Workday AI: Sana and Agents (formerly Illuminate)
Sana and AI agents for Workday HR and finance, billed in Flex Credits
Overview
Workday's AI, launched as Illuminate and now presented as Sana and Workday agents, answers questions and completes tasks across HR, finance and IT, with agents for recruiting, payroll, accounting and more, governed by the Agent System of Record. Flex Credits; complimentary allotment with Core HCM or Financials.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 1 Oct 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
What you can produce with Workday AI: Sana and Agents (formerly Illuminate)
- Sana conversational assistant across HR, finance and IT
- Self-Service, HR Service and Talent Acquisition agents
- Payroll, Accounting and Procurement agents
- Agent System of Record for Workday and third-party agents
- Flex Credits consumption billing with a public rate card
- Pipedream connectors to 3,000+ apps
For organisations already on Workday, its AI is now easy to try: Sana and the self-service agent come at no extra licence through a complimentary Flex Credits allotment, and the agent roster covers most HR and finance processes, with the Agent System of Record to govern Workday and third-party agents together. The pricing model is more transparent than it was — a public rate card lists credits per action — but the dollar price per credit is still negotiated, so heavy use is hard to budget in advance. The Illuminate name has quietly given way to Sana. Not an option for non-Workday customers; for existing ones, switch on Sana and track consumption from day one.
What we found
Workday's AI for HR and finance, launched as Workday Illuminate in September 2024, is now presented as Sana and Workday's agents; the Illuminate name has disappeared from Workday's AI pages, though Workday has not announced its retirement. Sana, the Swedish start-up Workday bought for about $1.1 billion in November 2025, is the conversational layer: employees ask questions, find knowledge and complete tasks across HR, finance, IT and other systems. Since March 2026 Sana for Workday and the Sana Self-Service Agent have been available to all Workday customers through Flex Credits, with no extra licence. Workday's agents cover self-service, HR service, talent acquisition and management, workforce management, total rewards, payroll, accounting, procurement, legal, travel and expense, development and administration, and Sana for IT service management is with early adopters. The Agent System of Record manages Workday's and third-party agents in one place, and Pipedream, a purchase Workday completed by January 2026, adds more than 3,000 connectors. Workday cites ISO 42001 accreditation and an independent attestation against NIST's AI Risk Management Framework.
Workday, based in Pleasanton, California, says more than 5,500 customers use at least one of its own agents and that AI drove more than 25% of new annual contract value in its latest quarter. Aneel Bhusri returned as chief executive in February 2026.
AI is billed through Flex Credits, bought in annual bulk and consumed when agents run in production; testing outside production is free. Customers buying Core HCM or Core Financials get a complimentary yearly allotment sized to their company, and a separate Sana Enterprise SKU goes further. Workday publishes a rate card of credits per action — one per self-service action, six per recruiting match score, 500 per contract redline — but no dollar price per credit, so cost is quoted. It is sold only to Workday customers.
On Capterra, Workday HCM rates 4.5 from 1,774 reviews; six of the 16 full reviews we read found it clunky or multi-step, though they cover the HCM suite rather than its AI. For existing customers, the complimentary credits make Sana worth switching on.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Workday AI: Sana and Agents (formerly Illuminate)'s official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Workday AI: Sana and Agents (formerly Illuminate) unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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