Most "free" leave tracking tools are free in name only. A three-user cap. One leave type. No approvals. Limited integrations. You spend an hour setting it up and discover the one thing you actually need is behind a paywall.
This is an honest look at what nine popular tools actually give you on their free tier, including where Simple Leave sits, so you can make a decision without surprises.
- Up to 5 employees: Simple Leave — full product, strong UK focus
- Up to 9 employees: LeaveBoard - comprehensive free tier, older interface
- Field / mobile teams up to 10: Connecteam
- Unlimited free users (but with caveats): Vacation Tracker, OfficeTimer, Jibble - all have significant limitations
- 10+ employees needing a proper tool: Simple Leave at £0.60/employee/month is the most affordable paid option
The Tools at a Glance
| Tool | Free limit | Multiple leave types | Approvals | UK-focused | Paid cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Leave | 5 employees | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | £0.60/employee/month |
| LeaveBoard | 9 employees | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | $1.35/employee/month |
| Vacation Tracker | Unlimited | ❌ (1 only) | ✅ | ❌ | From $2/person/month |
| Connecteam | 10 employees | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | From $29/month (30 users) |
| Day Off | 10 employees | ✅ | ✅ (1 approver) | ❌ | $2/person/month ($20 min) |
| AttendanceBot | 5 employees | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | $4/person/month |
| OfficeTimer | Unlimited | ❌ (1 only) | ❌ | ❌ | $0.49/person/month |
| Jibble | Unlimited | ❌ (basic) | ❌ | ❌ | From $2.49/person/month |
| actiPLANS | 3 employees | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | $1.50/person/month |
Simple Leave: best for UK teams up to 5
Simple Leave is built specifically for UK SMEs. You get statutory leave types pre-configured (annual leave, sick leave, maternity/paternity, TOIL, compassionate leave, and more), UK bank holidays built in, and proper pro-rata calculations for part-time staff and mid-year starters.
The free plan is the full product, capped at five employees. Leave requests and approvals, a team calendar, balance tracking, manager reports, employee self-service. Nothing locked away.
- Free for
- Up to 5 employees, all features included. No credit card required.
- The limitation
- Five employees only.
- Paid pricing
- £0.60 per employee per month. Ten employees costs £6/month, twenty costs £12/month. No minimum spend. Free 30-day trial for larger businesses.
- Best for
- Small UK businesses who want something that works straight away without configuration headaches.
LeaveBoard: best for teams up to 9
LeaveBoard has the most complete free tier on this list. Under nine people you get multiple leave types, a team absence calendar, leave policies, approval workflows, employee self-service, Google Calendar and Outlook sync, Slack integration, and HR reports. It covers 70+ countries and handles UK public holidays.
The interface feels like a 2015 HR tool. It works, but it has not been modernised.
- Free for
- Up to 9 employees, all features included.
- The limitation
- The tenth employee moves you onto a paid plan at $1.35 per person per month. Also US-based, so UK leave types need to be configured manually.
- Best for
- Teams of up to nine who want a full-featured leave system without paying anything.
Vacation Tracker: unlimited users, but only one leave type
The headline looks good. In practice, the free plan limits you to a single leave type. You pick one: annual leave, sick days, or general time off. That is it. You cannot track sick leave separately from holiday, and you cannot add TOIL, compassionate leave, or anything else.
For most UK businesses, that is a dealbreaker. You need annual leave and sick leave tracked separately at minimum, and most want more than two categories.
The tool itself is polished and runs natively inside Slack and Microsoft Teams, which is genuinely useful. The paid Complete plan at $4/person/month is full-featured. But on the free tier, one leave type is all you get.
- Free for
- Unlimited employees.
- The limitation
- One leave type only. For most businesses this makes the free plan unusable in practice.
- Best for
- Teams that only need one leave category, or Slack/Teams users who are happy to pay.
Connecteam: best for field-based teams up to 10
Connecteam is built for teams that do not sit at desks: retail, construction, delivery, care. Mobile-first, with GPS tracking, geo-fencing, task management, checklists, and digital forms. Leave tracking is one feature among many.
- Free for
- Up to 10 employees, all features included.
- The limitation
- Not built for office teams. If your staff use laptops and email, this will feel like the wrong tool. After 10 people you jump to $29/month for up to 30 users. Also US-focused, and UK-specific leave defaults are not built in.
- Best for
- Field workers, retail, or hospitality teams of up to 10 where GPS and mobile access matter more than leave policy depth.
Day Off: simple standalone tool for teams up to 10
Solid enough for a small team: custom leave types, a calendar view, one approval step, and mobile apps. It covers the basics without much fuss.
- Free for
- Up to 10 employees.
- The limitation
- No integrations on the free plan — no Slack, Teams, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Also limited to one policy, one team, and one location. Calendar integrations require the Pro plan at $2/person/month ($20/month minimum).
- Best for
- Very small teams who do not need calendar sync and are fine with a standalone app.
AttendanceBot: for Slack and Teams users up to 5
Works natively inside Slack and Microsoft Teams. Solid feature set for five people: custom leave types, approvals, hybrid work planning, holiday calendars, and CSV export. If your team lives in Slack, it does the job.
- Free for
- Up to 5 employees, full standard plan features.
- The limitation
- Five-person cap. The tool also bundles time tracking with leave tracking, which adds complexity most small businesses do not need. Paid plans start at $4/person/month.
- Best for
- Teams of five or fewer who use Slack or Teams and want time tracking alongside leave.
OfficeTimer: unlimited users, but no approval workflow
Another unlimited free tier with a significant catch: no approval workflow. Employees can submit leave, but there is no manager sign-off step. For most businesses, that is not leave management; it is just a log.
OfficeTimer is built for agencies that need project timesheets. Leave tracking is secondary, and it shows.
- Free for
- Unlimited employees.
- The limitation
- No approvals on the free plan. The full leave module, with approval levels, policies, and accruals, costs $0.49/person/month.
- Best for
- Agencies who need timesheet and project tracking, and only need basic leave visibility alongside that.
Jibble: unlimited users, time tracking focus
Jibble's free plan centres on time tracking: GPS clock-in, face recognition, NFC, automatic timesheets. Leave tracking is included but basic. No accruals, no balance tracking, no multiple approval levels. You pay for any of that.
- Free for
- Unlimited employees.
- The limitation
- Leave functionality is minimal. This is a time and attendance tool with leave features added on.
- Best for
- Field teams who need biometric attendance tracking and can live with basic leave visibility.
actiPLANS: genuinely too limited to recommend
Three people. Add a fourth and you are paying $1.50/person/month.
- Free for
- Up to 3 employees.
- The limitation
- Three employees is not a viable cap for most businesses.
- Best for
- Very small freelance agencies that also use ActiTime for billing. Otherwise, skip it.
The honest summary
The tools claiming "free forever for unlimited users" are almost always free and limited in a way that matters. Check what sits behind the paywall before you invest time setting anything up.
Up to 5 employees, UK-based: Simple Leave is the full product for free, with UK leave types and bank holidays ready out of the box. Nothing to configure, nothing to unlock.
Up to 9 employees, UK defaults not a priority: LeaveBoard has the most complete free tier, though you will need to set up UK leave types yourself.
More than 9 employees: the unlimited free options fall short for most businesses. Simple Leave at £0.60/employee/month is the lowest-cost option that actually works properly. Ten employees is £6/month; twenty is £12/month.