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There are so many different leave management software solutions that making a shortlist of the best can be tricky. You want to automate the tracking of various types of leaves, such as vacation, sick, and personal days, while maintaining compliance with company policies and labor laws—and now need the right tool for your company and team. In this post, I share from my personal experience as an HR expert using many different leave management tools with teams of all sizes, and share my picks of the best leave management software overall.

What is Leave Management Software?

Leave management software is a digital tool designed to automate and manage employee leave requests and approvals. It tracks various types of leaves, such as vacation, sick, and personal days, aligning with company policies and labor laws.

The purpose is to simplify the application and approval process, provide real-time visibility into employee availability, and reduce administrative tasks. It helps in maintaining accurate leave records, ensuring fair and consistent leave management, and assists in workforce planning by keeping track of absences, thereby enhancing overall operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.

Overviews of the 10 Best Leave Management Software

Here’s a brief description of each leave management software that showcases each system’s best use case, standout features, and pros & cons. Keep reading to find additional bonus picks at the bottom of the list.

Best for managing time off through Slack

  • Free demo available
  • Flat rate user pricing, with free HR tool for businesses
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Rating: 4.8/5

Deel is an all-in-one global workforce management software. It handles core HR operations like contract management, expense management, and payroll and benefits administration.

Why I picked Deel: One of the reasons this platform made my list is its new Slack plugin. Time off requests and leave management were already a part of the software. But with the new plugin, employees can manage their time off directly through Slack, helping to reduce app-switching. The software will automatically notify team members when someone's away, and allows you to set up coverage to ensure nothing is missed because someone's OOO.

Deel Standout Features & Integrations

Features include the unique burnout indicator tool. When fluctuations happen in an employee's time off habits (such as taking off much more or less time than usual), managers are notified. This helps alert your management team to signs of burnout and address the situation as needed.

Integrations include Ashby, BambooHR, Expensify, Greenhouse, Hibob, Netsuite, Okta, OneLogin, Quickbooks, SCIM, Xero, Workday, and Workable. An Open API is also available to build custom integrations.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Manage PTO through Slack plugin
  • Expertise in over 150 companies
  • Complete workforce management solution

Cons:

  • May not be suitable for those not using Slack
  • Limited invoice customization

Best unified solution for managing global time off policies and compliance

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $6/user/month
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Rating: 4.3/5

Replicon Time & Attendance is a comprehensive workforce management solution that efficiently tracks and manages employees' time and attendance data. With user-friendly features like time tracking, shift scheduling, and leave management, the platform enables businesses to accurately monitor employee work hours, ensure compliance with labor regulations, and streamline payroll processes for increased productivity and cost-effectiveness.

Why I Picked Replicon Time & Attendance: Replicon Time & Attendance stands out with its geofencing and mobile time tracking capabilities. Geofencing allows organizations to set up virtual boundaries around specific job sites or locations, ensuring that employees can only clock in and out when they are physically present at designated areas. Additionally, the mobile time tracking feature enables employees to log their work hours using their smartphones or tablets, providing real-time data on employee attendance and location. These features are particularly beneficial for businesses with mobile or remote workforces, offering enhanced visibility and accountability while reducing the risk of time theft or inaccurate time reporting.

Replicon Time & Attendance Standout Features & Integrations 

Features include advanced compliance management tools and labor law monitoring features. The platform stays up-to-date with changing labor laws and regulations, allowing businesses to automatically apply the latest legal requirements to their time tracking and attendance processes. Replicon offers configurable rule sets and built-in compliance alerts to notify organizations of any potential violations, ensuring that they maintain adherence to labor laws and minimize the risk of costly compliance errors or penalties.

Integrations include SAP, ADP, Salesforce, Quickbooks, Atlassian, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Servicenow, Zero, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure DevOps, Google Meet, Google Calendar, and other popular business software. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Easy to learn and use
  • Detailed workforce resource management + compliance
  • All-in-one time tracking & leave management

Cons:

  • Feature-lite mobile app
  • Subscribe to 3 plans to get all their offerings

Best team communication app for small businesses

  • Free plan available (unlimited employees)
  • From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month)
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Rating: 4.2/5

Homebase is a leave management software designed to help businesses manage their employees' schedules, time tracking, and PTO requests. It's a great tool for small to medium-sized businesses that need a simple and efficient way to handle employee time off and vacation/sick time tracking.

Why I picked Homebase: I chose Homebase because it's super user-friendly and has a clean interface that makes it easy to navigate. It's perfect for businesses like mine that don't have a dedicated HR department and need a simple solution to manage employee leaves. Plus, it's affordable and offers a free plan for smaller teams, which is a huge bonus for startups and small businesses. Homebase also offers a mobile app, which is super convenient for both managers and employees. You can access all the features from your phone, making it easy to manage leaves and PTO even when you're on the go.

