Is Breathe HR or Subframe better?

Neither clearly leads. Breathe HR starts at £13/month and Subframe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Breathe HR or Subframe?

Subframe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £13/month for Breathe HR and Free for Subframe.

Does Breathe HR or Subframe run on more platforms?

Breathe HR runs on Web, Ios, Android. Subframe runs on Web.

Can I use Subframe for free?

Yes. Subframe 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 Subframe is typically brought in for.

What can Breathe HR do that Subframe cannot?

Breathe HR covers Employee Database, Absence Management, Document Storage, HR Reporting.

HR & Recruiting · head to head

Breathe HR vs Subframe

Breathe HR

HR & Recruiting

Simple HR software for SMEs

From: £13/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Subframe

Design Tools

The AI-native design tool built for code

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Subframe 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; Subframe the free plan is capped at 1 project, 10 pages, and 2 prototypes with limited AI usage and only 24 hour version history, versus unlimited AI on the $29 per editor per month Pro plan, as of August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Breathe HR and Subframe differ
Attribute	Breathe HR	Subframe
Starting price	£13/month	Free
Pricing model	subscription	freemium
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Ios, Android	Web
Category	HR & Recruiting	Design Tools
Founded	2012	Unknown

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 Subframe

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

Subframe

No use cases recorded yet. See the Subframe 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

Subframe

The free plan is capped at 1 project, 10 pages, and 2 prototypes with limited AI usage and only 24 hour version history, versus unlimited AI on the $29 per editor per month Pro plan, as of August 2026.

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

Subframe

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Subframe 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 Subframe if

You want to start without paying.

Subframe review

Questions people ask

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

Breathe HR vs Subframe

Breathe HR

Subframe

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Breathe HR

Only in Subframe

What people use each for

Breathe HR

Subframe

Where each one falls short

Breathe HR

Subframe

Pricing, plan by plan

Breathe HR

Subframe

Which should you pick?

Choose Breathe HR if

Choose Subframe if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on Breathe HR

More on Subframe

Keep looking

Other head to heads