SAASPOCALYPSEcase · head-to-head
wedge comparison
subjects of investigation
adp.comvsworkday.com
which is stronger?
clone time
6 months
contested6 months
adp.com
enterprise payroll, HR & tax platform
39/ 100
wedge scorefull report ↗
→vs←
clone time
6 months
fortress6 months
workday.com
Enterprise HR, Finance & IT platform
27/ 100
wedge scorefull report ↗
moat
how deep is each moat.
adp.com · aggregate
6.1/10real moat
moat delta+1.2
workday.com · aggregate
7.3/10deep moat
8.5
capital-0.5 →
8.0
5.0
technical+2.0 →
7.0
3.0
network+2.0 →
5.0
5.0
switching+4.0 →
9.0
6.0
data±0
6.0
9.0
regulatory-2.0 →
7.0
3.6
distribution+4.6 →
8.2
floor
cost + time, side by side.
monthly flooradp.com wins
adp.com
$53 + usage
workday.com
$67 + usage
delta −$14adp.com costs less per month to keep the lights on.
time to clonetie
adp.com
6 months
workday.com
6 months
comparable build windows on both sides.
overlap
where they fight, where they don't.
features only one ships, plus the small middle they share.
only adp.com · 11
serverless / edge platform
shared · 11
tax compliance
only workday.com · 44
developer ecosystementerprise sla / four-nines uptimeintegrationsllm inference
stack
what they're built on.
shared infra and the differentiating bits.
only adp.com · 55
PuppeteerRailsReactSegmentSentry
shared infra · 77
CloudflareNext.jsPostgresCloudflare R2ResendSupabaseVercel
only workday.com · 11
CloudFront
the verdict
ATTACK ADP FIRST
same comparison surface, two different walls. give the adp attack a month. circle back to workday only if you genuinely need what it does that the other doesn't.
the case
a full tier easiercheaper at the floorshallower moat
full reportcontested · 39
→ read the adp.com report
full reportfortress · 27
→ read the workday.com report
← saaspocalypse · directoryhead-to-head