PeopleHR alternative

A PeopleHR alternative for a small UK team

PeopleHR Starter is £4 per employee per month. We are £0 up to 5 people, then £3 per employee. The PeopleHR page does not say whether VAT is included. Prices checked November 2026.

Start free Compare features with PeopleHR

Free for up to 5 active employees. Pro is a 14-day trial, with no card to start. We do not run payroll.

The price, then the scope

PeopleHR publishes a per-employee price, which makes it one of the easier comparisons. Starter is £4, Core is £6.25, Pro is £9.25 and Elite+ is £11, per employee per month. The FAQ says you pay for the employees using the system and that there is no employee limit. It does not say whether those prices include VAT, so we have not added 20%. On the published rate, Starter is £20 a month for 5 people and £40 for 10.

Starter includes records, documents, absence, a mobile app, an AI assistant, a dashboard and a learning library. Onboarding, expenses and e-signatures are on Core. Performance and timesheets are on Pro. Payroll is a separate set of packages on the same page, and we do not quote those here because the HR prices are the ones the FAQ spells out. We do not run payroll either. We are £0 up to 5 people, then £3 per employee, and expense tracking is on Free rather than on the paid tier.

Prices at 5 and 10 employees

PeopleHR is one row. The others are there so a switch is not only a two-product comparison. Checked November 2026.

Published prices checked in November 2026.

Provider	5 employees	10 employees	What that price covers
CitoHR	£0 on Free. Pro, if you choose it, is £15 a month.	£30 a month on Pro. Free stops at 5 active employees.	Free is a permanent £0 plan for up to 5 active employees. Pro is £3 per employee per month, charged for every employee, with a 14-day trial and no card to start. We do not run payroll.
HollyHR	£0 on Free.	£0 on Free. Standard, if you choose it, is £20 a month.	Free covers up to 10 active employees. Standard is £2 per active employee per month, or £20 a year, including the first 10. Prices are before tax. Plus is listed as coming soon and is not for sale.
Zoho People	£0 if you are inside the free edition cap.	See their site. The free edition does not cover 10 users.	The global pricing page says the free edition is forever free for up to 5 users. A US-only line on the same page says 3. Paid edition prices are on that page and are not copied here.
BreatheHR	£24 a month, excluding VAT.	£24 a month, excluding VAT.	Per business, not per person. Micro is 1–10 people at £24 a month. The next band, 11–20, is £44. Add-ons are extra and start from £11 a month for rota, £15 for learning, £16 for recruitment, £14 for expenses and £12 for health and safety. 14-day trial, no card until you subscribe.
CharlieHR	£47 a month, excluding VAT.	£47 a month, excluding VAT.	Per business. 1–4 people is £21 a month, 5–9 and 10–14 are £47, and 15–29 is £108. Prices exclude VAT. AskCharlie is part of Charlie Grow, a separate add-on (£226 a month for 5–9 people, £346 for 10–14). Charlie Recruit starts from £55 a month. 7-day trial. No permanent free plan.
PeopleHR	£20 a month on Starter, if £4 applies to each employee.	£40 a month on Starter, on the same basis.	Starter £4, Core £6.25, Pro £9.25 and Elite+ £11, each per employee per month. The page does not state a minimum headcount or whether VAT is included, so the 5- and 10-person totals are £4 multiplied by headcount. 14-day trial, no card. Payroll is a separate package on the same page.
BrightHR	£83.35 a month excluding tax for Core, £16.67 per employee.	£107.00 a month excluding tax for Core, £10.70 per employee.	The page loads with 5 employees selected and shows those Core totals on the 36-month term sold online. The 10-person figure is that page’s Core tier for a headcount up to 10, the same tier list that matches the 5-person total on screen. The FAQ still says prices start from £3.00 per person and that an accurate quote needs a demo. Enhanced and full packages cost more.
Timetastic	£6.00 a month on Business, if £1.20 applies to each user.	£12.00 a month on Business, on the same basis.	For UK and Ireland visitors the page’s own script shows Business £1.20, Pro £2.00 and Rota & Time Clock £4.00 per user per month. Before that script, the markup shows $1.50, $2.50 and $5.50. The page does not say whether the pound figures include VAT. This is leave software, with rotas and a time clock on the top plan, not a full HR record. 30-day trial, no card.

What we would not claim

We do not run payroll, submit RTI, or calculate statutory pay. We do not offer a 24-hour employment-law advice line. The feature ticks on our comparison pages are a product list, and where a cell says a capability was not compared, that is the accurate state. PeopleHR’s pricing page is the source for their price and for the features named above.

Questions about a PeopleHR alternative

How does PeopleHR’s per-employee price compare?

Starter is £4, Core £6.25, Pro £9.25 and Elite+ £11, per employee per month. No minimum headcount is stated, so Starter is £20 for 5 people and £40 for 10 if that rate applies to each employee. Our Pro price is £3, which is £15 for 5 and £30 for 10, and Free is £0 up to 5.

Is onboarding in the £4 plan?

PeopleHR lists onboarding and expenses on Core, at £6.25, not on Starter. Starter includes records, documents, absence, a mobile app and an AI assistant. Our Free plan includes expense tracking. Custom onboarding workflows are on our Pro plan.

Can you replace PeopleHR if we need payroll?

Not for the payroll itself. PeopleHR publishes separate payroll packages. We store payroll data and, on Pro, export it. We do not run payroll, submit RTI, or calculate tax. If payroll is why you bought PeopleHR, keep a payroll system and compare us only for the HR record.

Is there a free plan on PeopleHR?

PeopleHR offers a 14-day trial with no card and no sales call. The pricing page does not show a permanent free headcount. Ours is free for up to 5 active employees, and the 14-day trial is of Pro, which is a different plan.

Sources

Prices were read from each provider’s own pricing page in November 2026. If a live page disagrees with this one, follow the live page.

Practical reading on the topics UK teams search for when they are choosing HR software.