Migrate your Breathe data
UK-focused SME HR platform with transparent per-employee pricing and an opinionated core feature set. Teams with under 200 employees find it manageable; larger organisations quickly outgrow its data model limits.
In its favor
Why people choose Breathe
The signal that keeps Breathe on the shortlist. Sourced from G2, Capterra, and customer scoping calls.
Organisations with up to 200 employees pick Breathe because its per-employee pricing model is predictable and transparent, making budget forecasting straightforward for small finance teams.
The platform bundles core HR tasks — absence management, document storage, performance reviews, and onboarding — into a single subscription without requiring add-on purchases for standard features.
Small-business reviewers on G2 and Capterra consistently cite ease of setup and the availability of guided onboarding as reasons they chose Breathe over more complex alternatives.
Breathe's learning module (Breathe Learn) satisfies standard compliance training such as GDPR awareness out of the box, reducing the need for a separate L&D vendor.
The platform publishes a clear feature comparison table on its website, allowing buyers to evaluate tier differences without requesting a custom demo.
Organisations with more than 200 employees report that Breathe lacks the advanced HR features — including rich performance management, payroll integration depth, and configurable workflows — needed for complex operations.
Users on G2 and Capterra describe the interface as not user-friendly, with continued usability issues that persist across updates, making day-to-day navigation frustrating for HR administrators.
Reviewers who switched away cite limited customisation: custom fields are supported but the platform does not expose a flexible object model for building custom workflows or integrating with non-standard HR processes.
Absence reports and advanced analytics require higher tiers or add-on modules, and the reporting interface lacks the drill-down capabilities that growing HR teams expect from modern platforms.
Reasons to switch
Why people leave Breathe
The recurring reasons buyers give for replacing Breathe. Presented as facts, not knocks.
Platform scorecard
Strengths, weaknesses, and where Breathe fits
Grades across six dimensions, plus a SWOT-style view of where the platform shines and where it falls short.
SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, and use-case fit
Strengths
Weaknesses
Where it works
Where it struggles
Pricing tiers
Breathe pricing overview
Breathe uses a straightforward per-employee-per-month model across three named tiers. Pricing increases from Starter to Professional to Enterprise, with add-on modules available for payroll export and specific compliance features. The platform publishes indicative per-employee prices on its website and does not require a custom quote for Starter or Professional plans.
Starter
Tier 1 of 3
From £4 per employee per month
What's included
Need help selecting your HRMS?
Book a free 30 minute consultationPricing is informational. FlitStack AI does not bill on Breathe's schedule — see our quote-based pricing →
What gets migrated
Breathe object support
Object-by-object support for Breathe migrations. Per-pair details surface during scoping.
Employees
Fully supportedEmployees are the central record in Breathe, containing name, contact details, job role, department, start date, and employment status. Custom fields are supported per employee. We migrate all standard and custom employee fields and preserve employment dates for continuity in the destination system.
Custom Fields
Mapping requiredBreathe allows custom fields on the Employee record. We extract field names and values from the People Data Export and map them to equivalent custom fields in the destination, flagging any fields that use picklist or multi-select values for manual value-mapping review.
Absence / Leave records
Fully supportedBreathe tracks annual leave, sick leave, and other absence types with balance information and approval status. We extract full absence history including dates, types, and balances, then load them as historical leave records or balance adjustments in the destination system.
Documents (Company and Employee)
Not in this platformBreathe stores documents in two separate sections — Company documents and Employee documents — with no bulk export API. Documents must be downloaded individually from the UI. We flag this as a manual step and advise customers to pre-archive these downloads before migration begins.
Onboarding
Mapping requiredOnboarding records in Breathe track new-hire setup tasks, documents pending, and workflow steps. We extract the task list and completion status but note that onboarding workflow definitions are configuration data, not records, and may not be directly portable to a different system.
Sickness records
Fully supportedSickness entries are a distinct record type in Breathe linked to employees. We export the full sickness history including dates, reasons, and Fit Note references where present.
Performance reviews
Mapping requiredBreathe includes a performance review module. Review templates and historical review records can be exported. We map review cycles and ratings to equivalent objects in the destination, noting that rating scales may differ between platforms and require normalisation.
