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Dayforce HCM vs Workday HCM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 21, 2026

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
16th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Intelligence (2nd)
Workday HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
2nd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (1st), Talent Acquisition (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.4%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday HCM is 9.5%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workday HCM9.5%
Dayforce HCM2.4%
Other88.1%
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.
Amit_Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Automation has transformed hire to retire processes and delivers powerful HR analytics
In Workday Human Capital Management, I feel that the security part needs to be improved. Workday gives complete control to the implementers regarding security and who is going to see what data. There are sometimes loopholes that are not identified unless fully tested. If Workday had a security alert system, even a small alert would help the security architect secure all information better, especially sensitive data such as payroll. Additionally, customization is another area of improvement, as Workday provides a default blue and yellow theme, which may not align with a company's branding. If Workday provided the option to customize themes based on a company's preferences, it would enhance the user experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."
"The initial setup is easy."
"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."
"We like being able to hire from the Dayforce recruiting module straight into Dayforce and having the file feeds go to our benefits vendor."
"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."
"We used the solution to do a lot of performance management during the review cycle and it helped us alleviate the administrative burden."
"We have been able to automate many of our manual processes."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"It stores everything for the employee. It has also been able to store the information that we use for our payroll demand."
"The GUI is beautiful and we don't need to provide much training for the users because it is easy to navigate."
"I would say that we have definitely seen a return on investment."
"The unique selling point of Workday is its easy-to-use user interface, which is quite difficult in other ERP systems such as SAP or Oracle Fusion."
"It's really stable, we use it globally and have 100,000 employees, and I know that there are no big issues with the stability of the tool."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the usability, learning, and compliance tools."
"Since adopting Workday, we have reduced HR administrative processing time by 45%."
 

Cons

"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 solution has a lot of glitches."
"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."
"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 continue to see improvements in the Recruiting module. I would like to see this module interact with Calendars, such as Outlook, etc."
"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."
"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."
"The solution's dashboards and geofencing could be improved."
"Workday does not support many Korean language features. So, it will be great if they have some development on the Korean language side – then it will be really powerful in our market."
"The tool has certain shortcomings when it comes to its integration capabilities with other systems in our company, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Analytical tools have needed improvement."
"There were a lot of issues. There were consistency or accuracy issues with the data we had, and every time we had to pull reports in Workday, it was difficult."
"They could provide a web chatbot feature in the dashboard for Workday."
"The implementation could have gone a little smoother."
"It's great for operational / detailed reporting and some low-level analytics, but for heavy-duty analysis against large data sets, I find it's a bit lacking."
"My opinion is that this solution can improve the overall integrations and add more automation. I think anything that could be on a self-serve basis would work quite well."
 

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."
"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."
"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."
"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 paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"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."
"Workday is an expensive solution."
"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten."
"It's very, very expensive."
"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."
"You have the license fee per module, and then you have a kind of annual training fee, which is a kind of add-on. I wouldn't say it is exhaustive; it is minor. Licensing is pretty transparent for most of the part."
"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."
"It is on a yearly basis."
"I rate the product’s pricing a ten out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

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 Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise50
 

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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?
If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal
Workday Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ACCO Brands
AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!
Find out what your peers are saying about Dayforce HCM vs. Workday HCM and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.