<PAGE>

     Filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17, 1999

                                                  Registration No. 333-_________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                Unify Corporation
                                -----------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Delaware                                94-2710559

---------------------------------       ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction          (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                          181 Metro Drive, Third Floor
                           San Jose, California 95110
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                Unify Corporation
                             1991 Stock Option Plan
               ---------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                  Reza Mikailli
                      President and Chief Executive Officer
                          181 Metro Drive, Third Floor
                           San Jose, California 95110
               ---------------------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  (408) 346-1100

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

<PAGE>


<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



                                                       Proposed                Proposed
        Title of                                       maximum                 maximum
    Securities to be         Amount to be          offering price per          aggregate              Amount of
      registered(1)          registered                 share(2)            offering price(2)     registration fee
------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
<S>                              <C>                     <C>                <C>                 <C>
1991 STOCK OPTION PLAN
----------------------

Common Stock                     400,000                 $62.56             $25,024,000.00            $6,606.34
Par Value $0.001
</TABLE>



----------

(1) The securities to be registered include options to acquire such Common
Stock.

(2) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. As to the shares under the 1991 Stock Option Plan, the price
is based on the average of the high and low prices of the Common Stock on
December 13, 1999, as reported on the Nasdaq National Market.

<PAGE>

                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

         Unify Corporation (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

         (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended April 30, 1999, as filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on July 19, 1999.

         (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

         (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

         All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

         The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12 of
the Exchange Act.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL

         Inapplicable.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

         Section 102(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a
corporation to provide in its Certificate of Incorporation that a director of
the corporation shall not be personally liable to corporation or its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of the director's
"duty of care." While this statute does not change directors' duty of care, it
enables corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as
injunction or rescission. The statute has no effect on a director's duty of
loyalty or liability for acts or omissions not in good faith or involving
intentional misconduct or knowing violations of law, illegal payment of
dividends or stock redemptions or repurchases, or for any transaction from which
the director derives an improper personal benefit. As permitted by the statute,
the Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation which
eliminate to the fullest

<PAGE>

extent permissible under Delaware law the personal liability of its directors to
the Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged
breach of their duty of care.

         Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware
provides for the indemnification of officers, directors, employees and agents
of a corporation. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of
its directors, officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by
Delaware law, including those circumstances in which indemnification would
otherwise be discretionary under Delaware law. The Company's Bylaws also
empower it to enter into indemnification agreements with its directors and
officers and to purchase insurance on behalf of any person whom it is
required or permitted to indemnify. The Company has entered into agreements
with its directors and certain of its executive officers that require the
Company to indemnify such persons to the fullest extent permitted under
Delaware law against expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other
amounts actually and reasonably incurred (including expenses of a derivative
action) in connection with any proceeding, whether actual or threatened, to
which any such person may be made a party by reason of the fact that such
person is or was a director or an executive officer of the Company or any of
its affiliated enterprises. The indemnification agreements also set forth
certain procedures that will apply in the event of a claim for
indemnification thereunder.

         Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware
provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad to indemnify such
individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities (including
reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the "Securities Act").

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED

         Inapplicable.

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS

         See Exhibit Index.

ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS

         The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

         (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

             (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
     Securities Act;

             (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after
the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement; and

<PAGE>

             (iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan
of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any
material change to such information in the registration statement;

PROVIDED, HOWEVER, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (l)(ii) do not apply if the
information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those
paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to
Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by
reference in the registration statement.

     (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities
Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering
thereof.

     (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any
of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.

     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

     Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the
registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant
has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission
such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final
adjudication of such issue.

<PAGE>

                                    SIGNATURE

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of San Jose, State of California, on December 13,
1998.

                                    UNIFY CORPORATION

                                    By: /s/ REZA MIKAILLI
                                       ---------------------------------
                                       Reza Mikailli
                                       President and Chief Executive Officer

<PAGE>

                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

         The officers and directors of Unify Corporation whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Reza Mikailli and Gary Pado, and each of
them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                SIGNATURE                                       TITLE                                DATE
                ---------                                       -----                                ----
<S>                                           <C>                                         <C>
/s/ REZA MIKAILLI                             President, Chief Executive Officer          December 13, 1999
----------------------------------------      and Director
Reza Mikailli                                 (Principal Executive Officer)



/s/ GARY PADO                                 Vice President, Finance, Chief              December 13, 1999
----------------------------------------      Financial Officer and Secretary
Gary Pado                                     (Principal Financial and
                                              Accounting Officer)


/s/ STEVEN D. WHITEMAN
----------------------------------------      Director                                    December 13, 1999
Steven D. Whiteman

----------------------------------------      Director
Kurt M. Garbe

</TABLE>

<PAGE>

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

<TABLE>
<S>       <C>
4.2       Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated
          by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
          Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6,
          1996 (No. 33-3834).

4.3       Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 of
          the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
          Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6, 1996 (No. 33-3834).

