7 best PTO tracking software for leave management
Employees who use all their paid time off (PTO) are typically more engaged, creative, and less prone to burnout. Yet, over 40% of US professionals don’t fully utilize their allocated leave.*
Why? Inadequate staffing, poor PTO coordination,** and inefficient leave management — often worsened by HR budget cuts and rising sickness absence rates — are major culprits.***
The solution? PTO tracking software that simplifies leave requests for employees and streamlines approvals and PTO management processes for HR teams.
Whether you’re adopting a PTO management platform for the first time or upgrading your current tool, this article highlights seven of the best PTO tracking software solutions on the market, comparing their features, strengths, and weaknesses to help you make the right choice.
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*Pew Research, 2023
**International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 2024
***CIPD, 2023
The information below is based on our research in December 2024. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms (like G2 and Capterra) in December 2024.
Why is using PTO tracking software beneficial for today’s HR teams?
Heavy workloads and workplace challenges are taking a toll on professionals worldwide. Our research found that over 60% of managers are now overseeing more direct reports, and one in three individual contributors (ICs) are considering quitting.
In addition, a worrying 44% of US employees feel burnt out due to poor work-life balance, and one in five people in the UK have had to take time off work due to stress in the past year.
“Employers are caught in a vicious cycle,” said Natalie Matalon, Chief People Officer at The Stepstone Group. “Increased absences lead to greater pressure on staff, which, in turn, causes more stress and burnout, ultimately impacting productivity.”
Using PTO tracking software is one way to break this cycle, providing benefits like:
Centralized data
A single source of truth for employee data and absence management policies.
Transparency
By promoting clear approval workflows, creating team calendars, and standardizing absence policies, managers can ensure all team members have access to the same information, avoid miscommunications and scheduling conflicts, and reduce the risk of bias and favoritism.
Reduced admin
PTO tracking software can reduce your HR team’s leave management responsibilities by automating calculations, updating and analyzing data, and implementing approval workflows to minimize unnecessary manual work and back-and-forth communications.
Employee empowerment
The best PTO tracking software tools feature self-service capabilities. These portals make it easy for team members to view their leave balances and submit and track leave requests with minimal HR and managerial oversight.
Better resource allocation
PTO management tools allow People teams to stay one step ahead and plan for the future more effectively. With the PTO data they need at their fingertips, they can ensure everything will get done, and workloads are fairly disturbed.
1. Leapsome
Leapsome is a holistic, AI-powered HR platform that combines HR and people enablement functionalities in one easy-to-use system.
Our new HRIS encompasses several People management features, including an absence management tool designed to address the complexities of monitoring planned and unplanned leave across different teams and locations.
This feature allows admins to create, assign, and manage absence policies, create and streamline PTO request workflows, and track absences over time. It even ensures that employee PTO balances are calculated in real time, accounting for proration, carry-over entitlements, and tenure-based adjustments.
Crucially, Leapsome helps save HR professionals time with AI-powered process automation. And that extends beyond PTO tracking, too. With tools for time tracking, payroll, compensation, reviews, surveys, and more, Leapsome is your all-in-one HR solution.
Top features
Core policy management
- Customizable absence policies by location and employee groups
- Support for multiple absence types (vacation, sick leave, special leave, and many more)
- Custom leave policies for any special organizational needs (e.g., extra mental health day for all employees each year)
- Automated proration rules for mid-year hires
- Configurable carryover rules and tenure-based adjustments
Workflow & automation
- Customizable approval workflows for different absence types
- Automated balance calculations
- Integration with work schedules and holiday calendars
Transparency & access
- Team calendar view for absence coordination
- Self-service absence requests and balance-checking
- Clear visibility of leave policies and remaining balances
Best for
Organizations seeking an intuitive, people-centered absence tracking tool that comes with broader HRIS and employee enablement features in the same platform. Ideal for those who want a centralized, streamlined tech stack.
