Sage People vs Workday comparison

Sage and Workday are both solutions in the Cloud HCM category. Sage is ranked #23, while Workday is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4. Sage holds a 1.4% mindshare in CHCM, compared to Workday’s 10.5% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Sage users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Workday users who would recommend it.

Sage People

Read 15 Sage People reviews

1,497 Views
763 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Workday

Read 58 Workday reviews

9,682 Views
6,777 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Sage People

Workday

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Workday and Sage People compete in the HR services sector. Workday appears to have the upper hand due to its strong integration capabilities and user-friendly design, whereas Sage People offers robust reporting and better adaptability to organizational needs.

Features: Workday excels in providing comprehensive HR services with a strong emphasis on user experience. Notably, its intuitive business process framework and extensive integration capabilities simplify annual reviews and enhance reporting. Sage People, leveraging Salesforce technology, is recognized for its customizable and powerful reporting capabilities. It facilitates integrated financial system functions and provides support for comprehensive employee information management.

Room for Improvement: Workday users point out analytics limitations, payroll system integration challenges, and configuration complexities. It lacks flexibility in handling global payroll, requiring outside assistance for reporting tweaks. Sage People could enhance performance management and automation areas. Additionally, better HR ticket management and more intuitive error messaging would improve user experience. Customization options in Sage People do not fully meet expectations compared to broader systems.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Workday offers deployment across public, private, and hybrid clouds, with a supportive user community despite occasional support delays. Sage People widely utilizes public and private clouds, with generally prompt direct support. Occasionally, technical support issues arise. Workday benefits from a stronger community support network.

Pricing and ROI: Workday is geared towards larger organizations with significant upfront costs, justified by comprehensive features and integration benefits, improving ROI through streamlined processes. Sage People targets SMEs with flexible licensing options, offering robust HR functionalities at balanced pricing, ensuring affordability and accessibility for mid-sized and growing businesses without incurring premium expenses associated with Workday.

To learn more, read our detailed Sage People vs. Workday Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sage People vs. Workday

March 2026

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Helped 884,108 peers since 2012

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

Sage People

Ranking in Benefits Administration

20th

Ranking in Talent Management

27th

Ranking in Cloud HCM

23rd

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

HR Analytics Software (9th)

Workday

Ranking in Benefits Administration

1st

Ranking in Talent Management

2nd

Ranking in Cloud HCM

2nd

Ranking in Talent Acquisition

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of Sage People is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 10.5%, down from 18.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud HCM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Workday	10.5%
Sage People	1.4%
Other	88.1%

Cloud HCM

Featured Reviews

Spencer Gray

People Advisor at Thomas International

Highly customizable, robust, and access to helpful online community

In my opinion, the performance management module of this system could use improvement as it falls behind compared to other specialized performance management platforms. While I understand that this system is not solely focused on performance management and is more of a generalist solution, it still lacks the capabilities and features that you can find in other specialized platforms. If we were to switch to a provider solely focused on performance management, we would have access to a wider range of features and capabilities that are not currently available in this system. Sage People offers a wide range of functions that meet most requirements. However, there is still room for improvement. One feature that I would like to see added is the ability to detect and address any failures in the custom processes or functions built within the system. I would like to see a tool that can automatically sense and identify any issues in the system. Currently, when something goes wrong, it's not always immediately obvious and requires a lot of manual troubleshooting. It would be helpful if there was an error message that clearly explained why the system is failing. This would speed up the investigation process and make it ten times faster.

Read full review

Eslam Abo Elnaga

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution provides the ability to trace back records, is reliable, makes life easy, and is secure."

"The report builder and dashboard builder are very, very good."

"The solution is beneficial overall."

"The reporting features are also very valuable because, on top of 300+ reports available on the system, you can also customize quite a number of reports."

"Compared to the other system that we were using, I think Sage is more friendly. As an administrator, Sage's dashboard is visually friendly and many tasks are easier to accomplish. Another feature that we've liked since we started using Sage is the reporting. With the other system, we needed to configure a lot of things manually when it came to reporting, but with Sage the reporting tasks are much simpler."

"I guess I would say maybe that it is a more robust system."

"The solution's initial setup was straightforward."

"Sage makes all the information accessible, like pulling a file because an employee needs something ASAP. It's all in the system. It's easy to find old reports if I need them for payroll purposes. It might take days to do some of this work by hand."

