Cornerstone OnDemand vs Salesforce | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.4 out of 10

Based on 335 reviews and ratings

Score 8.3 out of 10

Based on 2711 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

New hire portal

Manager tracking tools

Compliance tracking and reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Corporate goal setting

Subordinate goal setting

Individual goal setting

Line-of sight-visibility

Performance tracking

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Performance plans

Plan weighting

Manager note taking

Performance improvement plans

Review status tracking

Rater nomination workflow

Review reminders

Workflow restrictions

Multiple review frequency

Reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Create succession plans/pools

Candidate ranking

Candidate search

Candidate development

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Job Requisition Management

Company Website Posting

Publish to Social Media

Job Search Site Posting

Customized Application Form

Resume Management

Duplicate Candidate Prevention

Candidate Search

Applicant Tracking

Collaboration

Task Creation and Delegation

Email Templates

User Permissions

Notifications and Alerts

Reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Course authoring

Course catalog or library

Player/Portal

Learning content

Mobile friendly

Progress tracking & certifications

Assignments

Compliance management

Learning administration

Learning reporting & analytics

Social learning

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Customer data management / contact management

Workflow management

Territory management

Opportunity management

Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)

Contract management

Quote & order management

Interaction tracking

Channel / partner relationship management

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Case management

Call center management

Help desk management

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Lead management

Email marketing

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Task management

Billing and invoicing management

Reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Forecasting

Pipeline visualization

Customizable reports

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Custom fields

Custom objects

Scripting environment

API for custom integration

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Single sign-on capability

Role-based user permissions

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Social data

Social engagement

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Marketing automation

Compensation management

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Mobile access

Pros

The level of automation that's possible within the system makes repetitive tasks like annual training a breeze when configured appropriately.
The flexibility of the latest reporting capabilities with Cornerstone OnDemand allows for a vast range of data tracking.
With good implementation, the system can essentially be configured to capture, track, and house almost any level or kind of data associated with a user.

Read full review

Learning Analyst

WiproInformation Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees

View all 199 answers on this topic

Reporting. The reporting functions are valuable to see how particular accounts have done over time, to see how reps are tracking to goal, and to see how reps compare to other reps in the organization.
Analytics. There are a variety of tools that management can use to determine how individual reps are performing and how the entire sales organization is tracking to goal, and how that compares to previous years.
Customization. Field can be customized to help an organization create a CRM that is tailored to their particular industry and company.

Read full review

Account Executive

NewselaE-Learning, 201-500 employees

View all 268 answers on this topic

Cons

Customization. Editing the performance review questions was limited and confusing.
Saving work. Dozens of employees would type directly into the performance review question boxes only for the system to refresh and not save their work. This is because the system logs you out after a short time on the website.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Human Resources

Internet Company, 201-500 employees

View all 199 answers on this topic

When you close SF and open it the next day it tends to open old cases (tabs). You'll end up with tab overload if you don't put time into closing old ones.
If you start a case and don't have all the required fields completed, you'll lose it all if you try saving it too soon.

Read full review

Services Manager

LXMedical Device, 11-50 employees

View all 268 answers on this topic

Likelihood to Renew

Cornerstone OnDemand 9.5

Based on 25 answers

As long as pricing stays reasonable, we will likely stay with Cornerstone for at least one more contract renewal. It would be a large task to migrate all of our content to a new system. However, the LMS landscape is diversifying with new startups that are showing some real innovation.

Read full review

Learning Management System Administrator, Training Specialist

Tennant CompanyMachinery, 1001-5000 employees

View all 25 answers on this topic

Salesforce 10.0

Based on 48 answers

While it's not perfect and can be overly complicated at times, there is not another solution out there that can do what it does. To get the same functionality you would need numerous disparate tools to match the amount of functionality Salesforce has. Having it all aggregated on one platform makes the complicated parts far more bearable

Read full review

Account Manager

Camelot EnterprisesApparel & Fashion, 11-50 employees

View all 48 answers on this topic

Usability

Cornerstone OnDemand 8.3

Based on 25 answers

The system is huge so, even after using it as an administrator for a few years, I still find there are lots of pieces and things I do not know. Some of the more everyday tasks have cumbersome user interfaces that you become accustomed to but would be greatly helped by a redesign. The availability of assistance articles and the new knowledge bank help greatly with usability as you have a quick place you can go to for help with figuring out how to do various tasks.

Read full review

Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 10,001+ employees

View all 25 answers on this topic

Salesforce 7.4

Based on 55 answers

While not the most robust software available for tracking and following up with leads, the UI is fairly straight forward and you know right away what you are getting and how to interact with it. While some initial training is required, it is still simple enough for most users to interact with it on a daily basis without feeling burdensome.

