Workday is hired to hold employee records and run HR processes such as time off and approvals. Part of that job is easy to move and part is not. Below: how to tell which part you use, a narrow tool that sits beside your payroll provider, and the privacy and compliance rules to settle before you cancel.
It holds the record of every employee, and other systems depend on it: payroll, benefits, the accounting software. Replacing it means touching all of those at once, and the people who would do it are the same people who run payroll.
Fear of getting someone's pay wrong is reasonable, and it keeps contracts renewed long after the company stopped using most of the modules. The way out is to separate the jobs, not to rip out the system.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| OrangeHRM | Open source | GPL-3.0 | OrangeHRM repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| A narrow tool for time off and the employee directory | Custom build | — | Written for the one job |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
An HR platform is two things in one contract: a system of record for employees, and a set of compliance processes that must run on time. The first can be replaced in pieces. The second should not be moved without a specialist, because the consequences are legal. We rate this one hard.
The honest path for a small company is to find which modules it really uses. If the answer is time off and a directory, a narrow tool or the open-source option can do that job while payroll stays with a provider built for it. See Okta if people sign in through single sign-on, since that connection is part of the move.
Samples are made up and are not Workday's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
Build a small tool or keep paying for one: the cost of each over your horizon and the month the build breaks even.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
Move the low-risk jobs first. Payroll and benefits stay where they are until a specialist has planned their move and one full cycle has run cleanly.
List the modules in use and who uses them. Count active employees, and count how many log in only to request time off.
Write down who feeds payroll, benefits and the accounting system, and in what format. These connections must keep working through any change.
Decide where each job goes: payroll to a payroll provider, time off and the directory to a narrow tool or the open-source option, and anything else to its own owner.
Set who may see what: each person their own record, managers their team, a small group salaries. Test this with real accounts before loading real data.
Run time off in the new tool for one team for a month. Compare balances with the old system, and fix every difference before adding another team.
Export the full employee records, time history and documents. Compare headcount and balances line by line, store the export under access control and keep it as long as the law and your policy require.
After payroll and benefits have run correctly for a full cycle elsewhere and the old system has been read-only for a month, end the contract inside the notice window.
The realistic build is a narrow tool beside the system that runs payroll and benefits. It is written from scratch for the job of time off and the employee directory, and it copies no code, screens, branding or wording from Workday. It does not try to be a replacement for the platform.
Do not build payroll, tax withholding, benefits administration or anything with a compliance deadline casually. Those rules differ by state and change. Employee data also needs strict access control: most people should see only their own record and their team's time off.
OrangeHRM is the open-source option we verified. Its repository lists the GPL-3.0 license on the checked date, which carries obligations you should read. Running it makes you responsible for the server, backups and access to personal data. Check which of your processes it actually covers before you plan around it.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Workday is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Year | Buy, cumulative | Build, cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9,000.00 | 8,040.00 |
| 2 | 18,000.00 | 10,080.00 |
| 3 | 27,000.00 | 12,120.00 |
Undiscounted, and it leaves out the vendor's price rises and your own overruns. A tool built for one job is not the whole product: list what you would lose before you count the saving.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.