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IBM Kenexa vs SAP SuccessFactors vs UKG comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 18.3%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UKG is 5.2%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP SuccessFactors18.3%
UKG5.2%
IBM Kenexa1.0%
Other75.5%
Talent Management
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
ManujGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved employee satisfaction and streamlined real-time data management
In terms of customizations in specific modules for industry requirements, SAP SuccessFactors is much more generic and does not comply many times with industry requirements as a vertical. In my experience with SuccessFactors' analytics capabilities influencing decision-making, workforce analytics is still challenging due to customizations. It does not provide flexibility in terms of analytics, and we have to customize extensively. For the future of the product, I would like to see more AI implementation, Python integrations, and GPT integrations.
Talia Jean Paul - PeerSpot reviewer
Affordable but needs to improve its stability
Our company is testing the UKG Ready Mobile App, but there are some glitches. I feel that in the system when you log on to Kronos, UKG Dimensions, and UKG Workforce Central, we have different modules in different versions. With regards to the newer version, I feel the older version, which was UKG Workforce Central, was more user-friendly for the end user as opposed to the newer version, which looks a bit more complicated. When training someone who wants implementations to be done, it would be easier if you could hover above certain things, and it shows you or tells you exactly what it is. There are certain SAP modules that can be audible. If you click on it if someone is being a bit slow with regards to training, the tool will tell you what needs to be done and what needs not to be done by you, but for us, it is fine because we are in the back end with configuration and the administrators. I am talking about the need for improvements in the tool for the benefit of the end users. The explanation on UKG's community consists of training manuals and some of the other stuff that we use, and we send to our supervisors at the site. With the tool in place, catching onto white-collared employees is quicker. The tool is not quick to catch onto certain blue-collared employees in the plant or supervisors who are actually working with machinery and stuff because they are not as computer-centric as white-collared employees. If I could scan the tool across the globe with our site supervisors, there are a few loopholes in the tool. There are some issues with the tool's stability. For me, I would like someone who is building the system in the back end to know if a front-end user can manipulate the system. I am not going to rate the tool's scalability to be high. I would rate the tool's scalability to be at a mediocre level or at something like 50 percent, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies."
"IBM Kenexa is fairly stable. We don't have any downtime."
"It is extremely user friendly. It is very flexible in managing recruitment, especially when you have thousands of applicants as we did. We easily had over 20,000 applicants within a year for some of our positions, so it made it very easy to manage a large application pool. It was very easy to customize by recruiter preference. When you open up someone's profile to see their experience, education, or other things, you can customize that for yourself. It was flexible in that, and each recruiter could set up their preferences. It didn't have to be set up so that everyone had to have the same landing platform, which was very helpful. As someone who trained other HR people on how to use the system, it was very easy to pick up and learn."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"One of the most wonderful features is the ability to customize the modules and workflows. So far, we've done a fair bit of customization and it is helping us a lot and really adds to the value we already get from SuccessFactors."
"Flexible with a lot of good features."
"It has a global database, and it is globally accessible. By using this solution, we have moved away from paper, which is a big step for us."
"There are a lot of features in SuccessFactors that HR can actually explore. We recently implemented a learning platform that employs the individual staff to actually manage their own learning."
"It's a uniform user interface."
"Currently, we are using the performance and goals management functionality the most. It is connected with the enterprise solution, and it is seamless. It can be easily accessed because it is available via the net. It is readily available, provided you have an internet connection. Their technical support is also very good."
"The initial setup was pretty simple."
"The tool has a unique talent management platform."
"I have found the most valuable feature to be business intelligence and Cognos reporting."
"It is much easier to use and the customer service is better than our previous solution."
"The solution's UI is good. Also, it is very easy to use."
"The setup process is straightforward."
"The solution has improved our organization by helping us cut hours and lessen our labor force. It saved us probably over $100,000 in just the last couple of years."
"Overall, I would rate UKG nine out of ten."
"I like UKG's integration."
"The fact that I can see the whole HR information in a single point is valuable. There is a unified view of everything, which is good. Previously, we had many different systems for each part of the information. Now, it is all centralized. It is very good."
 

