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Choosing the right HR software can be a transformational decision for a UK business.
For small and growing businesses, solving HR problems early means smoother operations and a stronger foundation for what’s next.
With so many options available, finding the right HR platform means picking something that works today and won’t hold you back tomorrow.
Two popular options, Breathe HR and Employment Hero, both bring a lot to the table, but they differ in focus, usability, what they offer and suitability for UK teams.
Below, we break down the differences to help you make the right choice.
Feature deep dive comparison: Breathe HR vs Employment Hero
Getting started: Implementation and setup
Pros and cons: Which HR software is right for you?
What is an Employment Operating System?
At-a-glance comparison
Breathe HR is purpose-built for growing UK businesses. It’s simple, flexible, intuitive, and tailored to help small to medium-sized businesses stay compliant and efficient, with the essentials.
Employment Hero equips businesses of all shapes and sizes from around the world with a broad suite of advanced tools. With more tools, comes more configurability and complexity, which may not be right for everyone.
Pricing comparison (2025)
*All prices are indicative and subject to change.
Breathe’s pricing is transparent and scalable, with functionality you can bolt on to match growing needs.
In contrast, Employment Hero’s pricing model often requires custom quotes, potentially limiting visibility for budget-conscious businesses.
Choosing the right HR platform can help businesses save money by reducing unnecessary costs and improving how they manage their money across HR and payroll functions. So make sure you're checking pricing thoroughly before you commit.
Feature deep dive comparison: Breathe HR vs Employment Hero
Both Breathe HR and Employment Hero are popular choices for small to medium-sized and scaling businesses looking to simplify people management, but they take slightly different approaches.
This in-depth feature comparison dives into how each platform handles the everyday HR essentials, like:
- Admin
- Compliance
- Recruitment
- Payroll
- Integrations
- Implementation
- Support
You can get a better sense of which one works best for your team’s size, structure, and goals.
Whether you're after a simple, UK-focused system that does the basics brilliantly or a platform with global capability, this breakdown will help you make a confident, informed decision.
Core HR and admin management
Breathe covers the HR essentials - and it’s designed to be used easily by all, including the non-tech-savvy among us.
You can easily manage employee records, track holidays and sickness, run performance reviews, pull reports at the click of a button (as and when you need) and keep all your documents secure with version control and read receipts.
The interface is clean and intuitive, so whether you’re in HR, or you run the HR operations of a busy business, or you’re a busy line manager, you’ll be able to find what you need without getting lost in menus or needing extra training.
If you want to go further, there are handy add-ons too, like rota, time and attendance, expense management, e-learning (specific to UK regulations), and a recruitment add-on that connects with job boards.
Best of all, everything’s built with UK businesses in mind. From GDPR tools to UK bank holiday calendars, Breathe HR helps you stay compliant without the headache.
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Employment Hero packs in a lot more than just the HR basics.
Alongside core tools like employee records and absence tracking, it gives you access to ready-made performance review templates, and a built-in learning management system.
There’s even a hub for internal communication that streamlines and enhances how employees and management interact, share information, and stay connected.
Employement Hero and Breathe HR both offer employee first mobile apps, where they can take charge of their own HR admin.
This helps to simplify handling leave requests and personal information updates, so things move faster without always needing HR to step in.
Payroll and finance
Breathe HR doesn’t have its own payroll system, instead we have a leading Integration with Xero payroll, a UK loved service provider.
This means you can stick with the payroll tools you already know and trust, while keeping your data connected.
Need to handle expenses too? Breathe’s expenses add-on makes it easy for employees to submit claims and for managers to approve and report on them, all without the paperwork. It’s a simple way to cut down on admin and keep things moving.
Employment Hero, on the other hand, comes with its own built-in payroll engine. Originally developed for the Australian market, it's now expanding its features for UK businesses.
It supports things like Real Time Information (RTI) submissions and auto-enrolment, but the UK-specific functionality is still a work in progress.
That said, the platform does offer some nice touches, like letting employees claim benefits and allowances directly through payroll, and tracking key payroll deadlines to help businesses stay compliant.
Payroll is tightly integrated with HR and timesheets, which helps everything run smoothly, though you’ll need to be on a higher-tier plan to access it all, which comes at a cost.
Compliance and security
Breathe HR software is built with UK HR compliance at its core.
It’s fully GDPR-compliant, stores your data securely on UK-based servers, and makes it easy to manage who sees what with role-based permissions.
Audit trails keep everything trackable, and with handy HR workflows and alerts, you can stay on top of employment law and best practice.
