Outgrowing your HR software isn’t just frustrating—it can stall a business’s growth and create chaos across hiring, onboarding, and performance tracking. According to a Gartner report, 55% of HR leaders admit that their current technology no longer meets evolving business needs. This disconnect stems from choosing a tool that wasn’t built for a company’s respective phases of growth. 

Both PeopleHR and Breathe HR are built to support growing businesses, but they take very different approaches. 

PeopleHR is ideal for startups and fast-growing teams that require structure, automation, and tighter control over recruitment and performance management. In contrast, Breathe HR supports growth just as effectively, but prioritizes simplicity, flexibility, and ease of use, making it a stronger fit for smaller teams. 

In this guide, we’ll break down the key differences between the two, so you can decide which one aligns best with your business goals. Let's get started! 

PeopleHR Vs Breathe HR: At A Glance

Features 

PeopleHR 

Breathe HR 

Payroll 

Built-in payroll via Paycircle; HMRC-approved; handles tax, pensions, and statutory pay 

No built-in payroll; exports data for use in systems like Xero 

Leave And Absence Management   

Visual planner, TOIL tracking, Bradford scoring, multi-country support 

Simple tracker, burnout tools, phased return planning, calendar sync with Google and Outlook 

Recruitment 

Full ATS with job posting, AI support, video interviews, and offer automation 

Optional add-on; basic job posting and invites; lacks automation and analytics 

Employee Self-Service 

Web/mobile access to leave, goals, payslips (if payroll used), performance updates 

Access to documents, kudos, onboarding, shared calendars, lacks payslip access 

Time And Attendance 

Advanced tracking via QR, biometrics, geo-fencing, auto timesheets, and project logging 

Basic TimeClock, shift planner, email reminders; no biometric or location tracking 

Pricing 

Per-user model; starts at £3/user/month; HR + Payroll bundles from £6.50/user/month 

Size-based pricing; starts at £22/month for 1–10 employees 

What Is PeopleHR?

PeopleHR is a modern HR software solution designed to help businesses manage their workforce more efficiently. It is trusted by over 7,000 companies to simplify core HR tasks like recruitment, onboarding, time-off tracking, and performance management.  

It works well across all industries, but logistics and warehousing companies with diverse shift patterns and distributed teams tend to see the biggest benefits. Take Willmotts Transport, for example: with staff numbers growing from 80 to nearly 300 across multiple sites, their manual HR systems quickly became unmanageable. Since switching to PeopleHR, everything from holiday requests to compliance is now automated in one place. 

This clearly shows how PeopleHR helps growing companies scale their HR operations.  

Standout Features Of PeopleHR

  • Integrated Payroll: PeopleHR provides integrated payroll software and outsourcing options, allowing businesses to handle payroll entirely within the platform or delegate it 
  • AI-Powered Analytics And Copilot: This system offers AI-driven analytics and a Copilot feature to automate tasks, deliver actionable insights, and support decision-making 
  • Applicant Tracking System (ATS): It includes a built-in ATS for end-to-end recruitment management (job postings, candidate tracking, interview scheduling) 

Pros And Cons Of PeopleHR

Pros 

  • Sends automatic email alerts to the right managers for approvals 
  • Reports can be exported into Excel format, making further edits and analysis easy 
  • Employees can quickly update their own details without involving HR 

Cons 

  • Support tickets are often closed without resolution 
  • The org chart feature isn’t intuitive and doesn’t support filtered or department-specific exports 

What Is Breathe HR?

Breathe HR is a people-focused HR software designed to help small and growing businesses manage their teams more efficiently. More than 16,000 UK companies use this system to track employee absences, manage holiday requests, store employee records, and simplify everyday HR tasks. 

It works well for industries such as technology, manufacturing, professional services, and retail. However, companies that struggle with manual processes and outdated systems can benefit the most from Breathe HR. For example, Tritech, a UK-based engineering firm, faced challenges with paper-based employee records and inefficient time-off tracking. After implementing Breathe HR, they quickly digitized their HR processes, improved team coordination, and significantly reduced administrative workload. 

It proves that Breathe HR can, in fact, automate routine HR work as companies grow. 

