonadoj

Manager, BO Transformation at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

A easy-to-use solution for onboarding and training that needs to let its users locate information easily

The most concerning point about these applications is that they offer cloud solutions, and everything goes and works well. But they are not committed or involved in the connection activity. We need to run those applications on the cloud. Since we are a company, We have a lot of information on on-premise platforms. So they are not responsible for building any connection, interconnection, or interface between those legacy systems. And most of the time, the company must consider the proposed plans in making the interfaces. And building the interfaces is something we need to do on our own, and it's separate from the solution. I rate this solution a seven out of ten.

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Rae Passo

HR Specialist with 201-500 employees

Has a comprehensive and intuitive knowledge base, and time saving payroll administration features

Paylocity is not great at communicating customer support related issues such as account manager changes. They claim to provide concierge level of support, but it has not been great. Some of the Paylocity systems are limited. For example, I can't create custom offer letters. I can create generic offer letters with a logo, but I can't edit them or create sections. It does not read like a MS Word document and needs to be more robust. At present, I can't send attachments, add hyperlinks to videos, or embed questions in videos. Also, the number of notifications regarding benefits needs to be increased so that new employees get reminders more than once.

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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 flexibility and the fact that it covers all different HR modules is the most valuable aspect of Cornerstone. They did organically built, so all modules are integrated with the same way of managing the configuration, contextualization, availability, and reporting across all of the modules."

"Cornerstone is easy to use...Cornerstone is used for playing training courses and short videos based on company requirements."

"The advantage of choosing Cornerstone HR Suite is that if a company does not have an existing tool and plans to adopt automation, then there is a chance to gain from implementing this solution."

"My favorite feature is payroll administration, which has been awesome. You can import as many batches as you want to and run them synchronously or asynchronously. Since I work in a finance company with commissions, bonuses, and distribution, it's great to be able to do that. I can upload multiple things. Also, I can upload different sets of commission lists into the same payroll batch and upload the time card imports and overtime imports if I want to and separate them. I can create multiple batches around an individual or one one set of audit backing, and then I can approve them or leave them open. The way that Paylocity has set up their payroll system is really good and saves us a lot of time. It's very specific and helpful."

Cons

"The solution's interface is really, really old and requires improvements...Cornerstone should use newer technologies to improve its UI, UX, and content."

"We're using different tools like tracking systems, exploring workforce management, and also using payroll, which is another tool, so we need to know where exactly the information is present. This feature needs improvement in the next release."

"The recruitment module can be improved and also the general reporting can be improved."

"Some of the Paylocity systems are limited. For example, I can't create custom offer letters. I can create generic offer letters with a logo, but I can't edit them or create sections. It does not read like a MS Word document and needs to be more robust."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product can be considered as not being on the high-end side of the price spectrum, as many other products are much more expensive. However, it cannot be said that it is cheap either."

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865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Comparisons

Workday vs Cornerstone HR Suite

Compared 100% of the time

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UKG vs Paylocity

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloud HCM

August 2025

Download Cornerstone HR Suite product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud HCM

August 2025

Download Paylocity product report

Overview

Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD) was founded with a passion for empowering people through learning and a conviction that people should be your organization’s greatest competitive advantage. Cornerstone is a recognized global human capital management (HCM) leader with a core belief that companies thrive when they help their employees to realize their potential. Putting this belief into practice, Cornerstone offers solutions to help companies strategically manage and continuously develop their talent throughout the entire employee lifecycle. Featuring comprehensive recruiting, personalized learning, development-driven performance management and holistic HR planning, Cornerstone’s human capital management is successfully used by more than 3,500 global clients of all sizes, representing all major industries, spanning over 40 million users across 192 countries and 43 languages. Using one data model and one integrated, extensible platform, Cornerstone HCM platform gives clients greater talent insights, recommendations and supporting tools to meet their growing human capital management needs.

Cornerstone OnDemand

Our all-in-one software platform gives HR pros a way to easily manage daily tasks in payroll, benefits, talent, and workforce management. But what makes us different is that our technology is backed by a culture that truly cares about our clients’ success.

Providers will merely sell you a product. But a partner actually cares about you and your business. A partner takes the time to get to know you and understand your needs. We work with you to identify the best solutions that will benefit your business today, while paving the way to a better tomorrow. And tomorrow is all about your team.

Everything we do is designed to support you in reaching your goals. Together, we tackle your day-to-day work so you can spend more time building the culture you and your employees crave.

For professionals who crave true partnership, Paylocity is the HR & Payroll company that frees you from the tasks of today, so together, we can spend more time focused on the promise of tomorrow.

Let's go forward together.

Paylocity

Sample Customers

Wendys, RSM, Nestle, New Belgium

POLYWOOD, University Clinical Healthcare, New England Authentic Eats, Revere Plastics, Stonewall Kitchen, Circuit Transit, Powerhouse Retail, Mountainside Fitness, Crafton Tull, Noble House Hotels & Resorts, Gurley Leep Automotive, Taco Johns

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