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SAP HCM vs SAP SuccessFactors comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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

SAP HCM
Ranking in Talent Management
3rd
Ranking in Cloud HCM
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (3rd)
SAP SuccessFactors
Ranking in Talent Management
1st
Ranking in Cloud HCM
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (1st), Global Payroll (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Cloud HCM category, the mindshare of SAP HCM is 15.0%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SuccessFactors is 22.4%, up from 22.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud HCM
 

Featured Reviews

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…
Marissa Schwan - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable
SuccessFactors has a best practices model for HR across the board, but there are multiple industries. For example, the pharmaceutical, engineering, and professional services industries may have different processes based on their business requirements and operations. SAP and Workday have one approach across industries. As employee experience becomes increasingly important, the kind of employees appointed in an engineering environment, a pharmaceutical environment, and a professional service environment are very different, meaning their experience touchpoints may differ and require adjustments. SuccessFactors should consider building their best practices around critical industries to help companies become more differentiated in the markets they operate in. As a company, we have 118,000 followers on LinkedIn, and the unemployment rate in South Africa is quite high, at more than 30 percent. When we advertise a job, the number of CVs and applications we receive from people who want to work for us is overwhelming, we can get up to 600 CVs for a single vacancy. To make the process more efficient, we need to use artificial intelligence to identify the key elements of the job profile and match them to the CVs of the applicants. The pre-selection questions are helpful in reducing the number of applicants, but they don't measure the suitability of the CVs and profiles. This is something that needs to be built into the system, but it doesn't currently exist in the market. We have a good pre-selection program, but it doesn't take into account experience, qualifications, professional memberships, work experience, or critical performance indicators. We have enough information from CVs and LinkedIn profiles for the system to match the vacancy profile with the applicant's information and rank them from most suitable to least suitable.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"SAP HCM has a good performance."
"It has the best data management features."
"They have some interesting features in the learning space."
"The most valuable feature is Organizational Management (OM)."
"We are satisfied with the reporting by SAP HCM."
"The most valuable feature is the Personnel Administration."
"The platform is simple to use and has a user-friendly dashboard and integration features."
"I think HCM was the most stable for me...It is a very scalable product."
"SAP SuccessFactors is a very reliable and stable solution."
"The cloud security and the correct features for payroll calculations, once issues are resolved, are valuable aspects of this product."
"The functionality and user friendliness are constantly improving."
"Flexible with a lot of good features."
"I think it's perfect that every requirement has flexibility in how it is handled, and that there are several workarounds for any problem we are looking to solve. Each problem has multiple solutions, so it gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of processes."
"One of the most wonderful features is the ability to customize the modules and workflows. So far, we've done a fair bit of customization and it is helping us a lot and really adds to the value we already get from SuccessFactors."
"SuccessFactors' most valuable feature is performance management."
"I love SAP, and I like SuccessFactors...I think most users prefer SuccessFactors as they become more comfortable with it."
 

Cons

"We are able to optimize a lot of processes but there is always room for improvement."
"On the personnel administration side, it's very difficult to do custom development."
"I'm currently working for a state-owned government company, and we need to follow some standards and regulations. We also have a strategy to be followed. Sometimes the template and the format are not available in the SAP HCM, so we have to work around this limitation. The tax also sometimes changes in my country, and we have to redo everything to change the payroll calculations, benefits, and things like that. The talent management feature can be improved. It is currently very simple in SAP HCM. SAP is also very hard to integrate. In terms of monitoring, there are no monitoring tools, but as long as we take care of the disk capacity, there is no problem."
"SAP is not ready to sell the license on time and delays the progress of projects. It's better to work with a competitor like Oracle. Those that are selling the product just go through powerpoints and don't have the knowledge necessary to sell. They can't answer any questions."
"SAP HCM needs to be more customizable to fit unique organizational processes."
"The organizational structure visualization could be improved in future releases. The solution has a very poor interface."
"The talent modules are lacking in HCM, so I would recommend switching to SuccessFactors for talent management, but HCM excels at time management and payroll."
"The implementation of the solution can be a bit difficult. They should make it easier. If it could be as simple as the SuccessFactors implementation that would be ideal."
"There have been cases involving a lot of re-implementations and frustrations within clients where they have the workbook sessions, the workbook workshops and things like that. And I think that doesn't really go down well because the workbooks are very technical and, a lot of times, very confusing for the client."
"SAP SuccessFactors needs to improve the LMS and performance management."
"The reporting and cloud integration could be done better in this solution."
"There is room for improvement in licensing model."
"The GUI needs to be enhanced to be in line with the latest and complete version of the solution."
"They should improve the reports."
"Forms cannot be edited once submitted."
"The Onboarding module must be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"Licensing fees are paid yearly."
"The pricing is really high."
"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."
"The pricing depends upon the specific model and number of user accounts included in a bundle."
"SAP is extremely expensive. The integration costs and customization costs are also a lot."
"We have an annual license for this solution, and the price depends on the number of users."
"Probably, it is one of the priciest products, and is very costly to put up and maintain but because it is a good solution end to end, people take it."
"The product is expensive. The product is worth the money you pay for it."
"It is not cheap, but it is reasonable."
"We don't utilize even half of the licenses because not everyone uses them. With SAP SuccessFactors, though, we're now conducting all our performance evaluations within the system, so I suppose we're making better use of those licenses. As for SAP for employee services and internal benefits processing, we do have licenses for those but don't utilize them."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
"I have raised change requests for some modules within SuccessFactors. For example, when you're using Recruiting Management, there's a feature called Interview Central you can use to reach the candidates you're interviewing. I wanted to add a writing assessment when I select the competency on that platform. It varies from consultant to consultant, depending on what module they use."
"For SAP, the product is pricey, both CAPEX and the OPEX. It's something that could be improved."
"So now, SAP charges me 300 Euros for 14,000 employees. I still have to pay 2,000 euros because I'm using SAP on-prem."
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Answers from the Community

NC
Jan 25, 2024
Jan 25, 2024
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 to simplify the process, giving life back to HR systems so that they can be more modern and flexible, and rely more on the heart of HR – the employee. On the other hand, while SF is technically less ...
See 2 answers
YZ
Sep 6, 2021
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 to simplify the process, giving life back to HR systems so that they can be more modern and flexible, and rely more on the heart of HR – the employee. On the other hand, while SF is technically less complex than SAP HCM, it also has significantly less capability, particularly when it comes to integration with other SAP modules. For example, while SAP's integration between the SAP Project system and the SAP HCM process is robust, SuccessFactors' integration is limited and still in its early stages. In all circumstances, SAP SF represents the future of HR, with a highly promising road map. I believe that if SAP continues to create more features, SF will have greater functionality than SAP HCM in 5 years.
Kseniia Gravis - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 25, 2024
So are you striving to successfully deploy and utilize SAP systems to centralize data, streamline operations, gain real-time insights and achieve business efficiency? SAP applications are the backbone of every business. We also discuss the best SAP implementation process as an ideal solution for such problems: https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/why-outsource-sap/ 
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
5%
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 SAP SuccessFactors?
The tool is easy to use for performance management. We haven't experienced any issues with SAP SuccessFactors for performance management, which is great. However, since we're still learning to use ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP SuccessFactors?
The solution is expensive. However, it increases the company's value, making the cost worthwhile in the long run.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SAP Human Capital Management
SuccessFactors
 

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.
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, Skril
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP HCM vs. SAP SuccessFactors and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.