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Paycom vs Sage People comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Paycom
Ranking in Talent Management
7th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
7th
Ranking in Talent Acquisition
5th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sage People
Ranking in Talent Management
24th
Ranking in Cloud HCM
19th
Ranking in Talent Acquisition
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (14th), HR Analytics Software (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Paycom is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage People is 1.6%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Paycom0.8%
Sage People1.6%
Other97.6%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Rebecca Ocampo - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director, Talent at a non-profit with 201-500 employees
Centralized HR workflows have streamlined hiring and reviews but reporting still needs improvement
The biggest piece that frustrates me is that there is no sandbox. There is nowhere for a person to just click a bunch of buttons or view as a different viewer. It is sometimes really challenging from an administrative standpoint to understand what another person is seeing as far as their access. Sometimes Paycom verbiage is a little confusing from my standpoint. I find that words I used in previous HRIS systems or any type of customer-facing system that I have used previously sometimes do not mean the same thing in Paycom. I think I am doing one thing and then it turns out I might be doing a different thing. I do think Talent Acquisition, or maybe even separate modules in general, can show they were maybe not created by the same person because they operate differently. For example, most of your workflows are built into a specific space, but Talent Acquisition seems to run completely independently. You could tell other people have been doing different modules. That is one of the biggest pain points. The reporting is also a little tricky if you are not used to having more of something already set up for you. The reporting is not intuitive. You really have to know exactly the thing you are looking for, exactly the name of the fields, and because I struggle a little bit with the verbiage and just generally moving from one system to this system, or multiple systems to this, and this system is the only one that calls it something different, I sometimes have a very difficult time in reporting finding what I need. Most times when I am looking for a very specific metric or a very specific piece of data and I reach out to the representatives at Paycom, or even when I cannot figure out how to make something function, I have been told it is something that does not exist. They put it on the development piece, but then I am creating multiple reports and having to merge them on my own. The reporting aspect of Paycom is not my favorite. The lack of a sandbox and the lack of being able to view as a different viewer is extremely frustrating in this system. Paycom is rapidly improving, so they make a lot of improvements pretty quickly and you do not really know what is happening. You can see it on webinars and other things, but truth be told, I do not know who has time to really go into every improvement every other day to see what is new and what has improved. A lot of the time we are just functioning in our jobs and then noticing that something has changed. It is a little tough to stay on top of the upgrades and the changes.
Spencer Gray - PeerSpot reviewer
People Advisor at Thomas International
Highly customizable, robust, and access to helpful online community
In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms. While I understand that this system is not solely focused on performance management and is more of a generalist solution, it still lacks the capabilities and features that you can find in other specialized platforms. If we were to switch to a provider solely focused on performance management, we would have access to a wider range of features and capabilities that are not currently available in this system. Sage People offers a wide range of functions that meet most requirements. However, there is still room for improvement. One feature that I would like to see added is the ability to detect and address any failures in the custom processes or functions built within the system. I would like to see a tool that can automatically sense and identify any issues in the system. Currently, when something goes wrong, it's not always immediately obvious and requires a lot of manual troubleshooting. It would be helpful if there was an error message that clearly explained why the system is failing. This would speed up the investigation process and make it ten times faster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I can have time and attendance and payroll in the same platform, which I value because it is not clunky and all works together very seamlessly."
"Everything being in one system has been a really significant game changer for us."
"Paycom is very useful for the compliance part, with automatic real-time reports that are very easy to understand so we do not have to work or calculate anything manually."
"Paycom is such a customizable platform that you can really create and tailor it to meet your organizational needs."
"In my experience, Paycom is stable."
"Paycom's governance and security are outstanding."
"When I say it is user-friendly and intuitive, the interface itself is very intuitive as far as a brand new user could log in and with a few clicks figure out where things live and how to make changes really easily."
"Paycom's customer support is excellent, and I would rate the customer support a ten."
"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."
"It is easy to see all the information we have for a person across two screens, and reports are easy to run, view, amend, and add."
"Compared to the other HR systems I have used in the past, I can say that Sage is in my top five when it comes to recommendations."
"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"The solution is beneficial overall."
"We are now able to visualize global team structures, and as we rollout other features, the organization will benefit from an easy to use system and standard processes."
"The most valuable features of Sage People are the reports that are useful for decision-making and the API that can be integrated well. Additionally, the solution can be accessed from mobile devices onto the cloud."
 

Cons

"The reporting aspect of Paycom is not my favorite. The lack of a sandbox and the lack of being able to view as a different viewer is extremely frustrating in this system."
"It is also very time-consuming to set up the system, so if someone is looking to set up a system very quickly within one month, it would be incredibly overwhelming."
"When they had an update, we had a lot of issues with Paycom, but they have addressed it, and after that, we have not seen any."
"In my opinion, the best features Paycom offers are not great, as I did not really enjoy using Paycom; I found it to be overly clunky."
"But then as the reps get promoted and you get a new rep, the user experience goes to garbage on the back end because they either are not familiar with the platform yet or just are not as good or as invested."
"Additionally, Paycom is getting slower day by day, and the timecard search feature is not working well."
"I rate Paycom an eight because we are a complex organization that has a lot of secondary jobs and it is not user friendly when employees are trying to clock into those secondary jobs if they are not on the schedule; they have to select too many fields to be able to clock into the correct position."
"I think that there are some limitations to Paycom, including being able to date certain things in the future, such as accrual profiles or if someone's department is not changing for another week or two."
"The product lacks several features available in more mature products."
"The budget module does not work. Sage People need to maybe make it more user-friendly."
"In comparison with other HRIS reporting tools (like Discoverer / OBIEE for Oracle, Business Objects, Crystal Reports etc. which I have used extensively for over 10 years), I think that Fairsail’s reports functionality is quite limited and only available for Administrator profiles."
"The user interface is not great."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets. In my previous experiences with other HR software, we had to buy another solution to obtain this functionality, and it would be a great feature for Sage to consider adding. For an HR system, Sage would do very well to include it."
"If Sage People were to become a fully cloud-based solution, it could lead to significant improvements. With the COVID pandemic highlighting the benefits of remote work, a complete shift to cloud-based functionality would be a welcome development for users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"From an SME standpoint, I wouldn't necessarily describe it as expensive. However, for the average startup, it may not be affordable since our current annual expenditure on the system, which supports approximately 210-220 users, amounts to approximately £15,000 to £18,000."
"The cost of Sage People varies depending on the financial resources of the organization. While it may be affordable for middle-level companies, it may be more challenging for young companies to bear the cost."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"There is other software on the market that can do similar functions to Sage People that could be better in price. Some solution allows you to do your payroll processes by month or by the process. Small companies could benefit by using another solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Paycom?
I am not aware of the pricing that Paycom charges to employers. I am aware of ADP and Prism that I am using currently, but I am not aware of Paycom's pricing.
What needs improvement with Paycom?
The only dislike is that when they changed their interface and gave the update, it is not performing well. Whenever we try to use it on the web, it fluctuates a lot. The reload time for a screen is...
What is your primary use case for Paycom?
I use Paycom for payroll processing, managing time and attendance, PTO, and deductions. Reporting skills are the most important part here because Paycom provides a customizable reporting theme, whi...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about Paycom vs. Sage People and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.