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Dayforce HCM vs Sage People comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Dayforce HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
20th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (5th)
Sage People
Ranking in Talent Management
27th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (20th), HR Analytics Software (9th), Talent Acquisition (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.6%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dayforce HCM2.6%
Sage People1.4%
Other96.0%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Noorkah - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Enterprise Financial Systems at City of Columbus
Greatly improved our efficiency with its integrated time and attendance module
Dayforce has given us near to real-time access to time sheets and clockings since it has an integrated time and attendance module. Within six minutes of someone clocking in, we can see them on the timesheets. Dayforce has enabled us to smooth out our payroll system so not everything is happening at the end of the payroll cycle. We can see the impacts during the week and make it a lot more manageable. It's also been helpful for benefits administration with employees being able to file life and work events online. They can access their pay stubs, request leave, change their address, update their direct deposit details, and other things. We've become much more efficient, and much less paper driven.
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

"Ceridian Dayforce HCM is a stable product."
"The implementation was through a team assigned to us by Ceridian. They were extremely knowledgeable and it made the implementation go very smoothly."
"The product has a pretty clean look."
"The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined."
"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."
"Dayforce has transformed how we operate by saving us time, paper, accuracy, money, and the employee/supervisor experience."
"It provides real-time information with great reports."
"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."
"We are now able to visualize global team structures, and as we rollout other features, the organization will benefit from an easy to use system and standard processes."
"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."
"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 provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."
"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."
"The most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"The most valuable feature of Sage People is the integration with our payroll system."
 

Cons

"Dayforce has its gaps like every HR system, but nothing comes to mind at the moment."
"The reporting could be improved."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"Many things are presented as though they will be included with the system but then require costly upgrades."
"The solution's dashboards and geofencing could be improved."
"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."
"I would like to see more built-in forms. This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"The solution has a lot of glitches."
"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."
"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."
"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."
"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."
"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."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"The XOXO program associated with Dayforce allows you to earn credits towards registration and accommodations at their annual Insight Conferences, which can be a real savings to the company when sending employees to the conference."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
"In terms of pricing, the product is expensive. However, it is crucial to take into account the manner in which the solution will be utilized and the availability of other alternatives."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"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 pricing is reasonable."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"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."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"The price of the solution 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."
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Non Profit
7%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
6%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users. The search functionality is poor as there's no way for administrators to tag keywords t...
What is your primary use case for Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
We have used Dayforce HCM for our HR functionalities and for the learning module over the last five years. We actually just migrated to a new learning management system.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
The Learning Module add-on to Dayforce HCM was relatively inexpensive per user compared to other LMS’s.
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ACCO Brands
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about Dayforce HCM vs. Sage People and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.