Breathe 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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Overview
User Interface
Popular Alternatives
Popular Comparisons
Pricing and Plans
Features
Integrations
User Reviews

Overview

Breathe

4.3

(46)

Pricing

Starting at £22.00 per month

About Breathe

Back in 2012, Breathe built their multi-award-winning software with one thing in mind: to set SMEs free from time-consuming HR admin so they can focus on their people, build strong company cultures & drive their organisations forward.

Owned by leading cloud-based solution provider, ELMO Software, Breathe offers simple & cost-effective software that makes it super-easy to manage up to 200 employees.

From employee data, leave, sickness and HR documents to training & performance, expenses, recruitment, rota scheduling and e-learning – Breathe already helps over 15,000 UK SMEs to leave time-consuming tasks behind, without breaking the bank.

Breathe is 100% cloud-based, GDPR-compliant and ISO27001-accredited offering the highest level of data security.

Wondering if Breathe is right for your organization?

Our Human Resources Software selection experts can help you in 15 minutes or less.

Breathe User Interface

Popular Breathe Alternatives

Main Product

Breathe

4.3

(46)

Ratings Breakdown

4.44Ease of use
4.19Value for money
4.03Customer support
4.08Functionality

Pricing

Starting at £22.00 per month

Get Price

Alternative Product

Paylocity

4.3

(1818)

Ratings Breakdown

4.33Ease of use
4.23Value for money
4.06Customer support
4.26Functionality

Pricing

Available upon request

Get Price

Alternative Product

Rippling

4.9

(4596)

Ratings Breakdown

4.86Ease of use
4.76Value for money
4.72Customer support
4.82Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $8.00 per month

Get Price

Alternative Product

Connecteam

4.6

(5032)

Ratings Breakdown

4.66Ease of use
4.46Value for money
4.61Customer support
4.53Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $29.00 per month

Get Price

Alternative Product

BambooHR

4.6

(3105)

Ratings Breakdown

4.64Ease of use
4.45Value for money
4.49Customer support
4.39Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $10.00 per month

Get Price

Alternative Product

Paycor

4.3

(3031)

Ratings Breakdown

4.30Ease of use
4.19Value for money
4.19Customer support
4.21Functionality

Pricing

Available upon request

Get Price

Breathe Pricing and Plans

Starting price: £22.00 per month

Free Trial

Free Version

Core HR

£22.00

per month

Plan includes:

Document Storage
HR Dashboard and Reporting
HR Database
Performance Management
Sickness and Absence Tracking
Staff Holiday Planner

Rota, Time and Attendance

£32.00

per month

Plan includes:

Location and User Management
Push Email Notifications
Rota Templates
Team Management
Time and Attendance
Timeclock

Learn

£34.00

per month

Plan includes:

Compliant With Business Requirements
Onboarding Process
Value-Packed Courses

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Breathe Features

Popular features found in Human Resources
Applicant Tracking
Benefits Management
Compensation Management
Employee Management
Onboarding
Payroll Management
Performance Management
Recruitment Management
Time & Attendance
More features of Breathe
Absence Management
Access Controls/Permissions
Activity Dashboard
Alerts/Notifications
API
Application Management
Approval Process Control
Attendance Management
Attendance Tracking
Availability Management
Calendar Management
Customizable Fields
Customizable Reports
Customizable Templates
Data Import/Export
Document Management
Document Storage
Employee Database
Employee Portal
Employee Profiles
Employee Self Service
Goal Setting/Tracking
HR Management
Learning & Development
Leave Tracking
Mobile Access
Offboarding
Payroll Reporting
Performance Appraisal
Performance Review Management
Project Time Tracking
Real-time Scheduling
Reminders
Reporting/Analytics
Reporting & Statistics
Resource Scheduling
Role-Based Permissions
Scheduling
Self Service Portal
Sick Leave Tracking
Task Management
Task Scheduling
Tax Compliance
Team Calendars
Third-Party Integrations
Time Off Management
Time Off Requests
Timesheet Management
Training Management
Vacation/Leave Tracking

Breathe Integrations

WeThrive

Google Calendar

Microsoft Outlook

Xero

Breathe User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.3

Ratings Breakdown

52%

35%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.4

Value for money

4.2

Customer support

4.0

Functionality

4.1

Shahul H.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2023

A Great Human Resource Software

It's a very useful software which helps for the HR management and leave tracking purposes. Not only that it can be used for personal goal setting and training activities too.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It has the option to track our goals and maintain our qualification, training , and learning which help us to keep our records up to date. In addition it has an easy process to apply for the leave and track them and get the approvals. Further the organization chart will provide the details about the organization and the relevant person whom the first tier employees need to contact for their leaves

Cons:

The way how the organization chart presented need some updates

Rachel S.

