Team and Professional can be monthly rolling or annual. Elite and Enterprise use annual contracts. Hardware, quoted work and tax can change the total.
Sense HR alternatives
Alternatives to Sense HR for UK employers.
Sense HR now spans four plans, from a banded HR core to a broader workforce platform. Compare alternatives when the plan or the work around it no longer fits.
What needs to change?
Keep Sense HR
The current plan's mobile, automation or workforce tools are earning their place.
Choose HollyHR
A focused HR core covers the work and a simpler product suits the team.
Choose another route
You need a different mix of support, mobile access or modular workforce tools.
The short answer
What is a good alternative to Sense HR?
HollyHR is a sensible alternative when people records, leave, sickness, documents and onboarding cover the job. It is free for up to 10 active employees, with a paid Standard plan for larger teams.
Keep Sense HR when its native mobile app, SSO, HR assistant, payroll connections, e-signatures, ATS, workflows, time and attendance, API or multi-site tools are used. Breathe adds established UK-SME HR and optional workforce tools, CharlieHR adds performance, engagement and paid advice, and Sage HR adds mobile apps and modular workforce tools.
Price and commitment
Compare the total cost and the contract.
Use your current team, the next hire and the term you are actually signing.
Standard has no employee bands. Plus is coming soon at £4 per active employee and is not available to buy yet.
Sense HR's 14-day trial uses Professional features, needs no card and does not convert automatically. Prices are before applicable tax.
Your routes
Four alternatives to Sense HR, plus staying.
Compare the best fit, current price, strongest reason to choose it and the point at which it stops fitting.
Keep the current platform
Sense HR
Price
Team costs £20 per month for up to 10 employees.
Best fit
Teams using Sense's native mobile core or its higher-tier recruitment, workflow, attendance and platform tools.
Strong when
Team includes mobile, SSO, MFA and an HR assistant. Professional, Elite and Enterprise add progressively broader workforce capability.
Look elsewhere when
Check whether the chosen plan's extra tools, implementation model and commitment still match the work you use.
Focused small-team HR
HollyHR
Price
£0 for up to 10 active employees. Standard is £2 per active employee each month.
Best fit
Teams of roughly 5 to 100 that need a clear HR core and public pricing.
Strong when
People records, leave, sickness, documents, onboarding, reports and export in one focused product.
Look elsewhere when
Not the right route when you need a native mobile app, a payroll engine, HR advice or broad workforce modules today.
Established UK-SME core
Breathe HR
Price
£24 per month for 1-10 employees, before VAT.
Best fit
Teams that value a longer operating record, mobile access and optional workforce add-ons.
Strong when
Core HR includes absence, documents, reporting and performance, with rota, learning, recruitment, expenses and safety sold separately.
Look elsewhere when
Price moves through employee bands, and the add-ons increase the monthly total.
Culture and support
CharlieHR
Price
£20 per month for 1-4 people after the current introductory offer.
Best fit
Employers that want performance reviews, engagement surveys, perks or optional HR advice alongside core HR.
Strong when
A small-team core with performance reviews, engagement surveys, perks, a REST API and optional support services.
Look elsewhere when
Recruitment and advice are separately priced, and their commitments differ from the core subscription.
Modular HR
Sage HR
Price
£5 per employee per month for Core HR and Leave on the dedicated UK product page.
Best fit
Teams that want mobile apps, e-signatures, modular workforce tools or Sage payroll adjacency.
Strong when
Core HR and leave can be extended with performance, timesheets, shifts, expenses and recruitment.
Look elsewhere when
The useful comparison is the full module total, not the Core price in isolation.
Inside HollyHR
See what HollyHR covers today.
HollyHR keeps the current people record and the HR jobs many teams return to each week in one focused workspace.
- People records, employment details and documents
- Leave requests, sickness records and who's away
- Onboarding, reports, CSV import and organisation export
Before you choose
Give every route the same four tests.
Use your own records and roles. A prepared demo should not decide the shortlist.
Run one ordinary week
Add a starter, approve leave, record sickness and find the document a manager needs.
Try the awkward permission
Sign in as a manager and check what they can see about their team and everyone else.
Price the next headcount
Use today, your next hire and a realistic growth point. Include required modules and the signed term.
Take a usable export
Keep sample people, leave, sickness and document data, then list anything that needs a separate route.
If you decide to move
Plan the full move from Sense HR.
Keep a copy of the source, check the new records and assign an owner to anything that needs a separate move.
Map the plan and the work in use
List mobile, SSO, AMI, documents, signatures, payroll connections, performance, recruitment, workflows, time, API clients, webhooks and multi-site tools.
Request exports before giving notice
Sense documents CSV, Excel, PDF and API report exports. Ask separately for the records, uploaded files and configuration available in a full offboarding extract.
Test a small move and reconcile it
Map the supported people fields first. Plan leave, documents and specialist records separately, then check permissions and totals before ending Sense access.
Primary sources
Prices and supplier capabilities can change. Check the live page before signing.
Questions
Questions about Sense HR alternatives.
What is a good alternative to Sense HR?
HollyHR fits a focused HR core for roughly 5 to 100 employees. Breathe offers established UK-SME HR and add-ons, CharlieHR adds performance, engagement and optional advice, and Sage HR offers mobile and modular workforce tools. Keep Sense HR when its mobile core, HR assistant or higher-tier platform tools are the fit.
How much does Sense HR cost?
Sense Team currently costs £20 for up to 10 employees, £45 up to 25, £85 up to 50, £150 up to 100 and £270 up to 200 each month. Professional is £4, Elite £6 and Enterprise £8 per employee per month before VAT, hardware and quoted extras.
Does Sense HR have a free plan?
Sense HR publishes a 14-day trial with no card. It uses Professional features and does not convert automatically to a paid plan. Sense HR does not publish an ongoing free plan. HollyHR Free covers up to 10 active employees without a trial clock.
Is HollyHR a complete replacement for Sense HR?
Not for every team. HollyHR does not currently replace Sense HR's native mobile app, e-signatures, expenses, payroll connections, performance, ATS, workflow library, time and attendance, location hardware, multi-entity administration or broader integration surface.
Can we move from Sense HR to HollyHR?
Yes, when HollyHR's supported core fits, but there is no one-click Sense HR migration. Ask Sense HR for the available records and files, test a small people import, and reconcile leave, sickness, permissions and documents. Specialist workflow, recruitment, time, integration and multi-site data need a separate plan.
Should we keep Sense HR instead?
Keep Sense HR when the current plan's mobile access, HR assistant, payroll connections, e-signatures, performance, recruitment, workflows, time, API or location tools are used and justify the price and commitment. Changing supplier is useful only when it solves a real mismatch.
Start free with up to 10 active employees.
Bring your team over from a spreadsheet. There is no card, no sales call and no lock-in. For up to 10 active employees, everyday HR is free.
Import your people data. Export your organisation's people records and uploaded files.