Compared to tracking paid time off (PTO) with pen and paper or spreadsheets, just about any employee vacation scheduling software is a massive step up. Vacation scheduling software increases accuracy by removing human error and providing a centralized place to record new time off requests, PTO balances, and scheduled absences.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at the 11 best vacation scheduling software — explaining who they’re best for and what unique features they offer — to help you find the right option for your team.
Key features to look for in vacation scheduling software
- Automatic PTO accruals
- A streamlined PTO request and approval system
- Customizable leave types
- Unpaid leave tracking
- The ability to block PTO requests for specific days
You may also want to consider additional features that could be helpful for your business. While some tools are designed solely for vacation tracking, others include features like time tracking, scheduling, or team management features like recruiting, onboarding, and performance management.
The 11 best vacation scheduling software
Below, you’ll find our detailed reviews of the 11 best vacation scheduling software:
- Buddy Punch – Best vacation scheduler for small businesses
- BambooHR – Best all-in-one HR platform
- LeaveBoard – Best free HR platform
- Vacation Tracker – Best simple PTO tracker
- Connecteam – Best free time and vacation tracker
- OnTheClock – Best PTO tracker with biometrics
- TimeCamp – Best for project budgeting
- When I Work – Best integrated vacation tracker and scheduler
- Resource Guru – Best resource management software
- 7shifts – Best vacation tracker for hospitality
- TimeTrak – Most versatile time and vacation tracker
1. Buddy Punch – Best for small businesses
Buddy Punch is a cloud-based time tracking solution that lets you track vacations. For convenience, we have a mobile app that can be downloaded for free on both the Google Play Store and the App Store.
Your team can use the app to clock in and out for work and track their hours. We’ll cover that time tracking aspect in more detail later on, but first, let’s start with how PTO is accrued.
A good PTO accrual system is key for you and your team because it tells your employees how much vacation they have throughout the year, which will inform how and when they request time off. Here’s how it works:
- Managers set up custom rules for PTO accrual, accounting for factors like department, seniority, and different types of leave.
- Employees clock in and out from kiosks or their devices, generating accurate digital timesheets.
- Buddy Punch automatically calculates PTO in real-time as workers log hours.
- Employees request leave through their self-service portal; managers can approve or deny requests.
Buddy Punch also has additional benefits like scheduling and payroll, but first we’ll go into greater detail of how our software can help you with vacation scheduling.
Vacation tracking features
As mentioned above, Buddy Punch calculates PTO based on employees’ hours, and employees submit requests for approval through their self-service portal. Managers can also:
- Specify whether certain employees need approval.
- Generate and view vacation time reports.
- Set up different categories of paid and unpaid leave.
- Add blackout dates during which employees can’t request vacation time.
Accruals
Because businesses have different leave policies, Buddy Punch lets you customize how employees get PTO via accrual rules. These rules can be customized by employee, team, or department, letting you account for differences in benefits and seniority.
You can automate vacation accrual based on:
- Pay periods. Employees gain additional leave every pay period.
- Hours worked. Buddy Punch can directly calculate vacation leave based on hours worked due to its time tracking features.
- Set intervals. This is useful if employees have a set leave allowance (i.e. a certain amount of vacation days every year).
You can also choose whether vacation time carries over to the next year or period.
Employee self-service
Through the self-service portal, employees are able to check their amount of leave whenever they want. They can also put in vacation requests.
Once employees submit their requests, if they require approval, the appropriate manager will get an email notification. Then, they can log in and either approve or deny the request. If it doesn’t require approval (see below for more details), the request will instead be automatically added to the time off calendar.
The process for requesting and approving leave works on both desktop and mobile.
However, it’s possible you might not want to approve every individual request. Whether due to position, seniority, or other factors, you can choose whether specific employees, teams, or departments require approval for their leave requests. If they don’t, you can automatically approve their requests, and they’ll be instantly added to the time off calculator.
Vacation time reports
Buddy Punch can generate reports about everything from time off to payroll, and PTO is no exception. All you have to do is navigate to the “Reports” tab and select “PTO Summary”:
Time off reports include employee name, holiday carry over, how much leave employees have used, and how much is available. Reports can be filtered by date and exported in CSV, Excel, and PDF.
Different types of paid/unpaid leave
Buddy Punch lets you track vacation, but it also lets you track any other type of paid or unpaid leave. By default, it includes holidays, personal time, and sick leave; you can add, modify, or delete categories as needed.
When you enable a leave category, you can specify whether it’s paid or unpaid. You can also create custom categories for specific employees.
Blackout dates
Sometimes, multiple people want the same day off, especially if it’s a holiday. Other times, a tight deadline might mean everyone needs to be on duty. Whatever the reason, if you can’t afford for anyone to be off-duty, you can create a blackout date on which employees can’t request time off.
