In 2024, the global Core HR + Talent Management software market grew to $35.5 billion, marking a 11.6% year-over-year increase. The top 10 vendors accounted for 45% of the total market. Workday led the pack with a 13.4% market share, followed by SAP, Paycom, and ADP.
Through our forecast period, the Core HR + Talent Management applications market size is expected to reach $48.6 billion by 2029, compared with $35.5 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5%.
Top 10 Core HR + Talent Management Software Vendors in 2024 and their Market Shares
Source: Apps Run The World, July 2025
Other Core HR and Talent Management software providers included in the report are: Access Group, Advanced, Asseco Group, Asure Software, BLR Compliance, Businessolver, Apree Health, formerly Castlight Health and Vera Whole Health, Cegedim, Cegid, CloudPay, Constellation Software, Dailypay, Ellucian, Empyrean Benefit Solutions, Inc., Epicor, Equifax, Frontier Software, Gusto, Hilan, IBM, Ignite Technologies, Infor, Insperity, Inc., Intuit Inc., IRIS Software, iSolved, LG lugar de gente, Madison Performance Group, Maxwell Health, TELUS Health (including LifeWorks ), MYOB, Namely, a Vensure Employer Solutions Company, Alight Solutions, OBIC, P&I Personal & Informatik, Paycor, Learning Technologies Group, PlanSource, Sage, Sagitec Solutions, Senior Sistemas, ServiceNow, Sopra Steria, Skillsoft, Talentia Software, Mercer Marsh Benefits, TOTVS, TriNet, UNIT4, Visma, Vitech Systems Group, Yonyou, Zellis (ex NGA Human Resources UK & Ireland), and others.
Vendor Snapshot: Core HR and Talent Management Market Leaders
Workday
Workday has significantly advanced its HCM and Talent Management offerings by embedding AI at the core of its platform, most notably through the 2025 launch of Illuminate and the Agent System of Record (ASR), which governs AI agents across HR and talent workflows. Workday’s Skills Cloud now supports skills-first talent planning, and the Manager Insights Hub provides AI-driven nudges for performance, sentiment, and development actions.
SAP
SAP SuccessFactors has recently enhanced its Employee Central and Talent Management solutions with advanced AI capabilities, most notably through Joule, SAP’s generative AI copilot, which now supports conversational interactions across Core HR, Recruiting, Learning, Payroll, and Performance. The 2024 acquisition of WalkMe strengthens user guidance and adoption across HR workflows. SAP’s AI innovations now span from skills architecture automation to team development coaching.
Paycom
Paycom’s unified architecture now includes conversational assistants powered by its IWant AI engine, automating tasks such as HR query resolution and time-off approvals. These agents use real-time business rules to accelerate decision-making and reduce administrative workload. Latest UX improvements support voice-based employee interaction and intuitive forecasting guidance for payroll and benefits. Paycom emphasizes organic growth and operational excellence, deploying agentic functionality incrementally across modules to improve usability and drive adoption in mid-market enterprises.
ADP
ADP Workforce Now has recently advanced its mid‑market HCM solution with significant developments in AI, integrations, and global workforce management strategy. In September 2024, ADP launched Lyric, its next‑generation global HCM platform incorporating generative AI for predictive insights, anomaly detection, and personalized recommendations across HR, payroll, and service, supporting payroll in over 75 countries. In October 2024, ADP acquired WorkForce Software to integrate enterprise-grade time‑and‑attendance, scheduling, forecasting, leave/absence, and global compliance functionality into its suite. ADP has rolled out ADP Assist, a generative AI virtual assistant across WFN and other platforms.
UKG
UKG Pro HCM has strengthened its position as an AI‑powered, culture‑centred HR platform by integrating UKG Bryte AI Agents and its Great Place to Work Hub, which combines generative AI with benchmarks from Great Place to Work data to offer actionable insights on equity, leadership, and workplace culture. UKG has expanded through previous acquisitions (Great Place to Work, Immedis, Quorbit, Ascentis, SpotCues) to bolster talent planning, payroll globalization, scheduling, and engagement capabilities.
