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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
10th
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
99
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (2nd), Global Payroll (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 3.4%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 16.5%, down from 22.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP SuccessFactors16.5%
Dayforce HCM3.4%
Other80.1%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Noorkah - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
ManujGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved employee satisfaction and streamlined real-time data management
In terms of customizations in specific modules for industry requirements, SAP SuccessFactors is much more generic and does not comply many times with industry requirements as a vertical. In my experience with SuccessFactors' analytics capabilities influencing decision-making, workforce analytics is still challenging due to customizations. It does not provide flexibility in terms of analytics, and we have to customize extensively. For the future of the product, I would like to see more AI implementation, Python integrations, and GPT integrations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides real-time information with great reports."
"We used the solution to do a lot of performance management during the review cycle and it helped us alleviate the administrative burden."
"The integrated time clock has provided efficiencies in payroll, as we no longer have to decipher handwritten time sheets and input them into the system."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"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 tool has improved a lot in the area of its mobile application, especially considering its added security features, like single sign-on capabilities."
"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."
"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."
"SuccessFactors' best features are talent management and HR Analytics."
"There are a lot of features in SuccessFactors that HR can actually explore. We recently implemented a learning platform that employs the individual staff to actually manage their own learning."
"SAP SuccessFactors, in my opinion, is the best cloud-based HR solution tool for any size business."
"The features of the solution that I found valuable for my business are its ability to create a dashboard, pie charts, and reporting functions, as well as advanced reporting capabilities."
"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."
"The most important feature is the ability to follow up on the yearly performance of the team. It's very good for management to understand how people are performing."
"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."
"They have succeeded in sustaining a powerful system supporting their philosophy."
 

Cons

"Dayforce has its gaps like every HR system, but nothing comes to mind at the moment."
"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."
"The reporting could be improved."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"SuccessFactors should consider building their best practices around critical industries to help companies become more differentiated in the markets they operate in."
"The user experience and interface are not user-friendly."
"Analytics could use some work."
"SAP SuccessFactors could improve learning management. The module is desperate and should be included in the primary solution. Additionally, it is missing some business use cases."
"The data management part can be improved in terms of how you can manage data from the HR admin's or HR team's perspective. It has some limitations in the reporting part in terms of how you can update the data and fetch the data. SAP HCM comparatively has a lot of capabilities in terms of backup loads, data management, data changes, etc. You can do these things easily, which is not the case with SAP SuccessFactors. Data management should be simplified in SAP SuccessFactors in terms of accessing the data, reporting, and then manipulating the data."
"The analytics capabilities are not very in-depth. While you can get reports, there are limitations when retrieving specific data such as questions from SCORM 1.2 or 2004; the system can only retrieve answers but not questions."
"SAP SuccessFactors' pricing structure could be improved."
"The process for long modules needs to be improved, because compared to how it's done with a competitor (Meta4), the competitor's process was simpler."
 

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 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."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
"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."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."
"It is not expensive because it is a complete suite with a module-based cost."
"The price of the solution depends on too many factors to provide an estimate. However, the price of SAP SuccessFactors is competitive."
"It is not cheap, but it is reasonable."
"The pricing for SuccessFactors is ridiculously high, and there are costs in addition to the license fee for some features."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Non Profit
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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 Business22
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: November 2025.
872,922 professionals have used our research since 2012.