Dayforce HCM vs Workday comparison

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Dayforce HCM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and Dayforce compete in the human capital management (HCM) software category, with Workday having an edge due to its strong integration tools and comprehensive data management.

Features: Workday offers a consolidated system, making navigation seamless and integrating various processes efficiently. Key features include automation, a robust business process framework, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. On the other hand, Dayforce HCM excels in timekeeping and payroll efficiencies, providing real-time earnings review and robust employee engagement modules.

Room for Improvement: Workday faces challenges with global payroll integrations and a complex configuration process. Users also note limitations in customization and reliance on external support for report creation. Dayforce could improve by enhancing user-friendliness and simplifying reporting. Its dashboards need refinement, and geofencing capabilities require improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday facilitates deployments across various cloud environments such as public, private, and hybrid, though it might require technical support for custom configurations. A strong community support network allows for troubleshooting. Dayforce operates mainly in public and on-premises environments, with a highly responsive support team recognized for quick response times.

Pricing and ROI: Workday is considered a high-cost solution but offers justification through its rich modules and integration capabilities, providing ROI via streamlined processes. Pricing is based on headcount and licensed modules, often positioning it as a premium option. Dayforce provides a more affordable alternative with lower implementation and ownership costs. Subscription fees and additional charges might be excessive for smaller companies, although the solution balances these costs with functional benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Dayforce HCM vs. Workday Report (Updated: January 2026).

Dayforce HCM vs. Workday

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Helped 881,346 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in other categories

Talent Intelligence (2nd)

Workday

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Benefits Administration (1st), Talent Acquisition (3rd)

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 Workday is 10.8%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Workday	10.8%
Dayforce HCM	2.5%
Other	86.7%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Thomas Noorkah

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.

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Eslam Abo Elnaga

Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo

Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support

There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"Configuring your HR policies and rules is straightforward."

"The solution's payroll portion is very streamlined."

"The tool has improved a lot in the area of its mobile application, especially considering its added security features, like single sign-on capabilities."

"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."

"Our employee benefits enrollment is managed through Ceridian Dayforce, which makes for a limited manual process."

"Statutory holiday pay is calculated automatically."

"Dayforce has transformed how we operate by saving us time, paper, accuracy, money, and the employee/supervisor experience."

More Dayforce HCM pros

"Since adopting Workday, we have reduced HR administrative processing time by 45%."

"Workday's best features are planning and finance."

"We like the fact that this solution is very user-friendly, with a straightforward user interface."

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations."

"The most helpful Workday features for our HR processes were in HCM, particularly in areas like talent, compensation, benefits, and learning."

"The user interface is good and very easy to use."

"Workday is easy to use. Timesheet and resource management are also easy."

"The platform itself is very robust and I generally like the reporting and analytics capability."

More Workday pros

Cons

"I would like to see more built-in forms. This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."

"One area to be improved is the solution's reporting function, which can be cumbersome."

"I would like the solution to improve its customer service communication."

"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."

"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."

"Many things are presented as though they will be included with the system but then require costly upgrades."

"Management and reporting of the GL costing could be improved."

More Dayforce HCM cons

"The UI, UX (user experience) is very bad. It is not very interactive."

"There is so much information floating around Workday that it becomes overwhelming to digest all of it."

"One area that could be improved with Workday is the analytics side."

"The solution can be improved by speeding up the load time when pulling up information."

"Workday could improve its custom reporting for beginners."

"Analytical tools have needed improvement. Workday has just released Prism Analytics, to replace the current analytical tools, so it’s in the early stages."

"My only suggestion might be to include a brief description of any new fields we introduce, making it easier for people to use them. Perhaps this is something they can consider implementing."

"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."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We found the setup costs and pricing to be very reasonable."

"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."

"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."

"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."

"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."

"By and large, Workday is expensive. It is based on the headcount. I'd probably rate it a three or four out of five in terms of pricing. It'd be like buying a Mercedes or a high-end car. It's expensive, but there's a specific value that you're getting with additional features and things of that nature. Using that metaphor, Workday probably tends to be more of a luxury. There are others like ADP that can do your payroll, your time off, and other things, but they don't do it as well."

"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."

"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."

"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

Non Profit

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	42

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 do you like most about Workday?

I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.

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...

