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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

"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"I have not encountered many bugs, and in the rare instances where problems occurred, Ceridian Dayforce HCM promptly fixed them. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."
"It has created efficiencies in HR and Payroll by eliminating double entry into two systems, implementing a time clock feature for hourly employees, and by having a downloadable general ledger (G/L) constructing journal entering for payroll."
"We needed a comprehensive HR software solution, and we found it with Ceridian Dayforce."
"The implementation was through a team assigned to us by Ceridian. They were extremely knowledgeable and it made the implementation go very smoothly."
"Ceridian Dayforce HCM is a stable product."
"This solution has always been stable for me."
"It has improved my organization by enabling us to efficiently manage our personnel."
"I think the advice I'd give is that it's a nice solution."
"The interface is user-friendly. It is very simple and intuitive, so it's good."
"Workday was evaluated with SuccessFactors, but Workday was not able to accommodate some of our customizations, so the company decided to go with SuccessFactors, which gives you more configuration options."
"We have found objects like Foundation and MDF most valuable."
"The interface is really useful and it's very easy to combine different information, for example, we can easily get reports that we need and it's very easy to create reports."
"Shorter implementation timelines (comparing to on-premise SAP solutions), quicker response on configuration change cycles, modern look and mobile integration possibilities: Everything together makes SuccessFactors LMS a well-recognized and demanded talent solution across different types of organizations."
 

Cons

"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"The solution's dashboards and geofencing could be improved."
"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."
"I would like the solution to improve its customer service communication."
"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."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"Dayforce has its gaps like every HR system, but nothing comes to mind at the moment."
"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 organization is planning to move to Darwinbox from SAP SuccessFactors, primarily due to pricing considerations."
"It is not that user-friendly. It can be made more user-friendly."
"The Onboarding module must be improved."
"However, a couple of improvements can be carried out to offer more customization of the solution that is limited in the market."
"SuccessFactors is a perfect tool if you use it the way it is meant to be, but if you start building custom sessions and try to use it differently, then it is a total mess."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"We encountered challenges with the tool's integration with third-party applications and deployments."
"SuccessFactors was down completely for one day. All the companies which were using the Amsterdam datacenter were down from 8:00 in the morning to 18:00 in the evening."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
"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."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"Probably, it is one of the priciest products, and is very costly to put up and maintain but because it is a good solution end to end, people take it."
"It is not cheap, but it is reasonable."
"The solution is on the expensive side but is definitely worth the money."
"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."
"We have a yearly license. There are no additional costs."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
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...
 

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: May 2026.
899,052 professionals have used our research since 2012.