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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
27th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (20th), Cloud HCM (23rd), HR Analytics Software (9th), Talent Acquisition (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of Cornerstone Performance is 1.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cornerstone Performance1.2%
Sage People1.4%
Other97.4%
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…
Spencer Gray - PeerSpot reviewer
People Advisor at Thomas International
Highly customizable, robust, and access to helpful online community
In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms. While I understand that this system is not solely focused on performance management and is more of a generalist solution, it still lacks the capabilities and features that you can find in other specialized platforms. If we were to switch to a provider solely focused on performance management, we would have access to a wider range of features and capabilities that are not currently available in this system. Sage People offers a wide range of functions that meet most requirements. However, there is still room for improvement. One feature that I would like to see added is the ability to detect and address any failures in the custom processes or functions built within the system. I would like to see a tool that can automatically sense and identify any issues in the system. Currently, when something goes wrong, it's not always immediately obvious and requires a lot of manual troubleshooting. It would be helpful if there was an error message that clearly explained why the system is failing. This would speed up the investigation process and make it ten times faster.

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 most valuable feature of Sage People is the integration with our payroll system."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."
"The product is really easy to customise and configure, and the automation has enabled us to manage several HR processes at the right time in the correct manner."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
 

Cons

"The competency assessment is not as flexible as the rest of the solution features. I would like more options for customization."
"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."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."
"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 user interface is not great."
"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing 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."
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"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."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
14%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
6%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

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.
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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: February 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.