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
          statement)
</TABLE>
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 15192}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "UNIFY CORP", "cik": "0000880562", "assigned-sic": "7372", "irs-number": "770427069", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "0430"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-92973", "film-number": "99776565"}, "business-address": {"street1": "181 METRO DR", "street2": "3RD FL", "city": "SAN JOSE", "state": "CA", "zip": "95110", "phone": "4084674500"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "181 METRO DRIVE", "city": "SAN JOSE", "state": "CA", "zip": "95110"}}
Filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17, 1999

                                                  Registration No. 333-_________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                Unify Corporation
                                -----------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Delaware                                94-2710559

---------------------------------       ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction          (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                          181 Metro Drive, Third Floor
                           San Jose, California 95110
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                Unify Corporation
                             1991 Stock Option Plan
               ---------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                  Reza Mikailli
                      President and Chief Executive Officer
                          181 Metro Drive, Third Floor
                           San Jose, California 95110
               ---------------------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  (408) 346-1100

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                       Proposed                Proposed
        Title of                                       maximum                 maximum
    Securities to be         Amount to be          offering price per          aggregate              Amount of
      registered(1)          registered                 share(2)            offering price(2)     registration fee
------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------
1991 STOCK OPTION PLAN
----------------------

Common Stock                     400,000                 $62.56             $25,024,000.00            $6,606.34
Par Value $0.001
----------

(1) The securities to be registered include options to acquire such Common
Stock.

(2) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. As to the shares under the 1991 Stock Option Plan, the price
is based on the average of the high and low prices of the Common Stock on
December 13, 1999, as reported on the Nasdaq National Market.
PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

         Unify Corporation (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

         (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended April 30, 1999, as filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on July 19, 1999.

         (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

         (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

         All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

         The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12 of
the Exchange Act.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL

         Inapplicable.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

         Section 102(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a
corporation to provide in its Certificate of Incorporation that a director of
the corporation shall not be personally liable to corporation or its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of the director's
"duty of care." While this statute does not change directors' duty of care, it
enables corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as
injunction or rescission. The statute has no effect on a director's duty of
loyalty or liability for acts or omissions not in good faith or involving
intentional misconduct or knowing violations of law, illegal payment of
dividends or stock redemptions or repurchases, or for any transaction from which
the director derives an improper personal benefit. As permitted by the statute,
the Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation which
eliminate to the fullest
extent permissible under Delaware law the personal liability of its directors to
the Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged
breach of their duty of care.

         Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware
provides for the indemnification of officers, directors, employees and agents
of a corporation. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of
its directors, officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by
Delaware law, including those circumstances in which indemnification would
otherwise be discretionary under Delaware law. The Company's Bylaws also
empower it to enter into indemnification agreements with its directors and
officers and to purchase insurance on behalf of any person whom it is
required or permitted to indemnify. The Company has entered into agreements
with its directors and certain of its executive officers that require the
Company to indemnify such persons to the fullest extent permitted under
Delaware law against expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other
amounts actually and reasonably incurred (including expenses of a derivative
action) in connection with any proceeding, whether actual or threatened, to
which any such person may be made a party by reason of the fact that such
person is or was a director or an executive officer of the Company or any of
its affiliated enterprises. The indemnification agreements also set forth
certain procedures that will apply in the event of a claim for
indemnification thereunder.

         Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware
provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad to indemnify such
individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities (including
reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the "Securities Act").

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED

         Inapplicable.

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS

         See Exhibit Index.

ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS

         The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

         (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

             (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
     Securities Act;

             (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after
the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement; and
(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan
of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any
material change to such information in the registration statement;

PROVIDED, HOWEVER, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (l)(ii) do not apply if the
information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those
paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to
Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by
reference in the registration statement.

     (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities
Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering
thereof.

     (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any
of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.

     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

     Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the
registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant
has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission
such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final
adjudication of such issue.
SIGNATURE

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of San Jose, State of California, on December 13,
1998.

                                    UNIFY CORPORATION

                                    By: /s/ REZA MIKAILLI
                                       ---------------------------------
                                       Reza Mikailli
                                       President and Chief Executive Officer
SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

         The officers and directors of Unify Corporation whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Reza Mikailli and Gary Pado, and each of
them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.
SIGNATURE                                       TITLE                                DATE
                ---------                                       -----                                ----
/s/ REZA MIKAILLI                             President, Chief Executive Officer          December 13, 1999
----------------------------------------      and Director
Reza Mikailli                                 (Principal Executive Officer)

/s/ GARY PADO                                 Vice President, Finance, Chief              December 13, 1999
----------------------------------------      Financial Officer and Secretary
Gary Pado                                     (Principal Financial and
                                              Accounting Officer)

/s/ STEVEN D. WHITEMAN
----------------------------------------      Director                                    December 13, 1999
Steven D. Whiteman

----------------------------------------      Director
Kurt M. Garbe
EXHIBIT INDEX
4.2       Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated
          by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on
          Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6,
          1996 (No. 33-3834).

4.3       Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 of
          the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
          Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6, 1996 (No. 33-3834).

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
          statement)