Homebase Standout Features & Integrations

Features include the ability to quickly set up PTO policies, and employees can request time off directly through the platform. Managers can approve or deny requests with just a few clicks, and the system automatically updates the employee's PTO balance. Another great feature is the built-in communication tools. You can send messages to your team members directly through Homebase, making it easy to discuss time off requests or any other work-related topics.

Integrations include ADP, Clover, Google, Lightspeed, Payanywhere, Paychex, Quickbooks, Shopify, Square, Toast, Upserve, Vend, and Wells Fargo. 

Best for businesses looking for simple, stress-free leave management

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $1.90/user/month
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Rating: 5/5

actiPLANS offers a streamlined leave management solution designed to simplify the process of requesting and approving time off while handling PTO accrual calculations and providing insightful reports.

Why I picked actiPLANS: The tool stands out for its user-friendly interface and custom leave types, making it easy for employees and managers to navigate and understand various absences within the organization.

actiPLANS is perfect for businesses looking to automate and improve their leave management process. The tool offers one-click approvals, custom PTO accrual rules, and comprehensive reports, enabling more efficient resource planning and policy compliance.

actiPLANS Standout Features and Integrations

Features include, leave management, shift assignment, activity planning, location tracking, and event scheduling.

Integrations include actiTIME, a comprehensive solution for tracking employee work hours, project time, attendance, and generating insightful reports to boost productivity and streamline payroll processes.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Customizable PTO accrual rules
  • Comprehensive reporting
  • User-friendly interface

Cons:

  • Limited integrations
  • Can’t edit requests

Best for tailoring to unique business needs

  • Free trial + free plan available
  • From $1/employee/month
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Rating: 4.8/5

Leave Dates is a user-friendly time off management software designed for business owners, managers, team leaders, and employees. Its simplicity and customization options enable users to easily manage leave requests and approvals while maintaining transparency throughout the team.

Why I picked Leave Dates: Leave Date’s simple, clear, and intuitive interface makes tracking and managing leave easy for everyone. The customization options and calendar connectivity further enhance its appeal, making it a standout choice for time off management. It simplifies the leave management process for businesses of all sizes.

Leave Dates Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a live wall chart, a check leave and balance function, a straightforward request and approval system, easy setup and sync, flexible management, daily reports, leave management on the go, and customization options tailored for any company's leave policy.

Integrations include Excel, Google Calendar, and Outlook, as well as integrations with single sign on and Slack. You can also connect Leave Dates to a paid Zapier account to unlock additional integrations.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Intuitive interface
  • Free tier
  • Calendar integration

Cons:

  • Limited features
  • Inability to add back leave

Best for automating PTO calculations and leave management

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $2/employee/month
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Rating: 4.6/5

Calamari is an online leave management system that simplifies time off calculation and holiday management for businesses. 

Why I picked Calamari: One of the coolest things about Calamari is its flexible multilevel approval process. It offers a customizable leave request approval process that you can set-up to reflect your company's unique structure. 

Calamari is a leave management and notification automation tool suitable for companies with distributed teams across different locations. Calamari’s ability to set up separate time off policies and absence types for each location makes it easy to keep all employee and time off-related data in one system. Additionally, it is available in five languages and is compliant with EU-wide privacy and data protection laws.

Calamari Standout Features and Integrations

Features include the ability to attach medical records or other necessary documents to absence requests, the ability to view the entire history of leave requests, and roles and privileges, which gives access to employee time off data and can be restricted as needed.

Integrations include Asana, Basecamp, Google Workspace, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Office 365, and Slack.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Easy to navigate
  • Affordable
  • Helpful support team

Cons:

  • Hard to track vacation days on mobile app
  • Can’t edit existing time off requests

Best for easy leave management and tracking

  • 7-day free trial
  • From $1/user/month
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Rating: 4.4/5

Vacation Tracker is a leave management tool that simplifies the process of requesting, approving, and tracking time off for employees and managers.

Why I picked Vacation Tracker: Their real-time visibility and self-service features reduce administrative tasks for HR, while the calendar integration and custom notifications keep everyone informed about leave activities. The tool's support for remote teams, multiple locations, and departments ensures all team members can access tailored leave policies and holidays.

Vacation Tracker is perfect for businesses looking to simplify their leave management processes while keeping everyone informed and accountable. The platform also offers brought forward polices that allows employees to transfer unused time off to the following year, complete with customizable expiration dates for the rolled-over days. 

