Dayforce unveiled Dayforce Build on October 27, a tool that lets its customers and partners describe an app, a bot, or a document in plain language and have it built on Dayforce's HR and payroll platform, according to the company's announcement. Alongside it, Dayforce introduced Dayforce Marketplace, where customers will find and install what others have built. Neither is available yet: Dayforce said both will arrive in 2027.
The announcement came at Dayforce Discover, the company's flagship customer conference, as one piece of a wider set of AI products it calls its Agentic HCM Platform. Dayforce has been private since February 4, when Thoma Bravo completed its acquisition of the company for about $12.3 billion and the shares stopped trading on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges.
What Dayforce Build does
A user describes what they need and Build produces a working app inside Dayforce, a bot, or a document such as a presentation or report, the company said. Bots can work on a timetable or be set off by events, keep a memory that Dayforce says improves them over time, and act only within the permissions and approvals a customer defines. Build picks a large language model for each job in the background rather than tying customers to one provider, Dayforce said. Dayforce's founder and CEO, David Ossip, put the pitch more simply.
If you can describe what your business needs, you can build it. That's Dayforce Build.David Ossip, founder and CEO, Dayforce
The controls matter more than usual because the data is payroll and personnel records. According to the announcement, each app runs walled off in its own sandbox, reaches data only through the permissions Dayforce already enforces, and falls under the same access rules, audit logging, and approval steps as the rest of the system. Before granting an app access, administrators see the data it will read and change, and they choose which roles or teams can use it. The announcement says anyone can create with Build; the Dayforce Build product page, answering who can use it, says authorized administrators create and test apps before publishing them to production. Build can also pull data from supported outside systems through Dayforce's connectors, the page says.
What goes in Dayforce Marketplace
Marketplace will list apps and bots from Dayforce, partners, and customers, with previews, publisher details, and version history, and will deliver new versions as publishers release them. Customers and partners planning to publish there can take Build Academy, Dayforce's training and certification program. Dayforce named seven partners already building: Aflac, Checkr, Deloitte, Emburse, Guusto, PwC, and WorkBright. Deloitte said its first app is meant to help companies handle SOX 404 payroll controls, variance reviews, and sign-offs without leaving Dayforce.
Dayforce has announced a marketplace before. When it announced Dayforce Exchange in October 2023, the company, then called Ceridian, said customers would be able to "browse, download, purchase, and test solutions" from partners inside Dayforce, and use report templates, dashboards, and connectors built by its community. The partner piece, Dayforce Partner Exchange, opened in May 2024 as a place to find vetted systems integrators, consultants, and software partners. Marketplace is where customers and partners will publish what they make with Build.
How it compares with Workday Build
Workday (Nasdaq: WDAY), the HR and finance software company, announced a product with the same name in September 2025. Workday Build is a developer platform that bundles a low-code agent builder based on Flowise, a coding assistant for developers, a gateway that connects AI agents to Workday through MCP, and Workday Marketplace. Workday said the agent builder would reach customers with Workday Extend Professional in the first half of 2026. The two pitches differ mainly in who does the building.
Dayforce Build | Workday Build | |
|---|---|---|
Announced | October 27, 2026 | September 16, 2025 |
Pitched to | Anyone who can describe it in plain language | Developers, with low-code and AI tools |
What gets built | Apps, bots, and documents | Apps, agents, and orchestrations |
Store | Dayforce Marketplace | Workday Marketplace |
Availability | 2027 | Agent builder announced for the first half of 2026 |
Source: Dayforce's announcement of October 27, 2026, and Workday's of September 16, 2025.
What Dayforce has not said
Dayforce has not published a price for Build or Marketplace; its platform announcement promises simple, predictable pricing for its AI products but gives no figures. The announcements also leave open whether customers will be able to charge for what they publish, how Marketplace apps will be reviewed before they are listed, and when in 2027 either product will arrive.
