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SAP HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors HCM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 10, 2025

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

SAP HCM
Ranking in Cloud HCM
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (4th), Talent Management (3rd)
SAP SuccessFactors HCM
Ranking in Cloud HCM
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Renelia Villanueva - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient payroll processing with comprehensive attendance management
I am currently heading the payroll benefits and HRIS team here in Manila. We are using SAP HCM on-premises, and we implemented SuccessFactors focusing on Employee Central and GMPM SAP HCM has helped a lot due to the always changing government regulations pertaining to taxation, social security…
MS
Increased onboarding efficiency and enhanced user engagement with comprehensive performance management
All features have been valuable, particularly as we are investigating whether to connect it with Talent Management. Currently, we have a solution with Degree, and we are considering moving it to SAP Talent Management. This would provide a single location to house everything, allowing all employees to use the same platform rather than two separate platforms. This also reduces integration expense and management costs. Different stakeholders benefit from various aspects of the interface and dashboards. Managers can examine their team members' skill sets. From an employee perspective, they can track their progress and match it with their objectives and goals. From an organizational perspective, we can maintain a comprehensive view when considering upskilling or other resource-related decisions. The dashboards are highly effective. The employee experience management tools have had a very positive impact on employee satisfaction and well-being within our organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Scalability is excellent, and I would rate it ten out of ten."
"The technical support is quite good."
"SAP HCM is a powerful program that can greatly benefit organizations with its comprehensive features and integrations."
"I feel SAP HCM is very competitive and worth the investment given its capability to integrate modules and provide comprehensive value."
"Sometimes, employees may have pending requests that need approval, so you should check those and clear any errors to ensure smooth processing."
"The payroll operations I’ve managed within this and other organizations involve substantial numbers, demonstrating that SAP HCM stable product. As for talent management, we’ve utilized consulting services and supplemented them with various in-house developments. Moreover, we are exploring innovative AI, including chatbots and AI-driven use cases."
"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."
"I like the talent, recruitment, and learning features the most."
"The SAP SuccessFactors HCM tool is a fantastic platform to work with, offering end-to-end employee lifecycle coverage."
"The employee experience management tools have had a very positive impact on employee satisfaction and well-being within our organization."
"SAP SuccessFactors HCM has positively impacted my customer's environment by ensuring they are digital; we promote using DocuSign for document signing and ensuring effective onboarding, and post-implementation we provide hyper-care and digital adoption reports after six months or a year to show how much more paperless and workflow-enabled their organization has become after SAP SuccessFactors HCM implementation."
 

Cons

"It was difficult to deploy. There were challenges regarding configurations and implementation. So, we had a lot of issues."
"Its reporting feature could have customization options."
"The customer support from SAP is reasonable, yet I would rate it five out of ten."
"It would be very helpful for our company if a new version was released with the ability to contain all of the things that we have newly introduced in our company."
"It takes a long time to apply an update patch to the system."
"The limitation of HCM compared to new-era human capital management solutions is the cost."
"SAP is not ready to sell the license on time and delays the progress of projects. It's better to work with a competitor like Oracle. Those that are selling the product just go through powerpoints and don't have the knowledge necessary to sell. They can't answer any questions."
"The talent modules are lacking in HCM, so I would recommend switching to SuccessFactors for talent management, but HCM excels at time management and payroll."
"The SAP SuccessFactors HCM has room for improvement in terms of product development nimbleness. Additionally, the speed of the application platform occasionally reduces, primarily due to data center related issues."
"The main area for improvement would be implementing a better pricing model. It is expensive, and with people discussing Workday more frequently, SAP needs to compete by becoming more free-flowing and dynamic compared to traditional SAP systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"The pricing is around the middle, at a five out of ten. But it depends on the number of licenses. More licenses mean lower per-user costs. You need to understand how to play the volume game and the growth."
"The pricing depends upon the specific model and number of user accounts included in a bundle."
"We have an annual license for this solution, and the price depends on the number of users."
"The pricing is not reasonable at all."
"For implementation, SAP offers little support unless you buy SAP Safeguarding from SAP Consulting."
"I believe HCM is a little expensive, but I don't know the exact price because I'm involved with the sales team. However, I think the price must be reasonable because many organizations are migrating their current ERPs to SAP. It's excellent software, and the price is competitive."
"The product is expensive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP HCM?
SAP HCM is the one of the best ERP for an organization with a small to large scale business. It has the most efficient payroll functionality. Regards : SAP HR classes in pune
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate and control the cost of their human resources.
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 experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
I find the licensing cost, setup cost, and overall pricing of SAP SuccessFactors HCM to be not expensive. The pricing is not a bottleneck when considering the kind of value it provides.
What needs improvement with SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
The main area for improvement would be implementing a better pricing model. It is expensive, and with people discussing Workday more frequently, SAP needs to compete by becoming more free-flowing a...
What is your primary use case for SAP SuccessFactors HCM?
I started with S/4HANA with a utilities company at British Gas. It was focused on service contracts and billing domain. After that, I have used S/4HANA in order to cash, record to report processes,...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SAP Human Capital Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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, Skrill Group Ltd.
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