Vacation Tracker Standout Features and Integrations

Features include real-time visibility of team leave activity, employee self-service for PTO management, a streamlined leave approval process, custom notifications, custom leave types, management of multiple locations and departments, personalized leave types and policies, hourly PTO tracking, automated accruals, configurable user profiles, and built-in reporting.

Integrations include Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and numerous email programs.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • Real-time visibility
  • Helpful automation

Cons:

  • No accrual tracking or custom messages
  • Unclear status on remaining vacation days

Best for simplifying employee scheduling and leave management for SMEs

  • 14-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $1.35/employee/month
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Rating: 4.4/5

LeaveBoard is a cloud-based HR and leave management system that simplifies employee scheduling, centralizes workforce data, and empowers teams with accurate reports. Designed for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the platform efficiently manages time off, vacations, and absences.

Why I picked LeaveBoard: What makes LeaveBoard unique is its seamless integration with Slack, allowing users to request and manage time off directly from the tool. It also offers a user-friendly mobile app, making it easy for employees to send vacation requests from anywhere.

LeaveBoard’s employee attendance tracking, time off management, and HR analytics help companies make informed decisions and focus on strategic initiatives. LeaveBoard's affordability and easy-to-use interface make it the perfect HR solution for growing businesses.

LeaveBoard Standout Features and Integrations

Features include an intuitive leave management system with online request forms, HR dashboards, and flexible leave allocations. LeaveBoard also provides automatic overlap warnings, leave tracking, and a simple approval flow for a streamlined experience. 

Integrations include a calendar sync with Apple, Google, Gsuite, ics feeds, and Microsoft; as well as integrations with single sign-on applications and Slack.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Cost efficient
  • Easy to use
  • Single sign-on (SSO) integrations make logging in easy

Cons:

  • No mobile app
  • Occasional glitches with Slack integration

Best for simplifying absence management internationally for businesses of all sizes

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $2.50/user/month
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Rating: 3.8/5

Absence.io is a versatile tool designed to streamline absence management and time tracking for businesses of all sizes. 

Why I picked Absence.io: This tool stands out for its user-friendly structure and easy-to-use interface. It also caters to a global audience and is available in seven languages, making it an excellent choice for companies operating in multiple countries. 

Absence.io simplifies and centralizes absence management for businesses. Several unique features include a reliable vacation planner with custom leave types, digital time tracking for work hours and overtime, and a digital personnel file for storing employee information. With its comprehensive functions, Absence.io is perfect for companies looking to improve efficiency and organization in managing employee absences and time-tracking.

Absence.io Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a quick requests and approval process for holidays and absences, user-selected substitutions, and a comprehensive overview and analysis of vacation days and other absences. In addition, Absence.io also offers robust reporting, time tracking and management, and a dashboard overview for quick insights into absences, illnesses, inquiries, birthdays, and more.

Integrations with Google, Office 365, and Slack are available.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • Helpful filter function
  • Responsive support team

Cons:

  • Can’t modify requests
  • No integrations with HR tools

Best leave management for automated processes and custom policies

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $3/employee/month

PurelyHR Time-Off focuses on simplifying leave management for businesses by connecting unique features like automated accruals, policy renewals, and effortless request/approval processes.

Why I picked PurelyHR Time-Off: Their software eliminates the time-consuming process of managing time off through emails, spreadsheets, and paper calendars. Its user-friendly features allow users to easily access their balance, and send and receive requests with a single click.

PurelyHR Time-Off is designed for businesses that require an efficient and transparent leave management solution. It is ideal for organizations seeking to automate manual processes, offer custom policies, and provide easy access to time off balances and requests.

PurelyHR Time-Off Standout Features and Integrations

Features include customizable time off policies, helpful reminders, automation of policy changes and approvals, and 25+ customizable reports for easy data sharing.

Integrations include Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, payroll systems, project management tools, time-tracking software, workforce management platforms, and integrations with single sign-on (SSO) providers.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Calendar synchronization
  • Comprehensive reports
  • User-friendly interface

Cons:

  • Limited integrations
  • No mobile app

The 10 Best Leave Management Software Comparison Chart

Here’s a comparison chart that summarizes basic details about each of my top leave management software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software that works for your business needs.

