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Dayforce HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors 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
18th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (2nd)
SAP SuccessFactors
Ranking in Talent Management
1st
Ranking in Cloud HCM
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
100
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (1st), Global Payroll (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 8.5%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP SuccessFactors8.5%
Dayforce HCM2.5%
Other89.0%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

TracyBritan - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Learning & Development at Ampersand
Frustrating support and difficult customization prevent optimal use of learning system
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 to training courses, making it hard for people to find content. Additionally, there is no way to send a direct link to training if someone asks about it. The reporting is subpar; you can only report by course and not by person unless you go into specific Dayforce reports, which do not match the fields in the learning module. The support is also terrible, with slow response times and a lack of useful knowledge-based articles.
SS
Assistant Manager at Kashiv Biosciences
HR has gained clear analytics for attrition, goals, and appraisals and manages talent efficiently
SAP SuccessFactors has a low error rate. We had many ad hoc reports that we needed to generate, and it was very easy to do so in SAP SuccessFactors. We also created many in-house reports according to our specific requirements with the help of this tool, which was a really big game changer for us. We did not depend on advanced Excel in those cases. We generated a lot of detailed reports whenever we needed them during emergency cases or board meetings. A lot of usefulness and time were saved in those cases. I will also mention that we conducted a comparative study for some recruitment cases. We had a recruitment model where we were looking for a very niche profile. Since the job profile was really different and rare, we had to depend on analytics to understand and shortlist from a large pool of candidates that we already had in our database. Analytics was really helpful in this situation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."
"We have been able to automate many of our manual processes."
"Our employee benefits enrollment is managed through Ceridian Dayforce, which makes for a limited manual process."
"The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined."
"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."
"Great time and attendance payroll and benefits administration which has improved our efficiency."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"We needed a comprehensive HR software solution, and we found it with Ceridian Dayforce."
"We found SAP SuccessFactors to be more promising with reference to functionality and from an implementation perspective."
"The solution is very much stable."
"A suite of SuccessFactors Talent Management tools helps us in managing the entire employee journey."
"The most important feature is the ability to follow up on the yearly performance of the team, and it's very good for management to understand how people are performing."
"This solution has always been stable for me."
"They have succeeded in sustaining a powerful system supporting their philosophy."
"You will probably see an ROI after a year or two. It's great for auditing and there's a lot of reporting built-in so that you can really focus on processes."
"The solution is scalable. We have about 1,300 people using the solution."
 

Cons

"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."
"The solution has a lot of glitches."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"I would like to see more built-in forms, like government issued forms (T2200). This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"The reporting could be improved."
"The product they sell you is not the end product. Many things are presented as though they will be included with the system but then require costly upgrades."
"Our current software program offers a home page with important company documents and a place for company announcements. Unfortunately, Ceridian Dayfoce does not offer this."
"An area for improvement could be a little more testing before implementing hotfixes to make sure they do not interfere with any active customized products."
"It's a bit complicated to make a change in the tool... It is time-consuming."
"SAP resources are at the high end and anything you want to change or any customization is expensive."
"The SAP SuccessFactors updates need to be more industry-specific because every industry has specific modules. What I want to be added to SAP SuccessFactors is a chat box where SAP staff can give support to users."
"Be prepared for price surprises. It’s quite expensive."
"Also, it would be helpful if they could improve its ability to localize the product to Nigeria."
"The organization is planning to move to Darwinbox from SAP SuccessFactors, primarily due to pricing considerations."
"Employee Central made an incredible improvement, but still is behind the SAP HCM On Prem solution."
"We were not happy with their after-sales support. Whenever we had an issue it was really difficult to get in touch with them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"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."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"I think the pricing is a little better than most solutions out there. There are reasonable prices when it comes to some of the modules such as the Payroll module, and for the remaining modules I believe the pricing is fair in comparison to the rest of the market."
"It could be cheaper."
"For SAP, the product is pricey, both CAPEX and the OPEX. It's something that could be improved."
"If you go by best practices and do it right from the outset, the setup won't be a costly endeavor. In terms of setup, there is a lot of flexibility compared to three years ago."
"I don't want to comment on the license cost, to be honest. It could be about $1,000 approximately per customer. However, it's very flexible in terms of the licensing costs depending on the volume and depending on the deal of installation."
"So now, SAP charges me 300 Euros for 14,000 employees. I still have to pay 2,000 euros because I'm using SAP on-prem."
"The licensing fees are based on the number of modules that are being used, and the number of users."
"We are on an annual subscription to use SAP SuccessFactors. The pricing model is something that they could restructure a bit better. If it was based differently on the type of usage it would help."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction 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 Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise70
 

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.
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 is better, SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors?
When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?
I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal
SuccessFactors
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ACCO Brands
City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skril
Find out what your peers are saying about Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,277 professionals have used our research since 2012.