Why choose Oracle HCM over Workday?
Maintaining a competitive advantage and adapting to change requires organizations to be agile, operationally efficient, and innovative. That’s why organizations across the globe are moving to Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM. Oracle offers a complete cloud HCM solution that doesn’t burden IT or rely on third-party products to fill gaps. Oracle’s unified cloud connects processes and data across HR, finance, sales, and beyond, so you get one source of truth to make confident decisions, one employee experience that’s easy to scale, and the ability to quickly adjust your processes in uncertain times.
See how much simpler it is to implement Oracle Cloud HCM vs. Workday
Your HCM solution should make your life easier—not harder. We know implementations can be stressful, but the right provider can help make it a much smoother process. Learn why organizations trust Oracle.
- Oracle Cloud HCM vs. Workday
- Oracle Cloud HCM vs. Workday AI
- Oracle ME vs. Workday
- Oracle Cloud HCM Skills vs. Workday Skills
Oracle Cloud HCM vs. Workday
Compare Workday to Oracle Cloud HCM and see why Oracle is the better choice for you.
Business benefit |
Workday HCM |
Oracle Cloud HCM |
Why this matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innovative next-generation cloud | Built for more of a first-generation cloud; relies on multiple public cloud partners for innovation.1 | On Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, a best-in-class, second-generation cloud platform designed to run enterprise apps. | Benefit from autonomous services that can automatically secure, tune, and scale applications and get integrated security and superior performance. |
| Unified HCM solution | HCM data may be on multiple platforms due to acquisitions.2 | All HCM modules are unified by a single data source. | Disjointed and disparate applications can be expensive and complex to maintain and more difficult for employees to use. |
| Minimal planned downtime | Weekly, monthly, and quarterly planned downtime windows for updates, meaning 68 hours total reserved for maintenance per quarter for HiredScore and 55 hours for the rest of Workday.4 | Quarterly updates with a planned downtime window of less than two hours. | Planned downtime can be disruptive to operations. New updates should happen with minimal disruption to the application’s users. |
| 99.9% SaaS service level availability | Not for all products. HiredScore still has a 99.5% commitment, and only during limited hours. | Yes. | When the cloud HCM suite provider also owns the entire technology stack, it provides a significant reliability due to its resilience and scalability. |
| Compliant global payroll | Only six built-in global payroll solutions in US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and France; cancelled commitment to Germany.5 | Payroll natively available in 60 countries, Local Payroll in 14 countries, and International Payroll Core in 46 countries. | A global payroll solution should be equipped to help meet data sovereignty requirements, updated regularly to address regulatory requirements, aligned with business strategy, and able to help reduce risk when natively linked with workforce management tools in as many territories as possible. |
| Comprehensive talent acquisition/recruiting | Standard configurable recruitment system but leans on partners to fill gaps in, for example, interview scheduling or candidate CRM functionality.6 | Robust recruitment platform that unifies recruiting with the rest of the business, with an embedded candidate CRM and interview self-scheduling tools. | An innovative hiring solution provides better candidate experiences, drives internal mobility, and improves recruiter efficiency. |
| Native health and safety functionality | No full native functionality; requires third-party integrations, such as Intelex.7 | Full workforce health and safety application native to HCM. | Native health and safety embeds itself into the daily processes of all employees, promoting a culture of workplace safety, risk mitigation, and cost reduction. |
| Advanced HCM controls designed for HR | Basic controls available in areas such as audit and fraud prevention, but only through Financial Management.8 | Deep segregation of duties analysis, secure role design, sensitive access certification, and more, all built into Cloud HCM. | Automated advanced HCM controls can help reduce fraud, breaches, and cash leakage, which can help save on remediation costs. |
| Value-driven TCO | TCO can be expensive, particularly at renewal, with Consumer Price Index–driven renewal lifts and innovation index fees at up to 5%.10 | Low TCO while driving business value through better engagement and adoption. | A cloud HCM solution is at the core of modern HR, taking on a more strategic role in the business; this means finding ways to enhance productivity while increasing revenue and reducing costs. |
See how Oracle ME compares with Workday for employee experience.
Product comparison as of August 2025.
1. Gotch, Richard, “Get ready for Workday’s move to the public cloud,” 17 December 2024, Preos, https://preos.co.uk/workdays-move-to-the-public-cloud/.