Tools Price
Deel Flat rate user pricing, with free HR tool for businesses
Replicon From $6/user/month
Homebase From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month)
actiPLANS From $1.90/user/month
Leave Dates From $1/employee/month
Calamari From $2/employee/month
Vacation Tracker From $1/user/month
LeaveBoard From $1.35/employee/month
Absence.io From $2.50/user/month
PurelyHR Time Off From $3/employee/month
Preview Image - <h2 class="c-block__title b-summary-table__title c-listicle__title h3" > Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Compare Software

Other Options

Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best leave management software list. I didn’t have room for a full review for each of these but they are still worthy of consideration:

  1. Pause

    Best for handling leave requests and capacity planning for startups

  2. ADP Total Absence Management

    Best for managing employee leave for large businesses

  3. Planleave

    Best for streamlined PTO tracking and automation

  4. EasyTimeOff

    Best efficient leave management with customizable policies

  5. Insightful

    Best leave management in a productivity platform

  6. Buddy Punch

    Best time-tracking for small and medium-sized businesses

  7. BambooHR

    Best leave management within a complete HRMS

  8. Factorial

    Best for its robust mobile app

  9. Connecteam

    Best leave management features from a mobile device

  10. Timetastic

    Best, simple, and user-friendly leave management for modern teams

How I Selected the Best Leave Management Software

Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best leave management software for this list? To build this top 10 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of leave management systems with positive user ratings.

After determining my long list of top choices, I further honed my list by using the selection criteria below to see how each platform compared to the next one. I also drew on my years of human resources experience to pinpoint the administrative features that add a lot of value.

Selection Criteria

Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best leave management software for this article:

Usability

As an HR professional, I prioritize ease of use and a well-organized interface to create a positive user experience. The software must also offer time-saving features and eliminate any administrative hassles. Good customer service and tech support are also vital.

User Interface

When it comes to the user interface, I look for a straightforward design that enables HR teams to navigate the software with ease. User-friendly dashboards and reports are also critical to ensure a seamless experience.

Scalability and Flexibility

Leave management software must be flexible and scalable enough to meet the organization's current and future needs. Ideally, the software should offer different packages for any company size.

Reporting and Analytics Tools

It’s important for the tool to have a comprehensive reporting system that includes automated data collection, data dashboards, and data interpretation. 

Software Integrations 

Leave management software should integrate easily with other systems to streamline data management requirements. Ideally, the software should offer integrations with HR software and other niche tools, like payroll management systems, to create a complete HR management suite.

Pricing

Ideally, the software should be transparent about its pricing modules, and the pricing should be flexible enough to suit different budgets and business sizes. A free trial or demo is also essential to allow for evaluation before making a final decision.

People Also Ask

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about leave management software and how it works:

What is leave management?

Leave management (also known as time off management) is the process of tracking, administering, and managing employee time off, such as vacation days, sick leaves, and other types of absences. It ensures that employees take their allotted time off according to the organization’s policies and guidelines while maintaining efficient workflow and productivity.

What main features are included in leave management software?

Leave management software typically includes features like automated leave tracking, employee self-service portals, customizable leave policies, real-time reports and analytics, integration with other HR systems, and calendar syncing for easy visibility of employee availability.

What are the most common types of leaves employees take?

The most common types of leaves employees take include vacation or annual leave, sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, public holidays, personal leave, bereavement leave, and unpaid leave, such as a sabbatical or a leave of absence for personal or professional reasons.

Other legitimate, but less common, types of employee leaves include leaves for religious observance, jury duty, military leave, or time off to vote on an election day.

What key details should be included in a leave management policy?

A comprehensive leave management policy should include key details such as types of leaves offered, eligibility criteria, the process for requesting and approving leaves, accrual and carryover rules, maximum leave limits, and any applicable laws or regulations governing employee time off.

For more advice on how to craft a proper employee leave policy, take a look at our article on What are HR Policies? +7 Main Types to Have in Place.

Other Resources

Now that you've explored my top picks for leave management software, consider delving deeper into other aspects of the workforce and people management. Check out the following articles to expand your knowledge on workforce management software, people management tips, HR policies, and novel employee wellness program ideas. 

What's Next?

Finding the best leave management software can significantly impact your company's efficiency and employee satisfaction. We hope our top picks will help you find the perfect solution for your organization's unique needs. If you're interested in tracking your employees' activities at a more granular level, consider looking into time and attendance software as well.

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By Kim Behnke

Kim Behnke is an HR Tool Expert & Writer for People Managing People. She draws on her 9 years of human resources experience and her keen eye for systematic processes to support her analyses of the top HR tools on the market. She is passionate about maximizing efficiencies and streamlining workflows to ensure internal systems run smoothly. Kim's HR experience includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, training and development, policy development and enforcement, and HR analytics. She also has degrees in psychology, writing, publishing, and technical communication, and recently completed a Certified Digital HR Specialist program through the Academy to Innovate HR. When away from her desk, she can usually be found outside tending to her ever-expanding garden.