More Sage People pros

"The software is easy to learn and use. When compared to SAP HR and SAP HCM, the tool is easy to access and understand. We have a hierarchy and structural connectivity in Workday. There is a certification for the solution and when we do it, we become the certified partners of the company"

"First time users, understanding accessibility and consolidated data is fairly easy. The solution improves productivity for users and reduces the need to switch between different tools."

"I would say that we have definitely seen a return on investment."

"Workday is a holistic HR solution."

"It's actually a cloud-native solution and based on the community for development. It is a very good open architecture and able to interconnect with other systems. And it is very stable and very fast in terms of response."

"The solution is stable."

"What I appreciate best about Workday is the recruiting component."

"We use the platform for tasks, including applying for leaves, communication, and adhering to our organization's policies through efficient goal setting and reviews."

More Workday pros

Cons

"There were a couple of things that we wanted to customize, but we couldn’t do it ourselves."

"The integration with our payroll system could improve. However, it is managed by another company."

"The automation in Sage People could improve. The solution is the best used for data storage but the automation could be better to have more functionality."

"Its technical support could have been better."

"Its stability could be better."

"The user interface is not great."

"Right now, Sage doesn't seem to have what we are looking for when it comes to managing HR tickets. In my previous experiences with other HR software, we had to buy another solution to obtain this functionality, and it would be a great feature for Sage to consider adding. For an HR system, Sage would do very well to include it."

"The budget module does not work. Sage People need to maybe make it more user-friendly."

More Sage People cons

"They don't offer any backend database access. This is one limitation that I found in this product. Workday hasn't opened up about what kind of database they are into, which can make it easy for the technical team to emulate issues. It would be good if they can offer backend access to the technical team. It would be helpful if they can also provide a Troubleshooting Guide that we can use to troubleshoot issues. When we have an issue, there are very limited resources to refer to."

"My opinion is that this solution can improve the overall integrations and add more automation. I think anything that could be on a self-serve basis would work quite well."

"Workday does have a community site where people can go on and off for suggestions. They call them Brainstorms, and you can vote them up. That is something that they do well, but oftentimes, they seem to be racing to deliver something based on what a competitor is delivering. For example, if they hear SAP has this new functionality and learning that's going to be coming out, they prioritize there, which makes sense, but unfortunately, some of these Brainstorms may get neglected where the product might not be improved as quickly or as needed for the customers. You might be waiting for a year or two to get a feature that you'd like released. They should pay more attention to customer feedback and ensure that customer feedback is an essential part of their product roadmap."

"Setting up reports can be a bit tricky."

"It is very unique as compared to other tools in terms of the employee master data and how it is organized. That's why sometimes the information needs to sit in two different systems because, in Workday, it is organized differently. This issue is not related to benefits. It is more or so related to how you categorize employees. I don't think this is a problem that could be solved. Workday is aware of this. It is one of those kinds of situations that you just got to live with."

"The cost of Workday is certainly not inexpensive. It's very pricey."

"I would be happy if it was faster. Currently, when I try to navigate within the solution itself, it is a bit slow in terms of the page load time. When I click on something, it usually takes time to load. When you click on different icons or areas on the website, it is slow. Even when you navigate between different models, it is a bit slow. I would like to see a bit faster performance and a better user experience."

"I'm not sure they have added this feature yet, but there should be a cellphone version, so we do not need to do it on a laptop. I'd like to log in on a cellphone and have the same features. I'm not sure if that is already available or if it's on the roadmap, but that would be a great feature."

More Workday cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is other software on the market that can do similar functions to Sage People that could be better in price. Some solution allows you to do your payroll processes by month or by the process. Small companies could benefit by using another solution."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"I believe we pay licensing on a yearly basis, but I can't comment on the total amount that we pay on licensing."

"Its cost is moderate for a multi-group licensing model."

"The cost of Sage People varies depending on the financial resources of the organization. While it may be affordable for middle-level companies, it may be more challenging for young companies to bear the cost."

"From an SME standpoint, I wouldn't necessarily describe it as expensive. However, for the average startup, it may not be affordable since our current annual expenditure on the system, which supports approximately 210-220 users, amounts to approximately £15,000 to £18,000."

"I think it's reasonably priced. But in comparison to other systems, I would choose them over Sage People, regardless of their prices."

More Sage People pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."

"Workday is an expensive solution."

"I need to pay for a license. It is expensive."