2. “Workday Adaptive Planning Integration,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/enus-pln-da-workday-adaptive-planning-integration.pdf.
4. “Workday Production Support and Service Level Availability Policy,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/legal/workday-productsupport-SLA.pdf; “Workday Production Support and Service Level Availability for HiredScore,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/legal/workday-hiredscore-SLA.pdf.
5. “Payroll Software: Embrace a connected, agile payroll experience,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/payroll/overview.html; “Workday Announces Plans to Deliver Workday Payroll for Australia and Workday Payroll for Germany,” Globe Newswire, 8 June 2021, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/08/2243685/0/en/Workday-Announces-Plans-to-Deliver-Workday-Payroll-for-Australia-and-Workday-Payroll-for-Germany.html.
6. “Workday Recruiting,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/datasheet-workday-recruiting.pdf; ““Workday Marketplace,” accessed 28 August 2025, Workday, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/datasheet-workday-recruiting.pdf, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/listing#f-appdirect_category_id=HR&aq=%40appdirect_level1_pc%3D%3D(%22Talent%20Management%22)%40appdirect_level2_pc%3D(%22Talent%20Management%20%7C%20Recruiting%22).
7. “Intelex-Workday Gateway,” Workday Marketplace, accessed 28 August 2025, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/apps/414802/intelex-workday-gateway.
8. “Audit and Internal Controls,” Workday, accessed 28 August 2025, https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/financial-management/audit-internal-controls.html.
10. “State of Nebraska Service Contract Addendum,” Nebraska State Purchasing Bureau, accessed 28 August 2025, https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchasing/contracts/pdfs/92458(o4)awd.pdf.
Oracle Cloud HCM vs. Workday AI
Business benefit |
Workday |
Oracle |
Why this matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded GenAI & AI Agents across HR, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Payroll, and Employee Experience | Only four available AI agents and two generative AI use cases, not all embedded on the same data model.1 | More than 21 available AI agents and over 31 generative AI use cases across the cloud HCM, all embedded in a single data model. | When embedded GenAI and AI agents work within the applications, with full access to business context, enterprise structures, user roles, and application logic, it can lead to more relevant recommendations and actions. |
| Single security model for AI and apps | Multiple security models across AI and apps with partners and acquired solutions.2 | AI is embedded in Fusion Cloud Applications, which run on a single security model built on OCI. | External agents cannot inherit in-app security models, requiring riskier custom access controls. But, operating under the same robust security framework as the applications means enforcing the same user-level entitlements and data across every interaction. |
| Vendor offers the option to have all data remain in their cloud | No, data contained on potentially multiple different third-party hyperscalers.3 | Yes, provides its own cloud infrastructure and data centers without requiring a third party. | Leading LLMs used by Fusion Applications are hosted in OCI, which means the AI services are designed to keep all data securely within Oracle, limiting complexity and risk. |
| Requires separate data cloud | Yes4 | No | Unification of data management in addition to security and governance are among the benefits of a cloud application suite being built on OCI. |
| Built-in AI agent development tools | Acquired and bolted-on tool for building agents.5 | Built-in AI agent studio to create, extend, deploy, and manage AI agents and agent teams across the enterprise. | When the AI agent development tool is built in, that deep integration empowers the AI agents to deliver not only smarter insights but take secure, auditable, and meaningful action that can directly drives business outcomes. |
| AI agents delivered at no additional cost | Charges extra for AI agents, with cost based on perceived “value” to the customer. 6 | Included at no additional cost. | AI, including agentic AI, is unlocking unprecedented levels of productivity. Not charging extra for AI agents enables customers to more rapidly capitalize on this once-in-a-generation shift. |
| Optimized LLMs included | Customers are responsible for the cost of adding the domain specific LLMs and adapters on top of the larger LLM.7 8 | Included at no additional cost. | When models are hosted in one’s own cloud infrastructure, those cost savings can be passed along in many ways such as the option of including optimized LLMs. |
| Custom AI includes premium LLMs (OpenAI, Gemini) | Limited use such as with Google Cloud, but mostly for use as base open-source models.9 10 | Limitless AI that includes premium LLMs, such as OpenAI, Gemini, etc. | Organizations with more complex AI needs deserve choice, this includes premium LLMs provided by third parties that extend their capabilities further. |
| Built-in credential store for external data | No known credential store. 11 12 | Built-in credential store available. | Having a built-in credential store means access to a repository of secure data that can not only just store credentials but manage them securely through a set of APIs. |
