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Cornerstone Learn vs Sage People 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

Cornerstone Learn
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Learning Management Systems (LMS) (5th), Virtual Training (6th)
Sage People
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (17th), Talent Management (23rd), Cloud HCM (20th), HR Analytics Software (8th), Talent Acquisition (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cornerstone Learn and Sage People aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cornerstone Learn is designed for Learning Management Systems (LMS) and holds a mindshare of 2.9%, down 8.3% compared to last year.
Sage People, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud HCM, holds 1.7% mindshare, up 0.8% since last year.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cornerstone Learn2.9%
Moodle3.5%
Canvas LMS2.4%
Other91.2%
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sage People1.7%
SAP SuccessFactors8.8%
Workday8.7%
Other80.8%
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

Vibha  Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Global L&D Lead at Tieto Sweden AB
Streamlined compliance training and efficient session creation empower diverse industries
Creating a session requires just one click, which makes data ready efficiently. Reporting-wise, Cornerstone is the best. It allows internal content management, playlist creation, using external links for learning, and supports various AI training. All the compliance training, code of conduct, and audits are handled through Cornerstone, making it beneficial.
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

"If you want to make the job easier, go for Cornerstone Learning."
"It's better than the previous learning solutions we had. We liked that it was global. We liked that you don't have to be logged into the company network to be able to use it. Those were really big benefits for us."
"It has provided the ability to build cross-functional teams."
"The reporting feature is fantastic, and I also like the dynamic learning assignment feature. It is interactive and user-friendly. It is also highly stable, automated, and customizable."
"The most valuable features of Cornerstone Learning are how they organized the management of the different content types is good. They are done in different ways which is a benefit. Additionally, the reporting 2.0 and playlist functionality are very good."
"The most valuable feature is how easy it is to learn and use. It's built off the Microsoft Word format, so if you can use Word, you'll be able to figure this out."
"Cornerstone is a truly unified talent management solution."
"If you are looking for a highly automated and highly customizable solution that is excellent in user experience, this is the solution to go for."
"Sage makes all the information accessible, like pulling a file because an employee needs something ASAP. It's all in the system. It's easy to find old reports if I need them for payroll purposes. It might take days to do some of this work by hand."
"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."
"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."
"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."
"Compared to the other system that we were using, I think Sage is more friendly. As an administrator, Sage's dashboard is visually friendly and many tasks are easier to accomplish. Another feature that we've liked since we started using Sage is the reporting. With the other system, we needed to configure a lot of things manually when it came to reporting, but with Sage the reporting tasks are much simpler."
"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."
"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."
"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

"Its dashboard and analytics must be improved. Currently, we get the data, but we don't get anything from the insightfulness perspective. Analytics is where it requires a lot of work. We definitely expect some good dashboard features, which are currently lacking in this solution. From a technical perspective, they need to open access to all HTML tags. It currently doesn't support many HTML tags, which makes it challenging to create HTML pages."
"Notification management, while it has improved a bit in the past years, is still a bit cumbersome and error prone."
"Even though the system has a number of features, design wise the user interface is a little bit complicated. It is hard for the user to navigate properly. Because the system has so many features, it has a lot of tabs and links. Sometimes, people get confused as to where to go and search."
"In general, some of the portal pages have an outdated look and feel."
"There is a need for quite a bit of improvement. The reporting side of things definitely needs a lot of improvement; at the moment, it gives you a data dump, and you have to open it up in Excel and filter out the bits that you don't want and need."
"Cornerstone Learning could improve the curriculum function by giving it more flexibility. I'm managing the solution and I adding content to the system, and overall, the backend of the system looks a bit dated. Cornerstone Learning has focused a lot on the user experience and less on the backend operational administrative experience. This could be improved overall."
"The support from Cornerstone Learning can be better but they were okay. The quality of the first-level support could do better."
"CSOD does not do a great job in prepping the client for the initial set up - they sign the contract and then throw some docs at them and wait."
"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."
"Its stability could be better."
"Within the absence screens, we have it set up to automatically allow up to five days holiday to carry over. If staff members are allowed to carry over, it’s a bit difficult to add it in easily."
"The automation in Sage People could improve. The solution is the best used for data storage but the automation could be better to have more functionality."
"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."
"The user interface is not great."
"Its technical support could have been better."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing depends on the specific requirements."
"This solution offers competitive pricing."
"This is a cost-effective solution."
"I was not involved in the financial negotiation for our contract with this company, but in the past, I have seen the fees run between $10 USD and $11 USD per user."
"I rate the price of Cornerstone Learning a four out of five. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fees"
"It is a premium product, and it is on par with its competitors. It isn't out of scale with what the market is demanding. We're always looking at ways of trimming costs, but we haven't had a lot of flexibility with pricing and/or options with Cornerstone. So, its price is decent. There are ad hoc engineering costs when we are required to use a Cornerstone resource. Additionally, when we choose to integrate with third-party platforms, there is a setup and maintenance fee for these data integrations. They need to be built into our ongoing budget as we expand our offerings."
"Quality always comes at a cost. I would not rate it as expensive. It provides value for money."
"The price of Cornerstone Learning depends on many factors, such as size and negotiations."
"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."
"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."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."
"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
23%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

Is Cornerstone Learning reliable for content organization?
I think the organizational management of Cornerstone Learning is great. My organization uses this learning software and the way different content types are managed is very useful for our training ...
Does Cornerstone Learning provide you with good reports?
Cornerstone Learning provides great reports for your training programs and the performance of your employees on them. What's more, you get skills graphs which my company finds the most valuable for...
Why would you recommend Cornerstone as a platform for virtual training?
Hello, I think that Cornerstone is more than suitable for virtual training. For one, it gives you a really big array of tools and customizations to be able to deliver your employees high-quality t...
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Also Known As

Cornerstone Learning Suite, Saba Cloud
Fairsail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advantage Sales and Marketing
Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair
Find out what your peers are saying about CYPHER LEARNING, Moodle, SAP and others in Learning Management Systems (LMS). Updated: July 2026.
904,016 professionals have used our research since 2012.