No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM Kenexa vs PeopleSoft comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Benefits Administration
13th
Ranking in Talent Management
18th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (8th)
PeopleSoft
Ranking in Benefits Administration
6th
Ranking in Talent Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
ERP (9th), Activity Based Costing Software (4th), Demand Management (1st), Talent Acquisition (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PeopleSoft is 3.5%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
PeopleSoft3.5%
IBM Kenexa1.9%
Other94.6%
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.
IanCampbell - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Decades of use have delivered secure, customizable control for public sector operations and finance
I have just completed three assessments: one on inventory demand planning, another on using artificial intelligence to bring supplier contracts in portable document format directly into PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft works both internally as well as with third-party products that integrate seamlessly with PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft operates both from a need-to-know-only basis as well as being able at the same time to do group purchase and realize large quantity purchase discounts. My clients have used marketplaces, and it is really industry-specific whether they use one or not, or if there is even one available. I would rate this product nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Now, having provided this, amongst many other things, we have a much closer relationship to the business."
"This tool is very powerful and the ability to tweak it in order to meet desired processes and controls is valuable."
"BrassRing, the applicant tracking system, has brought a high level of automation, specifically for our mass-volume hourly processes."
"As I said, IBM are doing a great job with us at the moment, but we're always looking and speaking and open to having conversations with other people because the market's changing and IBM are aware of that."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"I like how we can copy a req as we have many duplicates, which saved a lot of time when opening reqs."
"We use the Viewpoint and that is an absolutely powerful tool; it is extremely helpful to get more insights, and to start a conversation with our employees to grow and improve."
"I just think it's a good tool, with great flexibility."
"The solution's scalability is good."
"The user interface that I use is very intuitive, it’s to the point of what I want to use it for."
"The solution allows us to explore the databases and enables people to properly develop their work."
"I often say that PeopleSoft's greatest feature is how customizable it is."
"The financial capabilities are great."
"The support I have received from PeopleSoft has been excellent."
"PeopleSoft is easy to understand, where any end user that is logged in can easily navigate through the menus."
"I have not found another product that even comes close to PeopleSoft."
 

Cons

"The downside of Kenexa is that they're constantly reinventing, so they have constant releases with new features and upgrades. The downside of that is that they do experience fairly regular issues with stability that they're not always as quick to respond to as we'd like them to."
"Once-a-year engagement kind of seems to be a little bit lagging in terms of how we can actually shape and improve organizations, so I was looking forward to understanding a bit more where IBM Kenexa's thinking is going in terms of pulsing with the employee voice and how that kind of integrates and works with tell-it-as-it-is, and the other two applications we have; it's just too early to know."
"Being in a silo of my own world, my wish would be that everything that's available in their legacy views would be moved into their new Talent Suite products, so we could move over to that."
"There were functions we couldn't customize and needed to."
"I would say that it could likely be made slightly easier to consume and work with - less scientific or engineering oriented - but IBM Kenexa Talent Insights is about the most powerful and useful tool I've seen."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"I think there is some administrative things that could be easier in terms of Workbench and streamlining that process; configuration of different things."
"Technical support was not always great. They tend to push you towards workbench admins or paid support."
"We needed to do a lot of integration with third-party applications in order to get the functionality that we needed. The API integration could be better."
"In my opinion, it needs more performance, maybe something technical related, because it's very slow for us and even small activities take a while."
"PeopleSoft should be more flexible with the configuration. There should be less coding and more configuration."
"One aspect where PeopleSoft could see improvement is in its level of customization."
"I think it needs better integration with other parties."
"One of the areas that could improve is the capability of utilizing mobile for some of the self-service activities that are missing. They are running on the older platform. What is happening is people are focusing on the cloud. PeopleSoft is a good provider and should into the cloud. That could be an advantage for them. Customers would not have to go find another solution that is a completely different platform that has different functionality altogether."
"Scalability is not there in PeopleSoft. Its performance and resilience are also very bad. When you're trying to stretch it, it breaks. It is not resilient. It is also not stable. It is stable as far as data is concerned, but the infrastructure is not stable."
"The Work Center feature in PeopleSoft is a step in the right direction in consolidating someone's role-based interaction with the system. This enhanced functionality streamlines workflows and improves efficiency."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
"It's approximately $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 USD per year."
"The product's cost depends on the number of people in your company or the number of paychecks processed. They charge based on these factors, plus a maintenance fee. I'm not sure about current pricing since Oracle took over."
"One of the cheapest solutions available and also one of the best."
"We are a University and the cost and license are negotiated privately."
"The expenses related to the solution are nominal."
"There are no additional costs for licensing."
"This solution offers annual licensing. We pay per user."
"Mostly yearly payments are to be made toward licensing costs. It is not much of an expensive solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Benefits Administration solutions are best for your needs.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
17%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Comms Service Provider
10%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise50
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What are the differences between Oracle HCM Cloud and PeopleSoft?
Although both are solutions to manage HR, their differences make each one suitable for different companies. Oracle Cloud HCM is a platform for connecting all human resource processes in your organ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PeopleSoft?
The pricing is customer-specific, so I am not generally privy to what the pricing for licensing is. However, generally, I think PeopleSoft is certainly cheaper than cloud solutions.
What needs improvement with PeopleSoft?
More delivered artificial intelligence functionality in operations and finance would be helpful.
 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
BMI Healthcare, Lone Star College System, Jefferson County Public Schools, Griffith University, Los Rios Community College District, Tervita Corporation, INFRA S.A. de C.V., ICF Habitat, Central Washington University, Tech Mahindra Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Stanford Childrens Health
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. PeopleSoft and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.