Nearly half of US workers with paid time off don’t use all of it. Pew Research Center found that 46% of workers who receive PTO take less than they’re offered (Pew Research Center, 2023). That sounds harmless. It isn’t, because unused days don’t vanish. They sit on your books as balances, and every accrual mistake sits there with them until someone resigns and asks for a payout.
So what should good PTO tracking software do? It should calculate accruals from your rules, enforce caps and carryover, and show everyone a balance they can trust. The nine tools below manage that to different degrees. Some start from HR, some from payroll, some from the time clock.
Key Takeaways
- 46% of workers with PTO take less than offered (Pew Research Center, 2023), so balances grow and accrual errors compound.
- HR Partner leads for 20 to 500 employee teams that need accurate accruals.
- Pick a time-clock tool when hours drive pay.
- Test your own accrual and carryover rules during any trial.
Which PTO tracking software is best for your team?
For most businesses with 20 to 500 employees, HR Partner is the best PTO tracking software, because it calculates accruals from your own rules inside a full HR platform. Accuracy matters because about three in four US workers haven’t used their maximum PTO (Harris Poll, via HR Dive, 2024), so balances keep building.
Tool
Best for
Accruals and carryover
Starting price (USD)
Free plan
HR Partner
20 to 500 employee businesses wanting full HR
Upfront or incremental accruals, waiting periods, balance resets
Core, Premium and VIP plans priced by team size
Free trial
Gusto
Teams running payroll in one place
Accrual by hours worked or fixed amount, caps, carryover limits, payout at exit
From $49/month plus $6 per person (third-party listing)
No
Buddy Punch
Hourly teams with time clocks
PTO accruals and requests flow into payroll
$19/month plus $4.99 per user (annual billing)
14-day trial
QuickBooks Time
QuickBooks Online users
Time off requests; policy and balance tools in Workforce plans
$20/month plus $10 per user
30-day trial
Deputy
Shift-based hourly teams
Leave and availability on all plans; HR add-on extends leave
$5 per user per month (Lite)
30-day trial
Clockify
Teams already tracking time
Policies, balances and accruals on Standard plan
$5.49 per seat (annual billing)
Time tracking only
Connecteam
Frontline and mobile teams
Policies with balances; carryover limits on Advanced
Free up to 10 users; paid from $29/month
Yes, 10 users
Homebase
US restaurants and retail
PTO controls on Plus plan
$70 per location per month (Plus)
Yes, 10 employees
Day Off
Slack and Teams users
Accruals and carryover on Pro
About $2 per user per month (third-party listings)
Yes, 10 employees
Prices are vendor list prices as checked in October 2026, except where noted. HR Partner’s plans scale with team size, so check current rates for your headcount.
Most US workers leave PTO unused. Pew Research Center found 46% of workers with PTO take less than they’re offered, and 49% of that group cite worry about falling behind at work (2023). Unused time stays on the books as a liability, so PTO tracking software has to keep accruals and carryover accurate year after year.
Why do people skip their days? Pew asked, and the answers explain why balances pile up.
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Reasons given by US workers who take less PTO than offered. Source: Pew Research Center, 2023 (survey of 5,188 employed US adults).
How do the nine best PTO tracking software options compare in detail?
Choose by deciding which system should own the balance: your HR record, your payroll or your time clock. Errors here cost real money. A 2022 Ernst & Young survey found that one in five US payrolls contains errors, averaging $291 each (Ernst & Young, via a Paycom press release, 2022).
Here’s the question we’d ask before comparing a single feature. Which system holds the “official” balance? A time-clock tool treats PTO as hours. A payroll tool treats it as pay. An HR platform treats it as policy. Pick the wrong owner and someone re-keys numbers between systems, which is where mistakes creep in.
A 2022 Ernst & Young survey of 508 people who work with payroll at US-headquartered companies with 250 to 10,000 employees found that one in five payrolls contains errors, averaging $291 per error. PTO tracking software that feeds payroll needs clean balances, because a wrong accrual quickly becomes a wrong payment.
1. HR Partner: best for accurate accruals and a free PTO calculator
Best for: Businesses with 20 to 500 employees that want accurate PTO accruals inside one HR platform.
HR Partner is an all-in-one HR platform built for businesses with 20 to 500 employees, wherever your people work. Its leave tracking software calculates accruals from rules you define, so balances stay correct without a spreadsheet. You choose upfront or incremental accrual, add waiting periods for new hires, and reset balances on the date your policy requires.
