Dayforce HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Dayforce and SAP are both solutions in the Cloud HCM category. Dayforce is ranked #11, while SAP is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.5. Dayforce holds a 2.4% mindshare in CHCM, compared to SAP’s 8.9% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Dayforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Dayforce HCM

Read 15 Dayforce HCM reviews

4,988 Views
3,891 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

SAP SuccessFactors

Read 99 SAP SuccessFactors reviews

18,778 Views
13,145 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Dayforce HCM

SAP SuccessFactors

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

SAP SuccessFactors and Dayforce HCM are major competitors in the human capital management software industry. Dayforce HCM appears to have an upper hand in payroll and compliance, while SAP SuccessFactors thrives on modular HR features and integration capabilities.

Features: SAP SuccessFactors provides modular capabilities for talent management, performance, learning, and analytics within the SAP ecosystem. It offers extensive customization, innovative AI, and third-party integrations. Dayforce HCM highlights robust payroll, time and attendance functionalities, strong compliance features, and real-time data processing with integrated time clock and document management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: SAP SuccessFactors could enhance module integration, analytics, and the user interface to increase usability and customization, improve reporting tools, offer faster localization, and accelerate update rollouts. Dayforce HCM might refine its user interface, reporting, and connectivity options, as well as enhance home screen customization and third-party integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP SuccessFactors offers deployment in public cloud, on-premises, and private cloud configurations, yet faces variable technical support quality with responsiveness issues. Dayforce HCM is more often an on-premises solution, praised for its dedicated support team that efficiently resolves issues.

Pricing and ROI: SAP SuccessFactors is considered high-cost, with pricing based on modules and users, potentially restrictive for smaller organizations despite flexible subscription models. Some users find value in its features and integrations. Dayforce HCM is seen as more reasonably priced, especially for large enterprises, offering significant ROI within one to two years due to lower implementation costs and built-in efficiencies, while SuccessFactors shows lower perceived ROI because of high transition costs from other systems.

To learn more, read our detailed Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors

October 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 920,939 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

Dayforce HCM

Ranking in Talent Management

19th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Talent Intelligence (12th)

SAP SuccessFactors

Ranking in Talent Management

1st

Ranking in Cloud HCM

2nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Talent Acquisition (2nd), Global Payroll (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.4%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 8.9%, down from 16.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SAP SuccessFactors	8.9%
Dayforce HCM	2.4%
Other	88.7%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Thomas Noorkah

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.

Read full review

Saptak Samadder

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dayforce has transformed how we operate by saving us time, paper, accuracy, money, and the employee/supervisor experience."

"The product has a pretty clean look."

"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."

"The tool has improved a lot in the area of its mobile application, especially considering its added security features, like single sign-on capabilities."

"We needed a comprehensive HR software solution, and we found it with Ceridian Dayforce."

"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."

"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."

"The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined."

More Dayforce HCM pros

"The most valuable feature of SAP SuccessFactors is analytics."

"SAP SuccessFactors integrated solution, allows us to start the process from a recruitment marketing perspective and have our career site and candidate profile pull through into each other."

"Currently, we are using the performance and goals management functionality the most. It is connected with the enterprise solution, and it is seamless. It can be easily accessed because it is available via the net. It is readily available, provided you have an internet connection. Their technical support is also very good."

"SuccessFactors is a great product, offering a lot of flexibility, customization, integration and disintegration points as well, which are the most preferred requirements in an optimized solution so you should take a look."

"The best features that were working well for us was the Goal Management and Performance Management. They were the most valuable to our organization."

"We can design a quick and dirty solution or very complex services, we can manage small enterprise projects (in our experience 150 users) as the big organization (in our experience 40000 users), all with the same solution, and this is a big saving of time, costs, and team usage optimization."

"The feature I like the most is the notification bar where we can see upcoming courses that the organization requires from time to time. It's easy to track any pending courses. I also like the search feature in SuccessFactors. We can search for newly available courses that are updated in the system for completion."

"The main reason for switching into SAP SuccessFactors was for its brand, ease-of-use, predefined solution per business scenario, and agility."

More SAP SuccessFactors pros

Cons

"The solution has a lot of glitches."

"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."

"I would also like to see some improvement in standard reports. A standard report should be available to pull the required information for Affirmative Action Plans. I do not think I should have to build or create one."

"The solution's dashboards and geofencing could be improved."

"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."

"It would be nice if retro pay calculations were made automatically for salaried payroll, so a calculation and manual entry do not have to be done."

"I would like the solution to improve its customer service communication."

"I would like to continue to see improvements in the Recruiting module. I would like to see this module interact with Calendars, such as Outlook, etc."

More Dayforce HCM cons

"SAP resources are at the high end and anything you want to change or any customization is expensive."

"The integration with Employee Central and Employee Central Payroll needs improvement as the client is still considering on-premises solutions."

"The user interface could be improved."

"SuccessFactors could be improved by making it usable on mobile and making its features less rigid."

"However, a couple of improvements can be carried out to offer more customization of the solution that is limited in the market."

"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."

"Overall, the documentation could be improved, and I think the learning management module needs to include more capabilities when it comes to matching an organization's particular learning approach."