Verified reviewer

Internet

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2024

Good for SMEs

Good value for the functionality and feels like it's been designed by actual users, rather than some bright spark with an idea.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It's quite easy to use once you're in there, and links people, function, teams etc - as well as providing different access depending on admin rights. Personal, private and public information is well set out, and the features are comprehensive, eg performance such as 1:1s, appraisals, employment details and holiday records. Holidays are easy to book and amend.

Cons:

The holiday calendar display is a little clunky, but not massively detrimentally so, and the navigation generally can take a little getting used to.

Reasons for switching to Breathe

Costwise Breathe was better and was providing better access rights to different admin level users than BambooHR

Alastair T.

Verified reviewer

Staffing and Recruiting

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed March 2025

Massive price hikes, decreased usability and manual export of files when you leave.

Used to be good, but since they were sold it rapidly went down hill.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Used to be really good for small business. It was good value for money and simple to use.

Cons:

We have been with BreathHR for 10 years, but the new update is a step backwards. We have now had another price increase so the product has gone up 57% in two years. Unfortunately since the company got taken over a couple of years ago its rapidly going backwards. We found a new product which is cheaper and a lot more functionality. After informing BreatheHR that we are leaving it transpires they have no data transfer software so all our files/documents have to be manually download for every employee. Another reason to really think twice about signing with BreatheHR.

Reasons for switching to Breathe

Cost, product usability, much more value in SenseHR as does a lot more for less.

Michal K.

Verified reviewer

Education Management

2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2026

Great platform to manage employees

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I use Breathe to manage my annual leave. It is super easy to use. It has handy calendar and option to cancel the leave by the user.

Cons:

There is not much you can dislike about Breathe. It does the job. It combines Annual leave, sickness, courses.

Katie B.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Reviewed July 2023

Good overall

Mostly been good overall a few teething problems at all but this is expected with any system

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The majority of the system is easy to use both as an administrator and also for employees. If all information is entered correctly the reminders on the system are great as well i.e passport and visa expiry reminders. Booking time off / leave requests work well

Cons:

Documents and timesheets / time logs - not being able to have bulk upload functionality is really frustrating at times. The report functionality isn't great also. Not having version control and a log of version controls for documents as well is also annoying

Reasons for choosing Breathe

I personally didnt the company decided and put it in place

JOHN B.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed October 2024

Breathe review

I have used it for multiple different companies and overall it is a very user friendly system, although it lacks the functionality of some larger systems

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The easy and clear reporting that came as part of the system

Cons:

The inability for it to expand with the company

Reasons for choosing Breathe

Cost predominantly, although also due to the relatively small size of the company

Ellie B.

Verified reviewer

Financial Services

51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2025

Great for a first time HRIS or smaller business

It does the job, especially for a smaller business or first time using a HRIS. Staff easily adapt to it and know how to use it. It just doesn't have the level of tools and reporting that I would choose from a HRIS. Good for the price though.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Really easy to use, intuitive, and modern looking. It was quick and easy to set people up on and establish bug fixes etc. I could easily alter settings to work to our business needs.

Cons:

Just a bit too basic! The reporting wasn't as in depth as required, and it was very much an entry level solution.

Ellie B.

Verified reviewer

Hospitality

11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed May 2025

Great user friendly, simple HR system

Overall, Breathe is a really user friendly system, with great reporting tools, document storage, and a really useful dashboard where you can see key metrics for your employees.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Breathe is an incredibly well laid out and easy to use software. It's simple to use as a HR user and manager, and easy to use as an employee. All staff documents can be held in the cloud, and employees have access to the documents only you choose. There is also an option to make it necessary for an employee to view a document you have uploaded which can be really useful for Health & Safety documents etc.

Cons:

It can be a bit 'clunky' trying to change some employee details, especially for those that aren't too great with IT.

Michael S.

Verified reviewer

Construction

11-50 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed March 2025

Decent HR portal

Solid HR portal with lots of bells and whistles

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I like the variety of features and the level of control over switching them on/off

Cons:

The number of "clicks" to get to the desired function sometimes seems too many.

Sally P.

Verified reviewer

Marketing and Advertising

11-50 employees

Used unspecified for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed June 2016

Great HR platform for growing businesses

We found BreatheHR when we were about 20 staff and it's been a godsend, it meant we could move on from holiday spreadsheets and it made us so much more organised with personnel files but those were only the basic things we were trying to 'fix', in reality lots of other benefits came with it - our team love the 'kudos' feature which mean they can say thanks / well done to each other, and we use it to help communicate business critical documents to all staff - our team have take much more responsibility for their own information and now they can access things like remaining holiday days whenever they want.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Pros:

There are lots but in general this has given us a professionalism in our HR administration that we simply didn't have before at a cost that's a real no brainer.

Cons:

Can't think of any, but if anything you do only get out of it what you put in so if you don't engage your staff in it and use the various features then it won't be so useful.

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