SAP SuccessFactors vs Dayforce HCM

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Product Reports

Dayforce HCM

Download Dayforce HCM product report

Download Workday product report

Also Known As

Ceridian Dayforce HCM, Ascender Talent Management, Ceridian Ideal

No data available

Overview

Dayforce HCM is a global, cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software platform for managing the complete employee lifecycle. This solution was designed to improve the employee experience by bringing together data from across the employment cycle to help managers make better decisions at all levels.

Dayforce HCM is an HR, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management platform. The scalable software uses a single, flexible rules engine, as well as real-time updates and calculations, to help you meet complicated regulatory requirements.

Dayforce reduces the burden of disconnected applications by delivering a single application for all of your human capital management needs. All transactions made anywhere within the application flow seamlessly across all functional areas in real time, eliminating the need for repeated data entry, manual workarounds, and batch operations. This is thanks to a single employee record and a single rule engine. Organizations can achieve shorter training time, faster user adoption, and a faster return on investment.

With Dayforce HCM, users can view all HR data in real time in one place.

Here are some key tasks companies can do with the solution:

Hire the right people
Design work/life balance plans
Manage employee development
Handle payments
Administer benefits
Track compliance throughout the employee lifecycle

Dayforce HCM Features

Dayforce HCM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Continuous payroll for staff: Dayforce HCM aids in paying staff accurately and on schedule. Give your payroll staff the ability to access and audit data at any time during the pay cycle.

Personnel management: Empower and engage your frontline employees while keeping labor expenses and compliance under control. Make proactive, data-driven decisions that can help you run your business more efficiently.

Optimized staff benefits: Assist employees in selecting the best benefit plans while streamlining administrative tasks. With the help of analytics, you can maximize the value of your benefits investments and gain a better understanding of your costs.

Streamlined human resources: With a single consolidated, real-time solution, you can eliminate HR information silos. Improve HR productivity by streamlining administrative tasks and gaining access to key HR analytics.

Dayforce HCM Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Dayforce HCM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Dayforce HCM aids in planning, hiring, retaining, and building your team, whether they be full-time employees or hourly workers. Insights based on data can help you see around corners and predict the future.

Dayforce HCM helps you keep track of compliance everywhere in order to reduce risk. Simplify compliance in a global workplace. Keep up with complicated payroll and tax requirements from different regions and countries, as well as internal policies and processes. Dayforce can help you reduce the risk – and the cost – of noncompliance.

Dayforce HCM empowers your workforce by improving your employee experience with always-on technologies like Dayforce Wallet. Transform pay, enable self-service, and assist your employees in developing future skills, no matter where they are or what device they are using.

Dayforce

Workday is a cloud-based software solution that specializes in developing applications for capital and finance management applications. The system is built to work in global workforces and is adaptable. The global system ensures that users are up to date and can manage internal career-related information, and everyday business problems like timesheets, payrolls, and time off.

“A Pioneer in Software-as-a-Service”

Workday Human Capital Management tool is designed to simplify and streamline your work. It leverages machine learning to adapt capital management to a changing environment.

The Workday model is based on delivering a single system that uses a single source of data and a single security model to deliver a unique user experience. The system is user-friendly and ensures that employees and management can use it from any and all devices. Workday HCM integrates into a central system that includes financial management, payroll, recruiting, learning, and planning. Managers and employees can provide feedback to one another, too.

Workday’s features include:

Flexible framework that lets you organize your staff according to different criteria. You can group employees by function, hierarchy, or department.
Personalized career guidance: Knowledge management and career guidance that can be easily customized for each staff member and also done at scale.
Augmented reporting and analytics: Configure, change, update, and publish reports, scorecards, and dashboards. The system centralizes the transactional and analytical data so you can act on the data from anywhere.
Compensation tools: Compensatio, payroll, and time tracking are automated and simplified.
Workforce planning allows you to uncover and address talent gaps and get visibility of your staff.
Mobile-first ensign approach: Users can access all resources from any device, and they are always in sync.
Machine learning capabilities enable personalized enterprise experiences and faster business processes.

Workday smart platform consists of the following modules:

Human resource management
Business process management
Reporting and analytics
Benefits administration
Compensation management
Talent management
Survey framework
Employee and management self-service

Reviews from Real Users

Many organizations choose Workday because it provides an all-in-one modular solution for human capital and finance management. Our users say they like the ease of use for time-off requests, career and development segments, and overall HR management. The records and reporting capabilities are another popular feature.

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations," said one user. Another said that the best feature is the optimization of the work day experience with a unified platform that can be applied across different business units. “You will never find a use case that cannot be covered," said a third.

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!

Dayforce HCM vs. Workday