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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
17th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (4th)
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 (2nd), Global Payroll (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 9.0%, down from 21.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP SuccessFactors9.0%
Dayforce HCM2.6%
Other88.4%
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 needed a comprehensive HR software solution, and we found it with Ceridian Dayforce."
"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."
"The fact that the time and attendance system is built into the HRIS is very valuable because, in the past, we had to use two different systems."
"Dayforce has transformed how we operate by saving us time, paper, accuracy, money, and the employee/supervisor experience."
"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."
"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."
"The implementation was through a team assigned to us by Ceridian. They were extremely knowledgeable and it made the implementation go very smoothly."
"It has a global database, and it is globally accessible with the integration with the management."
"The SuccessFactors learning applications within the SuccessFactors learning modules, as well as the performance management system, are highly beneficial for each and every employee in our organization. These tools eliminate the need for using Excel to manage data, allowing for direct input into the system. This streamlines the process, making it easier to view and analyze information. We can readily access our performance history, comparing our actions and achievements from the previous year. At present, we are consistently monitoring our day-to-day performance."
"Considering the flexibility of the system and its ability to accommodate complex business processes, the product is ready to be used in multiple industries."
"The most valuable feature is the onboarding module, which enables candidates to fill in their details online and smoothly transitions data from the recruitment module into the SAP database."
"The product is stable, scalable, and addresses a lot of issues."
"The main reason for switching into SAP SuccessFactors was for its brand, ease-of-use, predefined solution per business scenario, and agility."
"The solution is a very good product, it is very stable, it has lots of great features and lots of support available from SAP."
"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."
 

Cons

"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."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"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."
"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 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."
"I would like to see more built-in forms. This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"I would like the solution to improve its customer service communication."
"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."
"Integration between Employee Central and Compensation in SAP SuccessFactors is one area of the solution that has room for improvement."
"SAP SuccessFactors could improve the integration. It is not simple to integrate and it needs to be made easier."
"The complete integration process between SuccessFactors modules is not at the level that all customers expect when it comes to complete HR user experience from all angles."
"SAP SuccessFactors is working on making beneficial changes but they are not fast enough. They can improve by making the improvements or updates quicker."
"Some of the screens aren't that user-friendly, older employees especially have a hard time with it. They have some problems with it."
"SuccessFactors should consider building their best practices around critical industries to help companies become more differentiated in the markets they operate in."
"They have a set of web services and connections to them. The libraries were not up-to-date and this contributed to the complexity."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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 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."
"Negotiate for everything you want."
"Ceridian continually enhances Dayforce HCM. Some of these enhancements they charge for and some are just straight enhancements with no extra charge."
"We don't utilize even half of the licenses because not everyone uses them. With SAP SuccessFactors, though, we're now conducting all our performance evaluations within the system, so I suppose we're making better use of those licenses. As for SAP for employee services and internal benefits processing, we do have licenses for those but don't utilize them."
"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."
"The licensing fees are based on the number of modules that are being used, and the number of users."
"SAP SuccessFactors requires an annual subscription."
"The pricing for SuccessFactors is ridiculously high, and there are costs in addition to the license fee for some features."
"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."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
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 Enterprise69
 

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: April 2026.
886,719 professionals have used our research since 2012.