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Software · head to head

Breathe HR vs PlanetScale

Breathe HR logo

Breathe HR

Software

Simple HR software for SMEs

From
£13/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PlanetScale logo

PlanetScale

Software

The MySQL-compatible serverless database

From
$15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; PlanetScale eBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead
  • They diverge on capability: Breathe HR covers Employee Database, PlanetScale covers Database Branching.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Breathe HR and PlanetScale differ
AttributeBreathe HRPlanetScale
Starting price£13/month$15/month
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidCloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Founded20122018

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 PlanetScale

  • Database Branching
  • Non-blocking Schema Changes
  • Insights
  • Horizontal Scaling
  • Connection Pooling
  • Query Caching
  • Automatic Backups
  • Global Replication

Both cover

  • Web support

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

PlanetScale

  • MySQL database hosting with automatic failover and replicationnot Breathe HR
  • Vitess-based sharding for horizontal scaling across large datasetsnot Breathe HR
  • Cloud provider flexibility across AWS, GCP, Azure with 60+ regionsnot Breathe HR
  • Cost-effective database clusters using ARM64 architecture optionsnot 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

PlanetScale

  • EBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead
  • EBS Non-HA single-node option lacks redundancy and automatic failover
  • Pricing varies by cloud provider and region, requiring queries for specific rates
  • ARM64 architecture only available on EBS tier, not Metal deployments

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

PlanetScale

$15/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PlanetScale 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 PlanetScale if

  • You need database branching.
  • You work on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure).
  • You also want non-blocking schema changes.
PlanetScale review

Questions people ask

Is Breathe HR or PlanetScale better?
Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and PlanetScale at $15/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or PlanetScale?
Breathe HR starts at £13/month and PlanetScale at $15/month.
Does Breathe HR or PlanetScale run on more platforms?
Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. PlanetScale runs on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure).
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 PlanetScale is typically brought in for.
What can Breathe HR do that PlanetScale cannot?
Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting. PlanetScale covers Database Branching, Non-blocking Schema Changes, Insights, Horizontal Scaling. Both handle Web support.
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