"One area of improvement is the time taken to configure changes, such as taxation rules, which can take several months."

More SAP SuccessFactors cons

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."

"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."

"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."

"Negotiate for everything you want."

"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."

"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."

"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."

"The licensing fees are based on the number of modules that are being used, and the number of users."

"It is not expensive because it is a complete suite with a module-based cost."

"We have a yearly license. There are no additional costs."

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."

"It could be cheaper."

"This is a more costly solution than comparable products, and training is not available in the open-market, so this has to be purchased separately from the vendor."

"For SAP, the product is pricey, both CAPEX and the OPEX. It's something that could be improved."

"Our costs for the solution are subsidized by our parent company, I am not aware of the exact cost because of this. However, we pay $50,000 annually. If we move to another solution it will be more expensive."

More SAP SuccessFactors pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud HCM solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	70

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Workday HCM vs Dayforce HCM

Compared 17% of the time

UKG vs Dayforce HCM

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Dayforce HCM

Compared 8% of the time

PeopleSoft vs Dayforce HCM

Compared 3% of the time

ADP Workforce Now vs Dayforce HCM

Compared 3% of the time

More Dayforce HCM Competitors

Workday HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors

Compared 24% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs SAP SuccessFactors

Compared 20% of the time

UKG vs SAP SuccessFactors

Compared 6% of the time

SAP HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors

Compared 3% of the time

PeopleStrong vs SAP SuccessFactors

Compared 2% of the time

More SAP SuccessFactors Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dayforce HCM

November 2026

Download Dayforce HCM product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP SuccessFactors

October 2026

Download SAP SuccessFactors product report

Also Known As

Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal

SuccessFactors

Overview

Dayforce HCM offers an integrated platform that combines timekeeping, payroll, and benefits management, enhancing HR operations with mobile access and transparent pay details across North America.

Dayforce HCM delivers comprehensive HR, payroll, and talent management tools within a cloud-based solution. It simplifies ACA, FMLA, and COBRA compliance while providing mobile and web access to payroll information. Its reporting capabilities are robust, and it features intuitive content management. The platform enhances efficiency with integrated time and attendance management, meeting payroll needs across Canada and the US. However, areas for improvement include retro pay calculations, user-friendliness, reporting, and customer service. Users also highlight the need for advancements in the Recruiting module, calendar integration, custom forms, and addressing import glitches and additional feature costs.

What are the key features?

Integrated Timekeeping: Streamlines payroll by eliminating manual entries.
Benefits Module: Simplifies management of ACA, FMLA, and COBRA.
Mobile and Web Access: Provides transparency in pay details.
Time and Attendance Integration: Boosts administrative efficiency.
Comprehensive Suite: Reduces reliance on multiple software for HR, payroll, and talent management.

Which benefits and ROI should users consider?

Streamlined Payroll: Efficient for companies operating in Canada and the US.
Robust Reporting: Enhances decision-making with comprehensive data analytics.
Intuitive Content Management: Simplifies HR management processes.

Organizations use Dayforce HCM for managing payroll, benefits administration, recruiting, and performance management, integrating HR functionalities on a cloud platform. Industries appreciate its ability to manage HR tasks efficiently, providing analytics and mobile features essential for handling HR processes and reporting.

Dayforce

SAP SuccessFactors is an AI-driven, cloud-based HR suite designed to empower organizations to thrive and adapt in a dynamic world by offering comprehensive solutions across HR, payroll, talent, and employee experience.

Incorporating support for over 100 countries, SuccessFactors delivers real-time insights and integrated solutions that enhance every people process and decision. With the backing of over 10,000 organizations, it unifies people and skills data, ensuring compliance and flexibility with localized updates. Its HR best practices and partner network expedite results. Integration with SAP S/4HANA and intuitive interfaces enhance its functionality in performance, talent management, and HR analytics. Features such as Recruitment, Employee Central, and continuous performance management drive effective HR processes in diverse industries.

What features define SAP SuccessFactors?

Performance Management: Offers tools for enhancing employee performance and development.
Talent Management: Facilitates the identification and growth of top talent.
HR Analytics: Delivers advanced reporting and insights for informed decisions.
Onboarding: Streamlines new hire integration with efficient processes.
Employee Central: Manages records and customization effectively.

What benefits do users gain from using SAP SuccessFactors?

Increased Productivity: Boosts workforce efficacy with AI-driven tools.
Top Talent Retention: Aligns talent with business goals for sustainable success.
Compliance Assurance: Incorporates legal and regulatory updates for market-specific needs.
Enhanced Integration: Works seamlessly with other SAP modules for comprehensive HR management.

Organizations across sectors implement SAP SuccessFactors for HR tasks such as performance and talent management, onboarding, and recruitment. Its adaptability and security in cloud environments support goal setting, career planning, and employee evaluation, serving needs in industries like technology, finance, and healthcare.

SAP

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

Buyer's Guide

Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors

October 2026

Free Report: Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors

Find out what your peers are saying about Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Dayforce HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors report.

See our list of best Cloud HCM vendors and best Talent Management vendors.

We monitor all Cloud HCM reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.