HR · head to head
Guild vs Sesame HR
Guild
HR
Employer-funded education benefit administered as a curated marketplace of degree and skilling programmes
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Sesame HR
HR
Spanish HR and time recording platform built around the legal obligation to record daily working hours
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Guild no pricing is published at any level, and because the programme cost combines a platform relationship with tuition funding, comparing Guild against running reimbursement in-house requires modelling that Guild is best placed to supply and least neutral about.; 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: Guild covers Curated provider network, 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 Guild and Sesame HR actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Guild
- Curated provider network
- Direct tuition payment
- Coaching
- Career pathing
- Talent analytics
- Benefit administration
- Financial aid navigation
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.
Guild
- A retailer with high hourly turnover that wants an education benefit with take-up rather than a reimbursement policy nobody claimsnot Sesame HR
- An employer trying to build internal pipelines into hard-to-fill roles from its existing frontline workforcenot Sesame HR
- A company that wants participation and completion reporting to justify the benefit to a finance committeenot Sesame HR
- Replacing an in-house tuition reimbursement scheme whose administrative burden falls on an HR team that cannot advise on programme choicenot Sesame HR
Sesame HR
- A Spanish employer that must produce daily working time records for a labour inspectionnot Guild
- A company with shift workers across several sites that needs rota planning and real clock-in data in one placenot Guild
- A business whose gestoria wants clean hours and absence data each month instead of emailed spreadsheetsnot Guild
- A Latin American subsidiary of a Spanish group standardising on the same attendance systemnot Guild
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Guild
- No pricing is published at any level, and because the programme cost combines a platform relationship with tuition funding, comparing Guild against running reimbursement in-house requires modelling that Guild is best placed to supply and least neutral about.
- The provider network is curated, so an employee who wants a specific local institution or an unusual specialism may find it is not available, which undercuts the benefit for exactly the motivated employees you most want to retain.
- The whole model assumes US higher education, accreditation and federal financial aid, so it does not extend to a multinational workforce and cannot be a global benefit.
- The retention case rests on outcome measurement that the vendor supplies, and independent scrutiny during 2025 and 2026 has questioned completion and career-mobility results, so a buyer should insist on raw participation and completion data rather than curated case studies.
- Value depends almost entirely on take-up among frontline staff, and take-up depends on manager encouragement and shift scheduling that Guild does not control, so an employer with weak middle management can pay for a benefit that goes largely unused.
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
Guild
On request- Career Opportunity Platform$undefined/year
- Enterprise agreement with no published rate card
- Priced against workforce size and programme scope
- Tuition funding is a separate employer cost from the platform relationship
Sesame HR
On request- Sesame HR$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 Guild if
- You need curated provider network.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want direct tuition payment.
Choose Sesame HR if
- You need time and attendance.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want legal time reports.
Questions people ask
- Is Guild or Sesame HR better?
- Neither clearly leads. Guild starts at On request and Sesame HR at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Guild or Sesame HR?
- Guild starts at On request and Sesame HR at On request.
- Does Guild or Sesame HR run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is Guild best used for?
- Guild is most often used for a retailer with high hourly turnover that wants an education benefit with take-up rather than a reimbursement policy nobody claims, an employer trying to build internal pipelines into hard-to-fill roles from its existing frontline workforce, a company that wants participation and completion reporting to justify the benefit to a finance committee, replacing an in-house tuition reimbursement scheme whose administrative burden falls on an hr team that cannot advise on programme choice. Of those, a retailer with high hourly turnover that wants an education benefit with take-up rather than a reimbursement policy nobody claims and an employer trying to build internal pipelines into hard-to-fill roles from its existing frontline workforce are not what Sesame HR is typically brought in for.
- What can Guild do that Sesame HR cannot?
- Guild covers Curated provider network, Direct tuition payment, Coaching, Career pathing. Sesame HR covers Time and attendance, Legal time reports, Shift planning, Absence management.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Guild: Is Guild the same as Guild Education?
Yes. The company dropped Education from its name in 2023 when it repositioned around career mobility rather than degree programmes alone.
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.
Guild: Who pays, the employer or the employee?
The employer funds the benefit and pays Guild. Employees generally access approved programmes without paying tuition upfront.
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.
Guild: Can employees study anywhere?
No. Programmes come from a curated network of vetted academic and skilling providers, which is the point of the model but also its main limitation.
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.
Guild: Does Guild work outside the United States?
No. It is built around US institutions, accreditation and financial aid.
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.
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