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NetSuite ERP vs PeopleSoft comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

NetSuite ERP
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Billing Software (1st), Cloud ERP (2nd)
PeopleSoft
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
ERP (9th), Benefits Administration (5th), Talent Management (6th), Demand Management (2nd), Talent Acquisition (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Activity Based Costing Software category, the mindshare of NetSuite ERP is 6.8%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PeopleSoft is 10.1%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Activity Based Costing Software
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sudni - PeerSpot reviewer
It's a user-friendly cloud-based solution that startups and small businesses can afford
Setting up NetSuite ERP is pretty straightforward. It's a plug-and-play solution that comes with the default bundle. We uploaded our GLs and charter accounts and added our company code to the architecture. It can be up and running in under a month. It takes at least five people to deploy NetSuite.
UshaKatyal - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature solution that needs right implementation
I think PeopleSoft HR is pretty good and very mature. The people who built PeopleSoft now work on Workday. Workday has asked me to join them as an employee a few times, but I don't take anyone's employment because Workday isn't very user-friendly. With PeopleSoft, you can do a lot. Oracle now bundles PeopleSoft and calls it Oracle Cloud, but the programs are the same. Recruiters often don't know this and say you're not qualified if you don't have Oracle Cloud experience. However, Oracle has just put PeopleSoft in the cloud and packaged it as Oracle Cloud. Overall, if the solution is implemented correctly, it runs very smoothly. I think people shouldn't customize it. They should use it as is and try to adapt to it. Many people didn't understand PeopleSoft at first. For example, during COVID, some companies hired offshore people who didn't know what they were doing and messed everything up. You need to know the rules and regulations of the country where you're implementing the tool because every country has different rules for HR, benefits, and payroll. Canadian payroll differs from US payroll, but they're on the same platform in the solution. It's a very mature system, but people prefer newer options like Oracle Cloud. I was also involved with SAP S/4HANA. I don't think it's good for the government sector because government workers are a bit lazy about technical things. I understand S/4HANA because I have a technical background. It has a different structure, while PeopleSoft has more of a file and table structure, which is easier. If the tables are set up wrong, things go wrong. But if you know how to set it up correctly, it runs smoothly, and you can adjust it if needed. The problem is that companies are hiring big consulting firms that want money. They hire offshore people who don't know the country's rules and do programming. If you buy a package and still have to do custom programming, why buy the package at all? These days, I'm doing a lot of business process reengineering for people because they don't know how to implement it correctly. If you implement it right, you can reduce manual work. However, it depends on change management and how senior management handles it. It works fine if you implement the tool on-site or hybrid, not cloud and do it correctly. But in a cloud situation, there are problems. Many countries change their payroll and benefits rules often. With the cloud, you can't easily change things. You have to ask the company to make changes, which costs much money. People who don't want an IT department go for the cloud. But I've seen many companies fail with the cloud. The cloud is just everything packaged together. Your data sits in someone else's cloud, and you must accept whatever they do. Payroll is very sensitive. If payroll is wrong, the whole company suffers. I've worked on the financial and school sides, too. I'm comfortable with the tool if it's implemented correctly. But many companies don't implement it right, which is why they might say it is too much. I did a big project for an oil and gas company. I was a program control manager with 51 people under me. We used Oracle, but Oracle isn't as good as PeopleSoft for payroll. If the solution is implemented correctly, it's fine. But you need the right implementer. Big consulting firms often give wrong information and use inexperienced people. For maintenance, PeopleSoft sends updated rules to new tables at year-end. You compile the new tables and start the new year. But you need to know which changes apply to your country. I talk to many senior PeopleSoft people and always get LinkedIn messages about business opportunities. I now help about 50 clients when they have problems, but I'm not traveling. If you know the HR and payroll business well, you can implement anything - PeopleSoft, Oracle, or S/4HANA. I've done all of these. S/4HANA is more complicated and technical. It's similar to an old software called IDMS. You have to be very technical, and if you don't do it right, it won't work. I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"NetSuite ERP has dramatically improved our organization. We went from QuickBooks to NetSuite. You can compare this transition to changing from tennis shoes to a flying car."
"The project management aspect and the timesheets are valuable, especially for ensuring that our milestone billings are automated properly. From a manufacturing perspective, it is more to do with the entire management of the inventory, the overall finance, consolidation of books of accounts, and managing the profit and loss in a more effective manner."
"I recommend this product to professional services companies and those with complex international financial requirements. NetSuite ERP has strong capabilities in the finance domain that other ERPs may lack."
"The most valuable feature is that it works according to how the Internet works."
"I am impressed with the product's ease of use. It also helps us reduce the techstack."
"As NetSuite ERP is a cloud product, a valuable feature I found in it is the very friendly user interface. You can set up shortcuts within the applications for frequently used reports or navigation. You can also customize dashboards in NetSuite ERP. Another feature I found valuable in the solution is good reporting. It has many industry-standard reports focused on finance and inventory. I also like the seamless switching between production and test environments and that you can customize the environments within NetSuite ERP. For example, you can put banners on your test and production environments to differentiate or segregate the logins to prevent mistakes. The solution is pretty easy to use and navigate, and it's more of a lightweight software. I like that it's a cloud product, so work is done on the front end rather than the back end. There's also a community for NetSuite ERP where you can raise your queries and issues. You'll find other people sharing experiences about common issues so you can get quick fixes from the community."
"The most valuable aspect of NetSuite ERP is the multi-subsidiary portion, it is the strongest across all the other ERPs. If you want to do consolidations, it works a lot better than other tools."
"We leverage the core platform but are able to add additional functionality for ease of use, tailored processes, and industry related reporting."
"The most valuable feature for us is the integration between the HR Payroll and Financials modules"
"All the features of the solution are integral to the functionality. Additionally, the navigation customization is beneficial."
"Its user interface is impressive."
"The synchronization of business processes, and the software, streamlined the shared service departments to run 40% leaner."
"The integration between Human Capital Management (HCM) and PeopleSoft is an important feature."
"Peoplesoft is the best payroll software in the market."
"In general, this solution is user friendly and also performs well. There are two types of forms. One is a standardized form, which you can define things into. The other, you can customize so more repetition can be done in an even manner. That way, it can be designed for what the public or user actually wants. It's not very tough for any person, or layman to understand exactly what the screen requires one to do."
"The most valuable feature of PeopleSoft is the functionality that allows the ability to find all the data about employees that are needed."
 