Oracle
Oracle Cloud HCM significantly advanced its AI-driven capabilities in 2024–2025, introducing a suite of role-based AI agents, including the Career Planning Agent, Performance Assistant, and Compensation Analyst, that automate key HR processes such as onboarding, performance reviews, career development, and compensation planning. Oracle’s generative AI features, powered by Cohere large language models and integrated through the Oracle ME user experience, now support tasks like drafting job descriptions, summarizing reviews, generating goals, and detecting payroll anomalies.
Paylocity
Paylocity’s HCM suite is augmented by Paylocity AI: intelligent agents that automate benefits recommendations, predictive staffing alerts, and performance cycle nudges. Its standalone conversational AI Assistant assists employees with onboarding, scheduling, and HR policy queries. Embedded across payroll and HR modules, these agents deliver proactive insights and streamline routine tasks. With integrated analytics connectors and machine learning-powered retention modeling, Paylocity is positioning itself as an accessible, agent-driven platform for mid-market talent management.
Dayforce
Dayforce is evolving its real-time HCM platform by embedding agentic AI across payroll, and talent management workflows. With continuous calculation at its core, Dayforce enables instantaneous payroll insights and real-time compliance monitoring, capabilities essential for large, complex enterprises. Recent M&A activity includes the acquisition of eloomi, enhancing the platform’s learning and development tools with adaptive content delivery, and Ideal, a talent intelligence firm whose AI is now powering automated candidate screening and workforce analytics. These moves align with Dayforce’s vision to unify HR, payroll, and workforce intelligence under a single system-of-record powered by embedded AI agents, all while expanding its global reach and end-to-end workforce optimization capabilities.
Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone is advancing its talent suite with predictive skills frameworks, personalized learning pathways, and automated succession planning to foster continuous employee growth. Its recent acquisition of Talespin introduced immersive XR learning and AI-powered content authoring, while the integration of the Galaxy talent experience platform enhances employee engagement through AI-driven career mobility and personalized development journeys. Deep embedding of machine learning for content recommendations and performance analytics underscores Cornerstone’s commitment to evolving beyond transactional HR processes toward a holistic talent development ecosystem fueled by agentic AI and autonomous learning experiences.
Paychex
Paychex Flex has recently enhanced its HCM platform with AI-driven analytics and integrated HR and finance solutions aimed at simplifying benefits administration and improving employee experiences. A major strategic move was its $4.1 billion acquisition of Paycor HCM in April 2025, which expanded Paychex’s upmarket presence and AI capabilities, reinforcing its position as a leading, unified HCM provider focused on delivering AI-powered, user-friendly solutions to the SMB segment.
ARTW Technographics Platform: Core HR and Talent Management customer wins
Since 2010, our research team has been studying the patterns of Core HR and Talent Management software purchases, analyzing customer behavior and vendor performance through continuous win/loss analysis. Updated quarterly, the ARTW Technographics Platform provides deep insights into thousands of Core HR and Talent Management customer wins and losses, helping users monitor competitive shifts, evaluate vendor momentum, and make informed go-to-market decisions.
List of Core HR and Talent Management customers Â
Source: ARTW Buyer Insights Technographic Database
Custom data cuts related to the Core HR and Talent Management Applications market are available:
- Top 500+ Core HR and Talent Management Applications Vendors and Market Forecast 2024-2029
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Vertical Market (21 Industries)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Country (USA + 45 countries)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Region (Americas, EMEA, APAC)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Revenue Type (License, Services, Hardware, Support and Maintenance, Cloud)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Customer Size (revenue, employee count, asset)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Channel (Direct vs Indirect)
- 2024 Core HR and Talent Management Applications Market By Product
Through our forecast period, the HCM applications market is expected to reach $81.1 billion by 2029, compared with $58.7 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate of 11.7%.
Through our forecast period, the Core HR and Talent Management applications market, which is comprised of nine subsegments, is expected to reach $48.6 billion by 2029, compared with $35.5 billion in 2024 expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 11.6%. For the Top 10 vendors in each of the nine subsegments, please check their own index page by following the link below.
Through our forecast period, the Talent Acquisition applications market, which is comprised of six subsegments, is expected to reach $20.3 billion by 2029, compared with $14.5 billion in 2024 expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 11.7%. For the Top 10 vendors in each of the six subsegments, please check their own index page by following the link below.
