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IBM Kenexa vs UKG comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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
18th
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 (11th)
UKG
Ranking in Benefits Administration
4th
Ranking in Talent Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Employee Scheduling Software (1st), Cloud HCM (5th), Employee Time Tracking Software (2nd), HR Analytics Software (2nd), Talent Acquisition (5th), AI-Agents for HR (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UKG is 7.5%, up from 7.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
UKG7.5%
IBM Kenexa1.8%
Other90.7%
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.
Streamlined time tracking boosts operational efficiency across multiple regions
The time tracking feature is the most effective for employee management. UKG is used in Europe, the United States, Australia, and East Asian countries for HR activities like payroll. The application is like an ERP, providing comprehensive features for organizations, simplifying their processes, and reducing the need to use multiple software solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"This tool is very powerful and the ability to tweak it in order to meet desired processes and controls is valuable."
"It has definitely improved my organization by being able to help the recruiters move candidates through the interview process."
"I just think it's a good tool, with great flexibility."
"I like how we can copy a req as we have many duplicates, which saved a lot of time when opening reqs."
"Scalability is great, as we use the system for everything from a very low-volume, high-touch corporate recruiting model to our tax office, high-volume approach, which is 80-100,000 people each season."
"The streamlined, simplicity approach of Kenexa makes it simple for me to navigate."
"Of all the current talent analytics offerings on the market today, IBM Kenexa Talent Insights is the most comprehensive end-to-end, data-agnostic analytics tool."
"I really like the robustness of the Payroll Gateway."
"The most valuable feature is being able to get time management reports which break out reclassified jobs and departments to separate areas of the company. This allows for better tracking of hours spent in certain jobs and where more hours may be needed."
"We are able to report on all HR data with ease."
"Ultimate Software makes a great product, and it is always changing for the better!"
"Reporting"
"Improvement of processes Reduction in man hours to complete tasks Employee engagement"
"The implementing staff has been very friendly."
"It enables us to manage the system ourselves. We don't need an additional team to do a lot of maintenance and add the things that we want."
 

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."
"2xO was created by brain-damaged monkeys in front of keyboards."
"In the past year, there has been a significant increase in the amount of internal errors that are displayed."
"The reason I’m not rating it with five stars is because of its sheer size."
"There are tools that actually are not there where clients need them, especially the survey analytics to analyze verbatim in different languages."
"If you happen to be an early adopter of enhancements, it can be a frustrating process, as it is hard to decipher together with their support whether an issue is a bug or working as intended (a change in the way something works)."
"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"We have about 50 requests for enhancements in the system right now."
"It was done through a vendor. I would give them a rating of -10/10. This was an awful experience."
"We have encountered scalability issues. Only 10 clock transactions are allowed to run at once; not the best for installing 300+ global clocks."
"We did encounter scalability issues."
"Customer Service: At times it takes days to get a return call. Technical Support: At times it take days to get a return call."
"Some reports are not accurate."
"Initial setup was complex. Many times, it felt like it was a do-it-yourself implementation."
"Having no person on site to help us through integration was a big negative."
"We have encountered scalability issues."
 

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."
"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."
"The platform is not affordable but also not the most expensive."
"The pricing depends on the number of licenses we buy."
"If you're going for the full suite, it can be fairly pricey."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
6%
 

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 Business48
Midsize Enterprise43
Large Enterprise48
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with UKG?
UKG needs more publicity. It is a productive ERP ( /categories/erp ) application, but many people in the IT market are not aware of it. Greater awareness could increase its adoption.
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 track employee timesheets, capturing accurate swipe-in and swipe-out data. UKG ( /pr...
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 it. Expanding the awareness is essential for greater adoption. Overall, I would...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
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
Tesla, Marriott, Yamaha, Aramark, Feeding America, Samsung, Sony Music, Dave & Buster's, Revlon
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. UKG and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.