"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."

"It is on a yearly basis."

"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."

"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."

"Its price is pretty high. It is more expensive than what is offered by other competitors in the market."

More Workday pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

14%

Marketing Services Firm

12%

Educational Organization

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	42

Questions from the Community

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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...

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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.

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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...

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Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

DarwinBox vs Sage People

Compared 6% of the time

ADP Vantage HCM vs Sage People

Compared 5% of the time

ADP Workforce Now vs Sage People

Compared 5% of the time

More Sage People Competitors

SAP SuccessFactors vs Workday

Compared 24% of the time

Oracle HCM Cloud vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

UKG vs Workday

Compared 8% of the time

SAP HCM vs Workday

Compared 7% of the time

Dayforce HCM vs Workday

Compared 5% of the time

More Workday Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Sage People

February 2026

Download Sage People product report

Buyer's Guide

Workday

February 2026

Download Workday product report

Also Known As

Fairsail

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Overview

Connect teams across borders

Customise communications: Deliver business updates to specific groups and gather feedback with surveys.
Personalise experiences: Create engaging, branded experiences – tailored by group or region.
Connect global teams: Manage your entire workforce, wherever they are. Embed global policies while enforcing local regulations.
Help teams thrive, anywhere: Support wellbeing, provide localised benefits packages, and more.

Get ahead with actionable HR analytics

Make informed decisions: Use People analytics for actionable insights in seconds.
Provide real-time insights: Give up-to-the-minute recommendations so leaders jump on trends and adjust plans.
Customise dashboards: Plan hiring, analyse attrition, manage absence, and more.
Get actionable feedback: Understand the employee experience through surveys, tailored to different groups.

Compete successfully for top talent

Deliver a differentiated, stand-out candidate experience with easy-to-use employer branding themes and options that shows off your culture and company story.
Fill roles faster with skilled talent using our unique, AI-powered, intelligent candidate matching.
Have new employees hit the ground running with seamless remote pre-boarding and onboarding experiences.

Sage

Workday is a cloud-based software solution that specializes in developing applications for capital and finance management applications. The system is built to work in global workforces and is adaptable. The global system ensures that users are up to date and can manage internal career-related information, and everyday business problems like timesheets, payrolls, and time off.

“A Pioneer in Software-as-a-Service”

Workday Human Capital Management tool is designed to simplify and streamline your work. It leverages machine learning to adapt capital management to a changing environment.

The Workday model is based on delivering a single system that uses a single source of data and a single security model to deliver a unique user experience. The system is user-friendly and ensures that employees and management can use it from any and all devices. Workday HCM integrates into a central system that includes financial management, payroll, recruiting, learning, and planning. Managers and employees can provide feedback to one another, too.

Workday’s features include:

Flexible framework that lets you organize your staff according to different criteria. You can group employees by function, hierarchy, or department.
Personalized career guidance: Knowledge management and career guidance that can be easily customized for each staff member and also done at scale.
Augmented reporting and analytics: Configure, change, update, and publish reports, scorecards, and dashboards. The system centralizes the transactional and analytical data so you can act on the data from anywhere.
Compensation tools: Compensatio, payroll, and time tracking are automated and simplified.
Workforce planning allows you to uncover and address talent gaps and get visibility of your staff.
Mobile-first ensign approach: Users can access all resources from any device, and they are always in sync.
Machine learning capabilities enable personalized enterprise experiences and faster business processes.

Workday smart platform consists of the following modules:

Human resource management
Business process management
Reporting and analytics
Benefits administration
Compensation management
Talent management
Survey framework
Employee and management self-service

Reviews from Real Users

Many organizations choose Workday because it provides an all-in-one modular solution for human capital and finance management. Our users say they like the ease of use for time-off requests, career and development segments, and overall HR management. The records and reporting capabilities are another popular feature.

"The solution was very good at reconfiguration and customization of their software. It helped us to meet federal regulations," said one user. Another said that the best feature is the optimization of the work day experience with a unified platform that can be applied across different business units. “You will never find a use case that cannot be covered," said a third.

Workday

Sample Customers

Rocketship Education, Monitise, u-blox, SolarWinds, Mitsubishi, SmartStream, Canonical, Betfair

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!

Buyer's Guide

Sage People vs. Workday

March 2026

Free Report: Sage People vs. Workday

Find out what your peers are saying about Sage People vs. Workday and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

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