Standout Features Of Breathe HR

  • Modular Add-On Approach: It allows businesses to tailor their HR system with optional modules such as ‘Learn’ (e-learning), ‘Rota, Time & Attendance,’ ‘Expenses,’ and ‘Recruitment.’ This flexibility lets organizations pay only for what they need 
  • Employee Wellbeing Features: Breathe’s performance tools include ‘Kudos’, enabling peer recognition and morale boosting. Employees can send short, positive messages, which are often displayed in a feed or dashboard 
  • Built-In E-Learning Module: The ‘Learn’ module provides over 40 ready-made courses (e.g., ‘Acceptable Internet Use,’ ‘Emotional Intelligence in Leadership’) that can be assigned to employees or departments, with progress tracking included 

Pros And Cons Of Breathe HR

Pros 

  • Users often mention getting quick, helpful responses from the support team 
  • Automated alerts help keep things like performance reviews and data updates on track 
  • Keeps all employee records—like promotions and personal info—in one place 

Cons 

  • The system blocks new leave requests until a previous one is cleared 
  • Few options to integrate with payroll software 

PeopleHR Vs Breathe HR: Feature Comparison

Payroll

PeopleHR, with its integration through ‘Paycircle’, offers a complete payroll solution. It combines HR and payroll data in one system, helping businesses avoid the hassle of syncing between separate platforms. Payroll runs can be automated with zero-click processing, and the system is His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)-approved and Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP)-accredited, ensuring it meets UK compliance standards.

The special thing about it is that it handles everything from tax calculations and pension auto-enrolment to statutory payments like maternity or sick pay. Employees can access payslips, request holidays, and update their details via a self-service portal.

Breathe HR, by contrast, does not include built-in payroll processing. Instead, it offers a payroll export tool that helps businesses send payroll-ready data (like salaries and leave records) to external systems such as Xero. While it tracks time, attendance, and absences to support payroll calculations, actual payroll runs must be done through a third-party provider.

Winner: PeopleHR clearly takes the lead here. It offers a complete, built-in payroll system that’s fully automated and compliant with UK regulations.

Leave And Absence Management

PeopleHR provides a robust system for tracking all types of leave—including holidays, sickness, and Time Off In Lieu (TOIL)—with customizable absence reasons and automated workflows. What makes it even more unique is that its ‘Absence Planner’ offers a detailed visual calendar and automates steps like timesheets, approvals, and return-to-work processes.

It also calculates Bradford Factor scores to help identify frequent unplanned absences and support policy compliance. Managers receive advanced reporting features, including heat maps and trend analysis, to monitor the impact on their departments. But when it comes to growing teams, PeopleHR is more suitable because it supports flexible accrual rules and multi-country setups.

Breathe HR, on the other hand, is better for teams looking for ease of use and quick setup. While it also tracks holidays and sickness and includes Bradford scoring, it adds thoughtful features like a dedicated category for disability-related absences and tools for burnout prevention—such as planning phased returns or workload adjustments. It offers an intuitive leave tracker with a visual calendar that syncs with Google and Office 365 calendars and allows post-approval edits and overlapping leave alerts, which PeopleHR lacks. Breathe may not be suitable for enterprise use, but it does cover practical needs like prorated leave for mid-year joiners and part-time staff— enough to support early-stage or expanding teams.

Winner: Since Breathe offers better day-to-day usability and PeopleHR offers more long-term control, it’s a tie based on what matters most to your team’s needs.

Recruitment

PeopleHR offers a full-featured applicant tracking system (ATS) that covers every stage of the hiring process. With it, you can post jobs to multiple job boards, screen CVs, schedule interviews, and send offer letters—all from one place. It includes built-in video interviewing tools with audio/video question support, which helps teams assess candidates remotely.

The real advantage is that you don’t have to manage interview invites or onboarding manually—it’s all automated. You also get General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant audit trails, AI-powered support through Copilot, and recruitment analytics to help improve time-to-hire and sourcing decisions. And because everything is integrated, the transition from hiring to onboarding happens smoothly.

Breathe HR, in comparison, offers a recruitment module as an optional add-on, mainly aimed at small businesses with occasional hiring needs. It allows users to create job posts, receive applications, and send interview invites.

