10 Best PTO Tracking Software Solutions for 2024
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With remote teams, complex leave policies, and a flood of requests, manually tracking PTO can quickly become a nightmare. Efficient and accurate PTO management is essential, but as your company grows, it only gets more challenging. That’s why PTO tracking software for your business is game-changing.
A leave tracking software can revolutionize your workflow to save you a whole lot of time, money, and headaches. But with so many options, where do you even begin?
In this guide, we’ll explore the best PTO tracking software solutions for 2024, helping you find the perfect tool for your team.
What is PTO Tracking Software?
A PTO tracking software is a powerful tool that helps manage and automate employee time off, including sick days, vacations, and personal days, by simplifying tasks such as leave approvals, accruals, and reporting.
By automating these processes, it eliminates errors and misunderstandings while providing employees with clear visibility into their PTO balances. This reduces inquiries, builds trust, and even streamlines PTO tracking for remote teams, ensuring compliance across different countries and time zones.
3 Clues It’s Time to Switch from Spreadsheets to PTO Software
A recent study revealed that in 2024, 62% of HR managers had noticed a significant increase in leave requests, with 75% reporting that the number of requests grew by 20% or more (AbsenceSoft).
Is your team experiencing a similar surge?
Here are three signs it might be time to move on from spreadsheets to PTO software:
Loads of Manual Work: Your HR department is spending too much time manually updating spreadsheets, doing complex accrual calculations, responding to inquiries about PTO balances, and handling approvals and refusals.
Difficulty Managing Multiple Locations: Managing leave for teams spread across various time zones and languages while ensuring compliance with different PTO laws and national holidays has become increasingly challenging.
Errors and Inconsistencies in PTO Records: “Oops, I forgot to update the spreadsheet” moments are becoming way too common, causing overlapping absences, missed deadlines, frustrations, and delays.
The right PTO tracking software can tackle these pain points to enhance HR efficiency and employee satisfaction. Let’s explore some of the best vacation tracking software in 2024 and discover which is the right fit for your business.
The 10 Best PTO Tracking Software Solutions
Vacation Tracker: Best Overall PTO Tracking Software
Vacation Tracker is recognized as the best PTO tracking software for tracking, reporting, and delegating paid time off management. 
Say goodbye to the administrative nightmares of manual errors, lack of visibility, and juggling leaves across multiple locations. Vacation Tracker’s intuitive features, such as one-click PTO approvals, automatic approvals, and fully customizable leave types, make managing time off feel effortless. Plus, complex calculations like accruals and rollovers are fully automated, freeing up your time for more important tasks. 
No need for complex onboarding, Vacation Tracker works where you do. Seamless integration into platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace enables teams to manage PTO within the tools they already use without even having to sign up!
Key Features
Unlimited Departments and Locations: Easily scale your PTO management as your company grows with unlimited departments and locations, making it simple to organize and track your expanding workforce.
Real-Time Dashboard: Stay informed with a real-time dashboard that provides unparalleled accuracy in tracking requests, approvals, and time-off balances, ensuring that all data is up to date.
Self-Managed PTO: Empower employees to manage their own PTO through an intuitive platform that reduces the administrative burden on HR and fosters a culture of accountability and transparency.
Role-Based Permissions: Customize access based on roles within the company, allowing for tailored permissions that ensure only authorized personnel can manage sensitive PTO information.
Mobile Accessibility: Manage PTO on the go with a mobile-friendly platform that allows employees to request and approve time off from anywhere.
Customizable Workflows and Leave Types: Design PTO processes that align with your company’s unique leave policies using customizable workflows and leave types, ensuring both efficiency and compliance.
Real-Time Reporting: Gain insights into PTO trends and balances with real-time reporting tools that help you make informed decisions and maintain accurate records.
Scheduled Notifications: Keep your team informed with scheduled notifications that remind them of upcoming time off, ensuring that everyone is aligned and aware.
Shared Team Calendar: Avoid scheduling conflicts with a shared team calendar that provides visibility into everyone’s time-off plans, promoting better team coordination.
