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HR · head to head

Breathe HR vs Sesame HR

Breathe HR logo

Breathe HR

HR

Simple HR software for SMEs

From
£13/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sesame HR logo

Sesame HR

HR

Spanish HR and time recording platform built around the legal obligation to record daily working hours

From
On request
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; Sesame HR there is no payroll calculation, so the payroll relationship stays with an external gestoria or payroll system and Sesame is only feeding it data.
  • They diverge on capability: Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Sesame HR covers Time and attendance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Breathe HR and Sesame HR differ
AttributeBreathe HRSesame HR
Starting price£13/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Founded2012Unknown

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

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 Sesame HR

  • Time and attendance
  • Legal time reports
  • Shift planning
  • Absence management
  • Document management
  • Expenses
  • Performance
  • Payroll export

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

Sesame HR

  • A Spanish employer that must produce daily working time records for a labour inspectionnot Breathe HR
  • A company with shift workers across several sites that needs rota planning and real clock-in data in one placenot Breathe HR
  • A business whose gestoria wants clean hours and absence data each month instead of emailed spreadsheetsnot Breathe HR
  • A Latin American subsidiary of a Spanish group standardising on the same attendance systemnot 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

Sesame HR

  • There is no payroll calculation, so the payroll relationship stays with an external gestoria or payroll system and Sesame is only feeding it data.
  • The product is built around Spanish and Latin American regulation, so a buyer employing in northern Europe gets attendance tracking without the local statutory logic that made the product valuable in the first place.
  • Modules beyond time and attendance are noticeably shallower, and companies expecting the performance or recruitment features to replace dedicated tools are usually disappointed.
  • Support, documentation and legal templates are Spanish-first, and English-language material lags behind, which slows adoption in mixed-language organisations.
  • Pricing is per employee per month across module tiers, so a company that only wants compliant time recording still pays a headcount-scaled fee for a suite it uses a fraction of.

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

Sesame HR

On request
  • Sesame HR$undefined/year
    • Priced per employee per month with module-based tiers
    • Time and attendance in the base tier
    • Shift planning, performance and expenses as higher tiers or add-ons

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 Sesame HR if

  • You need time and attendance.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want legal time reports.
Sesame HR review

Questions people ask

Is Breathe HR or Sesame HR better?
Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Sesame HR at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or Sesame HR?
Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Sesame HR at On request.
Does Breathe HR or Sesame HR run on more platforms?
Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. Sesame HR 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 Sesame HR is typically brought in for.
What can Breathe HR do that Sesame HR cannot?
Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting. Sesame HR covers Time and attendance, Legal time reports, Shift planning, Absence management.

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
Sesame HR: Why is time recording mandatory in Spain?

Royal Decree-Law 8/2019 requires every employer to record daily start and finish times for all employees and to retain those records for four years for labour inspection.

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
Sesame HR: Does Sesame HR run payroll?

No. It exports hours, absences and variable pay to a gestoria or payroll system such as A3 or Sage.

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
Sesame HR: Does it work outside Spain?

It is used across Latin America and Portugal. Outside those markets you get the tooling without the country-specific legal logic.

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
Sesame HR: Can it handle shift workers across multiple sites?

Yes. Kiosk and QR clock-in with geolocation is designed for exactly that, and rota planning sits on top of the same data.

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
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