Breathe vs Humaans
We give Breathe a 2.6 GPA and Humaans a 2.0, out of 4.0. Breathe grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Breathe
UK HR software for small firms, priced per business, not per person
Humaans
HR system of record for growing companies, with AI agents, by quote
How we grade them
| 2.6GPABreatheGood | 2.0GPAHumaansFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BMicro is £245 a year paid yearly, about £20 a month, in pounds before VAT, for up to 10 staff. That buys records, holiday and absence, documents and reviews. It's in the cheaper quarter of this category, though rotas and recruitment cost extra. | CNo price is published: Growth, Enterprise and the Athena agents are all sold through sales, and VC-backed firms can get a partner rate. So we can't say what a ten-person company pays, and with no figure to compare, it's a C. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial of every feature and add-on with no card. Turn the add-ons off before it ends, or they're billed. | FNo free plan and no trial on record. You go through sales. |
| Features | BHoliday and absence, records and documents with e-signatures, reviews, onboarding and reports, with rotas, recruitment, expenses, courses and health and safety as add-ons. The whole job, with payroll left to Xero. | BA people directory, documents, an org chart, time off, timesheets, onboarding and approval workflows, and pay changes tracked and exported for payroll. The whole job, though reviews are an add-on and it doesn't run payroll itself. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and you'll load staff records and set holiday rules before it's any use. | CNo App Store rating on record, and wiring it to your payroll providers and other tools is part of the setup. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, linked to Xero Payroll. That's thin on integrations, and there's no desktop app. | BWeb only, with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Okta, Docusign, Lattice, Ashby and Greenhouse, plus an API and webhooks. No phone app, only the browser. |
| Best for | UK small businesses on a fixed monthly price | venture-backed teams in several countries |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Breathe and Humaans. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Breathe lists iOS and Android apps.
- Breathe also covers expense tracking, shift scheduling, time clock and applicant tracking.
- Humaans also covers workflow automation and AI agents.
At a glance
| Breathe | Humaans | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | £24 per month for up to 10 employees, billed monthly (pounds, excluding VAT) | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of every feature and add-on, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Centurion | Humaans Inc. |
| Price read from | breathehr.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Breathe
- UK small businesses with up to 200 staff
- Owners who want a fixed monthly price instead of per-user fees
- Shops and practices that need holiday tracking and simple rotas
Humaans
- Venture-backed companies with staff in several countries
- People teams that want a clean system of record linked to other tools
- Companies that keep a separate payroll provider in each country
Worth knowing
Breathe
- Built for UK businesses: prices are in pounds excluding VAT, data sits in a UK data centre, and plans stop at 200 employees.
- Add-ons cost extra each month: rotas and attendance from £11, health and safety £12, expenses £14, learning £15 and recruitment £16.
- Add-ons stay switched on after the trial and are charged unless you turn them off.
- There is no payroll of its own; it connects to Xero Payroll.
Humaans
- No prices are published: Growth, Enterprise and Athena are all sold through sales, and VC-backed firms can get a partner rate.
- Performance reviews, the AI companion, headcount planning, DE&I analytics and data tables are add-ons on top of a plan.
- It does not run payroll; it prepares changes for outside payroll providers. Its customers are in 28 countries, with staff in 106.
- There is no app-store app: the mobile version runs in a phone's browser.
Key features
Breathe
- Holiday and absence
- Staff book leave and report sickness, managers approve it, and a staff holiday planner shows who is off across the business.
- Records, documents and e-signatures
- Employee files, policies and contracts in one place, with documents sent out for electronic signature.
- Performance, onboarding and reports
- Performance management, dashboards and reporting come with every plan, and onboarding workflows sit among its people tools.
- Rotas, time and attendance
- An add-on builds weekly rotas, records clock-ins and clock-outs, generates timesheets, tracks overtime and lets staff swap shifts.
- Recruitment, expenses and learning
- Add-ons track applicants from application to shortlist, collect expense claims, and run bite-size courses for training and onboarding.
- Health and safety
- A newer add-on keeps risk assessments, logs accidents and near misses, and tracks safety roles and certifications.
Humaans
- People directory and documents
- Employee profiles, an org chart, document storage and custom fields, with permission roles deciding who sees what.
- Absences and timesheets
- Staff request time away and managers approve it from any device, and timesheets log hours for compliance.
- Onboarding and workflow automation
- Automate onboarding and offboarding steps and route employee requests through approvals.
- Payroll-ready exports
- Tracks changes to pay, bank details, addresses and time off for each location, and sends them to payroll providers by export or SFTP.
- Athena AI agents
- Pre-built agents and a natural-language builder triage employee requests, run approvals and automate HR work, with an audit log of every action.
- Integrations and API
- Connects to Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Okta, Docusign, Carta, Lattice, Ashby and Greenhouse, with an API and webhooks.
Plans
Breathe
Micro£24
per month for up to 10 employees, billed monthly
Core HR: holiday and absence, dashboards and reports, documents and policies, and performance management. £245 a year if paid yearly.
Starter£44
per month for up to 20 employees, billed monthly
Core HR for 11 to 20 people, adding time logs. £449 a year if paid yearly.
Regular£99
per month for up to 50 employees, billed monthly
Core HR for 21 to 50 people, adding financial user permissions. £999 a year if paid yearly.
Pro£175
per month for up to 100 employees, billed monthly
Core HR for 51 to 100 people. £1,790 a year if paid yearly.
Premium£419
per month for up to 150 employees, billed monthly
Core HR for 101 to 150 people. £4,519 a year if paid yearly.
Plus£579
per month for up to 200 employees, billed monthly
Core HR for 151 to 200 people. £6,255 a year if paid yearly.
Humaans
Pricing could not be confirmed. See humaans.io.
Ways to pay less
Breathe
- Annual discount
About 15% off core HR with yearly billing
Paying yearly saves about 15% on Micro, Starter, Regular and Pro plans and about 10% on Premium and Plus; add-ons are not discounted.
Humaans
No public discounts listed.
