No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cornerstone Performance vs Sage People comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Performance
Ranking in Talent Management
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sage People
Ranking in Talent Management
25th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (17th), Cloud HCM (21st), HR Analytics Software (8th), Talent Acquisition (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of Cornerstone Performance is 1.2%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cornerstone Performance1.2%
Sage People1.6%
Other97.2%
Talent Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sarra Bannouri - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a sports company with 501-1,000 employees
Enhanced performance reviews with flexible goal setting and valuable employee feedback
I primarily use Cornerstone Performance for performance appraisals, year-end reviews, check-ins, and competency assessments. It's about managers and direct reports, employees meeting and discussing their progress on milestones, etc The tasks themselves, such as the performance reviews and…
Anastacia Mahachi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior HR and Payroll Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Allows for storing comprehensive employee information
The most valuable features are employee historical information and reporting capabilities. Sage People is a comprehensive system that allows for storing a lot of employee information. Apart from basic details like name and surname, you can add links to other employee information such as cloud or team accounts, medical aids, and pension funds. You can also store historical data like position changes and salary increases. This information is valuable even for inactive employees. 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. So you can even build your own reports on top of the internal reports out of there. And on the reports, you have legally compliant reports available. So you won't even have to copy it. The auditors will give you a sample for reports. Those reports are already available in stage three and video group modules.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would definitely recommend Cornerstone Performance."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
"The most valuable feature of Sage People is the integration with our payroll system."
"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."
"It is easy to see all the information we have for a person across two screens, and reports are easy to run, view, amend, and add."
"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."
"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."
"Compared to the other HR systems I have used in the past, I can say that Sage is in my top five when it comes to recommendations."
"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."
 

Cons

"The competency assessment is not as flexible as the rest of the solution features. I would like more options for customization."
"Its stability could be better."
"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."
"In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms."
"Within the absence screens, we have it set up to automatically allow up to five days holiday to carry over. If staff members are allowed to carry over, it’s a bit difficult to add it in easily."
"In comparison with other HRIS reporting tools (like Discoverer / OBIEE for Oracle, Business Objects, Crystal Reports etc. which I have used extensively for over 10 years), I think that Fairsail’s reports functionality is quite limited and only available for Administrator profiles."
"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets. In my previous experiences with other HR software, we had to buy another solution to obtain this functionality, and it would be a great feature for Sage to consider adding. For an HR system, Sage would do very well to include it."
"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."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"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 price of the solution is reasonable."
"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."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Talent Management solutions are best for your needs.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cornerstone Performance?
The competency assessment is not as flexible as the rest of the solution features. I would like more options for customization.
What is your primary use case for Cornerstone Performance?
I primarily use Cornerstone Performance for performance appraisals, year-end reviews, check-ins, and competency assessments. It's about managers and direct reports, employees meeting and discussing...
What advice do you have for others considering Cornerstone Performance?
I would definitely recommend Cornerstone Performance. The solution should work on making features more customizable.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Cornerstone Performance Suite, Sonar6
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

New Belgium, Virgin Media, Hershey, University of Southern California, Hyatt, Walgreens, Turner, Commonwealth Bank
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Workday, Oracle and others in Talent Management. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.