Software · head to head
Breathe HR vs SmartHR

SmartHR
Software
Japanese back-office cloud for labor management, payroll and talent management
- 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; SmartHR pricing is not published for any of the three named plans (HR Strategy, HR Essential, Talent Management); the vendor states price varies by company size and requires a quote request form
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Breathe HR and SmartHR actually diverge.
| Attribute | Breathe HR | SmartHR |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | £13/month | On request |
| Pricing model | subscription | quote |
| Platforms | Web, Ios, Android | Web |
| Founded | 2012 | Unknown |
Identical on both: 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 SmartHR
Nothing recorded that Breathe HR does not also cover.
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 SmartHR
- Storing HR documents, contracts and e-signaturesnot SmartHR
- Performance reviews and onboarding workflows for small teamsnot SmartHR
SmartHR
No use cases recorded yet. See the SmartHR review.
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
SmartHR
- Pricing is not published for any of the three named plans (HR Strategy, HR Essential, Talent Management); the vendor states price varies by company size and requires a quote request form
- Many core functions (payroll, attendance tracking, hiring management, surveys) are separate paid add-on modules rather than included in the base plan price
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
SmartHR
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the SmartHR 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 SmartHR if
Nothing in the data separates SmartHR from Breathe HR on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Questions people ask
- Is Breathe HR or SmartHR better?
- Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and SmartHR at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or SmartHR?
- Breathe HR starts at £13/month and SmartHR at On request.
- Does Breathe HR or SmartHR run on more platforms?
- Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. SmartHR runs on Web.
- 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 SmartHR is typically brought in for.
- What can Breathe HR do that SmartHR cannot?
- Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting.
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