Through our forecast period, the Workforce Management applications market, which is comprised of six subsegments, is expected to reach $12.1 billion by 2029, compared with $8.7 billion in 2024 expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.1%. For the Top 10 vendors in each of the six subsegments, please check their own index page by following the link below.
Our HCM Top 500 research team also tracks Time Clock Hardware vendors separately by zeroing in on their embedded software as well as their extensive use of OEM and distribution partners.
Exhibit 3: Worldwide HCM Software Market 2024-2029 Forecast, $M
Source: Apps Run The World, July 2025
Exhibit 4 shows our projections for the HCM enterprise applications market by HCM sub-segment, based on the buying preferences and the customer propensity to invest in new software within those industries as they continue to upgrade and replace many legacy industry-specific applications that have been identified and tracked in our Buyer Insight Database.
Methodology
Similar to any of the hundreds of reports that we have published since 2010, HCM Top 500 is a labor of love. Since 2013, our team of researchers have been conducting rigorous research on thousands of HCM vendors, surveying them quarterly, reviewing their products at even shorter intervals because of the compressed Cloud release cycle, and discussing HR vision with their customers to better understand user needs as well as different paths to upgrade and replace their existing systems.
Each year we also attend many industry-wide and vendor-specific user conferences – HR Tech, Dreamforce, SAPPHIRENOW, Oracle Open World, just to name a few, to gauge what customers are looking for.
Throughout this process comes a rich database of more than 2,000 HCM vendors as well as over 50,000 HCM customers that have been touched one form or another through regular surveys, phone and in-person interviews, email exchanges, and social media interactions, etc.
On a proactively basis, we contact the vendors directly to tabulate their latest quarterly and annual revenues by HCM segment, vertical market, revenue type, region, country and customer size.
We supplement their written responses with our own primary research to determine quarterly and yearly growth rates in each of the 22 segments and 21 verticals, in addition to customer wins to ascertain whether these are net new purchases or expansions of existing implementations.
Another dimension of our quantitative research process is through continuous improvement of our customer database, which stores more than one million records on the enterprise software landscape of over 100,000 organizations around the world.
The database provides customer insight and contextual information on what types of HCM, enterprise software systems and other relevant technologies are they running and their propensity to invest further with their current or new suppliers as part of their overall HCM and IT transformation projects to stay competitive, fend off threats from disruptive forces, or comply with internal mandates to improve overall enterprise efficiency.
The result is a combination of supply-side data and demand-generation customer insight that allows our clients to better position themselves in anticipation of the next wave that will reshape the HCM marketplace for years to come.
HCM Market Taxonomy
Definition of Human Capital Management (HCM) Applications
Core HR and Performance Management
| Core HR and Performance Management | Description |
|---|---|
| Personnel and Organization Management | Core human resource management system, personnel records, HR master file, accruals, organizational development, org chart visualization |
| Payroll | Payroll processing, tax filing, language support, country-level updates, payslip calculations, automatic deductions and other government requirements for proper disbursement of employee compensation. |
| Benefits Administration | Benefits and health administration. Plan and design benefits lifecycle, billing and payment. Carrier solutions are also included for integration purposes. |
| Pension Administration | Pension and retirement fund(401K) administration as well as software that helps manage profit sharing plan, defined benefit plan, or cash balance plan. |
| Compliance | Compliance, regulatory updates and reporting including such laws as Affordable Care Act, Overtime Regulations, Fair Labor Standards Act |
| Performance and Goal Management | HR performance management applications are designed to automate the aggregation and delivery of information pertinent to the linking of job roles and the mission and goals of the organization. More specifically, the system allows users to automate the performance review process by using mechanisms such as training and key performance indicators to continuously track and monitor the progress of an individual employee, work team, and division. Some of the key features include: Assessment of individual career objectives and organizational skills gaps that impede performance and job advancement. Continuous reviews and establishing milestones. 360-degree evaluation and real-time feedback. Performance appraisal automation. Goal setting and tracking. Employee surveys. Alignment of human assets to corporate objectives. Fast tracks for top performers. |
| Learning and Development | Learning management systems refer to applications that automate the administration, tracking, and reporting of training events. Other tools may include courseware and other delivery, management, tracking, or integrated solutions whose focus is on the learning environment, including learning content management systems. Career development tools include apps for coaching, mentoring, employee development planning, and diagnosing of development needs. |
