Sage People vs UKG comparison

Read 125 UKG reviews

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89% willing to recommend

Sage People

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

UKG and Sage People compete in the HR software category, with UKG having the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and user satisfaction with business intelligence tools, while Sage People is preferred for its customizable reporting capabilities.

Features: UKG provides comprehensive payroll functionalities, seamless integration with third-party systems, and user-friendly self-service options for performance management and onboarding. Its business intelligence tools are also highly regarded. Sage People is known for strong reporting capabilities that are highly customizable, employee self-service, and convenient mobile access, ensuring flexibility.

Room for Improvement: UKG users note the complexity of advanced scheduling and benefits integration as areas needing enhancement, along with better integration across modules and an improved customer experience during implementations. Sage People users emphasize expanding customization capabilities, improving user-friendliness, and addressing functionality gaps like performance management, with configuration simplifications suggested to enhance usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: UKG offers private, hybrid, and public cloud hosting options, although customer service experiences are mixed, with some users citing response delays. Sage People primarily uses public and private clouds, with variable customer support quality depending on personnel.

Pricing and ROI: UKG positions itself as a premium solution with higher costs, yet users value the return on investment through efficiency and comprehensive features. Sage People offers economical pricing attractive to SMEs, with competitive licensing arrangements. Its ROI is somewhat uncertain initially, but its cost structure is accessible for mid-sized businesses exploring HCM solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Sage People vs. UKG Report (Updated: July 2026).

Sage People vs. UKG

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Helped 909,099 peers since 2012

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

Sage People

Ranking in Benefits Administration

17th

Ranking in Talent Management

24th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

19th

Ranking in HR Analytics Software

8th

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

UKG

Ranking in Benefits Administration

3rd

Ranking in Talent Management

6th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

6th

Ranking in HR Analytics Software

2nd

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Employee Scheduling Software (1st), Employee Time Tracking Software (2nd), AI-Agents for HR (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Sage People is 1.7%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UKG is 4.8%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
UKG	4.8%
Sage People	1.7%
Other	93.5%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Spencer Gray

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.

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Harish_Mahanta

Works

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Without a doubt, the most valuable aspect of this solution is the reports, as it offers endless possibilities for report customization. You can easily build any report you can imagine with this system."

"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."

"The technical support is astounding and they are one of the best support teams I have had the pleasure to work with."

"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."

"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."

"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."

"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."

"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."

More Sage People pros

"The attention paid to what customers want in product services."

"Ultimate Software makes a great product, and it is always changing for the better!"

"The ease of use; UltiPro is easy for both the tech savvy HR person and those with limited knowledge of using HCM applications."

"It is valuable to have the employee information starting with them applying for a position prior to hire, it is easy to set up a new hire since all the info is there, and it is also great that employees can edit their information and their performance reviews are all in one system."

"Recruiting BI Talent management"

"Employees love to see their paychecks as soon as payroll has processed."

"Ultimate is cute and fun."

"Benefits, Life Events and OE have allowed us to move away from paper and integrate and track our data with our benefit providers, allowing us to better focus on improving benefits and communications versus data entry."

More UKG pros

Cons

"Its technical support could have been better."

"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."

"The user interface is not great."

"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 product lacks several features available in more mature products."

"There is a mash-up of Visualforce and apex triggers which bear down heavily on the system."

"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."

"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."

More Sage People cons

"Only issues is slow response time when checks have needed to be voided or reissued for payees."

"Payment services continues to be our biggest area of concern."

"I would like to see a faster time frame to resolve issues."

"Implementation in 2009-2010 was a bit bumpy due to changes with the UltiPro project team."

"Customer Service: At times it takes days to get a return call. Technical Support: At times it take days to get a return call."

"Initial setup was complex. Many times, it felt like it was a do-it-yourself implementation."

"The tax corrections are a bit burdensome; you have to void and reissue payments."

"Customer service is sometimes frustrating."

More UKG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."

"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."

"The price of the solution 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."

"We have to purchase the solution's license to use it."

"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."

"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."

"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."

More Sage People pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"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

16%

Construction Company

16%

Marketing Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	48
Midsize Enterprise	43
Large Enterprise	48

Questions from the Community

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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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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PeopleSoft vs UKG

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Sage People

Download Sage People product report

Download UKG product report

Also Known As

Fairsail

UKG Pro, UKG Dimensons, UKG Ready

Overview

Sage People offers customizable reporting, system integration, and HR management capabilities tailored to companies managing diverse teams globally through Salesforce technology. It enhances workforce engagement and enables seamless interaction with payroll and financial systems.

Sage People is built for managing HR services, including payroll integration, employee data handling, and talent acquisition. It provides a visually appealing interface powered by Salesforce, enhancing employee processes with functions like time-off management and legally compliant reporting. Implementation supports global operations across APAC, EMEA, and Americas, optimizing workforce engagement and standardizing HR processes.

What are Sage People's key features?

Customizable Reporting: Enables detailed analysis and evaluation of HR metrics
Payroll Integration: Seamlessly connects with payroll systems to streamline financial transactions
Global Team Visualization: Visualizes team structures for better management
Employee Information Management: Centralizes employee data for easy access and updates
Cloud and On-Premise Support: Allows flexibility in deployment and ensures robust performance

What benefits are important to consider in reviews?

Process Standardization: Facilitates consistent HR practices across various regions
Employee Engagement: Enhances workforce interaction and satisfaction
Mobile Access: Provides remote accessibility for team management
Efficient Integration: Connects with existing financial systems for simplified workflows

Sage People is widely used across industries for efficient HR management, especially in talent acquisition and onboarding processes. Its adaptability enables companies to customize according to workforce requirements, whether in the cloud or on-premise, supporting comprehensive payroll management and application oversight.

Sage

UKG offers a comprehensive suite for payroll processing, HR management, and business intelligence, integrating seamlessly with systems like PeopleSoft and Workday. Its cloud-based service enhances workforce management across industries with advanced customization and intuitive use.

UKG's extensive features include payroll processing, business intelligence reporting, and self-service options for employees and managers. The platform is designed for ease of integration, providing a user-friendly experience with extensive onboarding tools and robust data management. While UKG excels in configuration and reporting capabilities, it requires improvements in customer support and benefits administration flexibility. Implementation can be complex, and areas such as real-time support and automated processes need refinement.

What are UKG's most valued features?

Payroll Processing: Streamlined for accurate and efficient transactions.
Business Intelligence Reporting: Offers insightful data analytics to inform decision-making.
Employee and Manager Self-service: Empowers users with access to essential tools and information.
Benefits Administration: Manages employee benefits with ease.
Data Integration: Ensures seamless interaction with other systems, enhancing performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Improved Employee Satisfaction: Cloud-based updates foster an engaging environment.
Streamlined HR Activities: Integrates with existing systems to enhance operation efficiency.
Ease of Use: Users appreciate its intuitive design and customization options.

UKG is leveraged across multiple industries for its robust functionalities in payroll and HR management, supporting recruitment, onboarding, and workforce dynamics. The platform's integration with time management and learning modules supports comprehensive employee management and compliance across global deployments.

Sample Customers

Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair

Tesla, Marriott, Yamaha, Aramark, Feeding America, Samsung, Sony Music, Dave & Buster's, Revlon

Sage People vs. UKG