When you add a new blackout date, you can have it apply generally or assign it to specific employees. This means that if it’s just one team or department facing a tight deadline, employees from other areas can still take time off.
Other Buddy Punch features
As mentioned above, Buddy Punch is more than just vacation scheduling software. It can also handle:
- Time Tracking: Employees can clock in and out from kiosks or their own devices, with features like geofencing and photos on punch preventing time theft.
- Scheduling: Our software has a user-friendly calendar interface that lets you keep on top of employees’ absences, including a shift-trading feature.
- Payroll: You can either import hours directly into Buddy Punch’s payroll, or you can integrate it with leading payroll software like QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, Workday, and more.
Learn more about Buddy Punch
- Start a free trial — no credit card required
- View pricing
- Watch a video demo
- Take an interactive product tour
- Request a personalized demo
2. BambooHR – Best all-in-one HR platform
BambooHR is an all-in-one HR management platform that has features like built-in payroll, time tracking, PTO tracking, benefits, hiring and onboarding tools, HR reporting, employee experience and performance, and 100+ integrations.
On the vacation scheduling front, BambooHR has a PTO calculator where employees can check their balance, view upcoming time off, and estimate how much vacation they’ll have accrued at a point in the future. Like Buddy Punch, BambooHR offers customizable leave types, reports, and in-app requests and approvals.
As for HR, BambooHR lets you manage hiring and onboarding; for example, they offer customizable templates for onboarding new employees and a system for self-guided tasks for new hires.
In addition to time and PTO management tools, BambooHR offers an organized system for benefits enrollment. Its employee experience and performance toolkit includes employee wellbeing surveys to guide HR policies. As for HR data and reporting, it lets you handle employee records, workflows, and approvals.
3. LeaveBoard – Best free HR platform
Aimed at small to mid-sized businesses, LeaveBoard is a cloud-based human resources and leave management system. For vacation tracking, they offer a central team absence calendar and a self-service portal where employees can view and request leave.
Meanwhile, HR and managers can define different leave types, customize allowances by employees, and track employee availability and absences via the centralized system. Email notifications and integrations with Slack and Google Calendar keep everyone in the loop. Finally, the leave tracker lets you generate reports that let you identify trends and prepare for payroll.
Another notable feature is LeaveBoard’s searchable employee directory. It can be used to set up and maintain org charts, create employee profiles that include information like PTO balances and birthdays, and analyze metrics like headcount and length of service.
4. Vacation Tracker – Best simple PTO tracker
Vacation Tracker lets businesses track leave via integrations with Teams, Slack, Google Workspace, email, and calendars. Leave requests and team communications are handled via a central dashboard, allowing employees to view and request time off themselves. Meanwhile, managers can create custom notifications, leave types, and policies in addition to managing multiple teams and departments from the same platform.
As for PTO tracking, Vacation Tracker offers full, half-day, and hourly options if you sign up for their “Complete” plan. This plan also includes automated PTO accruals on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. It also has a built-in reporting feature that generates CSV or Excel files to let you easily monitor how much employee vacation time your team has been using.
5. Connecteam – Best free time and vacation tracker
Connecteam offers tools for small businesses to manage operations, communications, HR, and time off. You can create custom leave policies by adapting existing templates or starting from scratch, then assign them to predefined groups. Employees and managers can both view PTO balances, and a PTO request and approval system is integrated into the centralized platform.
Connecteam is also a GPS time clock, allowing you to make sure employees are clocking in from their workplace (including an optional geofencing tool). The time clock also includes overtime alerts, and hours can be imported into your payroll software of choice. The integrated communication options mean that everyone can stay on the same page, whether about schedules or project statuses.
Connecteam’s HR tools enable performance tracking and onboarding. Onboarding tools include quizzes, training modules, and a centralized knowledge base. There are also tools for maintaining a positive employee experience, like surveys and a system that automatically rewards employees for reaching selected milestones. It also has logistical tools like a repository of employee files (e.g., certifications).
6. OnTheClock – Best PTO tracker with biometrics
OnTheClock is a time tracking app that ensures employees are accurately reporting their hours in two ways: GPS and fingerprint verification. When employees clock in and out, their GPS coordinates are recorded, allowing managers to verify that they were at the work site.
OnTheClock also offers a fingerprint scanner that can be connected to Windows devices. Fingerprint verification combats time theft practices like buddy punching, in which one employee clocks in for an absent one. Note, however, that there may be local legislation governing the collection and use of employee biometrics, so please refer to them before buying any fingerprint verification system.
OnTheClock lets you set up custom rules for PTO accrual, with automatic calculations based on the number of hours employees work. It includes a calendar interface for visualizing time off and allows employees to directly request leave.
