Cornerstone HR Suite vs Workday comparison

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Cornerstone HR Suite

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and Cornerstone HR Suite are competing products in the HR software market, with each offering robust workforce management solutions. Cornerstone HR Suite is perceived to have the upper hand because of its comprehensive features that justify its cost.

Features: Workday provides advanced reporting and analytics for detailed workforce insights, seamless integration with enterprise systems, and a wide range of HR functionalities. Cornerstone HR Suite is strong in learning and development with tools for performance management, career planning, and enriching employee growth experiences.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday's cloud-native deployment is known for smooth integration but requires an intensive initial setup. Its customer service is reliable and responsive. Cornerstone HR Suite features a cloud-based solution with quicker implementation, intuitive interfaces, and a dedicated support system that proactively assists during deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Workday's setup costs are higher, reflecting its extensive capabilities, yet promises strong ROI through efficiency and workforce visibility. Cornerstone HR Suite is more economical initially, focusing on employee development, leading to better long-term ROI with enhanced employee engagement and retention.

To learn more, read our detailed Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Workday Report (Updated: April 2025).

Cornerstone HR Suite vs. Workday

April 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Cornerstone HR Suite

Ranking in Talent Management

25th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

20th

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (7th)

Workday

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (1st), Talent Acquisition (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Cornerstone HR Suite is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 18.8%, up from 18.2% 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.

Read full review

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

"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."

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

"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."

"We use Workday for all our employee-related information. It is a central hub where we can access pay slips, tax-related information, tax automation, and tax rules. Additionally, it manages employee hiring processes and other HR functions. It's a one-stop solution where employees can find everything about their profile, work experience, and associated technologies."

"The platform itself is very robust and I generally like the reporting and analytics capability."

"I would say that we have definitely seen a return on investment."

"Workday's best features are planning and finance."

"It's actually a cloud-native solution and based on the community for development. It is a very good open architecture and able to interconnect with other systems. And it is very stable and very fast in terms of response."

"Workday is a secure product."

"In terms of customization, while it may not be fully customizable, you can configure the features based on the foundation that Workday offers. This allows you to take the basic features and tailor them to the specific needs of your company or business. It provides a lot of configuration flexibility."

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

More Workday pros

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."

"The cost of Workday is certainly not inexpensive. It's very pricey."

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

"The solution has some features missing when you put them in the test studio or Confluence Studio. I would like the tool’s coding to be easier to understand and automated. Most of the coding these days is automated. Any query given can pull the answer directly which can make the solution easier to understand."

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

"They don't have worker payroll in the product. We have to solve our payroll. I hope one day they will be able to have their own localized standard payrolls for all countries."

"It is very unique as compared to other tools in terms of the employee master data and how it is organized. That's why sometimes the information needs to sit in two different systems because, in Workday, it is organized differently. This issue is not related to benefits. It is more or so related to how you categorize employees. I don't think this is a problem that could be solved. Workday is aware of this. It is one of those kinds of situations that you just got to live with."

"I would be happy if it was faster. Currently, when I try to navigate within the solution itself, it is a bit slow in terms of the page load time. When I click on something, it usually takes time to load. When you click on different icons or areas on the website, it is slow. Even when you navigate between different models, it is a bit slow. I would like to see a bit faster performance and a better user experience."

"Workday would be improved with more API connectors."

More Workday cons

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."

"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."

"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."

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

"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."

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

"It's very, very expensive."

"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."

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

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

28%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cornerstone HR Suite?

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

What needs improvement with Cornerstone HR Suite?

Certain information is missing in the solution. We need to find out where the information is because we have several applications. We're using different tools like tracking systems, exploring workf...

What is your primary use case for Cornerstone HR Suite?

We use Cornerstone to manage the onboarding processes, train, and gather information from a candidate for a vacancy or an available position. Then directing them regarding the documents they must u...

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 customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...

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 more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...

SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday

Comparisons

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Compared 30% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 7% of the time

PeopleSoft vs Workday

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Cornerstone HR Suite product report

Cloud HCM

March 2025

Download Workday product report

March 2025

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

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

Wendys, RSM, Nestle, New Belgium

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!