| Productized AI testing and validation* | No known productized testing solution for AI outside of full reliance on partners. 13 | Capable of simulations through synthetic data for effective testing and development. | The use of synthetic data for testing and validation can be a powerful tool. By generating realistic data that mimics real datasets, it helps enable organizations to ensure privacy compliance and accelerate the training of AI models. |
| Included vector store for Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) | No known vector store.14 | Includes an automated in-database vector store for enterprise unstructured content. | An automated in-database vector store enables customers to use generative AI with their business documents without moving data to a separate vector database and without AI expertise. |
| Agentic AI embedded knowledge store | Not fully embedded, agents on different data models.15 | Fully embedded. | When AI agents and their knowledge store are embedded into everyday business processes and transactions, it helps to drive efficiency, innovation, and growth. |
| AI agent data write-back integration | Difficult due to disjointed architecture and lack of agent availability on core platform. 16 | Possible due to single data model with embedded AI. | Embedded AI agents can analyze and ingest data from multiple systems, understanding user sessions, business processes and intent, making them able to execute autonomous transactions in write-back operations. |
*Refers to testing of AI, not testing of application capabilities using AI
Product comparison as of August 2025
1. “HiredScore,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Workday Marketplace, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/apps/421790/hiredscore/overview, Workday only has two generally available AI agents for HCM
2. “OpenAI and Workday Custom Integrations and Automations,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Workato, https://www.workato.com/integrations/open_ai~workday-(custom), OpenAI integration requires customization
3. Evans, Bob, “Workday Goes Public Cloud with Google, AWS-Also Add, Oracle, Microsoft?” 27 June 2024, Cloud Wars, https://cloudwars.com/cloud/workday-goes-public-cloud-with-google-aws-also-add-oracle-microsoft/
4. Ramaswamy, Aditya, “Reimagining Enterprise Productivity with Workday Illuminate,” 25 February 2025, Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management, https://jisem-journal.com/index.php/journal/article/download/8236/3749/13720
5. “Workday Acquires Flowise, Bringing Powerful AI Agent Builder Capabilities to the Workday Platform,” 14 August 2025, PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workday-acquires-flowise-bringing-powerful-ai-agent-builder-capabilities-to-the-workday-platform-302530557.html
6. “Workday from the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference,” 4 March 2025, Morgan Stanley, https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1708013&tp_key=ce47c6fd2a&tp_special=8 and “Workday (WDAY) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript, 27 November 2024, Motley Fool, https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2024/11/27/workday-wday-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript/
7. Rana, Anurag, “Workday’s Nuanced Approach to AI Integration,” 26 March 2025, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2025-03-26/workday-s-nuanced-approach-to-ai-integration-tech-disruptors
8. Szkutak, Rebecca, “Workday Launches a Platform for Enterprises to Manage All of Their AI Agents,” 11 February 2025, TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/11/workday-launches-a-platform-for-enterprises-to-manage-all-of-their-ai-agents-in-one-place/
9. Bersin, Josh, “Why I’m Bullish on Workday: News from the Innovation Summit,” 19 April 2024, Josh Bersin, https://joshbersin.com/2024/04/why-im-bullish-on-workday-again-the-innovation-summit/
10. “Workday’s Nuanced Approach to AI Integration”
11. “Workday Security and Data Privacy,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Workday, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/se/documents/datasheets/datasheet-workday-security-se.pdf, Workday's security and data privacy strategy does not mention its credential store
12. “Creating an External Client Credential Store,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Hyland, https://support.hyland.com/r/Current/Hyland-for-Workday/hks1727541024230, Workday uses an external credential store but not for AI
13. Automate Workday Testing in Hours,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Opkey, https://www.opkey.com/workday-automation
14. “Anouncing Workday Illuminate, The Next Generation of Workday AI,” 17 September 2024, Workday, https://investor.workday.com/2024-09-17-Announcing-Workday-Illuminate-TM-The-Next-Generation-of-Workday-AI
15. Workday Agents Marketplace,” Accessed 5 August 2025, Workday, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/pages/agents#amplify-talent
16. “Workday Illuminate,” Accessed 28 August 2025, Workday, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/solution-brief/workday-illuminate.pdf
Oracle ME vs. Workday
Oracle ME, part of Oracle Cloud HCM, is the only complete employee experience platform, giving business leaders the power to orchestrate tailored experiences from a comprehensive understanding of each employee—empowering talent to connect, grow, and thrive.
