HR & Recruiting · head to head
Breathe HR vs n8n
The short version
- Only n8n has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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; n8n starter tier limited to 1 project and 5 concurrent executions
- They diverge on capability: Breathe HR covers Employee Database, n8n covers Workflow automation.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Breathe HR and n8n actually diverge.
| Attribute | Breathe HR | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | £13/month | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | freemium |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web, Ios, Android | Web, Docker, Self-hosted |
| Category | HR & Recruiting | Automation & Integration |
| Founded | 2012 | 2019 |
Identical on both: 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
- Microsoft 365
- Xero
Only in n8n
- Workflow automation
- Visual editor
- Conditional execution
- Looping
- Error handling
- Scheduling
- Webhooks
- REST API
Both cover
- Slack
- Google Workspace
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 n8n
- Storing HR documents, contracts and e-signaturesnot n8n
- Performance reviews and onboarding workflows for small teamsnot n8n
n8n
- Building AI agents and workflow automation for technical teamsnot Breathe HR
- Visual workflow design with capability to write custom JavaScript or Python codenot Breathe HR
- Enterprise deployments with self-hosted or cloud optionsnot Breathe HR
- Integrating 500+ pre-built applications with custom API connectionsnot 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
n8n
- Starter tier limited to 1 project and 5 concurrent executions
- Starter and Pro tiers restricted to Cloud hosting only, not self-hosted
- Business tier requires 6 months minimum commitment at €667/month
- SSO/SAML/LDAP authentication requires Business or Enterprise tier
- Dedicated support with SLA available only on Enterprise plan
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
n8n
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the n8n review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Breathe HR if
- You need employee database.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want absence management.
Choose n8n if
- You need workflow automation.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Docker, Self-hosted.
- You also want visual editor.
Questions people ask
- Is Breathe HR or n8n better?
- Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and n8n at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or n8n?
- n8n has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £13/month for Breathe HR and Free for n8n.
- Does Breathe HR or n8n run on more platforms?
- Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. n8n runs on Web, Docker, Self-hosted.
- Can I use n8n for free?
- Yes. n8n has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Breathe HR starts at £13/month.
- 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 n8n is typically brought in for.
- What can Breathe HR do that n8n cannot?
- Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting. n8n covers Workflow automation, Visual editor, Conditional execution, Looping. Both handle Slack, Google Workspace.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- Breathe HR vs BambooHR
- Breathe HR vs Workday
- Breathe HR vs Culture Amp
- Breathe HR vs Freshteam
- Breathe HR vs TINYpulse
- Breathe HR vs Zoho People
- Breathe HR vs 15Five
- Breathe HR vs Bonusly
- Breathe HR vs CharlieHR
- Breathe HR vs Kudos
- Breathe HR vs Lattice
- Breathe HR vs Personio
- Breathe HR vs Achievers
- Breathe HR vs Darwinbox
- Breathe HR vs Employment Hero
- Breathe HR vs greytHR
- Breathe HR vs HiBob
- Breathe HR vs Homebase
- Breathe HR vs Microsoft Power Automate
- Breathe HR vs Zapier
- Breathe HR vs MuleSoft
- Breathe HR vs Parabola
- Breathe HR vs Zapier Plus
- Breathe HR vs Jitterbit
- Breathe HR vs mParticle
- Breathe HR vs Paragon
- Breathe HR vs RudderStack
- Breathe HR vs Workato
- Breathe HR vs Airbyte
- Breathe HR vs Automate.io
- Breathe HR vs Boomi
- Breathe HR vs Browser Use
- Breathe HR vs Browserbase
- Breathe HR vs Celigo
- Breathe HR vs Census
- Breathe HR vs CrewAI
- n8n vs BambooHR
- n8n vs Workday
- n8n vs Culture Amp
- n8n vs Freshteam
- n8n vs TINYpulse
- n8n vs Zoho People
- n8n vs 15Five
- n8n vs Bonusly
- n8n vs CharlieHR
- n8n vs Kudos
- n8n vs Lattice
- n8n vs Personio
- n8n vs Achievers
- n8n vs Darwinbox
- n8n vs Employment Hero
- n8n vs greytHR
- n8n vs HiBob
- n8n vs Homebase
- n8n vs Microsoft Power Automate
- n8n vs Zapier
- n8n vs MuleSoft
- n8n vs Parabola
- n8n vs Zapier Plus
- n8n vs Jitterbit
- n8n vs mParticle
- n8n vs Paragon
- n8n vs RudderStack
- n8n vs Workato
- n8n vs Airbyte
- n8n vs Automate.io
- n8n vs Boomi
- n8n vs Browser Use
- n8n vs Browserbase
- n8n vs Celigo
- n8n vs Census
- n8n vs CrewAI