Cons

"The communication has been peculiar, and the overall commercial process has been less than satisfactory."
"Improvement-wise, it should be more customizable. Currently, you can't enhance the product yourself in terms of development for any applications unless you've got a very strong and big development team. Those are the skills that are in very short supply."
"Additionally, adding advanced modules such as AI components or customer service modules could help the system become more scalable."
"An area for improvement in NetSuite ERP is its accounting functionality because it has certain limitations. You can't maintain sub-ledgers or post accrued expenses in sub-ledger forms, so you'll need to post in journals. The pricing is another area that can be improved in NetSuite ERP because the pricing was lower when it wasn't part of Oracle, but after Oracle acquired Netsuite and NetSuite ERP was offered as a cloud service, the price went up."
"I would like to see improved customization options in NetSuite ERP, possibly through generative modules, to enhance flexibility and efficiency."
"As with any system offering large volumes of data, there are limitations on processing large volumes of data in custom ways."
"It would be great if they offered localization for Central America."
"Some of the features around the payroll and payroll taxes and management of that are lacking. We had to outsource some of that because we found that the functionality isn't there."
"PeopleSoft lacks integration capabilities."
"Parsing of CVs is productive but accuracy can be improved."
"There could be more adaptability of the system."
"One of the areas that could improve is the capability of utilizing mobile for some of the self-service activities that are missing. They are running on the older platform. What is happening is people are focusing on the cloud. PeopleSoft is a good provider and should into the cloud. That could be an advantage for them. Customers would not have to go find another solution that is a completely different platform that has different functionality altogether."
"It would be helpful for the end-user if the reports were customized. They would be able to select the fields while generating their reports."
"There can occasionally be complexity in the initial setup."
"The API integration could be better."
"PeopleSoft should be more flexible with the configuration. There should be less coding and more configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing for NetSuite ERP is okay, but it could be better. The licensing model for NetSuite ERP is based on the number of modules and users. The standard license covers up to twenty-five users. If you have more than twenty-five users, you'll have to buy the premium license, which would double the price. For one module with five user licenses, the cost is between $40,000 to $50,000."
"NetSuite ERP has a cost per module you want to use, and then you have the license per user."
"Regarding costs, it's not just about licensing. Customization recurring costs can become expensive over five to eight years, especially with new releases. However, NetSuite ERP integrates well with third-party applications, so it can still be used for finance while another ERP is used for localized production."
"It is completely on a subscription basis. We pay yearly and, and you do not have to do anything on a monthly basis. Prices depend on the organization's scale and all those things, but they are doing a good job with the pricing."
"The price of the solution is quite high."
"I would advise that you first meet with and scope out your project with a NetSuite VAR (Value Added Reseller)."
"It is expensive."
"It's very competitively priced due to it being a subscription model. So, clients are quite happy with the pricing. I would rate it an eight out of ten in terms of pricing."
"One of the cheapest solutions available and also one of the best."
"PeopleSoft has a yearly maintenance fee."
"Check all options before a decision is made."
"There are no additional costs for licensing."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"I would consider this to be an expensive product, but the quality justifies it."
"This solution offers annual licensing. We pay per user."
"Mostly yearly payments are to be made toward licensing costs. It is not much of an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
42%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetSuite ERP?
The inventory feature in NetSuite ERP is very valuable to me because it provides clear estimates about the depreciation of details and includes useful mobile modules.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetSuite ERP?
If you buy it through Europe or North America, it is quite expensive. However, if you can buy it from developing markets according to NetSuite, you can get significant discounts, up to 70%.
What needs improvement with NetSuite ERP?
Reports are good but not perfect. The custom reports could be improved. The initial setup process for reports can be a bit complicated and may require more user-friendly options. My previous compan...
What are the differences between Oracle HCM Cloud and PeopleSoft?
Although both are solutions to manage HR, their differences make each one suitable for different companies. Oracle Cloud HCM is a platform for connecting all human resource processes in your organ...
What do you like most about PeopleSoft?
I use the reporting feature occasionally to check for potential improvements in timesheets. We have integrated it with Power BI.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

2Pure, Accuvant, Actian, Adtegrity, Advantage Sign Supply, All-Safe Pool Safety Products, Alton Lane, AMC Liquidators
BMI Healthcare, Lone Star College System, Jefferson County Public Schools, Griffith University, Los Rios Community College District, Tervita Corporation, INFRA S.A. de C.V., ICF Habitat, Central Washington University, Tech Mahindra Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Stanford Childrens Health
Find out what your peers are saying about NetSuite ERP vs. PeopleSoft and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.