Sage HR Essentials is a free version of Sage HR that comes as part of Sage Payroll (also known as Sage Business Cloud Payroll). This includes some features of Core HR and Leave Management.

Below are the differences in features between Sage HR Essentials and the Core HR module & Leave Management module.

Sage HR Essentials v Core HR

Features	Sage HR Essentials	Core HR
Employee profiles	✅	✅
Emergency contacts	✅	✅
Documents	✅	✅
Document categories	✅	✅
E-Signature documents	❌	✅
Trackable documents	❌	✅
Announcements	❌	✅
Asset management	❌	✅
Custom fields	❌	✅
Teams	❌	✅
Tasks	❌	✅
Org chart	❌	✅
Recipes	❌	✅
Automated onboarding	❌	✅
Automated offboarding	❌	✅
Working patterns	❌	✅
Employment statuses	❌	✅
Training	❌	✅
Training events	❌	✅

Sage HR Essentials v Leave Management

Feature	Sage HR Essentials	Leave Management
Time off policies	✅	✅
Unlimited time off policies	❌	✅
Labour-based time off policies	❌	✅
Time off approvers	✅	✅
Individual approvers	❌	✅
Policy approvers	❌	✅
Individual allowances	❌	✅
Time off reminders	✅	✅
Time off balance	✅	✅
Automated carry-over	❌	✅
Part day requests	❌	✅
Conditions for probation period	❌	✅
Limit the maximum number of days in a time off request	❌	✅
Limit blocks of time off	❌	✅
Minimum notice for time off	❌	✅
Allowance based on length of service	❌	✅
Allowance based on start date	❌	✅
Allowance based on children	❌	✅
Automatic time off approval	✅	✅
Replacement person	❌	✅
Public holiday import	✅	✅
Public holiday groups	✅	✅
Custom working days	✅	✅
Blackout dates	❌	✅