Leave Dates vs Vacation Tracker (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Leave Dates grades higher than Vacation Tracker: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Leave Dates grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Leave Dates
Annual leave planner and absence tracker for small teams
Vacation Tracker
Leave and PTO tracking inside Slack, Teams or Google Workspace
Which one is for you
Pick Leave Dates if
- Fits if you run a small team and only need to track who is off when
- Works for teams that want Outlook or Google Calendar showing leave
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want payroll, performance or hiring, as it is leave only
- Tight if you want calendar sync or time off in lieu, which need the £1.50 Essential plan
- Tight if you need SSO, the API or webhooks, which need Plus at £1.88
- Watch out: prices are in pounds, excluding VAT, and the USD and EUR switch could not be read
Pick Vacation Tracker if
- Fits if your team already lives in Slack or Microsoft Teams
- Works for small companies that want leave approvals without an HR system
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you are a team of one to five, since the minimum is $50 a month
- Skip it if you want to stay free, because there is no free plan
- Watch out: blackout periods, accruals, TOIL and hourly leave need Complete at $4
- Watch out: Core caps at 3 locations and 10 departments
- Too light for HR records or payroll
How we grade them
| 2.6GPALeave DatesGood | 2.2GPAVacation TrackerFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A£0.75 per user a month billed yearly, about $1, under 60% of the category's cheaper quarter. Calendar sync needs Essential at £1.50, still under $2. | C$2 a user a month, but a $50 monthly minimum for up to 25 users means a team of five pays $10 each, above the category's middle of $5. |
| Free plan and trial | C30-day free trial of every feature with no card needed, and no free plan. | CA 14-day trial of every feature with no credit card, and no free plan. |
| Features | CWall and year charts, requests and approval, allowances, time off in lieu and reports. It does that one job fully, and it is a small job: no payroll, performance or hiring. | CRequests, policies, calendars, reports and an AI assistant. It does the leave job fully, which is smaller than HR software, and Core caps locations and departments. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Allowances, leave years and approvers need setting up for each team. | CNo store rating on record. Policies, locations and approvers have to be set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus iOS and Android apps, with Outlook, Google Calendar, Slack and Zapier. No desktop app. | BWeb, iOS and Android, working inside Slack, Teams and Google Workspace, with ADP, Zapier and Outlook. No desktop app. |
| Best for | a shared leave calendar for small UK teams | leave tracking inside Slack or Teams |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Leave Dates and Vacation Tracker. How we grade
Price against what you get
Leave Dates starts at about $1 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Vacation Tracker starts at $2 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Leave Dates starts $1 a month lower. Of the other HR software on the chart, none scores higher than Leave Dates for less, and none scores higher than Vacation Tracker for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Leave Dates also covers calendar.
At a glance
| Leave Dates | Vacation Tracker | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | £0.75 per user / month, billed yearly | $2 per user / month, billed monthly, with a $50 monthly minimum |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of every feature, no credit card needed | 14-day free trial of every feature, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Leave Dates | Vacation Tracker |
| Price read from | leavedates.com | vacationtracker.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Leave Dates
- The pricing page shows prices in GBP by default, exclusive of VAT, with a currency switch for USD and EUR that could not be read here.
- Calendar sync, time off in lieu and overlap limits need Essential; SSO, API, webhooks and Zapier need Plus.
- The price scales with the number of users, and the page shows the per-user figure billed yearly.
- It covers leave and absence only; there is no payroll, performance or hiring module.
Vacation Tracker
- There is no free plan; the minimum is $50 a month on Core and $100 on Complete, covering up to 25 users each.
- Yearly plans are priced in user tiers; the page shows a yearly price only for a team size typed into its calculator, so only the monthly rate is recorded here.
- Core caps at 3 locations and 10 departments; blackout periods, accruals and hourly leave need Complete.
- You pay only for active users, and there is no cap on admins or approvers.
Key features
Leave Dates
- Wall chart and year chart
- A shared calendar view of who is away, so managers can plan around absences.
- Leave requests and approval
- Staff drag over dates to request time off, the approver is notified, and the requester is told the outcome.
- Allowances and carry over
- Allowances can be tracked in days or hours, pro-rated for starters and leavers, and carried over between years.
- Calendar sync
- Leave records can be synced to Outlook or Google Calendar, including a shared company calendar, on Essential and above.
- Time off in lieu
- Staff can log overtime and the balance is tracked as time off in lieu, on Essential and above.
- Reports
- Daily or weekly email summaries, downloadable reports, and a daily Slack summary on Essential and above.
Vacation Tracker
- Leave requests and approvals
- Requests are routed to approvers automatically with reminders. Complete adds multi-level approvals and substitute approvers.
- Leave policies
- Custom leave types and allowances, public holidays per location, carryover and negative balances. Accruals, blackout periods and TOIL need Complete.
- Where it runs
- Manage leave inside Slack or Microsoft Teams, in Google Workspace, or on iOS and Android, with daily or weekly who-is-off updates.
- Reports and calendars
- A wallchart, calendar view and reports. Core shares calendars through an iCal link, and Complete adds direct Google and Outlook sync.
- AI and developer access
- The Vee AI assistant, an MCP server, an open API and webhooks are listed, with the integrations included on both plans.
Plans
Leave Dates
Starter£0.75
per user / month, billed yearly (£9.00 per user a year)
Unlimited employees and leave, allowances in days or hours, bank holidays, wall and year charts, reports and email summaries, web and mobile apps.
Essential£1.50
per user / month, billed yearly (£18.00 per user a year)
Starter plus Outlook and Google Calendar sync, overlap and leave limits, multi-person requests, time off in lieu, a Slack daily summary and company-wide policies.
Plus£1.88
per user / month, billed yearly (£22.50 per user a year)
Essential plus personal leave-year start dates, unlimited allowances, SSO, API, webhooks and Zapier, and policies by leave type.
Vacation Tracker
Core$2
per user / month, billed monthly; $50 minimum, up to 25 users
Up to 3 locations and 10 departments, custom leave types, approvals, wallchart and reports, all integrations and the Vee AI assistant.
Complete$4
per user / month, billed monthly; $100 minimum, up to 25 users
Everything in Core plus unlimited locations and departments, blackout periods, multi-level approvals, hourly leave, accruals, TOIL and calendar sync.
Ways to pay less
Leave Dates
- Annual discount
25% off with yearly billing
The pricing page's Monthly and Yearly toggle states a 25% saving for yearly billing.
Vacation Tracker
- Annual discount
About 10% off with yearly billing
The pricing page marks yearly billing as saving about 10%, with prices set by user tier.
- Nonprofit
Non-profit discounts on request
The pricing FAQ says non-profits can contact support to set up a discount.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Leave Dates or Vacation Tracker?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Leave Dates is cheaper to start with: about $1 a month for each person, against $2 a month for each person for Vacation Tracker. Leave Dates starts at £0.75 per user / month, billed yearly, and Vacation Tracker starts at $2 per user / month, billed monthly, with a $50 monthly minimum.
Which has a free plan, Leave Dates or Vacation Tracker?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Leave Dates nor Vacation Tracker has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.