Compare SAP SuccessFactors to Oracle ME and see why Oracle is the better choice for you.
Product features |
Workday |
Oracle ME |
Business benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unified employee experience platform | Products such as Workday Peakon require integration.1 | Unified platform. | No integrations needed usually means fewer cybersecurity risks. |
| Communication tool with employee event capabilities | Basic employee communication tool, separate event tool only available on Extend.2, 3 | Management of company-wide initiatives and events by HR and managers natively built into the communication tool. | Creation of internal events and communications can help shape the culture and behaviors that matter to an organization by connecting communications and event management with people data and processes. |
| Native listening tool | Acquired and added tool.4 | Listening tool is natively built within Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM. | Natively built solutions use critical data more effectively to help improve employee-manager relations. |
| Engaging help desk | Less robust functionality, third-party integrations are common substitutes. 5 | Intelligent case management with quick and consistent HR service. | Effective case management helps reduce HR calls, increase employee satisfaction, and drive down costs. |
| Interactive employee directory | Standard searchable organizational talent profile with skills and interests available.6 | Consumer-grade profile to showcase interests, expertise, and social media links, with powerful tagging search capabilities. | Workplace relationships are enriched by an interactive directory that helps people find expertise and mentorship while sharing interests and feedback. |
| Generative AI-powered employee profiles | Not currently offered.7 | Uses generative AI to create an “about me” section based on information such as employer, department, and skills. | A strong profile enables employees to build their network and promote their personal brand by highlighting their skills, accomplishments, and career experience. |
| Unifying growth solution | Has skills, career, and learning features, but no single solution to fully connect them all.8, 9 | Growth solution that unifies learning, skill development, and career mobility in one hyperpersonalized experience. | When learning, career growth, and talent mobility come together in one place and are connected to individual and business goals, the entire organization can thrive and adapt to change. |
| Tailored, peer-to-peer recognition | Limited feedback and gift card solution built on Extend.10 | Personalized peer-to-peer recognition with a generative AI messaging assistant, active recognition social feed, real-time engagement data, and more, all part of the Oracle ME employee experience platform. | To effectively address employee needs and drive engagement and core values, organizations must make peer-to-peer recognition meaningful, timely, and continuous. |
Product comparison as of March 2025.
1 “Workday Peakon Employee Voice Integration Datasheet”, Workday, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/workday-peakon-employee-voice-integration-datasheet-enus.pdf
2 “Workday Messaging”, Workday, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/platform-product-extensions/workday-messaging.html
3 “Create a Work Event,” Workday Marketplace, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/apps/425531/create-a-work-event
4 Somers, David, “Workday to Acquire Peakon: Why Employee Engagement Matters”, Workday Blog, 28 January 2021, https://blog.workday.com/en-us/2021/workday-acquire-peakon-employee-engagement.html
5 “HR Service Delivery Integration with Workday”, ServiceNow Product Documentation, 29 January 2025, https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/yokohama-employee-service-management/page/product/human-resources/concept/w-integration.html
6 “Workday Talent Optimization”, Workday, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/datasheet-workday-talent-management.pdf
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 “Workday Learning”, Workday, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://www.workday.com/content/dam/web/en-us/documents/datasheets/datasheet-workday-learning-us.pdf
10 “Employee Recognition”, Workday Solutions Marketplace, Accessed 17 March 2025, https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/apps/414229/employee-recognition/overview
Oracle Cloud HCM Skills vs. Workday Skills.
Compare Workday Skills to Oracle HCM Skills and see why Oracle is the better choice for you.
