Huma vs Workday
Huma is a European alternative to Workday: same hr & recruitment use case, headquartered in Norway and governed by EU GDPR, while Workday (Workday, Inc.) is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Modern SMB HR platform covering employee records, leave, onboarding, performance check-ins and a company handbook with an AI assistant, hosted in Norway.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
Large organisations run HR, payroll and finance on Workday, and once it holds the employee system of record it is famously hard to leave. Prices are never public: subscription contracts are quoted per employee per year and typically land among the most expensive in the category. Workday, Inc. is publicly listed on Nasdaq with headquarters in Pleasanton, California.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Huma vs Workday at a glance
| Huma | Workday | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Norway | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need hr & recruitment built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Workday, Inc. ecosystem |
Choose Huma if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Workday if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Workday, Inc. ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Huma
Huma is a modern HR platform for small and medium businesses combining employee records, time off, onboarding, performance check-ins and a company handbook in a single, conversational workspace. Founded in Oslo, Norway in 2020, it is built around a lightweight UX that replaces spreadsheets, Slack threads and legacy HRIS tools.
The platform pairs a central people directory with self-service leave requests, automated onboarding checklists, digital employment contracts, shout-outs, one-to-one templates and goal-setting. A built-in AI assistant helps HR admins draft policies, answer employee questions and structure performance conversations.
Key features:
- Employee records and directory with custom fields, org chart and document storage
- Absence and leave management with approval flows, calendar sync and Nordic public holidays
- Onboarding and offboarding checklists assigned automatically by role, location and start date
- Digital employment contracts with e-signature integrations
- Performance check-ins and one-to-ones with goal tracking and feedback templates
- Employee handbook and shout-outs centralising company culture and recognition
- Integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, payroll and SSO providers
Huma is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and hosts all employee data on EU/EEA-based infrastructure under GDPR and Norwegian data-protection law. A full DPA, SCCs and granular retention controls are standard on every plan.
Trusted by 3,000+ Nordic and European SMBs, Huma is the reference choice for growing teams that want a modern, conversational HR tool built on sovereign Norwegian infrastructure rather than a US-hosted legacy HRIS.
Why choose Huma over Workday?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Workday is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Huma removes that overhead. As a Norway-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.