Vacation Tracker stands out from the competition by offering a comprehensive solution that combines ease of use, powerful features, and seamless integration into your existing workflow. Whether you’re managing straightforward or complex leave policies, Vacation Tracker offers a scalable, powerful solution that ensures your entire team stays informed, connected, and on track—without breaking the bank.
“We LOVE Vacation Tracker. We went from a single person tracking PTO on a spreadsheet to a completely transparent, user-friendly portal. My employees were constantly asking how many days they had left, and we were using paper request and payroll forms. Changes were a huge hassle. Now, they can send a chat message to request days off, see how many days they have left, and can make adjustments easily." - Capterra Review
Capterra Rating: 4.8/5
Pricing: Vacation Tracker offers flexible and affordable pricing to meet the needs of any organization, whether you’re a small team or a large enterprise.
Core Plan: Starting at $1 per user per month ($25 minimum), this Plan provides essential PTO management features, including unlimited leave types, departments, and locations. This plan is ideal for teams just getting started with automated leave tracking seeking a straightforward, budget-friendly solution.
Complete Plan: For those with more complex PTO needs, the Complete Plan is available at $3 per user per month ($75 minimum). It includes everything in the Core Plan plus robust features like accruals, hourly leave tracking, Time Off in Lieu (TOIL), and scheduled reports. The Complete Plan is perfect for growing businesses that need a more sophisticated PTO management solution that scales with them.
Add-Ons: Every business’s needs are different. Vacation Tracker allows you to customize your plan with powerful add-ons to meet specific requirements. For $0.50 per user per month, you can enable advanced features like blackout periods, entitlement by role, and seniority entitlement. Pick the plan and add-ons that fit your requirements to get exactly what you need, without ever paying for features you won’t use.
Start your 7-day free trial today and experience the full power of Vacation Tracker.
Easy PTO tracking, right at your fingertips.
Automate leave policies, improve visibility and plan better
No credit card required. Instant set-up.
Buddy Punch: Best for Time and Attendance Tracking
Buddy Punch is a cloud-based time clock tool designed to track employee hours, overtime, and time off.
Remote teams can punch in and out using a smartphone, computer, designated kiosk, or QR code. GPS integrations, including geofencing and IP address locking, ensure reliable, accurate attendance monitoring. Further integrations with everybody’s favorite payroll systems like QuickBooks, Paychex, and Workday make preparing for payday a breeze.
Image Source: https://buddypunch.com/
While Buddy Punch’s core focus is on time and attendance, its PTO management features provide a solid foundation for basic leave tracking. Their self-service approach allows employees to submit time-off requests easily and autonomously, check their PTO balance, and view a shared time-off calendar.
Notifications for new requests and automated approval workflows are available. The software supports blackout dates, preventing time-off requests during busy periods, and customizable leave policies to accommodate diverse organizational needs. Advanced features include accrual rules, customization options for individual balances, and visibility settings for PTO.
Capterra Rating: 4.8/5
Pricing: Starts at $19 + $3.99 per user per month. 14-day free trial available.
Leave Dates: Best for Basic Leave Management
Leave Dates is a no-frills leave management software designed for easy PTO tracking. Its intuitive interface allows easy submission and approval of leave requests, with an interactive calendar providing clear visibility of upcoming absences for managers and employees.
Image Source: https://www.leavedates.com/
Employees can request leave through their computers or smartphones, accessing their personal calendars to track PTO balances. Customization options allow businesses to set up their own departments and schedules, define their own leave policies and approval workflows, and even track Time Off in Lieu (TOIL).
Automated email notifications, summary reports, and integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, and Slack keep everyone informed to prevent scheduling conflicts.
Capterra Rating: 4.8/5
Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $1.00 per user per month.
BambooHR: Best All-in-One HR Solution
BambooHR is a complete system that integrates PTO management with payroll, time-tracking, hiring, onboarding, employee performance, benefits, and more.
Businesses seeking a comprehensive HR Solution will love being able to centralize all HR functions in BambooHR, especially with its robust integration capabilities and a mobile app that further enhances its practicality.
