Softwr

HR & Recruiting · head to head

Breathe HR vs Oracle Database

Breathe HR logo

Breathe HR

HR & Recruiting

Simple HR software for SMEs

From
£13/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Oracle Database logo

Oracle Database

Database & Data Management

The world's most complete, reliable, and secure database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Oracle Database 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; Oracle Database high licensing costs for Enterprise Edition with option packs potentially doubling the effective per-processor cost
  • They diverge on capability: Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Oracle Database covers PL/SQL.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Breathe HR and Oracle Database actually diverge.

Attributes where Breathe HR and Oracle Database differ
AttributeBreathe HROracle Database
Starting price£13/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidOn-premises, Oracle Cloud, Linux, Windows, Unix
CategoryHR & RecruitingDatabase & Data Management
Founded20121977

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
  • Slack
  • Google Workspace

Only in Oracle Database

  • PL/SQL
  • Real Application Clusters
  • Data Guard
  • Advanced Compression
  • Partitioning
  • In-memory Database
  • Multitenant Architecture
  • Oracle Cloud

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 Oracle Database
  • Storing HR documents, contracts and e-signaturesnot Oracle Database
  • Performance reviews and onboarding workflows for small teamsnot Oracle Database

Oracle Database

  • Transaction processingnot Breathe HR
  • Data storagenot Breathe HR
  • Application backendnot Breathe HR
  • Reportingnot Breathe HR
  • Data analyticsnot 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

Oracle Database

  • High licensing costs for Enterprise Edition with option packs potentially doubling the effective per-processor cost
  • Requires skilled database administrators for proper setup, configuration, and maintenance
  • High hardware requirements increase infrastructure costs; less suitable for resource-constrained environments

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

Oracle Database

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Oracle Database review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Breathe HR if

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

Choose Oracle Database if

  • You need pl/sql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on On-premises, Oracle Cloud, Linux, Windows, Unix.
  • You also want real application clusters.
Oracle Database review

Questions people ask

Is Breathe HR or Oracle Database better?
Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Oracle Database at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or Oracle Database?
Oracle Database has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £13/month for Breathe HR and Free for Oracle Database.
Does Breathe HR or Oracle Database run on more platforms?
Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. Oracle Database runs on On-premises, Oracle Cloud, Linux, Windows, Unix.
Can I use Oracle Database for free?
Yes. Oracle Database 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 Oracle Database is typically brought in for.
What can Breathe HR do that Oracle Database cannot?
Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting. Oracle Database covers PL/SQL, Real Application Clusters, Data Guard, Advanced Compression.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Oracle Database: What is the licensing cost of Oracle Database Enterprise Edition?

Oracle Database Enterprise Edition is priced at 47,500 USD per processor as of April 2026. Named User Plus licensing costs 950 USD per user. Pricing varies based on licensing metric chosen.

Source
Oracle Database: Does Oracle Database offer a free tier or trial?

Oracle Database offers Oracle Database Free Edition, a no-cost version for development and testing. However, no free trial is available for paid editions.

Source
Oracle Database: What are the deployment options for Oracle Database?

Oracle Database can be deployed on premises or through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Pricing and features vary based on deployment model selected.

Source
Oracle Database: What database management capabilities does Oracle Database provide?

Oracle Database is a converged, multi-model database management system offering in-memory computing, NoSQL, and MySQL database options with comprehensive data management and security features.

Source
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