CoDash vs Breathe
Breathe is one of the most widely used HR systems among UK small businesses, and for core HR it is cheaper than we are. Here is where that holds, where it stops holding, and what each product includes.
Breathe is a UK HR system priced per business by headcount band, from £24 a month, with rota, expenses, learning, recruitment and health and safety sold as add-ons. CoDash includes all of those in one plan priced per person. For core HR alone Breathe is cheaper up to 100 employees. Once you need rota and attendance as well, CoDash is cheaper at 30 people, and the gap widens with each module. Breathe's published plans stop at 200 employees; CoDash is built for 20 to 1,000.
Where is Breathe strong?
- Price for core HR. Breathe charges a flat monthly fee per business: £24 for 1-10 employees, £44 for 11-20, £99 for 21-50 and £175 for 51-100. For leave, sickness, documents and appraisals alone, that undercuts CoDash at every size up to 100.
- A capable core. Every plan includes leave and sickness management, documents with e-signature, appraisals and one-to-ones, objective setting, company goals, a mobile app and API access.
- UK data residency and certification. Breathe states that it is ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 accredited and that, for UK companies, "none of your data leaves the United Kingdom".
- Scale of use. Breathe says it is used by over 17,000 UK small and medium-sized businesses, and it has a directory of accredited HR consultants.
- A real free trial. Fourteen days, all features, no credit card.
If you have fewer than 50 people and need the core record-keeping done well and cheaply, Breathe is hard to beat and we would not try to talk you out of it.
Where is CoDash different?
- The modules are in the price. Rotas and timesheets, expenses, learning, hiring and compliance registers are part of CoDash Core. On Breathe each is an add-on priced by plan: at 21-50 employees, Rota, Time and Attendance is £34 a month, Expenses £29, Learn £46, Recruitment £22 and Health and Safety £36.
- Room above 200. Breathe's about page says it "makes it super-easy to manage up to 200 employees" and its published plans end there. CoDash publishes a price for any headcount.
- 360 feedback and review cycles alongside one-to-ones and goals, in every plan. See performance in CoDash.
- Anonymous voice with a minimum group size. Anonymous suggestions are stored with no author column, and manager-facing mood and survey figures are withheld below a k-anonymity threshold.
- One database per customer. Each CoDash customer has its own database and application instance, hosted in the EU (France).
How do the prices compare?
| What you run | CoDash | Breathe |
|---|---|---|
| Core HR, leave, appraisals | £124 | £99 |
| + rota, time and attendance | £124 | £133 |
| + expenses | £124 | £162 |
| + recruitment | £124 | £184 |
| + learning | £124 | £230 |
Three things to hold against that table. Breathe sells a discounted bundle of four add-ons, priced by a calculator on its site, so read your own figure there. Breathe gives roughly 15% off its smaller plans for annual billing, and CoDash charges ten months for twelve. And Breathe's band pricing means your bill does not move when you hire, until you cross into the next band; CoDash's moves by £2.50 a person. The full tier table is on our Breathe pricing page.
How do the features compare?
| CoDash | Breathe | |
|---|---|---|
| Leave, sickness, documents, e-signature | Every plan | Every plan |
| Appraisals, one-to-ones, objectives | Every plan | Every plan |
| 360 feedback | Every plan | Not stated as a feature |
| Surveys and eNPS | Every plan | Listed on some plans |
| Rota and time clock | Every plan | Add-on |
| Expenses | Every plan | Add-on |
| Learning | Every plan | Add-on, with a course library |
| Recruitment | Every plan | Add-on |
| Health and safety | Accident log and compliance registers | Dedicated add-on |
| Payroll | No | Export and Xero integration; own payroll on a waitlist |
| Mobile app | Installable web app (PWA) | Yes |
| API | Pro | Every plan |
| Data location | EU (France) | UK |
| Published plans up to | Any size | 200 employees |
What are the contract terms?
Both are easy to leave. Breathe's pricing page says "You can cancel at any time - with no cancellation fees"; its licence agreement ends a cancelled subscription at the close of the current period, gives no refunds, and lets Breathe replace the pricing plan on 30 days' written notice. CoDash monthly plans also end at the close of the billing period. Breathe has been owned since 2020 by the Australian software provider ELMO; CoDash Ltd is an independent company registered in England and Wales.
Who should pick which?
Choose Breathe if you have up to about 50 people, want dependable core HR at the lowest price, want your data held in the UK, or need only one of its add-ons.
Choose CoDash if you would be adding rota, expenses, learning or hiring anyway, expect to grow past 200, or want 360 feedback and anonymous listening in the same login. The requirements checklist will tell you which of those you actually need.
Frequently asked questions
Is CoDash a good Breathe HR alternative?
It depends on what you need. For core HR alone Breathe is cheaper up to 100 employees. CoDash includes rota, expenses, learning, hiring and compliance in one plan, which makes it the cheaper option once you would be buying Breathe's add-ons, and it publishes prices above Breathe's 200-employee ceiling.
Is Breathe HR cheaper than CoDash?
For core HR, yes: 99 pounds a month for 21-50 employees against 124 pounds for 30 people on CoDash. With Breathe's rota, time and attendance add-on at 34 pounds the total is 133 pounds, and CoDash is cheaper. List prices excluding VAT, checked 5 October 2026.
What does Breathe HR charge extra for?
Rota, time and attendance, expenses, learning, recruitment and health and safety are add-ons priced by plan. Appraisals, one-to-ones, objective setting, documents and e-signature are included in every Breathe plan.
How many employees can Breathe HR handle?
Breathe's published plans run to 200 employees, and its about page says it makes it easy to manage up to 200 employees. Other pages on its site say it is designed for organisations with 1 to 250 employees.
Sources
Every figure about the other product was read from its own website on 5 October 2026.
- Breathe: pricing - plans, bands, annual discount and trial
- Breathe: what's included - the per-plan feature and add-on table
- Breathe: security and reliability - certifications, data location and ownership
- Breathe: about us - the 200-employee statement and customer numbers
- Breathe: end user licence agreement - cancellation, refunds and price changes
Prices and features move. Everything here was checked on the date shown against each vendor's own published pricing, and we link to it so you can confirm rather than take our word for it. If we have a detail wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Check it yourself: Breathe publishes its own terms - see their pricing page. Checked 5 October 2026. Prices and packaging move, and theirs are theirs to state, so confirm before you decide.
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