# Alternatives to Workday HCM

Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) is an enterprise cloud HR suite covering core HR, benefits, absence, time tracking, org management, talent, and payroll on a single data model. Pricing is contact-sales only; native payroll runs in a small set of countries (US, Canada, UK/Ireland, France, Australia) with partner-based (Strada and others) coverage elsewhere, and applicant tracking is sold as a separate Talent Acquisition product line.

Workday HCM ranks #1 of 8 in HRIS, with an Alt Score of 93. It is proprietary, sold by subscription and available on Web, iOS and Android. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/workday/
Category: HRIS

## Where Workday HCM stands out

- **Benefits administration** — 3 of 7 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Large enterprises and midsize businesses (Workday also offers a preconfigured "Workday GO" path for midsize customers) that want HR, payroll, and talent management unified on one platform and data model.
- **What you get**: Core HR, org management with org charts and reorg modeling, compensation, benefits administration, absence (time-off) management, mobile-first time and attendance tracking, onboarding, talent optimization (feedback/goals/succession), native payroll for a limited set of countries, an integration/API layer (Workday Orchestrate), and SAML/OpenID Connect single sign-on; recruiting (Talent Acquisition / Conversational ATS) is licensed as a separate product.
- **How it works**: Customers subscribe under a contact-sales agreement and deploy Workday Core HCM as the foundation, adding separately licensed product lines (Talent Acquisition, Talent Optimization, Workforce Management, Payroll, Workday Payroll provided by Strada) as needed; data flows through a single unified data model, with Workday Orchestrate and certified partner integrations connecting third-party systems and countries not covered by native payroll.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Pricing model**: Subscription (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-08-03)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Rippling](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/rippling.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 2 | [Factorial](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/factorial.md) | 89 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Gusto](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gusto.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 4 | [HiBob](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hibob.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 5 | [BambooHR](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/bamboohr.md) | 74 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [Namely](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/namely.md) | 74 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 7 | [Personio](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/personio.md) | 17 | ? | Web, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| HRIS checklist | Workday HCM | Rippling | Factorial | Gusto | HiBob | BambooHR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription |
| Starts at | ? | ? | $8/user/mo | $49/mo + $6/mo per person | ? | $10/employee/mo |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android |
| Built-in payroll | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Benefits administration | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Time-off tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time and attendance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Onboarding workflows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Org chart | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Performance reviews | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Built-in applicant tracking | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-country payroll | Partial | Yes | Partial | No | Partial | Partial |
| Employee mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SSO (SAML/OIDC) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | ? |

## Sources

Sources for Workday HCM. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: Proprietary — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/legal/end-user-subscription-terms-and-conditions/agreement.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Pricing model**: Subscription — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/legal/end-user-subscription-terms-and-conditions/agreement.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/platform-product-extensions/workday-mobile.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Status**: active — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/releases-and-innovation.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Built-in payroll**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/payroll/overview.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Benefits administration**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/human-capital-management/human-resource-management/benefits.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Time-off tracking**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/workforce-management/absence.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Time and attendance**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/workforce-management/time.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Onboarding workflows**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/talent-management/onboarding-plans.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Org chart**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/human-capital-management/human-resource-management/org-management.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Performance reviews**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/talent-management/talent-optimization.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Built-in applicant tracking**: Partial — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/conversational-ai/applicant-tracking-system.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Multi-country payroll**: Partial — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/payroll/overview.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **Employee mobile app**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/platform-product-extensions/workday-mobile.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **API access**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/why-workday/trust/security.html> (verified 2026-08-03)
- **SSO (SAML/OIDC)**: Yes — <https://www.workday.com/en-us/why-workday/trust/security.html> (verified 2026-08-03)

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/