Remuneration / Payroll data
Mapping requiredBreathe provides a Remuneration Report covering salaries, additional payments, benefits, and auto-enrolment. Payroll export is available via Reports > Payroll exports. We extract these as structured records but note that salary history is sensitive data requiring explicit customer sign-off before transfer.
Company documents
Not in this platformCompany-level documents such as policies, handbooks, and templates are stored separately from employee documents and cannot be bulk-exported via API. We document this as a manual step requiring the customer to archive these files from the Company > Company documents section.
| Object | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | Fully supported | Employees are the central record in Breathe, containing name, contact details, job role, department, start date, and employment status. Custom fields are supported per employee. We migrate all standard and custom employee fields and preserve employment dates for continuity in the destination system. |
| Custom Fields | Mapping required | Breathe allows custom fields on the Employee record. We extract field names and values from the People Data Export and map them to equivalent custom fields in the destination, flagging any fields that use picklist or multi-select values for manual value-mapping review. |
| Absence / Leave records | Fully supported | Breathe tracks annual leave, sick leave, and other absence types with balance information and approval status. We extract full absence history including dates, types, and balances, then load them as historical leave records or balance adjustments in the destination system. |
| Documents (Company and Employee) | Not in this platform | Breathe stores documents in two separate sections — Company documents and Employee documents — with no bulk export API. Documents must be downloaded individually from the UI. We flag this as a manual step and advise customers to pre-archive these downloads before migration begins. |
| Onboarding | Mapping required | Onboarding records in Breathe track new-hire setup tasks, documents pending, and workflow steps. We extract the task list and completion status but note that onboarding workflow definitions are configuration data, not records, and may not be directly portable to a different system. |
| Sickness records | Fully supported | Sickness entries are a distinct record type in Breathe linked to employees. We export the full sickness history including dates, reasons, and Fit Note references where present. |
| Performance reviews | Mapping required | Breathe includes a performance review module. Review templates and historical review records can be exported. We map review cycles and ratings to equivalent objects in the destination, noting that rating scales may differ between platforms and require normalisation. |
| Remuneration / Payroll data | Mapping required | Breathe provides a Remuneration Report covering salaries, additional payments, benefits, and auto-enrolment. Payroll export is available via Reports > Payroll exports. We extract these as structured records but note that salary history is sensitive data requiring explicit customer sign-off before transfer. |
| Company documents | Not in this platform | Company-level documents such as policies, handbooks, and templates are stored separately from employee documents and cannot be bulk-exported via API. We document this as a manual step requiring the customer to archive these files from the Company > Company documents section. |
Gotchas
What to watch for in Breathe migrations
Issues we've hit on past Breathe migrations, tagged by severity. FlitStack AI handles every one — surfacing them up front because buyer engineering teams want to know.
No bulk document export — manual download required
No direct migration path between Breathe accounts
People Data Export may omit data in non-standard modules
Leave balance carry-forward requires manual verification
Tier-gated features may limit export coverage
| Severity | Issue |
|---|---|
| High | No bulk document export — manual download required |
| High | No direct migration path between Breathe accounts |
| Medium | People Data Export may omit data in non-standard modules |
| Medium | Leave balance carry-forward requires manual verification |
| Low | Tier-gated features may limit export coverage |
Leaving Breathe?
Where Breathe customers move next
5 destinations Breathe can migrate to.
How a Breathe migration works
Four steps, Breathe-specific
Connect
Not publicly documented into Breathe. Scopes limited to read-only on the data we move.
Map
We translate Breathe-specific structures (custom fields, objects, value lists) to the destination's model.
Sample
Test with a 50–200 record subset to validate Breathe quirks before production.
Migrate
Full migration with Breathe rate-limit handling. Rollback available throughout.
FAQ
Breathe migration FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask most during Breathe migration scoping. Not seeing yours? Book a call.
Can't find your answer?
Walk through your Breathe migration with a real engineer — 30 minutes, free, written quote within 24 hours.
Book a free 30 minute consultationOther HR systems we support
Ready when you are
Migrate Breathe.
Without the rebuild.
Free scoping call with a migration engineer. Tell us about your Breathe setup and destination — written quote back within a business day.