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SAP HCM vs Workday comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
SAP HCM boosts efficiency and decision-making through automation and insights, offering a return in months to years.
Sentiment score
6.1
Workday boosts employee engagement, saves 40% time, enhances interaction, and positively impacts ROI with reasonable pricing and streamlined processes.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
SAP HCM customer support is praised for quality but needs faster response times and more personalized consultant engagement.
Sentiment score
7.0
Workday customer service is responsive and knowledgeable but desires improvements in response times and regional expertise, especially for Koreans.
I am totally satisfied with the response time and quality of support.
sap technical lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Not all requests are attended to promptly.
Vice President & Group Head- People & Workplace Management at Alorica
We have our own internal team that supports the deployment process.
Global Practice Head Sap HCM/Succeess at Sutherland Global Services
With Workday, I can pick up the phone, call them on Teams, and they answer immediately.
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
SAP HCM offers seamless scalability and flexibility, efficiently supporting diverse organizations and adapting to evolving demands across sectors.
Sentiment score
7.7
Workday's cloud-based, flexible, scalable system supports diverse roles, excelling in growing medium to large enterprises efficiently.
Currently, we are upgrading from 4.12 to 4.18, and after migrating the DC, our applications run smoothly without any challenges or slowness.
DevOps Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
SAP HCM is quite scalable.
Vice President & Group Head- People & Workplace Management at Alorica
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
SAP HCM is stable and reliable, with cloud versions showing improved stability despite isolated initial issues and configuration challenges.
Sentiment score
7.9
Workday is generally stable and reliable, with occasional minor issues like slowness or login disruptions, rated highly by users.
I would rate its stability as nine out of ten.
Vice President & Group Head- People & Workplace Management at Alorica
I would rate the stability of SAP HCM as seven out of ten.
Manager IT at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

SAP HCM faces usability, integration, and customization challenges, with high costs, complex payroll, and limited talent modules compared to competitors.
Workday struggles with data integration, user interface inflexibility, and limited mobile utility, affecting user experience and international functionality.
SAP HCM needs to be more customizable to fit unique organizational processes.
Manager IT at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
SAP should provide more customization options.
sap technical lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
We are able to optimize a lot of processes but there is always room for improvement.
Global Practice Head Sap HCM/Succeess at Sutherland Global Services
While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself.
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
However, going by the demo, I think it is quite simple to use.
Senior Analyst at Eos Intelligence
 

Setup Cost

SAP HCM's high, complex pricing often hinders small businesses, with hidden costs and compared unfavorably to cheaper alternatives.
Workday's pricing is high, based on headcount and modules, offering value in reduced HR complexities and integration.
SAP HCM is quite expensive, but considering solutions like Oracle, they are similar.
Vice President & Group Head- People & Workplace Management at Alorica
I would rate pricing for SAP as one because the price is high.
sap technical lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
SAP HCM is costly compared to other ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics or Oracle, and I would rate the cost as one out of ten.
Manager IT at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

SAP HCM enhances productivity with integration, payroll management, scalability, user-friendly interfaces, and supports global operations efficiently.
Workday excels with its intuitive interface, powerful integrations, customizable functions, and strong security, enhancing HR efficiency and reducing costs.
The main benefit SAP HCM provides is that we have all the information in one place; it is basically one centralized system with all the information rather than having multiple systems across the organization.
sap technical lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
When we face challenges and raise tickets, Red Hat provides support within an hour, fixes bugs, and allows us to move to production after resolving issues.
DevOps Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Capturing all the attendances and absences is a huge task that must be completed before running payroll.
Vice President & Group Head- People & Workplace Management at Alorica
Comparing Workday to other products, I am taking a positive note about Workday and it is the first priority that I suggested compared to Oracle or other products.
Senior Analyst at Eos Intelligence
The interface of Workday is superior.
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
3rd
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Workday
Ranking in Benefits Administration
1st
Ranking in Talent Management
2nd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of SAP HCM is 5.4%, down from 15.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 10.8%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP HCM5.4%
Workday10.8%
Other83.8%
Cloud HCM
 

Q&A Highlights

MK
VP/Managing Director Federal Healthcare at Groundswell
Apr 17, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

VD
DevOps Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
User interface simplifies task management with easy issue identification and quick resolutions
We don't currently need third-party solutions because Red Hat provides security through RH-ACM. This Red Hat product helps us identify vulnerabilities in Pods, YAML files, and other components. When we encounter vulnerability issues, we raise tickets, implement Red Hat's solutions, and close the tickets. OpenShift is predominantly implemented in banking sectors. Banking sectors require Enterprise edition platforms due to RBI guidelines. While small-scale industries might use Kubernetes on AWS platform, major banks such as SBI and Central Bank of India prefer OpenShift for its Enterprise edition status and comprehensive support from Red Hat. IPI setup is straightforward, but air gap environment setup is more challenging as it requires configuring HAProxy, DNS, manual DNS server, creating ignition files, downloading images, and creating separate repositories. Regarding competition, based on my knowledge, OpenShift has limited competitors apart from Red Hat. IBM has acquired Red Hat for OpenShift, and they run OpenShift on their Linux platform, making IBM the primary competitor. This product deserves a rating of 10 out of 10.
Eslam Abo Elnaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support
There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud HCM solutions are best for your needs.
879,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

MK
VP/Managing Director Federal Healthcare at Groundswell
Apr 17, 2023
Apr 17, 2023
Hi Michael, My top reasons to consider SAP SuccessFactors would be: 1. Robustness of the Core Employee Central. 2. GDPR Compliance and Audit tracking capability for transactions given the healthcare industry regulations. 3. Scalability of the solution, especially if your organization is spread over multiple geographical locations. 4. Vast support ecosystem and string tech capabilities. 5. La...
See 2 answers
Ashwin Bhadouria - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager I.T. SAP HCM at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 27, 2023
Hi, is HCM the only requirement with the organization, or are other solutions also required? As far as HCM is concerned, SAP is comprehensive and can be tailored as per requirements. Thanks - Ashwin
Vasu Narasimha - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & CEO at BluTech Talent Plus LLP
Apr 17, 2023
Hi Michael, My top reasons to consider SAP SuccessFactors would be: 1. Robustness of the Core Employee Central. 2. GDPR Compliance and Audit tracking capability for transactions given the healthcare industry regulations. 3. Scalability of the solution, especially if your organization is spread over multiple geographical locations. 4. Vast support ecosystem and string tech capabilities. 5. Lastly, leverage SAP S/4HANA.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise39
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise41
 

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 are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?
Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...
What do you like most about Workday?
I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workday?
If you go with the launch implementation approach, the solution is generally not very expensive. If you want to add more features to your subscription, Workday becomes expensive. The solution is fl...
 

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.
AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP HCM vs. Workday and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.