- Built-in HRIS that combines employee enablement with core HR tools
- Supports compliance with company policies and labor laws
- Customizable, location-specific absence policies
- Available in 38 languages
- Intuitive user interface (UI)
- Highly scalable
- ISO 27001:2022 certificate
- GDPR and CCPA-compliant
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- Ongoing improvement and feature rollout can lead to occasional bugs
- Some aspects of the HRIS tool are still in development
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Leapsome is saving us lots of time during our performance appraisals and helps us build an open, value-oriented feedback culture. We’ve compared several platforms, and Leapsome stood out convincingly — it’s user-friendly, intuitive, and highly customizable. As a manager, I love how fast and openly the team at Leapsome reacts to our feedback and suggestions.
Dr. Christian Grobe
Leapsome enhances meaningful feedback and employee engagement. It’s a must-have for every company at any stage. We are growing toward 750 employees, but the rollout was easy, fast, and successful nonetheless. The great customer support helped us through the whole onboarding process.
Thore Schӓck
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With the help of the people analytics, you can quickly understand the significance of the results. We also frequently use the 1:1 function, which, although very simple, is extremely useful.
Erica Ancobia
We see the People team as a partner team rather than an admin team. We want to focus on our employees and not on processes. With Leapsome, we have automated the manual work around feedback and career development so that we can spend our time with our people: understanding their needs, guiding them through their very own DCMN lifecycle, and helping them find purpose in what they do.
Theresa Jasaraj
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Book a demo2. BambooHR
BambooHR offers a vacation-tracking solution that integrates with its broader HR platform. The tool allows users to check for calendar conflicts, manage PTO requests, and send team members automatic updates.
This solution covers many essential aspects of PTO management alongside other human resources tools. However, another platform might better suit your needs if you want to consolidate your tech stack with a people-centered solution with robust employee engagement capabilities.
Top features
- Time-off calculator
- Customizable PTO policies
- “Who’s Out” calendar
- Absence reporting
- Approval workflows
Best for
Small to medium-sized businesses that don’t need robust employee engagement features but are looking for an easy-to-use HR platform with dedicated PTO capabilities.
- User-friendly interface
- Helpful training and onboarding
- Smartphone compatibility
- Built-in HRIS
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- Some users say the platform lacks customization options for reports
- Some users report that integrations don’t work as expected
- Feature limitations may make it difficult to meet all needs with one platform
- Some smaller businesses consider the pricing to be “out of reach”
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3. Factorial
Factorial’s PTO management feature helps admins manage their team’s time off by enabling them to approve leave requests, calculate PTO balances, and view upcoming schedules. However, Factorial’s HR features might not be advanced enough for organizations with more complex People management needs, especially due to a lack of customization.
Top features
- Leave management dashboard
- One-click approvals and denials
- Custom time-off policies and reporting
- Employee self-service portal
Best for
Small and scaling businesses that want to manage PTO on the go and monitor vacation policies across different countries.
- Comprehensive range of integrations
- Syncs with Google Calendar
- Consolidates HR and PTO data in one system
- Customizable workflows
- Data-driven insights
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- Some users report a steep initial learning curve
- Not optimized for the US market
- Some users say that reporting could be improved
- Some users feel the modules aren’t granular enough to manage their complex business needs
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4. HiBob
HiBob is an HRIS with employee experience features focused on engagement, culture, and productivity. It also supports a selection of core HR processes, including absence management and time tracking.
This platform streamlines PTO tracking for HR teams, managers, and employees, making it easy to request and approve days off for holidays, sick days, vacation days, parental leave, and other forms of PTO.
Top features
- Team absence calendar
- PTO requests and approvals
- Custom absence policies
- Time-off tracking
Best for
Fast-growing mid-sized businesses that are already familiar with HiBob and are looking for quantifiable time off and absence management data.
