SAP vs Workday: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
SAP reported ~$41.6B of revenue in FY2025 and ~$8.1B of net income. Workday reported $9.6B of revenue in FY2026 and $693M of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
SAP
SAP has spent most of the 2020s turning license-and-maintenance revenue into cloud subscriptions. The shift hurt margins early on: in October 2020 SAP cut its outlook and pushed back its margin targets, and its shares dropped about 22% in a day. The model has since matured. Cloud revenue rose from ~$9.15 billion (EUR 8.1 billion) in 2020 to ~$23.7 billion (EUR 21.0 billion) in 2025, total revenue reached ~$41.6 billion (EUR 36.8 billion), and IFRS profit after tax attributable to owners was ~$8.14 billion (EUR 7.2 billion). For 2026 SAP guided to ~$29.2 billion (EUR 25.8 billion) to ~$29.6 billion (EUR 26.2 billion) of cloud revenue and about $11.3 billion (EUR 10 billion) of free cash flow.
Workday
Workday reported fiscal 2026 revenue of $9.552B, up 13.1%, with subscription revenue of $8.833B, up 14.5%. GAAP operating income was $721M after $303M of restructuring costs, and GAAP net income was $693M, or $2.59 per diluted share. In Q2 fiscal 2027 (quarter ended July 31, 2026), revenue rose 12.8% to $2.649B and subscription revenue rose 13.9% to $2.471B. GAAP operating margin was 11.8% and non-GAAP operating margin was 31.1%. Diluted EPS of $2.57 included a one-time $1.52 per share tax benefit from an internal IP transfer. The company bought back about $1.3B of stock in the quarter and the board added a $4.0B repurchase authorization.
Revenue and profit by year
SAP
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | ~$41.6B | ~$8.1B | 19.5% | +7.7% | Source |
| FY2024 | ~$38.6B | ~$3.5B | 9.1% | +9.5% | Source |
| FY2023 | ~$35.3B | ~$6.9B | 19.7% | +5.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | ~$33.4B | ~$2.6B | 7.7% | +9.5% | Source |
| FY2021 | ~$30.5B | ~$5.9B | 19.5% | -1.4% | Source |
| FY2020 | ~$30.9B | ~$5.8B | 18.8% | -0.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | ~$31.1B | ~$3.8B | 12.1% | +11.5% | Source |
| FY2018 | ~$27.9B | ~$4.6B | 16.5% | +5.3% | Source |
| FY2017 | ~$26.5B | ~$4.5B | 17.1% | +6.3% | Source |
| FY2016 | ~$24.9B | ~$4.1B | 16.5% | — | Source |
Workday
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $9.6B | $693M | 7.3% | +13.1% | Source |
| FY2025 | $8.4B | $526M | 6.2% | +16.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $7.3B | $1.4B | 19.0% | +16.8% | Source |
| FY2023 | $6.2B | -$367M | -5.9% | +21.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $5.1B | $29M | 0.6% | +19.0% | Source |
| FY2021 | $4.3B | -$282.4M | -6.5% | +19.0% | Source |
| FY2020 | $3.6B | -$480.7M | -13.3% | +28.5% | Source |
| FY2019 | $2.8B | -$418.3M | -14.8% | +31.7% | Source |
| FY2018 | $2.1B | -$321.2M | -15.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
SAP
- Cloud subscriptions
- Software support
- Software licenses
- Professional services
- Business AI and platform add-ons
Workday
- Subscription services
About 92% of fiscal 2026 revenue
Recurring fees for HCM, Financial Management, planning, payroll, learning, and AI products; $8.833B in fiscal 2026.
- Professional services
About 8% of fiscal 2026 revenue
Deployment, training, and advisory services that support customer implementations.
Business model and strategy
SAP
How it makes money
SAP earns most of its money from recurring fees. Cloud subscriptions (SaaS, PaaS and a small IaaS business) are now the largest line, led by the Cloud ERP Suite, which produced ~$6.21 billion (EUR 5.5 billion) of Q2 2026's ~$7.12 billion (EUR 6.3 billion) cloud revenue. Software support contracts on older on-premise licenses are the second pillar, but they are shrinking as customers migrate through RISE with SAP.
Growth strategy
SAP's growth strategy has three parts. First, migrate on-premise ERP customers to cloud through RISE with SAP for large enterprises and GROW with SAP for mid-market companies. Second, sell data and AI on top of that core: SAP Business Data Cloud, the Joule assistant and agents, and the Business AI platform. Third, use targeted acquisitions to fill gaps, including WalkMe in 2024 and Dremio and Prior Labs in 2026.
Competitive advantage
SAP's advantage comes from switching costs and process depth. Once a manufacturer or retailer has run finance, supply chain and procurement on SAP for years, its data models, customizations, controls and staff skills are all tied to the platform, and replacing it is a multi-year project.
Workday
How it makes money
Most of Workday's revenue comes from multi-year cloud subscriptions. In fiscal 2026, subscription revenue was $8.833B of $9.552B total, about 92%. The rest is professional services: deployment, training, and advisory work, much of which is handled alongside implementation partners. Customers usually start with HCM or Financial Management and later add planning, payroll, recruiting, learning, and AI agent products.
Growth strategy
Workday is pushing AI agents built on its HR and finance data, adding integration and learning capabilities through acquisitions (Paradox, Sana, Pipedream), selling Financial Management into its HCM base, and expanding industry-specific offerings. It is pairing that with cost cuts and large share buybacks.
Competitive advantage
Workday's main advantage is a single data model shared across HR, payroll, finance, and planning, which it has run as a multi-tenant cloud service from the start. That gives AI agents clean access to employee and financial records, and Workday argues its agents are safer because they act through the same business-process rules and permissions as human users.
Questions about SAP vs Workday
Which company has higher revenue — SAP SE or Workday, Inc.?
SAP SE reported ~$41.6B (FY2025), while Workday, Inc. reported $9.6B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, SAP SE is the larger business, with Workday, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
What is the market cap of SAP SE vs Workday, Inc.?
SAP SE's market capitalisation stands at $238.9B, while Workday, Inc.'s is $51.0B. SAP SE carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Workday, Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — SAP SE or Workday, Inc.?
SAP SE generates $371k / employee in revenue per employee, while Workday, Inc. generates $453k / employee. Workday, Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do SAP SE and Workday, Inc. make money?
SAP SE and Workday, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. SAP SE: SAP earns most of its money from recurring fees. Workday, Inc.: Most of Workday's revenue comes from multi-year cloud subscriptions.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — SAP SE or Workday, Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, SAP SE trades at 5.7x P/S and Workday, Inc. at 5.3x P/S. SAP SE commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Workday, Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is SAP SE bigger than Workday, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, SAP SE (~$41.6B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Workday, Inc. ($9.6B (FY2026)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the SAP vs Workday overview