Softwr

HR · head to head

Breathe HR vs Hastee

Breathe HR logo

Breathe HR

HR

Simple HR software for SMEs

From
£13/month
Rated
-
Hastee logo

Hastee

Payroll

United Kingdom earned wage access, now part of the Zellis group

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Breathe HR pricing is banded by headcount, starting at £24 per month for 1 to 10 people, £44 per month for 11 to 20 and £99 per month for 21 to 50; Hastee beyond the free £100 monthly allowance the employee pays 2.5 per cent per withdrawal, so a worker drawing weekly funds the benefit themselves unless the employer opts to subsidise it.
  • They diverge on capability: Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Hastee covers Earned wage withdrawals.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Breathe HR and Hastee actually diverge.

Attributes where Breathe HR and Hastee differ
AttributeBreathe HRHastee
Starting price£13/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
CategoryHRPayroll
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Breathe HR

  • Employee Database
  • Absence Management
  • Document Storage
  • HR Reporting
  • Performance Management
  • Training
  • Slack
  • Google Workspace

Only in Hastee

  • Earned wage withdrawals
  • Free monthly allowance
  • Payroll and time integration
  • Employer policy controls
  • Financial wellbeing content
  • Employer subsidy option
  • Employer reporting
  • Code of practice alignment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Breathe HR

  • Holiday, absence and sickness tracking for a UK small businessnot Hastee
  • Storing HR documents, contracts and e-signaturesnot Hastee
  • Performance reviews and onboarding workflows for small teamsnot Hastee

Hastee

  • A care provider offering shift workers early access to pay to reduce reliance on high cost creditnot Breathe HR
  • A hospitality employer using early pay access as a recruitment and retention claimnot Breathe HR
  • A Zellis or Moorepay payroll customer adding wage access without a separate payroll integration projectnot Breathe HR
  • An employer replacing ad hoc manual salary advances processed by finance each monthnot Breathe HR

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Breathe HR

  • Pricing is banded by headcount, starting at £24 per month for 1 to 10 people, £44 per month for 11 to 20 and £99 per month for 21 to 50
  • Plans are capped by band up to 151 to 200 people, so it is not sold to organisations above that range on the published ladder
  • The free trial is 14 days
  • Health and safety, e-learning and other modules are sold as add-ons on top of the core HR plan
  • Pricing is quoted in pounds and the product is marketed to UK SMEs

Hastee

  • Beyond the free £100 monthly allowance the employee pays 2.5 per cent per withdrawal, so a worker drawing weekly funds the benefit themselves unless the employer opts to subsidise it.
  • A 2.5 per cent charge on money the employee has already earned is expensive when annualised over frequent small withdrawals, which undercuts the financial wellbeing framing used to sell it internally.
  • Earned wage access is not directly regulated as consumer credit in the UK, so protections rest on a voluntary code of practice rather than FCA rules, and employees have weaker recourse than with a regulated credit product.
  • Zellis acquired Hastee in June 2025, so employers on non Zellis payroll systems face roadmap uncertainty about how long standalone integrations remain a priority.
  • Accrual accuracy depends on payroll and time data quality, so employers with monthly batch payroll or weak attendance capture get conservative limits that disappoint the staff the benefit was sold to.

Pricing, plan by plan

Breathe HR

£13/month
  • Core$13/month
    • Employee Database
    • Absence Management
    • Documents
  • People Management$18/month
    • All Core features
    • Performance
    • Goals

Hastee

On request
  • Hastee for employers$undefined/year
    • Free for the employer to offer in the standard model
    • Employee gets one free withdrawal per month up to £100
    • Further withdrawals charged to the employee at 2.5 per cent of the amount

Which should you pick?

Choose Breathe HR if

  • You need employee database.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want absence management.

Choose Hastee if

  • You need earned wage withdrawals.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want free monthly allowance.

Questions people ask

Is Breathe HR or Hastee better?
Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Hastee at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or Hastee?
Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Hastee at On request.
Does Breathe HR or Hastee run on more platforms?
Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. Hastee runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Breathe HR best used for?
Breathe HR is most often used for holiday, absence and sickness tracking for a uk small business, storing hr documents, contracts and e-signatures, performance reviews and onboarding workflows for small teams. Of those, holiday, absence and sickness tracking for a uk small business and storing hr documents, contracts and e-signatures are not what Hastee is typically brought in for.
What can Breathe HR do that Hastee cannot?
Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting. Hastee covers Earned wage withdrawals, Free monthly allowance, Payroll and time integration, Employer policy controls.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Breathe HR: Is there a free trial available?

Yes, Breathe HR offers a free trial with no credit card required to get started.

Source
Hastee: Does the employee pay?

Yes. One withdrawal per month up to £100 is free; after that the employee pays 2.5 per cent of the amount withdrawn.

Breathe HR: Are there long-term contracts required?

No. Breathe HR explicitly states there are no long-term contracts, no hidden costs, and you have the freedom to cancel anytime.

Source
Hastee: Can the employer make it genuinely free for staff?

Yes. Hastee offers employer paid terms where the company absorbs the transaction fee, but this is a negotiated option rather than the default.

Breathe HR: What company sizes does Breathe HR support?

The software is designed to support businesses with up to 250 employees. Organization size options mentioned include 1-10, 11-50, and 51-250 employees.

Source
Hastee: Who owns Hastee now?

Zellis, the UK payroll group that also owns Moorepay and Benefex, acquired Hastee in June 2025.

Breathe HR: Are there different features for different plans?

Yes, flexible subscription-based plans exist with some features like Polls & Surveys available only for regular and above plans. The page does not specify plan names or detailed feature breakdowns.

Source
Breathe HR: What happens if I want to cancel my subscription?

You can cancel anytime without worrying about hidden costs. Breathe HR emphasizes no long-term commitment and the freedom to leave whenever your needs change.

Source
Share

Related pages

Other head to heads