DarwinBox vs Workday comparison

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DarwinBox

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and DarwinBox are competing in the HR technology space. Workday has the upper hand in market recognition and offers a comprehensive platform, while DarwinBox provides an innovative and adaptable alternative.

Features: Workday offers robust analytics, comprehensive payroll management, and global compliance features. DarwinBox stands out with customizable modules, effective performance management tools, and a mobile-first approach.

Room for Improvement: Workday could improve its deployment time and reduce setup costs. It may also benefit from further enhancing its mobile capabilities. DarwinBox could enhance its integration options, expand analytics features, and strengthen market presence.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday follows a traditional deployment model requiring significant time investment, with an extensive support network. DarwinBox offers a cloud-based, agile model with personalized customer support, making it more agile.

Pricing and ROI: Workday's setup costs are significant but promise long-term ROI due to its extensive functionalities and scalability. DarwinBox offers a cost-effective initial setup and competitive ROI with lower upfront costs, focusing on maximizing operational efficiency.

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

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DarwinBox vs. Workday

April 2025

Helped 849,686 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

DarwinBox

Ranking in Talent Management

19th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

14th

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

11th

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (8th)

Workday

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

2nd

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of DarwinBox is 3.5%, up from 2.1% 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

SHANOOPCHATHOTH PARAMBIL

Program Manager at Intelliswift

Enhancing attendance and leave management but needs better performance customization

Our primary use case for DarwinBox includes managing attendance, payroll-related tasks, and employee appraisal cycles DarwinBox has provided a significant return on investment for our finance team. Managing payroll and attendance manually would require more team members, so using DarwinBox…

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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 leave-related modules are comprehensive, offering built-in functionalities for optional leaves."

"In our company, we use DarwinBox to maintain the data of our employees and for recruitment purposes."

"The solution that we used previously was very complex. As a result, without referring to the manuals and consulting an expert, it was difficult for a newly hired employee to navigate the platform. However, this is not the case with Darwinbox. It has a very intuitive user interface, and anyone can use it and implement it without having to use a guide or a walk through process. It's very simple."

"The most valuable features of the solution are organogram and position-based mapping."

"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."

"It is a one-stop solution for everything. You can look for information about other employees or you can track your information. There is a directory, so you can search for other employees. You can also see and track your personal details and salary details on the employee profile page."

"Workday is a holistic HR solution."

"I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees."

"It helps the users to enroll for the benefits automatically and update their life events without the involvement of HR individuals or back-office staff. It enables a person to take action on their own. It reduces the administrative burden on HR and puts the ownership on the person that is going through the life event, whether it is having a child, taking a leave of absence, or something else. There are easy ways to integrate Workday with your common benefits. At least in the USA, it can be integrated with common benefits providers such as Fidelity, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, etc. It has got a connector that is able to connect with the vendor or the third party to which you are trying to send the eligibility file. It basically allows us to automate or set up the tool, and the integration with the provider is a lot quicker than competing tools. When it comes to reporting on just eligibility and SLSA, it is a lot more user-intuitive. Depending on the purpose of what you are doing, you can grant security rights or roles, for example, you can control whether someone is a benefits administrator doing an independent audit. Workday makes it very easy to do that. It significantly simplifies the reporting process."

"It is easy to use and straightforward."

"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."

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

More Workday pros

Cons

"The solution's API integration with third-party applications should be improved."

"Customization in performance management is cumbersome."

"Like most software, it has a base version, the vanilla, out-of-the-box version, and customization is required to match it to the unique processes of each company. The Darwinbox team seems to be having difficulty with the customization process. They have to be a little more mature to customize it as per every company's need."

"DarwinBox is not a stable solution...DarwinBox is not a scalable solution."

"The navigation of Workday is good but could be better."

"My only suggestion might be to include a brief description of any new fields we introduce, making it easier for people to use them. Perhaps this is something they can consider implementing."

"The UI, UX (user experience) is very bad. It is not very interactive."

"They could improve the product areas such as enhancing the interview scheduling module to support more flexible online assessments within the platform."

"Analytical tools have needed improvement. Workday has just released Prism Analytics, to replace the current analytical tools, so it’s in the early stages."

"The implementation could have gone a little smoother."

"Workday has several helpful features. It has categorized payroll processes into sections, such as CTC separation and pay slips. It also provides detailed information on promotions and salary hikes, showing changes from the previous year to the current year. This includes a clear view of the new CTC and the monthly paycheck breakdown."

"The security console should be made less complex."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared with SuccessFactors, there is no major difference in DarwinBox's cost."

"My company makes some yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to DarwinBox."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"It is on a yearly basis."

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

"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."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."

"It's very, very expensive."

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

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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 DarwinBox?

The most valuable features of the solution are organogram and position-based mapping.

What needs improvement with DarwinBox?

Customization in performance management is cumbersome. Processes like six-month appraisals lack easy configurations, and any significant customization requires working with vendors.

What is your primary use case for DarwinBox?

Our primary use case for DarwinBox includes managing attendance, payroll-related tasks, and employee appraisal cycles.

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 DarwinBox

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Compared 30% of the time

SAP HCM vs Workday

Compared 12% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 11% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 6% of the time

PeopleSoft vs Workday

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Download DarwinBox product report

Cloud HCM

March 2025

Download Workday product report

March 2025

Overview

Darwinbox is a cloud-based, feature-rich human resources management system that emphasizes on usability and data protection. ... The software unifies all your HR processes, enabling you to be on top of your employees' whole lifecycle with a centralized, singular platform.

DarwinBox

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

Myntra, GVK BIO, Bisleri, Times Internet, Delhivery, Aarti

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!