| Succession and Leadership Planning | Identify and address current and potential talent gaps to create succession management reporting. Develop and maintain a continuous supply of internal talent to fill critical job roles. Improve employee engagement through digital tools to advance career path development opportunities. |
| Compensation Management | Compensation management applications are designed to automate the process of providing cash, noncash, variable and nonvariable compensation to employees through advanced modeling, reporting, and built-in interfacing to payroll processing systems. Other key features include seamlessly manage compensation budgets and allocation in a single, shared tool. Streamline pay recommendation workflows and approvals. Support multiple pay and incentive practices. Ensure budget compliance and adherence to compensation guidelines. Quota and territory management. Calculation and distribution of commissions, spiffs, royalties, incentives to employees, and channel and business partners. Compensation analysis using internal and external data for retention risk analysis. Linking salary, commission and incentives — cash and noncash — to business objectives. Payroll and payment engine interfaces. Account payables integration. |
Talent AcquisitionÂ
| Talent Acquisition | Description |
|---|---|
| Applicant Tracking | Applicant tracking software automates such functions as management of resumes, applicant information, scoring, workflow, matching, search, interview scheduling, job descriptions, EEOC reporting, job postings and notifications |
| Recruiting | Recruiting applications are designed to automate the recruitment process of salaried and hourly employees through screening and skills assessment, as well as automated selection processes to improve hiring pipeline by identifying talent inside or outside the organization. Other key features include: Manage skills inventories. Create and manage job requisitions. Coordinate team collaboration within hiring processes. Video Interviewing, team building and digital coaching. |
| Candidate Relationship Management | Applications designed to attract and engage candidates and employees. Other tasks automate functions such as candidate relationship management apps, career site technology, social recruiting, employee referrals, branding, video engagement, campus recruiting and internal hiring |
| Contingent Labor Management | Processing of hiring of contingent labor, search, skills matching, assessment, interview scheduling, negotiation of rates, approvals, project milestone payments, project completion tracking, performance ratings |
| Sourcing | Facilitate resource planning for staffing firms as well as vendor managed system, allowing for front office integration for employment agencies as well as talent acquisition apps designed for staffing firms. |
| Onboarding | Applications designed to deploy workers to appropriate jobs, projects, or teams for accelerated on-boarding. |
Workforce Management
| Workforce Management | Description |
|---|---|
| Absence and Leave Management | Absence management applications offer automated features to support employee leave management, employer authorized leave, Short-Term-Disability/Workers’ Comp coordination, federal and state compliance, customized leave correspondence, medical certification processing, insurance premium payment tracking as well as employee self-service capabilities. Leave Management supports compliance activities related to government regulations such as the Family and Medical Leave Act in the United States and other local leave laws in different countries. |
| Workforce analytics | Workforce analytics are used to analyze compensation, benefits, and other employee variables. These applications can also be used to analyze and optimize labor allocation for particular projects. |
| Fatigue Management | Fatigue Management apps help automate key facets of fatigue risk mitigation, enforcing employee work-hour limits and aligning with fitness for duty best practices. Similar apps may act as electronic work diaries for real-time reporting and compliance with transportation laws. |
| Hardware (Time Clock) | Time capture is the hardware platform that provides authentication features for clock-in and clock-out times, meal and rest breaks, as well as timesheet and payroll reporting and compliance. |
| Scheduling | Products are designed to Increase forecasting accuracy by factoring in a variety of methods and historical patterns. Create optimal schedules to meet customer demands, while reducing costs and maximizing resources |
| Task Management | Task Management offers labor management capabilities such as task-based and project-based activity tracking as well as measurement and reporting functions against performance standards like engineered labor standards, team standards and reflective standards. |
| Time & Attendance | Time and Attendance applications are designed to automate employee time tracking in different locations, help reduce overtime expenses, improve payroll accuracy, eliminate pay errors and adjustments, along with the need to simplify and optimize administrative tasks and complex rate calculations by making available accurate and current labor data and full audit trail of payroll data. |
- Internet Archive, a United States based Non Profit organization with 169 Employees
- Cornerstone OnDemand, a United States based Professional Services company with 3600 Employees
- Kepler Cannon, a United States based Professional Services organization with 50 Employees
| Logo | Company | Industry | Employees | Revenue | Country | Evaluated |
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