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Dayforce HCM vs Workday HCM comparison

 

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 August 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Dayforce HCM is 2.4%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday HCM is 9.6%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workday HCM9.6%
Dayforce HCM2.4%
Other88.0%
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.
Eslam Abo Elnaga - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Reporting I can pull anything out of Dayforce."
"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 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."
"Great time and attendance payroll and benefits administration which has improved our efficiency."
"It provides real-time information with great reports."
"Employees like being able to see what entitlements/balances that they have for their time away."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"I found the analysis features to be very useful for our company. I also found the modules installed to be aligned with our company's KPIs. These were the two features that stood out."
"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."
"Workday is highly intuitive from a customer experience perspective, and it was effortless for us to understand what to do even though we didn't have any related training, making it easy to use without guidance."
"In the process of obtaining representative sites in NaviNet, it assists us in facilitating decision-making and taking action."
"The business process framework is excellent."
"It is fairly easy to set up"
"It's intuitive, a very usable tool and it's easy to find the data you're looking for."
"It is a leading talent management tool, and it has got the largest market share."
 

Cons

"Dayforce has its gaps like every HR system, but nothing comes to mind at the moment."
"Customizing the home screen was difficult; I could not remove certain tabs that were irrelevant to our users."
"The solution's initial setup was difficult. Also, the solution's initial deployment took around six months."
"I would like to see more built-in forms, like government issued forms (T2200). This would save a lot of time during the year-end process."
"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."
"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."
"The product they sell you is not the end product. Many things are presented as though they will be included with the system but then require costly upgrades."
"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."
"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."
"I'm not sure they have added this feature yet, but there should be a cellphone version, so we do not need to do it on a laptop. I'd like to log in on a cellphone and have the same features. I'm not sure if that is already available or if it's on the roadmap, but that would be a great feature."
"The dashboard is fine, but the dashboarding and other aspects could be improved."
"In addition to the lost data, the solution is slow to pull up information and I am not sure if this is due to the botched implementation or if it is the solution itself."
"It is good that much of the development is based on community input but often that can lead to details being ignored and small, nagging issues are ignored."
"The ability to drive more analytics on a customizable level would be helpful."
"Also, while the browser is powerful, the mobile app is so limited it is mostly useless."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Negotiate for everything you want."
"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 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."
"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."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven on a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."
"We paid for the implementation costs in the first year with the money that we saved by switching to Dayforce HCM."
"Earlier, the price of the product was reasonable. Under present circumstances, the price or cost of the product has been increased."
"Each module comes with an additional cost. It operates on a mid-price model. So, there is an additional payment for each module needed. The solution might be costlier for smaller companies, making it more suitable for mid to large-sized enterprises."
"Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."
"It's very, very expensive."
"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."
"The solution’s pricing is better than SAP SuccessFactors."
"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."
"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."
"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
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 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: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.