Cons

"The reporting tool is helpful, but it is not the easiest to train on or is not as understandable for other HR pros. Their Workbench site, which is the administrator site that you use to update your website, is not user-friendly. When updates are required, it is not that easy to manage because Workbench is not user friendly. It required more work from the admins. They have Workbench training, which actually was very unhelpful. It took eight hours to complete, and it was not very helpful. Their customer service when it comes specifically to their Workbench site is not helpful."
"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"SAP should also look into easily integrating with other applications or other tools. Technology has changed now, and it should be easier for any application to integrate with other apps. There needs to be more flexibility."
"There are a few features that are missing. There are specific features on the HTM, such as telecom safety, that just isn't there. It's not a very detailed solution in that sense. However, it is maybe not expected to have those kinds of features on the surface level of the product."
"The tool is not very nimble or customizable."
"The user experience and interface are not user-friendly."
"There are some limiting aspects to this product."
"We have many interruptions and disconnection points into processes, which is why we are looking to another solution. We are not so happy with the system. We believe we have in the market better solution, so we are looking for alternatives but so far the system has been used a lot."
"The GUI needs to be enhanced to be in line with the latest and complete version of the solution."
"It's a bit complicated to make a change in the tool... It is time-consuming."
"Reporting is always a hurdle for any user just because it is so extensive. They provide a lot of out-of-the-box reports, but it is something that you always need to work on because you need more advanced writing of reports."
"I would like the capability to use UKG as a single platform without the need to alternate between systems."
"The solution could improve by simplifying it even more core reports, such as more sample reports, more generic reports that you can edit and improve on yourself."
"The system is slow sometimes."
"Since UKG is a SaaS software, other parts of the application or add-on solutions are not the best in class or very configurable."
"Certainly, the time and attendance and the payroll integration need a lot of work. They are disjointed pieces, and they don't work smoothly together. That's the main drawback."
"The solution could use better reporting with standard reports. We use the Cognos platform in BI for a lot of our reporting. However, they need to have more robust standard reporting available to their user base."
"The platform's features need enhancement while being used as a recruiting tool."
 

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."
"So now, SAP charges me 300 Euros for 14,000 employees. I still have to pay 2,000 euros because I'm using SAP on-prem."
"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."
"I think the pricing is a little better than most solutions out there. There are reasonable prices when it comes to some of the modules such as the Payroll module, and for the remaining modules I believe the pricing is fair in comparison to the rest of the market."
"This is a more costly solution than comparable products, and training is not available in the open-market, so this has to be purchased separately from the vendor."
"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."
"The cost of SAP SuccessFactors is reasonable."
"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."
"It is not cheap, but it is reasonable."
"UKG's pricing and licensing model involves ongoing expenses based on the number of employees paid. The initial implementation cost is low when UKG implements it directly. However, when partners handle the implementation, it becomes more expensive since partners don't receive the monthly recurring fees."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing part. I'm a user, and I believe it is based on the user count. One thing that is nice about Ultimate is that you can learn how to use the system without additional fees. The learning aspect is the life of a product, and the training was a huge reason why we went with Ultimate. We did have some integration costs. They were a part of the implementation because of the integrations to other systems that we included in our implementation."
"If you're going for the full suite, it can be fairly pricey."
"The pricing depends on the number of licenses we buy."
"The platform is not affordable but also not the most expensive."
"While I am unsure of the licensing cost itself, the total cost of implementation and licensing for a company with over 5000 employees would be around 6,00,000. So, there are additional costs beyond licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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 Business22
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise43
Large Enterprise48
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Kenexa?
The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Kenexa?
As a large company, we first bought the complete BrassRing package, which had various features. Later on, we paid ext...
What needs improvement with IBM Kenexa?
BrassRing needs improvement in a few areas. First, it should update how it tracks where candidates come from and avoi...
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 customizatio...
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 expe...
What do you like most about SAP SuccessFactors?
The tool is easy to use for performance management. We haven't experienced any issues with SAP SuccessFactors for per...
What needs improvement with UKG?
UKG needs more publicity. It is a productive ERP ( /categories/erp ) application, but many people in the IT market ar...
What is your primary use case for UKG?
I worked for a healthcare organization and a university. Most organizations use UKG ( /products/ukg-reviews ) to trac...
What advice do you have for others considering UKG?
Publicity is very important for any software. If people aren't aware of UKG, despite its productivity, they won't use...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
SuccessFactors
UKG Pro, UKG Dimensons, UKG Ready
 

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
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
Tesla, Marriott, Yamaha, Aramark, Feeding America, Samsung, Sony Music, Dave & Buster's, Revlon
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Workday, Oracle and others in Talent Management. Updated: October 2025.
869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.