Finally, the scheduling system lets you drag and drop shifts, enabling managers to easily work around employee absences.
7. TimeCamp – Best for project budgeting
The TimeCamp desktop and mobile app features a one-click timer for recording work hours. You can set keywords to connect your hours with the relevant project, and you can also duplicate past entries to handle recurring tasks. The results can be imported into a project management system, and accountability is safeguarded via geofencing.
Within the employee attendance management module, employees can use a dropdown menu to request PTO. Available leave types include vacation leave, sick days, holidays, parental leave, bereavement, business trips, non-working days, free days, or regular absences. Managers can then reject or approve leave requests.
The most notable feature of TimeCamp is its time budgeting module. In addition to its more standard attendance and productivity monitoring, you can estimate both time and money for projects, generate financial reports, and set notifications to stay on track. It also has an expenses feature to document expenses and receipts.
8. When I Work – Best integrated vacation tracker and scheduler
When I Work is an online time tracking app compatible with desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. It provides geofencing, GPS tracking, and photo verification to ensure employee accountability. It also sends alerts for absences or overtime, providing a timely system for fixing missed punches.
When I Work’s time clock is integrated with its scheduling system, which includes options for creating scheduling templates, requesting time off, and trading shifts. PTO tracking similarly appears to be bundled with time tracking, but the website is light on details of how time off management works.
In addition to employee scheduling and time tracking, When I Work offers communication and payroll options. The communication app lets the whole team communicate without sharing phone numbers. Meanwhile, payroll can either be integrated with an existing provider or processed through When I Work.
9. Resource Guru – Best resource management software
Resource Guru has tools for managing projects, employees, time, schedules, meeting rooms, and equipment. The self-described “resource management software” offers a centralized dashboard meant to streamline the allocation of people, time, and equipment to projects, preventing your staff from being overworked or underutilized, as well as ensuring all projects receive the necessary amount of support.
The leave management system includes email summaries of time off and an employee holiday calendar. There’s also a PTO tracker that includes the type of leave and can generate reports.
Resource Guru has 1500+ integrations, including calendars, which makes it easier to track and visualize PTO within your existing workflow. Finally, the scheduling features help managers adjust staffing and hours to compensate for absent employees.
10. 7shifts – Best vacation tracker for hospitality
7shifts is a platform designed for the hospitality industry. Its tools cover hiring, training, scheduling, paying, and retaining workers. In addition to having built-in payroll, it also has tools for tip pooling and payouts. Its scheduling feature has labor compliance tools, including mandatory and custom breaks, overtime detection, shift swapping, a timesheet dispute system, and easy identification of underage employees.
Though it’s not primarily employee vacation tracking software, the option to track PTO and sick PTO (SPTO) is available to admins in the “Time Off” menu. Once enabled, employees can make in-app requests, and the type of leave will show up in time off reports. However, these will not be factored into the Labor Budget Tool (which lets you set sales and labor targets).
Other notable features of 7shifts include:
- Streamlining online job postings
- Organizing and tracking applicants
- Employee document storage
- Customizable onboarding packages
- Training videos
- Task management and monitoring
- In-app communication
- Time clock
- Employee feedback tools
11. TimeTrak – Most versatile time and PTO tracker
TimeTrak includes several ways for workers to log their time:
- A mobile app with GPS and geofencing features
- A browser-based group time clock with PIN verification
- An individual web-based time clock
- Tablet-based PIN kiosk
- Tablet-based facial recognition kiosk
The variability in options can be helpful to employees with diverse work groups; for instance, ones that have a combination of remote and field workers.
Automated PTO tracking is integrated with the time clock. Employees can review their balances and request leave from the dashboard, and managers can centralize the approvable of time-off requests.
TimeTrak integrates with top payroll systems like ADP, QuickBooks, and Paychex. It also has an admin dashboard that lets you address timekeeping errors and monitor attendance and GPS data.
Schedule and track vacations with Buddy Punch
We covered 11 different types of vacation scheduling software, including tools for tracking time worked, PTO accrual, and more.
If you’re managing a small to midsize business and need vacation scheduling software, we recommend you try Buddy Punch.
Buddy Punch is a cloud-based time tracking solution that was made to help small to midsize companies track employee time (including working hours and time off). Buddy Punch also offers attendance tracking, scheduling, shift trading, payroll, and payroll integrations.
To learn more about Buddy Punch, you can start a free trial, or request a demo today.
Related Reading:
- Find the Best PTO Tracking Software: 9 Top Picks for 2025
- How to Calculate Paid Vacation for Hourly Employees
- Vacation Accruals: How They Work
- How Many Vacation Days Per Year Is Normal?
- Free PTO Tracker Excel Templates