- Company culture and engagement-driven features
- Push notifications from Slack, Microsoft Teams, and the HiBob app
- Built-in HRIS
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- Some users have issues with limited or inefficient integrations
- Some users report a lack of customization in some functions
- Some users have flagged problems with international policy management
- Some features and capabilities are still missing
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5. Lattice
Lattice is a software solution mostly known for its performance management, goal-setting, and benchmarking features. HR teams can use Lattice’s HRIS to schedule time off and generate absence reports, but these features are still limited. If you’re interested in more sophisticated approval workflows and automated leave calculations, you might prefer one of the alternatives in this list.
Top features
- HRIS with employee records, onboarding, and HR workflows
- Compensation management
- Customizable goal-setting and tracking
- Analytics and reporting
Best for
Companies that already use Lattice for performance management want to introduce some absence management.
- Built-in HRIS
- Scalable for growing teams
- People analytics tools
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- Not yet a comprehensive HRIS solution
- The absence management and time-tracking tools are still being developed
- High learning curve for new users
- Some users struggle with customization
- Some users feel the platform could be more intuitive
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6. Personio
Personio is considered a well-rounded solution for HR management. Its absence management system streamlines policy creation and leave requests. It also consolidates team absence information in one calendar to improve visibility and accommodate easy planning.
Top features
- Absence management
- Time tracking
- Attendance tracking
- Workflow automation
- Analytics and reporting
Best for
Medium-sized companies looking for a scalable PTO solution.
- Comprehensive range of features
- Customizable absence and accrual policies
- Ability to select substitutes when requesting leave
- Unified absence reporting
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- Requires additional features for employee engagement and feedback
- Some users find it difficult to view vacation allowances
- Some users say the UI could be improved
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7. Rippling
Rippling is an HR platform that supports PTO tracking as part of its broader IT and HR management capabilities. It enables businesses to manage absence policies while supporting compliance with labor laws through automated processes.
Top features
- Time tracking
- Trends analysis
- PTO usage reporting
- Scheduling
Best for
Organizations that want to support compliance in several different countries.
- Automatically syncs time-tracking and payroll data
- Customizable policies and workflows
- Global compliance features
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- Complex setup; self-guided implementation can present challenges
- Some users have flagged confusing time-off requests and scheduling processes
- Not ideal for smaller businesses
- A more expensive option
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Why customers love us
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Leapsome has been an absolute game-changer for me in terms of my professional growth and development. What I love best about Leapsome is how it has empowered me to take control of my career journey. The user-friendly interface and intuitive design of Leapsome have made it incredibly easy for me to navigate and utilize the platform.
Victor J.
Enterprise (1000+ employees)
Leapsome stands out as a best-in-class platform that seamlessly addresses a spectrum of organizational needs, excelling in performance management, employee engagement, OKRs, and learning. Its unparalleled strength lies in its deep integration with existing tools, effortlessly connecting with our HRIS, Slack, Calendar, and Jira.
Jamie S.
Mid-market (50-1000 employees)
Our company is new to Leapsome, but the onboarding has been fantastic. Our Leapsome contact has worked with us every step of the way to make sure that the review process will be easy on HR and all employees. He has walked us through the process step by step to create a review that will be ready to roll out pretty much immediately.
Karen H.
Mid-market (50-1000 employees)
Frequently Asked Questions
Common Pricing questions
There are many ways you can track PTO within your organization. You can do so manually by keeping paper records or internal Excel spreadsheets. However, this method can get messy and complicated — even for small businesses.
The best way to track PTO is with people-centered HR software like Leapsome. This is the most time- and cost-efficient option, allowing you to reduce your leave management tasks and communicate absence policies so all employees know when and how to take PTO. Plus, it’ll help you ensure high levels of data accuracy to maintain compliance with labor laws.
PTO tracking software is designed to automate and take care of key aspects of leave management, including:
- Creating and responding to leave requests
- Defining and assigning absence policies
- Calculating and keeping track of PTO entitlements
- Sending alerts and reminders
- Generating team- and company-wide PTO calendars
These tools often include employee self-service portals, reducing the administrative burden on People teams. Many also use AI to produce detailed analyses and reports, helping HR professionals save time and identify areas for improvement within their PTO system.
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