Both Breathe HR and Employment Hero put a strong focus on compliance and data security. They’re ISO 27001 certified and use solid encryption to keep sensitive HR data safe and secure, giving you peace of mind when managing sensitive HR information.
Employment Hero also comes with compliance tools and an advice service to help businesses stay on the right track.
That said, as it’s built for a global market, some features, like statutory leave, contracts, and payroll, may need extra setup or tweaking to align with UK-specific HR rules fully.
Recruitment and onboarding
Breathe HR makes recruitment and onboarding simple and stress-free for growing UK businesses. You can post job openings, track applicants, and move the right candidates through the pipeline with ease.
Once someone’s hired, the onboarding process kicks in automatically, letting new starters review documents, read key policies, and get up to speed without the usual back-and-forth.
It’s all about creating a smooth first experience for managers and employees that saves time and sets the tone from day one. As many hiring managers know, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
Employment Hero, on the other hand, also offers a strong recruitment and onboarding flow, with everything housed in one platform. You can manage job ads, review applications, and send out contracts in just a few clicks.
New hires can then log in to complete their paperwork, start training, and get access to what they need straight away.
With payroll and compliance added to the process, it’s designed to help businesses get new team members settled quickly and confidently.
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Integrations that fit your workflow
Breathe HR focuses on simplicity with essential integrations for UK small and medium-sized businesses. You’ll find smooth connections to key tools like Xero Payroll, so your people and account data stay in sync without extra effort.
Breathe HR software also offers API access and calendar sync options (with the likes of Outlook, Google and iCal), as well as plug-ins like Hireful ATS, Pleo expenses, RotaCloud, and more. These are easy to enable, with no developer time needed.
Think about: If you’re a UK SME wanting straightforward, set‑up‑and‑go integrations around payroll, calendars and expenses, Breathe HR is a solid choice.
Employment Hero is a global platform with a wide integration network. It connects with tools like Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Netsuite, Zoho, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Go1, Deputy, Tanda, and even Freshservice for onboarding workflows.
These integrations connect a broad range of HR and administrative services, streamlining business operations by bringing everything, HR, payroll, comms, and more, into one place.
This makes it easier to manage people, cut down on admin, and keep things running smoothly as your business grows.
Think about: If you’re after a full-blown employment operating system with connections to finance, collaboration, help desk, and workforce tools, Employment Hero gives you more coverage, but it may require a bit more configuration at an extra cost.
Getting started: Implementation and setup
Both Breathe HR and Employment Hero aim to make the setup as smooth as possible, but they take slightly different approaches.
Breathe HR is all about keeping things easy and quick for UK businesses. Most teams can be up and running within a couple of hours, with no lengthy onboarding or complicated setup.
The platform is super straightforward, and there’s loads of self-serve support, like video guides, a detailed help centre, and UK-based live chat if you need a hand.
It’s a great fit for businesses moving on from spreadsheets or older systems, or for those who are trying HR software for the first time, and just want something that works out of the box.
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Employment Hero, on the other hand, is packed with features, which means setup can take a little longer, especially for bigger or more complex businesses.
The platform offers a free demo, so you can get a feel for it before committing (Breathe HR offers a free demo too).
And if you’re going ahead, there’s a dedicated support team ready to guide you through onboarding and implementation.
Some of the more hands-on help is reserved for higher-tier plans, but once you’re set up, the built-in learning tools make it easy for your team to get up to speed.
Whether you prefer a quick, self-led start or want guided onboarding with a bit more hand-holding, both platforms have you covered. It just depends on how much support you need, and how complex your setup is.
So whether you prefer a self-led, quick-start approach or want guided onboarding for a more feature-rich system, both platforms have options, it just depends on what kind of experience you’re after.
Pros and cons: Which HR software is right for you?
Breathe HR – Feature-rich HR software for growing UK teams
Why businesses choose Breathe:
- Pricing scales fairly with team size, with flexibility to upgrade or add features over time
- Comprehensive functionality: Performance reviews, holiday and absence tracking, document management, and expenses
- UK-based support with responsive service and live chat
- Integrates with leading UK payroll and recruitment platforms
- Secure cloud-based data hosting and intuitive dashboards
- Excellent self-service tools for employees to manage leave and personal details
- GDPR compliance and audit-ready tracking tools
- Employee engagement surveys to regularly check team sentiment
- Free 14-day trial gives businesses ample time to test the system
Best for: UK businesses who want a scalable, flexible, easy-to-use HR system designed to grow with your team and your business, that won’t break the bank.
