Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Cornerstone Learning vs SAP HCM 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 Learning
Ranking in Talent Management
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Learning Management Systems (LMS) (7th), Virtual Training (4th)
SAP HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (3rd), Cloud HCM (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of Cornerstone Learning is 2.5%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HCM is 11.2%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vibha  Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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…

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."
"Their integration features with other platforms are valuable. It is also relatively easy to use. Their library of training modules is fairly robust as well."
"There are new releases every three months that keep up with industry standards and meet the needs of the customer."
"Stability and scalability are good. They have four releases every year of which learning is a big portion of that. They're constantly refining and defining and they're embedding a lot of new technology into it all the time."
"The Meeting feature is similar to a conference call facility that can be used for virtual meetings."
"Combining everything together, our on-time completions have gone from the mid-sixty percentile to over 99% on-time completion."
"The most valuable feature of Cornerstone Learning is the reporting and learner transcripts."
"It is a complete suite of solutions and features. Compared to other solutions which are more niche solutions, which may be as good as Cornerstone or even better in certain parts of it, like discerning user experience. You will not find another solution that has the same completeness of features in all different areas of learning."
"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."
"We are satisfied with the reporting by SAP HCM."
"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."
"SAP HCM has valuable features for analytics data management."
"We've found that the solution has the capability to scale."
"SAP HCM is a competitive and comprehensive tool that covers major programs in the enterprise and supports the global process."
"The technical support is quite good."
"The integration between the different models like personnel administration, work management, payroll, and time management are the most valuable and key features."
 

Cons

"There are some configuration elements that require Cornerstone engineering resources. It would be nice if we could self-serve. I would like the ability to manage the user interface or the navigation and layout of the pages that are displayed to end-users."
"The support for this solution could be improved."
"The existing test functionality is really old-fashioned, basic, and limited."
"Cornerstone Learning can improve reporting. If they had a harmonization of the administration UIs it would be great."
"Could use more robust reporting or more flexibility and scalability around the reporting side."
"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 automated ticketing system for technical support often has a response time that is quite long, which is something that should be improved."
"The user interface is in need of improvement."
"On the personnel administration side, it's very difficult to do custom development."
"Its reporting feature could have customization options."
"SAP HCM could improve by having more resources and making it more user-friendly. It is complex."
"It needs a lot of end user training as it is not intuitive at all."
"SAP HCM cannot integrate with other third-party applications. One of the drawbacks we encounter with SAP HCM, specifically in payroll management, is the limitation regarding changing payroll areas within the same month. For instance, if an employee transitions from staff to non-staff status during the month, we face difficulties because the system doesn't allow us to change the payroll."
"SAP HCM has helped a lot due to the always changing government regulations pertaining to taxation, social security service, and local regulations that change frequently."
"In my experience, SAP HCM and similar products are very good, but the focus now should be on providing features to encourage employee adoption. For example, accessing pay slips is a task that naturally drives adoption. However, AI tools that can prompt employees at the right time through the right application are needed for actions such as conducting surveys or gathering performance feedback."
"The limitation of HCM compared to new-era human capital management solutions is the cost."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of Cornerstone Learning is reasonable, but my knowledge of the cost is limited. I've had some discussions about licenses. I suppose we've had to push them a little bit to be more flexible about the licensing. For example, someone said they could only give us licenses in a batch of 500, but we found out that it wasn't true. We were able to negotiate a different amount."
"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."
"The solution's pricing depends on the specific requirements."
"I rate the price of Cornerstone Learning a four out of five. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fees"
"Quality always comes at a cost. I would not rate it as expensive. It provides value for money."
"I'm not aware of the costs. It must have been something for which we paid. Every single employee in the company had some kind of access to Cornerstone because that's how they got to their training."
"The solution cost approximately $47,000 annually."
"This is a cost-effective solution."
"The pricing is not reasonable at all."
"SAP is extremely expensive. The integration costs and customization costs are also a lot."
"The product is expensive."
"In my view, this product is a waste of money for SMB because there are much better products available and licensing is an issue."
"For implementation, SAP offers little support unless you buy SAP Safeguarding from SAP Consulting."
"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"The pricing depends upon the specific model and number of user accounts included in a bundle."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Talent Management solutions are best for your needs.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
62%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Cornerstone Learning Suite, Saba Cloud
SAP Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advantage Sales and Marketing
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.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cornerstone Learning vs. SAP HCM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.