10 Best Leave Trackers for Small Businesses 2026

If you run a small business, this will sound familiar. Two people book the same week off. Nobody notices until Monday. Now your busiest week of the quarter is short-staffed.

For years, the fix was a calendar on the wall or a spreadsheet shared with the team. That worked when everyone sat in one room. It doesn’t work when people are remote, part-time or spread across time zones. Today a proper leave tracker costs only a little per employee each month. Leave Dates starts at £0.75 per user per month as of October 2026, and Timetastic’s Business plan is $1.50 per user per month.

So which one is right for you? Some leave trackers simply keep track of staff leave. Others bundle it into a full set of HR tools. This guide looks at the 10 best leave trackers for small businesses in 2026, ranked on ease of use, leave features, integrations and the pricing on each vendor’s own website.

Also Read: Top 10 Social Media Platforms for Businesses in the USA 2024

Why Small Businesses Are Switching to Leave Trackers

Staff and managers can see upcoming leave in one place instead of emailing each other or updating a spreadsheet.

Fewer Clashes and Coverage Gaps

Everyone can see who is away before a request is approved. Many tools also let managers limit how many people from one team can be off at once, so you aren’t left short-staffed.

Accurate Balances Without Manual Math

Leave trackers work out allowances, accruals and carry-over automatically. Employees can check their own balance and see how many days they have left, which cuts down on questions for their manager.

Faster Approvals for Remote Teams

Staff can send requests through a web app, a mobile app or inside Slack and Microsoft Teams. Managers can approve them from anywhere, and employees get an answer quickly.

Cleaner Records for Payroll

Reports show how many days were taken, what type of leave was used and when. That makes payroll and year-end checks much easier, especially if you track sick leave, unpaid leave or time off in lieu.

10 Best Leave Trackers for Small Businesses at a Glance

10 Best Leave Trackers for Small Businesses (2026)

Prices are as of October 2026, taken from each vendor’s pricing page, and exclude VAT or sales tax.

1. Timetastic

Timetastic is a dedicated leave planner that the company describes as “proudly built in the UK and Canada.” It keeps things simple: employees request time off, a manager approves it, and the booking shows up on a clear team calendar. According to its website, more than 275,000 people book their time off through Timetastic.

The pricing is straightforward. As of October 2026, the Business plan costs $1.50 per user per month and the Pro plan costs $2.50 per user per month, billed monthly with no minimum term. A separate Rota and Time Clock plan costs $5.50 per user per month for teams that also need scheduling. Every plan comes with a 30-day free trial, and you don’t need to enter card details.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Visual team calendar showing who is off
✔ Online leave requests and one-click approvals
✔ Business and Pro leave plans, plus a Rota and Time Clock option
✔ 30-day free trial with no card needed

Best for: Small teams that want a simple, low-cost leave planner they can set up in an afternoon.

2. Leave Dates

Leave Dates is a leave management system founded in December 2017 and based in Bracknell, UK. It helps managers plan ahead by showing who is available for projects, cover and events. Plans start at £0.75 per user per month, prices are also available in US dollars and euros, and paying yearly saves 25%.

Leave Dates moved to three plans, Starter, Essential and Plus, on September 6, 2025, and no longer offers its free-forever plan to new customers. Starter gives you unlimited employees and leave, allowances in days or hours, bank holidays for more than 230 countries, a wall chart and reports. Essential adds Outlook and Google calendar sync, overlap limits, time off in lieu (TOIL) and a daily Slack summary. Plus adds single sign-on, an API, webhooks and Zapier. All plans come with a 30-day free trial.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Bank holidays for more than 230 countries
✔ Outlook and Google calendar sync on Essential
✔ TOIL, overlaps, handovers and limits
✔ SSO, API and Zapier on Plus

Best for: Businesses with staff in several countries that want a focused leave tool with strong calendar sync.

3. Vacation Tracker

Vacation Tracker started as a hackathon project at software company Cloud Horizon. It launched first as a Slack app, and a Microsoft Teams beta followed in October 2020. Today employees can request leave from Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace, and the company says more than 3,500 companies use it.

As of October 2026, the Core plan costs $2 per user per month with a $50 monthly minimum, and the Complete plan costs $4 per user per month with a $100 monthly minimum, both billed monthly. Paying annually saves about 10%. There is a 14-day free trial and no limit on users, admins or approvers. The company lists GDPR and SOC 2 credentials, and Core also connects to ADP and Zapier.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Leave requests inside Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace
✔ Unlimited admins and approvers
✔ ADP and Zapier integrations on Core
✔ iOS and Android apps

Best for: Remote and hybrid teams that run their day in Slack or Microsoft Teams.