Image Source: https://www.bamboohr.com/
No need for calculators, spreadsheets, or never-to-be-found-again email threads, employees can quickly review their balances and submit PTO requests through a desktop or smartphone. Features like instant alerts, automatic balance updates, approval workflows, and a “Who’s Out Calendar” for easy scheduling help your team stay organized and in the know.
Built for enterprises with a global workforce, BambooHR enables administrators to customize PTO policies to their heart’s content, with the ability to change rules depending on location, department, or even employee.
Robust reporting and analytics capabilities provide teams with the insights needed to make data-driven decisions about their workforce and resource allocation. The software manages employee information and tracks performance to improve decision-making processes.
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
Pricing: Contact for pricing. Free trial available.
SageHr: Best for Modular HR Solutions
Sage HR is another comprehensive HR solution encompassing payroll, benefits, and other HR functions with PTO management capabilities. However, its subscription model enables businesses to pick and choose add-ons as needed, like performance management, timesheets, and shift scheduling. This modular approach is great for businesses that need scalable software to grow with them.
Sage HR’s intuitive interface streamlines the PTO process, encouraging employees to self-manage their leave requests. Their mobile-friendly software allows teams to access their PTO information and make, approve, or deny requests from anywhere. A shared calendar view provides transparency and visibility.
Image Source: https://www.sage.com/
Sage HR’s real-time reports provide valuable insights about your team’s attendance and PTO habits.
Capterra Review: 4.5/5
Pricing: Starting at $7 per month per employee. 30-day free trial available.
Replicon: Best for Large Enterprises
Replicon is a comprehensive time-tracking software that provides real-time insights into hours, attendance, and PTO. This scalable system integrates with the tech stacks that power your organization, including ERP, CRM, and accounting systems. Access to key metrics helps visualize how time impacts growth for accurate project planning and forecasting.
Replicon enhances visibility and accountability with advanced features like Geofencing, which restricts clock-ins to designated areas, and mobile tracking, allowing employees to log hours directly from their devices. Ai-powered time-tracking reduces time theft and reporting errors, making it an ideal solution for businesses managing a considerable mobile or remote workforce.
Through its employee self-service platform, Replicon encourages staff to manage their own PTO via desktop or a convenient mobile app.
Image Source: https://www.replicon.com/
This enterprise-grade solution empowers teams to reclaim time in their workweek with dynamic approval workflows, a built-in compliance engine, seamless integrations, and automatic accruals, resets, and carryovers. Its advanced capabilities and customization enable tailored approval workflows and time-off policies that align perfectly with your complex leave regulations.
Capterra Rating: 4.5/5
Pricing: Starting at $6 per user per month. 14-day free trial available.
Timetastic: Best for Small Businesses
Timetastic is a super-simple PTO tracking software used to manage employee absences. By centralizing time-off requests, approvals, and balances, this user-friendly platform provides a real-time snapshot of your team’s availability to help you make informed staffing decisions.
Employees have visibility into their annual PTO balances in their calendars and can request time off in the desktop or mobile application by simply clicking on the day (or days) they want off. An interactive wall chart gives managers a visual overview of team availability to optimize workforce planning.
Image Source: https://timetastic.co.uk/
Seamless integration with popular calendar tools like Google Calendar and Outlook prevents those pesky scheduling conflicts. Enjoy daily updates on who’s off in Slack, view team absences on your calendar, or receive a weekly absence summary in your inbox.
Lacking more complex customization options and security features, this affordable system is perfect for small teams with simple leave policies who want visibility on their team’s absences—without all the bells and whistles.
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
Pricing: Starting at $1.50 per user per month. 30-day free trial available.
Clockify: Best for Agencies
Clockify is more than just a time-tracking tool; it’s your all-in-one solution for managing time and time off. While primarily designed to track billable hours, Clockify seamlessly integrates PTO management, offering a comprehensive overview of employee activity for better project planning.