Business benefit |
Workday HCM |
Oracle Cloud HCM |
Why this matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native skills infrastructure and skills library management | Can import external data sources into Skills Cloud, view the overall list of skills, and verify suggested skills.1 | Creates a single source of truth for all skills by bringing in external transactional data or a third-party skills catalog. Delivers complete control over the skills library by allowing users to add, remove, and modify skills. | Native skills infrastructure and library management enable access to an accurate system of record with skills data at its core, empowering HR to improve job architecture, better align skills development and resource investments, and make better decisions. |
| Breadth of native skills-driven business processes | Skills are embedded across recruiting, talent, learning, journeys, people analytics, compensation, and projects.2 | Skills are embedded across recruiting, learning, strategic upskilling, career mobility, scheduling, and planning. | Being skills-informed can unlock the performance, potential, and adaptability of the workforce and leads to better business and talent decisions for all stakeholders, including HR teams, managers, and individuals. |
| Skills intelligence as part of a full, native HCM suite | Leverage non-native Workday People Analytics to understand skills gaps: the difference between the skills already within the workforce and the skills needed for a desired business outcome.3 | Reports on skills gaps, skill hot spots, developing skill trends, plus many aspects of skills across careers, gigs, jobs, learning, and hiring. | With insights into the supply of and demand for skills, HR can identify where pockets of need exist, which resources are being used to fill skills gaps, and where there’s a growing demand for unique skills to drive specific outcomes. |
| Multilanguage skills solution | Delivers Skills Cloud in 15 languages.4 | Enhances the skills library with full support for 30 languages. | Plan and react to current and future global demands with multilanguage skills translations. |
| No use of customer skills data to build the solution | Built Skills Cloud using customer data.5 | Does not use customer data. | Keeping customers’ data only available to them can help keep sensitive and proprietary information safe. |
| AI-powered skills library enrichment | Unclear if it supports AI-powered skills library enrichment. | Oracle’s AI continuously enriches the skills library with new, relevant skills by analyzing transactional data in Oracle and other relevant third-party applications and learning from user skill behaviors. | AI-powered skills library enrichment allows HR to have an up-to-date skills library. |
| Cost to purchase the solution | Part of Workday Talent Optimization.6 | No additional cost. | Move fast and unlock the power of skills with an immediately available skills solution. |
February 6, 2025
1. ”Workday Skills Cloud—What Is It?,” Commit Consulting, accessed December 17, 2024, https://commitconsulting.com/blog/workday-skills-cloud
“The Evolution of Workday Skills Cloud,” Commit Consulting, accessed December 17, 2024, https://commitconsulting.com/blog/the-evolution-of-workday-skills-cloud
“The world’s most open skills intelligence foundation,” Workday, https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/human-capital-management/skills-cloud.html.
2. “Putting Your Skills Strategy into Action,” Workday, accessed December 17, 2024, https://forms.workday.com/en-us/ebooks/skills-strategy-into-action/form.html?step=step2_hr.
3. “Make better people decisions, faster,” Workday, https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/analytics-reporting/augmented-analytics.html.
4. “The Evolution of Workday Skills Cloud,” Commit Consulting, accessed December 17, 2024, https://commitconsulting.com/blog/the-evolution-of-workday-skills-cloud.
5. “The Foundation of the Workday Skills Cloud,” Workday Blog, accessed December 17, 2024, https://blog.workday.com/en-us/foundation-workday-skills-cloud.html.
6. “Cloud Solutions 2016–2026 Workday, Inc.,” Naspo ValuePoint, accessed December 17, 2024, https://www.naspovaluepoint.org/portfolio/cloud-solutions-2016-2026/workday-inc/.
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Discover Oracle Cloud HCM
We relentlessly innovate on behalf of our customers to ensure their success with 80% of our updates based on customer feedback. Our innovation is also focused on disruptive technologies—such as AI to simplify and automate processes and blockchain to improve process accuracy—helping our customers stay ahead. Here are 3 key reasons to choose Oracle Cloud HCM:
Complete & Unified Solution
Unlike solutions made from acquired products and external partnerships. Oracle provides one cloud that unifies the entire enterprise across HR, finance, supply chain, and customer experience. This means you get one solution with a consistent look and feel built for the cloud, from the ground up.
Elevated Employee Experience
Oracle improves and modernizes the processes that define each employee’s personalized experience - from initial onboarding to collaborating with colleagues to long-term skills development. Other solutions that are made up of numerous acquired technologies and external partnerships struggle to deliver simple, consistent, and self-service tools.
Total Cost of Ownership
Oracle provides an intuitive experience and a common data model, giving you a single source of truth and real-time visibility into the rest of the business – without having to pay for expensive middleware and consultants. You also don’t need to pay for or integrate products from other vendors for advanced functionality.
Evaluating other options?
Check out these comparisons to see why Oracle Cloud leads where it matters.