4. BambooHR

BambooHR was founded in 2008 by Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders and is based in Lindon, Utah. It’s a full HR platform rather than a standalone leave tool, and it says more than 30,000 companies of all sizes use it. Its entry-level Core plan includes time-off management, a time-off calendar and unlimited custom policies.

BambooHR publishes its prices in US dollars. As of October 2026, companies with 25 or fewer employees pay a flat $250 per month for Core, $425 for Pro and $650 for Elite. Larger companies pay from $10 per employee per month for Core, $17 for Pro and $25 for Elite, before automatic volume discounts. Payroll, benefits and time tracking cost extra. BambooHR is pricey if you only need leave tracking, but good value if you also want employee records and HR reporting in one place.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Time-off management included in Core
✔ Time-off calendar and unlimited custom policies
✔ Employee self-service for requests and balances
✔ Optional payroll and time tracking add-ons

Best for: Growing businesses that want leave tracking inside a complete HR system.

5. Zoho People

Zoho People is the HR app from Zoho Corporation, the business software company. Zoho says it serves more than 50,000 businesses and over one million users in more than 150 countries. Its editions run from Free through Essential HR, Professional, Premium and Enterprise, and time-off management is included in the Free edition.

On its US site, Zoho says paid plans start at $3 per user, with a 30-day free trial and savings of more than 20% on yearly billing. The leave module handles requests, approvals and accruals, and lets you set your own leave types, such as casual, sick and on-duty leave. The mobile app also lets staff check in with facial recognition, and you can restrict where they check in from, which helps with field or remote teams.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Custom leave policies and automatic accruals
✔ Mobile leave requests and approvals
✔ Attendance with facial recognition and geo restrictions
✔ Free edition plus paid plans from $3 per user (US)

Best for: Budget-minded businesses that want leave and attendance in one low-cost HR suite.

6. Calamari

Calamari is a leave and attendance platform based in Warsaw, Poland. Instead of fixed plans, it sells separate modules: Time Off, Time and Attendance, Core HR, Performance Review and Scheduling. That means a small business pays only for what it needs. Calamari says it is used by more than 130,000 employees in 106 countries, and its customers include JetBrains, UNICEF and Virgin Hotels.

As of October 2026, its pricing page lists the Time Off module at €2.50 per active employee per month on monthly billing, or €2 on yearly billing. You can pay in euros or US dollars. The minimum fee equals a 10-seat subscription, and archived employees are not billed. There’s a 14-day free trial of every module, and your data is kept if you subscribe.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Standalone Time Off module
✔ Optional Time and Attendance and Scheduling modules
✔ Pay only for active employees
✔ 14-day trial with all modules

Best for: Small businesses that want to start with leave tracking and add attendance later.

7. absence.io

absence.io is run by absence.io GmbH, based in Munich, Germany. It specializes in absence and leave management and offers time tracking on higher plans. The company says more than 3,000 companies use absence.io every day. Its servers are hosted only in Germany, which matters if data rules are a priority for you.

As of October 2026, the Starter plan costs €2.99 per user per month, Pro costs €4.99 and Complete costs €7.99, with about 10% off for annual billing. Starter covers absence and leave management, reports and integrations. Pro adds time tracking, a digital employee file and single sign-on, and Complete adds travel and expense management and API access. You only pay for licenses you actively use, and there’s a 14-day free trial.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Absence and leave management from €2.99
✔ Time tracking and SSO on Pro
✔ Expenses and API access on Complete
✔ Data hosted in Germany

Best for: European businesses that want leave tracking with strong data protection.

8. WhosOff

WhosOff is owned and operated by X:drive, based in Canterbury, Kent, in the UK. It handles leave requests, leave policies and restrictions, and overtime and TOIL with payroll reporting. It also includes a staff hub for employee records and documents. WhosOff has been a Crown Commercial Service supplier on the UK government’s G-Cloud marketplace since 2016 and holds Cyber Essentials certification.

WhosOff charges every company the same rate. As of October 2026, it starts from £0.95 per user per month on a rolling monthly contract, and prices are also shown in US dollars and euros. There are no setup fees, no minimum contract and no cancellation fees, and larger teams get bigger discounts. The free trial runs for up to eight weeks with full access and no payment details needed.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Leave policies and restrictions
✔ Overtime and TOIL with payroll reporting
✔ Staff hub with document storage
✔ Free iOS and Android apps

Best for: Small businesses that want a long free trial and flexible month-to-month terms.