Image Source: https://clockify.me/
Clockify makes it easy for employees to punch in and out, request time off, view schedules, and log time for clients and projects. Employers can customize leave and holiday types, create unlimited time off policies, and track accruals and balances.
No more juggling multiple tools for time tracking and PTO management! The integrated timer ensures precise client billing, project creation, and hour estimation, making it ideal for agencies and firms needing accurate time and leave tracking for contractual employees.
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
Pricing: Free plan available. Plans with PTO management start at $5.49 per seat per month. 7-day free trial available.
Calamari: Best for International Businesses
Calamari’s PTO tracking software provides global solutions for managing attendance and leave requests. It caters to international teams by supporting multiple languages, calendars, and time zones. It includes a centralized calendar for team visibility and customizable leave types and policies.
Powered by automation, Calamari automatically calculates accruals and applies carry-over policies to prevent mistakes. Comprehensive and exportable reports provide detailed insights into your employee’s attendance, timesheet, payroll, and entitlement to avoid confusion.
Image Source: https://www.calamari.io/
With a focus on user-friendliness and efficiency, Calamari features integrations with Slack, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 to enhance usability.
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
Pricing: Starting at $2 per month per user ($20 minimum). 14-day free trial available.
Jibble: Best Free Time-Tracking Tool
Jibble provides startups and small businesses with a comprehensive yet cost-effective approach to managing time and attendance, plus essential PTO management features.
Employees can submit and track their well-deserved leave requests, including vacation, sick leave, and personal days. Managers can efficiently approve or deny requests, ensuring a smooth workflow. Notifications about pending leave requests and approvals or rejections keep everyone in the loop.
The platform’s customizable leave policies accommodate diverse organizational needs while accrual tracking and balance management provide transparency. Advanced face recognition and GPS tracking ensure accurate employee identification and time tracking.
By integrating seamlessly with your favorite calendar applications or payroll software, Jibble is an affordable way to streamline operations and reduce manual data entry.
The free plan provides basic PTO tracking features. However, businesses with more intricate leave management policies may benefit from the premium plan, which includes advanced reporting, automation, and additional integrations.
Capterra Rating: 4.8/5
Pricing: Free plan available, with premium plans starting at C$3.49 per user per month.
5 Things to Consider Before Choosing a PTO Solution
Integrations
Make sure your PTO management solution works where you do by integrating seamlessly with your current software stack. With Vacation Tracker, you can access all your PTO details directly in Slack or Microsoft Teams, making it easier than ever to track and manage leave without leaving the platforms your team already uses.
Ease of Use
We’re looking to reduce headaches, not cause new ones. Choose a PTO solution that’s easy to onboard and intuitive to use, encouraging employees to adopt it effortlessly. Vacation Tracker’s user-friendly interface, range of resources and guides, and knowledgeable customer service team make it easy for your team to onboard, minimizing disruptions and maximizing efficiency.
Scalability
Your tool needs to be able to grow with you. Ensure your solution can be scaled to match the needs of your growing business. Vacation Tracker’s unlimited leave types and easy role edits make it easy to adapt to your company’s current size but also keeps you covered as you grow.
Customization
Every company’s needs are different. Customization is essential for ensuring the PTO tool effectively meets your specific requirements. Vacation Tracker makes it easy to set up custom policies and leave types to fit your company’s specific needs.
Reporting
Robust reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into leave trends and PTO balances, helping you make informed decisions. Vacation Tracker’s comprehensive reports can be scheduled and delivered straight to your inbox, ensuring you stay informed with up-to-date information to improve workforce management.
Ready to Transform Your PTO Management?
You don’t have to wait to get started.
With Vacation Tracker, you’re just one step away from revolutionizing your organization’s leave tracking. It’s flexible, scalable, and incredibly intuitive.
Why not give it a try? Sign up for a 7-day free trial—no credit card needed—and see the difference the best PTO tracking software can make for your team.
Easy PTO tracking, right at your fingertips.
Automate leave policies, improve visibility and plan better
No credit card required. Instant set-up.
Claudia
Claudia is an experienced marketer with a passion for writing and creating engaging content that connects with readers.
