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PeopleSoft 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

PeopleSoft
Ranking in Benefits Administration
5th
Ranking in Talent Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
ERP (9th), Activity Based Costing Software (4th), Demand Management (2nd), Talent Acquisition (4th)
SAP HCM
Ranking in Benefits Administration
3rd
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of PeopleSoft is 9.7%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HCM is 13.4%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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

"It's a mature product."
"Peoplesoft is the best payroll software in the market."
"The most valuable feature is the module integration, which saves time through transclusion - using a single record across multiple modules."
"The most valuable feature is ERP application information."
"PeopleSoft has been fairly reliable for us. We haven't had any issues with stability."
"I would recommend the solution. It's very stable and scalable, which makes it a reliable solution."
"I've worked with HR, payroll, benefits, time and labor, health and safety, and every module. I've also worked on different modules for the education, health, and financial sectors. My 25 years of experience cover different industries and implementations. I've also worked in the public sector, which is a bit different. I implemented PeopleSoft for the state of Massachusetts, covering 168 schools, colleges, and universities."
"I like the speed of the processing and how easy it is to use."
"The platform is simple to use and has a user-friendly dashboard and integration features."
"I like the talent, recruitment, and learning features the most."
"The setup was straightforward."
"The valuable features of SAP HCM include managing employee data from hiring to retirement."
"SAP HCM can handle a large number of employees. We can easily process payrolls and check the arrangements, and the client can also check the performance of the employees. Additionally, it has some advanced features."
"We are satisfied with the reporting by SAP HCM."
"SAP HCM has valuable features for analytics data management."
"SAP HCM has a good performance."
 

Cons

"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."
"The biggest disadvantage with things like PeopleSoft is that they do continuous support and fixes and upgrades. You get to choose when you want to implement that upgrade. However, in order to keep up, you have to upgrade."
"Regarding technical support, they often discourage using PeopleSoft and push for Oracle. Many support staff are offshore and don't understand the system well."
"My developers want to use more HTML instead of the specialized tool, PeopleTools because, they say, it's better from a user perspective."
"Agile system configurations to accommodate business dynamics."
"The learning and development side of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Stability is an area where the solution lacks and needs to be improved."
"If there is another release, they should look at going to mobile computing to stay competitive."
"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."
"It takes a long time to apply an update patch to the system."
"The current platform is quite rigid and not as flexible and end-user friendly as other HR solutions."
"The customer support from SAP is reasonable, yet I would rate it five out of ten."
"The product significantly improved our organization by automating many processes, which reduced paperwork and provided clearer, more accurate goals and competencies."
"The organizational structure visualization could be improved in future releases. The solution has a very poor interface."
"On the personnel administration side, it's very difficult to do custom development."
"It would be nice if the solution migrated to S/4HANA."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Yearly payments are to be made toward the licensing costs of PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft is not very expensive, so I feel it is an affordable product."
"I would consider this to be an expensive product, but the quality justifies it."
"Mostly yearly payments are to be made toward licensing costs. It is not much of an expensive solution."
"It's approximately $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 USD per year."
"One of the cheapest solutions available and also one of the best."
"The licensing cost for PeopleSoft is 3,500 per course and the annual subscription fee is 6,500."
"I don't know if they are still providing licenses or if they have suspending licenses."
"There are no additional costs for licensing."
"The pricing is really high."
"SAP is extremely expensive. The integration costs and customization costs are also a lot."
"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"We purchase the product's yearly license."
"In my view, this product is a waste of money for SMB because there are much better products available and licensing is an issue."
"You pay per license. There not any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The pricing depends upon the specific model and number of user accounts included in a bundle."
"The terms on which you buy licenses might change due to the way they license in a particular product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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

No data available
SAP Human Capital Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
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 PeopleSoft vs. SAP HCM and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.