However, the tool doesn’t include performance analytics, automation features, or AI support to simplify or accelerate the hiring process. Despite these limitations, Breathe HR does let you share job ads on social media. It also meets key compliance standards like GDPR and ISO 27001. That said, its recruitment capabilities are limited when it comes to automation and efficiency—especially compared to the more advanced workflows offered by PeopleHR.

Winner: PeopleHR takes the lead here because it offers a complete, automated recruitment system that supports the full hiring journey.

Employee Self-Service

With PeopleHR, employees can log in through the web or mobile app to update personal info, check their remaining leave, request holidays, and even view payslips if payroll is included in your plan. Everything’s connected—so once leave is approved, it automatically updates the calendar. If you're using performance tools, employees can also view goals, track progress, and receive updates—all from the same place.

Breathe HR, conversely, is designed to keep things simple, especially for smaller teams. Employees can update their contact or job info, request holidays, and log sick days. What’s helpful here is the shared holiday calendar—so everyone can see who’s off and plan better. They can also access documents online, like contracts or policy updates. While Breathe doesn’t include payslip access, it does let staff take part in performance tracking, give or receive kudos, and even complete onboarding digitally if those modules are switched on. It’s also worth noting how easily employees can access and sign key documents—like contracts, policies, and forms—right within the system.

Winner: Breathe HR wins if you're focusing purely on employee self-service, where employees can handle everything without depending on HR or complex tools.

Time And Attendance

When it comes to time and attendance tracking, PeopleHR is built for teams that need detailed control and real-time visibility. It supports multiple clock-in methods—QR codes, biometrics, mobile tap-ins, and geo-fencing—ensuring employees are physically where they should be. This data feeds directly into automated timesheets, which connect to payroll for accurate overtime, shift pay, and project-based billing. Managers can monitor attendance in real time, track on-site vs. remote workers, and spot patterns using built-in analytics, including Bradford Factor scoring. There’s also task-level tracking, letting employees log hours by project—ideal for businesses that care about job costing, accountability, or billable time.

Breathe HR, meanwhile, keeps things simple. It includes a drag-and-drop rota planner, a basic TimeClock tool, and self-service shift management, so employees can accept or swap shifts easily. The built-in TimeClock tool enables basic clock-in and clock-out functionality, with optional email or app reminders. While Breathe does automatically generate timesheets and securely store them for compliance, it lacks advanced clocking options like biometrics or geo-fencing.

Winner: PeopleHR wins this one because it offers far more precision and flexibility in tracking attendance.

What Is The Cost Of PeopleHR And Breathe HR?

PeopleHR offers flexible pricing depending on whether you need just the HR software or a combined HR + Payroll solution. All pricing is based on a per-user, per-month model, and every plan comes with a 14-day free trial.  

HR Software Only: 

  • Starter: £3/user/month 
  • Core: £5.50/user/month 
  • Pro: £8/user/month 
  • Elite: £9.50/user/month 

HR + Payroll Bundle: 

  • Core + Payroll: £6.50/user/month 
  • Pro + Payroll: £9/user/month 
  • Elite + Payroll: £10.50/user/month 

Breathe HR uses a business-size-based pricing model instead of charging per user. Plans scale based on employee count, and a 14-day free trial is available. You can also purchase optional add-ons separately. 

  • Micro (1–10 employees): £22/month 
  • Starter (11–20 employees): £39/month 
  • Regular (21–50 employees): £89/month 
  • Pro (51–100 employees): £159/month 
  • Premium (101–150 employees): £369/month 
  • Plus (151–200 employees): £525/month 
  • Add-ons (1–10 employees): Rota (£10), Learning (£12), Recruitment (£21), Expenses (£12) 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.   

Final Verdict: Which One Wins?

With a score of 3:1 in favor of PeopleHR, it takes the lead as the more complete HR platform—offering built-in payroll, automated recruitment, and advanced time tracking that scales with growing teams. 

That said, the better choice still depends on what your team needs right now. If you're a small business looking for simplicity, ease of use, and a clean self-service experience for your employees, Breathe HR is an excellent fit. However, if you require a system that supports structured HR processes, in-depth reporting, and long-term scalability, PeopleHR is the better investment. 

If you're still weighing your options, you may also want to explore other HR tools, such as BambooHR or HiBob, each offering a distinct mix of simplicity, structure, and scalability.