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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
14th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
9th
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 January 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.5%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 11.3%, down from 22.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP SuccessFactors11.3%
Dayforce HCM2.5%
Other86.2%
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.
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 used the solution to do a lot of performance management during the review cycle and it helped us alleviate the administrative burden."
"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."
"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."
"The time capture from time cards to charging to projects has greatly improved because it is now all automated and flows into the GL very easily."
"The product has a pretty clean look."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"The initial setup is easy."
"Great time and attendance payroll and benefits administration which has improved our efficiency."
"SAP SuccessFactors has positively impacted our organization as attrition has decreased, employee satisfaction in terms of help desk processes has improved, and the data transition from Excel, PowerPoint, or Tableau has become much more real-time."
"It's a uniform user interface."
"SuccessFactors offers all aspects of Human Resources Management. What I love most about it is that it can be implemented for any company very quickly."
"It is a very stable solution."
"The interface is user-friendly. It is very simple and intuitive, so it's good."
"The cloud security and the correct features for payroll calculations, once issues are resolved, are valuable aspects of this product."
"The tool's most valuable feature is document generation."
"The initial setup was pretty simple."
 

Cons

"The solution has a lot of glitches."
"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 to see more built-in forms. This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"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 reporting could be improved."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"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."
"They should improve the reports."
"The graphical user interface (GUI) is not very friendly. On the homepage, it is not possible to place advisories or announcements at the top."
"The integration between the recruitment module and employee central is a big problem."
"Pricing is a bit high and on the higher side."
"One of the most essential features that needs improvement right now is the reporting functionality. SuccessFactors' reports seem to be lagging a bit behind and we are very interested in customizing the reporting mechanism such that it pushes reports through quickly and automatically."
"The back end for the administration and the front end is too overtly complex and it's not aligned with our operations and learning needs."
"The GUI needs to be enhanced to be in line with the latest and complete version of the solution."
"The Onboarding module must be improved."
 

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."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"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."
"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."
"It could be cheaper."
"The pricing for SuccessFactors is ridiculously high, and there are costs in addition to the license fee for some features."
"The cost of SAP SuccessFactors is reasonable."
"Due to the way in which we purchased SuccessFactors as a module along with other SAP modules, we were able to procure it at a slightly better price than usual. I would rate their pricing 5/5 stars."
"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."
"The solution is on the expensive side but is definitely worth the money."
"I have raised change requests for some modules within SuccessFactors. For example, when you're using Recruiting Management, there's a feature called Interview Central you can use to reach the candidates you're interviewing. I wanted to add a writing assessment when I select the competency on that platform. It varies from consultant to consultant, depending on what module they use."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Non Profit
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software 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 Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Ceridian Dayforce HCM?
The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined.
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 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...
What do you like most about SAP SuccessFactors?
The tool is easy to use for performance management. We haven't experienced any issues with SAP SuccessFactors for performance management, which is great. However, since we're still learning to use ...
 

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: January 2026.
881,346 professionals have used our research since 2012.