Read full review

Verified User

Employee in Marketing

Higher Education Company, 201-500 employees

View all 55 answers on this topic

Reliability and Availability

Cornerstone OnDemand 9.0

Based on 4 answers

It was down for a couple of hours in our first month. Occasionally, in the evening we have trouble logging in even though it is not a maintenance window.

Read full review

Verified User

Project Manager in Information Technology

Computer Software Company, 501-1000 employees

View all 4 answers on this topic

Salesforce 9.8

Based on 27 answers

Salesforce is always available securely from any internet-capable device anywhere in the world, UNLESS you choose to set security measures so that ONLY trusted IP ranges may access the system at certain times of the day. It's all about choice and flexibility with Salesforce products.

Read full review

Salesforce.com Administrator

OPKO Diagnostics, LLCMedical Practice, 51-200 employees

View all 27 answers on this topic

Performance

Cornerstone OnDemand 3.0

Based on 4 answers

Pages do not load quickly. Often times any action or selection of a box, drop down, check, pretty much ANY Javascript interaction causes the whole entire page to load/reload/start doing something in the background. This makes a nightmare for having to mass edit courses or upload ILT sessions. It's the one of the archaic web designs they use that really bugs me as an admin and makes working in the portal at times intolerable and insufferable

Read full review

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

View all 4 answers on this topic

Salesforce 9.0

Based on 18 answers

Salesforce performance in general is excellent. "The cloud infrastructure beneath Force.com has been fine-tuned over the past 10 years. It powers nearly 100,000+ businesses running more than 185,000 applications that 3 million users count on every day."
Points per Salesforce -
1) Multitenant kernel - With a multitenant platform, each business that uses the app doesn’t have its own copy. Instead, all businesses share a single copy and then customize it for their specific needs.
2) ISO 27001 certified security - You can’t compromise when it comes to enterprise-level security. Force.com is road-tested and trusted by nearly 100,000+ companies, including many of the world’s most security-conscious organizations, such as banks and health care providers.
3) Proven reliability - All Force.com apps run on world-class data centers with backup, failover, and disaster-recovery facilities. Force.com has had a proven 99.9 percent uptime record for years.
4) Proven, real-time scalability - Force.com is used by many of the world's largest enterprises, including Cisco, Japan Post Network, and Symantec. Applications can automatically scale from a few users to millions of page views, as needed.
5) Real-time query optimizer - You need fast access to your data. The Force.com query optimizer delivers under 300ms response time, at a massive scale.
6) Real-time transparent system status - You can always see real-time system performance, availability, and security information at trust.salesforce.com.
7) Real-time upgrades - Unlike traditional software platforms, our upgrades never break your customizations, code, or integrations. We upgrade the platform for you 3 to 4 times each year. As a result, you’re always on the latest version, with access to the latest features, performance, and security enhancements.
8) Real-time sandbox environments - With a single click, you can create copies of your applications, configuration, and data in separate environments for development, testing, and training.
9) Three global production data centers and disaster recovery - Force.com runs on three geographically dispersed, mirrored data centers with built-in replication, disaster recovery, a redundant network backbone, and no single points of failure

Read full review

Corporate Controller / Director Sales

Solar WindsInformation Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees

View all 18 answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cornerstone OnDemand 6.1

Based on 35 answers

They are still working out issues with their support ticket system. I think we are now experienced enough that when we submit a ticket, there is not a quick easy answer and involves higher levels of support so it does tend to take a LONG time to get assistance. When there is a major issue, their communication is getting better but when you have a defect to report or a high level support it's going to be a while. They do have EXCELLENT online help, a very active online community where customers help customers and great user groups so there is other avenues of help

Read full review

Talent Management Analyst

BKD CPAs & AdvisorsFinancial Services, 1001-5000 employees

View all 35 answers on this topic

Salesforce 6.9

Based on 51 answers

The Professional version relies on its community and its documentation. No chat support, no phone support. And I think for 70+ USD/ user/ month, there should be some of those options available. Finding an answer in the community is not always easy to do. I had to go with a Salesforce developer or administrator to find answers that I think I should be able to find with support.

Read full review

Sebastian Pereira

Chief Digital Transformation Officer

SantexComputer Software, 51-200 employees

View all 51 answers on this topic

In-Person Training

Cornerstone OnDemand 4.3

Based on 2 answers

Very personable and patient. Features that I'm sure to them are very simple and repetitive were trained with patience and understanding.

Read full review

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

View all 2 answers on this topic

Salesforce 7.9

Based on 11 answers

I attended two training sessions. I would rate them a 4 as an advanced user. It was very basic – great for someone new – would give 8+ for new person.