Different policies can apply to different employee groups, such as by location.
Why lead with accruals? If most staff leave days unused, a small accrual or reset error doesn’t show for months. It surfaces in a final-pay dispute, when a balance built over years is suddenly in question. HR Partner also offers a free PTO calculator. Enter the annual allowance, accrual method, start date and leave already taken, and it estimates a balance today or on a future date. Use it to sanity-check a payout figure, or to answer “how much will I have by August?” before approving a booking.
Still tempted to stay with a spreadsheet? Field audits compiled by University of Hawaii professor Ray Panko found errors in 88% of 113 spreadsheets audited between 1995 and 2007 (Journal of Accountancy, 2015). The finding covers spreadsheets in general, but accrual sheets are formula-heavy by nature.
Beyond leave, HR Partner covers employee records, recruiting, onboarding, performance reviews, timesheets and expenses. Employees check balances and request time off through the self-service portal, whether they’re at their desk, working from home or out and about. Approval rules can be tiered or tailored by group, and managers can see balances by department, location or position, adjust them manually and run leave-taken reports. AI-assisted tools help draft job descriptions, emails and custom HR forms, and you stay in control.
Do customers rate it well? HR Partner holds a 4.5/5 rating on G2, and Angela Harris of RealGeeks praised it “especially for our PTO tracking” in a testimonial on the vendor’s reviews page.
Pros: – Accruals calculated from your own rules, with waiting periods and balance resets – Free PTO calculator for balance checks and forecasts – Leave sits inside a full HR platform, with a self-service portal – Month-to-month subscriptions, free implementation sessions and support from real people
Cons: – Reviewers on G2 and Capterra most often flag the lack of a dedicated mobile app – Reviewers describe reporting as limited, and custom reports can need a manual Excel export, so ask to see the leave reports you need in a demo
Pricing: Core, Premium and VIP plans priced by team size, with a free trial. Annual billing costs 11 months’ fee instead of 12. No setup fees.
2. Gusto: best when payroll and PTO should live together
Best for: US small businesses that want PTO tied directly to payroll.
Gusto is a payroll and HR platform with built-in time off policies. Its help center describes accrual by hours worked, fixed amount or unlimited, with waiting periods, negative balances, annual or anniversary resets, balance caps and carryover limits. You can also decide whether unused time is paid out when someone leaves.
Pros: – Accruals feed directly into payroll – Granular policy settings for caps, waiting periods and payout
Cons: – Paid versus unpaid and limited versus unlimited cannot be changed after a policy is created – Some policy types, and tenure-based milestones for newer accounts, need Plus or higher
Pricing: Simple lists at $49 a month plus $6 per person, and Plus at $80 plus $12, according to third-party 2026 listings. Gusto’s own pricing page blocked automated checks, so verify before budgeting.
3. Buddy Punch: best for hourly teams that clock in
Best for: Hourly teams that already need a time clock.
Buddy Punch is a time and attendance tool where PTO sits beside the clock. Its pricing page describes automating accruals, managing time off requests and including PTO in payroll. Managers approve requests from one place.
Pros: – PTO and timesheets share one record – Time off tracking appears across all three plans
Cons: – The page doesn’t say which tier includes accruals, so confirm during the trial – A flat $19 monthly base fee applies on top of per-user pricing
Pricing: Starter is $4.99 per user per month on annual billing ($5.99 monthly), Pro is $6.99 ($7.99), and Advanced is $12.99 ($13.99), plus the $19 base. Payroll adds $8 per user plus a $49 base.
4. QuickBooks Time: best for QuickBooks Online users
Best for: Businesses already on QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks Time pairs a time clock with scheduling and a “manage time off” feature on both Time plans. The higher-end Workforce plans add policy setup, balance monitoring and approvals. Time off then syncs to schedules, timesheets and payroll.
Pros: – Tight sync with QuickBooks payroll and accounting – Workforce plans include proper time off policy tools
Cons: – Intuit states that a QuickBooks Online account is required for the Time plans – The basic Time plans offer lighter PTO tooling than dedicated leave software
Pricing: Time Premium is $20 a month plus $10 per user, and Time Elite is $40 plus $12. Intuit shows half-price base fees for the first three months. Workforce Premium is listed at $13 per employee.
5. Deputy: best for shift-based teams
Best for: Shift-based teams in retail, hospitality and healthcare.
Deputy is a scheduling and time tracking platform that includes leave and availability management in its entry plan. The $2-per-user HR add-on extends leave management and adds document management and onboarding. Managers can see who’s off before they publish a schedule.