9. Sage HR

Sage HR is made by Sage, which says it is trusted by more than 2 million customers worldwide. Sage HR is designed for businesses with up to 250 employees. Leave management is part of its Core HR module, so employees can request time off online or in the mobile app, and managers can approve requests on the go.

Sage HR is sold module by module. Its US pricing page lists Core HR and Leave Management at $6.50 per employee per month as of October 2026. Performance, Shift Scheduling and Timesheets cost $3.25 per employee per month each, and Expenses costs $1.75. Recruitment is a flat $210 per month. You can try Sage HR free for 30 days without entering payment details, and the trial simply ends when it’s over.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Leave management included in Core HR
✔ Mobile requests and approvals
✔ Add-on shift scheduling and timesheets
✔ 30-day free trial

Best for: Small businesses that already use Sage software and want HR from the same vendor.

10. Factorial

Factorial is an HR software company whose careers page calls it the fastest-growing start-up in Barcelona. It covers the HR basics you would expect, including an employee directory, onboarding and offboarding, payslip distribution and e-signatures. Time Off is one of its product modules.

Factorial’s pricing page says plans start at $8 per user per month as of October 2026. From there, plans are tailored to each company, so you add the modules you need. Factorial offers iOS and Android apps and an API. It costs more than the dedicated leave trackers on this list, but it suits a small business that wants leave, documents and onboarding in one system.

Key Leave Tracking Solutions
✔ Time Off module within a wider HR platform
✔ Employee directory and document management
✔ iOS and Android apps
✔ Plans tailored to the modules you choose

Best for: Small businesses that want leave tracking as part of a broader, flexible HR package.

How to Choose the Right Leave Tracker for Your Small Business

The best leave tracker for a small business is the one your team will actually use. These points help narrow the list.

Decide Between a Leave Tool and an HR Suite

If you only need leave requests, approvals and a team calendar, a dedicated tool such as Timetastic, Leave Dates or WhosOff is cheaper and faster to set up. If you also want to store employee records, onboard new starters or run performance reviews, look at a suite such as BambooHR, Zoho People or Factorial.

Check the Real Monthly Cost

Per-user prices look small, but minimums change the math. Vacation Tracker has a $50 monthly minimum on Core, Calamari’s minimum equals 10 seats, and BambooHR charges a flat $250 per month for Core if you have 25 or fewer employees. Work out the total for your headcount before you commit.

Look at Where Your Team Works

If your business runs on Slack or Microsoft Teams, a tool that works inside those apps will get more use. If your staff are on the move, a good mobile app matters. And check that calendar sync with Outlook or Google Calendar is on the plan you choose, not only on a higher tier.

Match Leave Rules and Holidays

Make sure the tool handles your leave types, accruals, carry-over, part-time allowances and public holidays. If you employ people in several countries, check that each country’s holiday calendar is supported.

Take the Free Trial Seriously

Most tools on this list offer a free trial, from 14 days to up to eight weeks. Test it with real requests from a few employees and at least one manager before you pay.

Frequently Asked Questions About Leave Trackers for Small Businesses

What is the best leave tracker for a small business?

There is no single best tool for everyone. Timetastic and Leave Dates are great options for simple leave tracking. Vacation Tracker suits teams that work in Slack or Microsoft Teams. If you want to manage more than just leave, BambooHR or Zoho People could be a better fit.

How much does leave tracking software cost?

Many dedicated leave trackers on this list cost less than $3 or €3 per user per month as of October 2026. HR platforms with leave built in usually cost more. Sage HR charges $6.50 per employee per month for its Core HR and Leave module, and BambooHR’s Core plan starts at $10 per employee per month, or a flat $250 per month for 25 or fewer employees.

Is there a free leave tracker?

Zoho People lists a free edition that includes time-off management. Most other tools on this list offer a free trial rather than a free plan, and Leave Dates closed its free-forever plan to new customers in 2025. A spreadsheet can work for a very small team, but it gets harder to manage as you grow.

Can leave trackers connect to Slack, Teams or Google Calendar?

Many can. Vacation Tracker works inside Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace, and Leave Dates syncs with Outlook and Google calendars on its Essential plan. Always check which integrations come with the plan you are buying.

Conclusion

The 10 best leave trackers for small businesses in 2026 range from simple planners that cost a dollar or two per user each month to full HR platforms with leave built in. Timetastic, Leave Dates and Vacation Tracker lead for focused leave tracking, while BambooHR, Zoho People and Factorial suit teams that want more HR tools under one roof.

Start with your team size, where your people work and how much HR you really need. Then use the free trials with real requests. The right leave tracker should save you time from the first month.

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