I had 3 years of experience at the time. I skipped basic and went onto advanced and still not helpful. A lot of it was best practices that didn’t feel relevant for our business

Read full review

Verified User

Analyst in Sales

Computer Software Company, 501-1000 employees

View all 11 answers on this topic

Online Training

Cornerstone OnDemand 4.9

Based on 5 answers

The online modules are pretty good. You can access them at any time, which we have done. You learn a lot in the beginning, but having the ability to retake short lessons when you are working on those items was very helpful.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Professional Services

Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees

View all 5 answers on this topic

Salesforce 9.1

Based on 15 answers

I have gone through multiple. The content that’s delivered is quite basic – I wish they had more advanced training.

We are grandfathered into premium support plus training. We get unlimited access to instructor led and online training for free. We have taken advantage of this

Read full review

Verified User

Program Manager in Information Technology

Computer Software Company, 501-1000 employees

View all 15 answers on this topic

Implementation Rating

Cornerstone OnDemand 8.3

Based on 19 answers

Dig deep on what your current processes are and how they match up to Cornerstone OnDemand functionality. It's not that the Cornerstone OnDemand is bad, it just the amount of work it requires you to do to get your current data to fit into their system.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Professional Services

Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees

View all 19 answers on this topic

Salesforce 9.4

Based on 16 answers

Just from an organizational standpoint - we standardized our data prior to moving to Salesforce. But we essentially standardized it wrong. That's created a big disgusting mess for us know that I'll have to deal with as the Admin. Be sure you think through use cases prior to doing something like that - seek outside opinions on how the data will work best, especially depending on what else you're going to integrate with Salesforce.

Read full review

Verified User

Employee in Marketing

Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees

View all 16 answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

I wasn't involved in the selection at my current company. However, at my previous company, Absorb was a very close contender due to their modern and vibrant portal features, but we decided to stick with Cornerstone because of ease of configuration for our compliance training program and security permissions/constraints

Read full review

Verified User

Analyst in Human Resources

Financial Services Company, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 199 answers on this topic

The biggest advantage with Salesforce is likely the biggest detractor as well. It is largely a blank slate. The system is not customized to any one business or industry out of the box. You have to design everything - which is great if you are looking for a highly customized system, but very difficult for small or even medium sized firms without help from a 3rd party. We developed everything 100% in house. It has been quite a learning curve, but ultimately we preferred this method to farming out the work.

Read full review

Operations Manager

RESOLUT RECommercial Real Estate, 51-200 employees

View all 268 answers on this topic

Scalability

Cornerstone OnDemand 10.0

Based on 1 answer

It can accomodate any number of users (that you're willing to pay for) and serves as a training archive

Read full review

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Salesforce 10.0

Based on 2 answers

I've worked with Salesforce since 2001 in companies ranging from 4 to hundreds of sales people and the system has been able to scale and perhaps more importantly expand (functionally) to the needs of larger organizations. In fact in my previous company, as a provider of a solution that integrated with Salesforce, we had customers that had thousands of sales people using Salesforce.

Read full review

Verified User

Consultant in Sales

Printing Company, 11-50 employees

View all 2 answers on this topic

Return on Investment

We are tracking learning and performance and using it to direct career growth and goal planning.
We have increased employee engagement in HR activities with 4 consecutive years of YOY increases in employee directed learning initiatives.
We have created learning content for new hires, career pathing, and compliance that we never had before.

Read full review

Jennifer Goodwin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

HR Manager

JK Moving ServicesTransportation/Trucking/Railroad, 501-1000 employees

View all 199 answers on this topic

ROI is most noticeable when you are able to consolidate disparate legacy systems and move all of their data from a local data center up to the cloud. You end up saving a ton of money that no longer needs to be spent on hardware, software, maintenance, IT, etc.
The recurring licensing model is not ideal when it comes to ROI impact, as the long term expenditure will be significant. However, the hidden cost savings that it brings due to a smoother running business is not something that should be ignored.
One of the main benefits is collaboration. The platform represents a "single source of truth" that can greatly enhance collaboration and data consolidation. This will impact ROI in ways immeasurable but there can be no doubt that the effects are there.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Professional Services

Automotive Company, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 268 answers on this topic

Screenshots

See All (7) Cornerstone OnDemand Screenshots

See All (3) Salesforce Screenshots

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

* One-time fee

Cornerstone OnDemand Editions & Modules

—

Additional Pricing Details

—

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Salesforce Editions & Modules

Edition

Essentials	$25.00¹
Professional	$100.00¹
Enterprise	$175.00¹

Per User Per Month

Additional Pricing Details

—

Rating Summary

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Cornerstone OnDemand

Salesforce

Add comparison