Employment Hero – Global HR with perks and payroll built-in
Why businesses choose Employment Hero:
- Unified platform with HR, payroll, benefits, performance, and recruitment in one place
- Strong employee benefits suite including discounts, wellbeing resources, and Employee Assistance Programme
- Custom workflows and automation help streamline onboarding and documentation
- Designed for businesses operating across multiple locations, regions, or even the entire country
Best for: International organisations that want a full-featured, HR and payroll platform, especially those offering employee benefits as a retention tool, and those seeking impact across one or multiple countries.
Things to consider:
- Pricing isn’t transparent, and costs may increase with feature bundles
- Some features are only available on higher plans
- UK-specific functionality is still evolving and may require extra configuration
- Live support is limited on lower-tier plans
What is an Employment Operating System?
An Employment Operating System (Employment OS) is an all-encompassing solution built to manage every stage of the employment lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to payroll and employee benefits.
Think of it as a central platform that brings together all the essential HR and payroll functions UK businesses need to run smoothly and compliantly.
With an EOS, businesses can streamline everything, from hiring and compliance to employee engagement and benefits management.
This integrated approach not only makes employment easier for HR teams and managers, but also creates a more valuable and productive experience for employees.
By consolidating multiple processes into one platform, UK businesses can save time, reduce errors, and ensure every aspect of the employment journey is managed with confidence.
For SMEs and growing businesses looking for an all-encompassing solution that supports growth and efficiency, an Employment OS is a powerful way to create a successful, future-ready workplace. (It's good to keep in mind that this type of system could come with a higher price tag.)
Employment Hero is positioned as a full Employment Operating System, bringing together HR, payroll, onboarding, benefits, and more into one powerful platform. It’s built to manage the entire employee journey and streamline processes across the board.
Breathe HR – while it’s not a full Employment OS, it covers all the core HR essentials UK businesses and SMEs need, like absence tracking, performance reviews, and compliance tools, in a way that’s simple, intuitive, and designed to get teams up and running fast.
With flexible add-ons and UK-based support, Breathe’s a brilliant option for businesses that want a straightforward, scalable HR solution without the complexity.
Final verdict
If your business is based in the UK and wants a reliable, straightforward HR platform that’s easy to adopt and adapt with an unbeatable price, Breathe HR is the clear choice
It’s designed with UK employment law in mind, and its modular pricing lets you add features as you grow, without hidden costs.
For businesses looking for a broader solution that combines HR, payroll, and employee perks, Employment Hero may be a strong contender, particularly for global or rapidly scaling teams.
Just be prepared for a more complex setup, less UK-specific support out of the box, and that costs will be a lot higher.
FAQs
Which HR platform is better for UK businesses?
If you're a UK-based SME, Breathe HR is designed specifically with your needs in mind. It’s built around UK employment law, includes GDPR tools, and offers UK-based support. Employment Hero has more global features but may require extra setup to fully meet UK compliance needs.
Is Employment Hero or Breathe HR easier to use?
Breathe HR is known for its clean, intuitive design, perfect for teams that want to get up and running quickly without lots of training.
Employment Hero is packed with features, but that means there’s more to learn, and it can feel a bit complex at first.
How do their prices compare?
Breathe HR offers transparent pricing with add-ons as your company matures. It’s easy to scale as your team grows.
Employment Hero tends to bundle more features into higher-tier plans, but you’ll need to contact them for a quote, and costs can add up quickly.
Does Breathe HR include payroll?
Breathe HR doesn’t include its own payroll system, but it integrates smoothly with UK payroll providers like Xero. That gives you flexibility without locking you into a specific tool.
What about Employment Hero’s payroll features?
Employment Hero includes its own built-in payroll, which can be great if you want everything in one place.
However, UK-specific payroll features are still developing, so it might need more configuration if you’re based here.
Do both platforms support employee self-service?
Yes, both platforms allow employees to manage their own leave, update personal info, and access documents.
This cuts down on HR admin and helps employees feel more in control.
Which platform is easier to set up?
Breathe HR is designed for quick, easy implementation – you can be up and running in just a couple of hours.
Employment Hero offers more support for complex rollouts, but setup may take longer, especially for smaller teams.
Do they both integrate with other tools?
Yes. Breathe HR integrates with other tools which is great for UK teams that want simplicity and use the best tools for their business. Employment Hero has broader global integrations, but the setup can be more involved.
What kind of support do they offer?
Breathe HR has UK-based live chat and email support, plus loads of helpful guides and videos. Employment Hero offers support too, but live chat and onboarding help may only be available on premium plans, and time zones can affect response times.
Is there a free trial available?
Yes, both platforms offer a 14-day free trial, so you can explore the features and see what works best for your business.
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