Pros: – Leave visible alongside shift schedules – Leave management on every US plan
Cons: – Scheduling is the core product, and published material says little about accrual and carryover, so test your policy in the trial – Admins and managers count as paid users
Pricing: Lite is $5 per user per month, Core $6.50, Pro $9, with 10% off annual billing.
6. Clockify: best for tracking PTO next to timesheets
Best for: Teams that already track time in Clockify and want PTO in the same place.
Clockify’s time off tracker lets you create policies for vacation, sick leave, family leave and holidays. Requests route to approvers, and a Balance tab shows each person’s balance and accruals. A timeline shows upcoming leave across the team.
Pros: – Low per-seat price for a combined time and PTO tool – Unlimited policies and a clean timeline of who’s off
Cons: – Time off requires the Standard plan; the free and Basic plans don’t include it – Carryover rules aren’t documented on the product page, so check before relying on it
Pricing: Standard is $5.49 per seat per month on annual billing or $6.99 monthly. The free plan covers time tracking for up to 5 users.
7. Connecteam: best free option for frontline teams
Best for: Frontline teams that work mostly from phones.
Connecteam sells modular hubs, and Time Off lives in the HR and Skills Hub. Policies with balance management are capped by tier: 6 on Basic, 9 on Advanced and unlimited on Expert. A free Small Business plan covers up to 10 users, with a limit of 9 time off policies.
Pros: – Genuine free plan for very small teams – Carryover limits on Advanced – Mobile-first for non-desk workers
Cons: – Policy counts are capped on lower tiers – Modular pricing across hubs can be harder to forecast
Pricing: HR and Skills Basic is $29 a month on annual billing for the first 30 users, Advanced $49 and Expert $99, with $0.50 to $3.00 per additional user.
8. Homebase: best for US restaurants and retail
Best for: US restaurants, retail shops and other single-location hourly employers.
Homebase is built around US hourly work. Its Plus plan lists PTO and time off controls, and a free Basic plan serves up to 10 employees at one location.
Pros: – US-focused, with a free tier – Combines scheduling, time clock and PTO
Cons: – Pricing is per location, which adds up for multi-site businesses – PTO sits on the Plus plan, and the pricing table doesn’t show accrual detail clearly
Pricing: Essentials is $30 per location per month, Plus $70 and All-in-One $120 on monthly billing, with 20% off annually.
9. Day Off: best for Slack-first teams
Best for: Slack and Microsoft Teams users who want a lightweight leave app.
Day Off is a leave tracker for chat-based teams. Third-party listings describe a free plan for up to 10 employees (one approver, one policy, one team, one location). They also describe a Pro plan around $2 per user per month that adds accruals, carryover, hours-based leave and chat integrations. We couldn’t reach Day Off’s own pricing page, so treat those details as unconfirmed.
Pros: – Cheap entry price – Accruals and carryover on Pro – Works inside the chat tools staff already use
Cons: – Free plan is tightly limited – US public holiday support and payroll links weren’t confirmed
Pricing: Free up to 10 employees; Pro listed at about $2 per user per month, with a reported $20 monthly minimum.
Frequently asked questions about PTO tracking
How should PTO accrue?
Accrue PTO per hour worked, per pay period, or as a full upfront grant. Hourly accrual suits part-time staff, and pay-period accrual suits salaried teams. Track sick leave as its own balance: the BLS reports that 80% of private industry workers had access to paid sick leave in 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026).
What’s the difference between carryover, a cap and use-it-or-lose-it?
Carryover moves some unused time into the next year. A cap stops accrual at a ceiling. Use-it-or-lose-it forfeits time on a set date. Since 46% of workers with PTO take less than offered (Pew Research Center, 2023), these rules decide how large balances grow. California’s Department of Industrial Relations treats use-it-or-lose-it as illegal, so check your state.
Do US employers have to pay out unused PTO?
Federal law doesn’t require it: the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t mandate pay for vacation, sick leave or holidays. Payout depends on your state and written policy, and California treats earned vacation as wages. With three in four workers not using their full allowance (Harris Poll, 2024), exit balances can be large.
Is a spreadsheet good enough for PTO tracking?
For a handful of people, yes. Mixed accrual rules, several locations or payout duties change that. EY’s 2022 survey found companies spent 26 minutes per employee fixing missing or incorrect time punches in the last fiscal year. Dedicated software removes manual balance maths and leaves an audit trail when a former employee questions final pay.