HR · alternatives
Alternatives to Workday
23 hr tools sit alongside Workday in this directory. Below is what separates each from Workday on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 2
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Workday starts at
- On request
Why people look past Workday
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Workday entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Workday carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 2 of the 23 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Always Designing for People
- Publishes an entry price of $29/month, where Workday does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than quote.
- 2 tiers to Workday's 3.
HR and payroll technology led by employees
- 1 tier to Workday's 3.
Complete cloud HCM solution
- Publishes an entry price of $13/employee per month, where Workday does not.
Australian HR, payroll and recruitment platform for employment management
- Can be used without paying; Workday cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of 199/month, where Workday does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than quote.
- 5 tiers to Workday's 3.
Employee recognition that builds culture
- Can be used without paying; Workday cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of $5/month, where Workday does not.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than quote.
- 7 tiers to Workday's 3.
Employer and payer channel for Talkspace therapy, sold as an in-network benefit rather than a session block
- 1 tier to Workday's 3.
Every Workday alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workday (this page) | On request | Quote | 3 | |
| ADPLong-established payroll and HCM provider with comprehensive HR and compliance capabilities | $29/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Workday |
| PaycomMid-market focused HCM platform with integrated payroll and employee self-service features | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Oracle HCM CloudEnterprise HCM solution from Oracle with integrated financial management and cloud architecture | $13/employee per month | - | - | vs Workday |
| Employment Hero | Free, then 199/month | Subscription | 5 | vs Workday |
| Bonusly | Free, then $5/month | Freemium | 7 | vs Workday |
| Talkspace for Business | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Spring Health | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Unmind | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Guild | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Humaans | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Sesame HR | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Cezanne HR | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Workday |
| Insperity | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Workday |
| Multiplier | $40/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Workday |
| Officevibe | $4999/year | Subscription | 3 | vs Workday |
| Motivosity | $3000/year | Quote | 3 | vs Workday |
| Darwinbox | On request | Quote | - | vs Workday |
| Nectar | $2.75/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Workday |
| Oyster HR | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs Workday |
| Achievers | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs Workday |
| Breathe HR | £13/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Workday |
| greytHR | 2495/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Workday |
| HiBob | On request | Subscription | 1 | vs Workday |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Workday badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (2)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Employment Hero , Free, then 199/month
- Bonusly , Free, then $5/month
What you would be giving up
Workday is most often brought in for hr management, financial planning, workforce planning, compliance, analytics. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Workday is broadly right and the question is cost, the Workday pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the HR category lists everything the directory holds, and best hr tools ranks them.
Workday runs on cloud/web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Workday alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Workday?
- 23 other hr tools are listed in this directory, led by ADP, Paycom, Oracle HCM Cloud, Employment Hero. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Workday?
- 2 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Employment Hero, Bonusly.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Workday?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Workday?
- Workday is most often brought in for hr management, financial planning, workforce planning, compliance, analytics. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Workday?
- None of the hr tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Workday alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, HR, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Workday against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Workday covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every hr tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the HR category, 23 tools beside Workday. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.