PTO Tracking Software: How to Track Time Off Easily

PTO issues don’t necessarily mean your company’s policies are bad. More often than not, the problem is tracking.

Regardless of your specific PTO tracking issue, PTO tracking software can most likely make your (and your team’s) life a whole lot easier.

 Whether you’ve hit the wall with tracking PTO with spreadsheets, need to manage time off across multiple teams, shifts, or locations, or need a simpler and more effective way to track PTO without time-intensive manual work, this guide walks you through how PTO tracking software works, what to look for, and how to know when it’s time to make the switch.

TL;DR: PTO tracking software

Juggling time off requests across spreadsheets, email threads, and Slack messages? There’s a better way.

If you’re thinking of using PTO tracking software, consider the following:

• Spreadsheets or shared calendars can work for small teams, but they don’t scale well.
• Free PTO tracking software exists but typically lacks approvals, reporting, and payroll sync. They’re usually best for teams under 10 as they can usually only handle simple policies.
• The best PTO tracker is the one your team will actually use—mobile-first for hourly teams, integrated with scheduling and payroll for everyone.

With this guide, you’ll learn:

• What PTO tracking software is and what it replaces
• The best ways to track PTO based on your team size
• What good PTO software actually does day to day
• Whether free PTO tracking software is worth it
• The key features to look for when choosing a tool
• How to avoid the most common PTO tracking mistakes

{{banner-cta}}

What is PTO tracking software—and what does it replace?

PTO tracking software is a dedicated app or software that automates how your team requests, approves, and monitors paid time off—basically, it steps in when your current tracking system stops working. Good PTO tracking software:

• Replaces spreadsheets. That Google Sheet with tabs for each employee and formulas that haven’t been updated since 2019? Gone. No more version conflicts where the manager has one number and HR has another.
• Replaces manual approvals. Instead of requests bouncing between email threads, Slack messages, and verbal hallway conversations, everything lives in one place. Managers approve or deny with a tap and employees see the update immediately.
• Replaces inbox PTO requests. Email works great until you have ten employees and three managers. Then requests get buried, approvals take days, and someone inevitably replies to the wrong thread.
• Replaces “who’s off?” Slack messages. Good vacation tracking software shows you at a glance who’s out and when—no more discovering at 9am that you’re short-staffed because someone forgot to mention their approved time off.

What is the best way to track PTO?

The best way to track PTO depends on your team size and how much complexity you’re willing to manage manually.

Spreadsheets work when you have five employees and simple PTO policies. They’re free, fast to set up, and easy to understand—until you add more people, multiple PTO types, or state-specific accrual rules. Then the formulas break and the errors pile up.

Shared calendars give better visibility than spreadsheets. Everyone can see who’s out when, which helps with coverage planning. The problem? Calendars show you time off but they don’t track balances. You still need a separate system to know if someone has 40 hours available or 4, which means approvals still need to happen over email or text.

Dedicated PTO tracking software becomes necessary when coordination takes more time than the time-off itself. If managers spend 30 minutes each week updating spreadsheets or fielding balance questions, that’s 26 hours per year of administrative work that could disappear.

The difference between tracking PTO in spreadsheets vs. software

Google Sheets (or Excel) works perfectly for very small teams with straightforward PTO policies or infrequent time off requests. Everyone accrues at the same rate, nobody has complicated carryover situations, and managers can eyeball the numbers to approve requests in seconds.

The cracks appear fast once your team grows:

• Version control becomes a problem when someone opens an old file and approves a request based on outdated balances. 
• Accrual math breaks down when you factor in different rates for tenured employees, state-specific sick time rules, and mid-month start dates. 
• Approvals require entirely separate workflows—the employee texts their manager, who checks the sheet, who emails HR to confirm, who finally gives an answer. When you’re managing employee time off requests across shifts or locations, that chain gets messier fast. 
• And visibility fails entirely when new managers don’t know where the file lives or employees can’t check their own balances without asking someone.

Teams move on when the spreadsheet creates more work than it saves—whether that’s a payroll mistake that costs real money or just the accumulated frustration of wasting an hour every week on something software handles automatically.

What PTO tracking software actually does

PTO tracking software handles the workflows that break down in spreadsheets and email threads with specific features that work.

PTO requests and approvals

Employees submit requests through an app instead of hunting down their manager between shifts. On the manager’s side, every request arrives with the context needed to make a fast, informed decision: employee balance, team availability, and any potential coverage gaps.

Accrual tracking and balances

The software calculates how PTO accrues based on your policy—and your state’s specific sick time accrual rules, if necessary—without you touching a formula. Employees can check their balances anytime without asking HR or their manager. They see exactly how many hours they have available, how much they’ve used, and when they’ll accrue more.

Vacation and sick time visibility

Everyone sees who’s off when, but with role-appropriate access. Employees see their team’s schedule to avoid requesting the same days as their coverage partner. Managers see their entire department to plan staffing. HR sees the whole company to track patterns and ensure policy compliance.

Team calendars and coverage planning

Good PTO software can help prevent coverage disasters before they happen. When someone requests time off during your busiest week, the system flags potential understaffing. You can even set minimum coverage requirements by role or department, so the system enforces your rules automatically instead of leaving it to manager memory.

Reporting and audit trails

With PTO tracking software, every request, approval, and balance change gets logged automatically. When you need to verify PTO payouts for a departing employee or spot patterns in sick time usage, the data is already there.

Is free PTO tracking software a good option?

Free PTO tracking software falls into two categories: truly free tools with basic features forever, and “free” tiers that work until you need something the free version doesn’t offer.

Truly free PTO trackers handle basic balance tracking and calendar visibility for small teams. They’re a legitimate option if you have fewer than 15 employees, simple accrual rules, and someone willing to handle edge cases manually. What they usually lack is where things get complicated: approval workflows, automated accrual calculations, detailed reporting, and payroll integration all tend to live behind a paywall.

But at some point, “free” can become costly. If you’re spending 20 minutes each week manually updating balances that software could calculate automatically, that’s 17 hours per year. If a payroll mistake happens because your free pto tracker doesn’t sync with your payroll system, the cost of fixing it exceeds what you’d have paid for the real thing.

Best PTO tracking software features to look for

Choosing the best employee PTO and vacation tracking software isn’t about finding the tool with the longest feature list. Instead, focus on finding the features that solve your specific problems without creating new ones.

Easy employee requests

Employees should be able to request time off in under 30 seconds from their phone—pick dates, see their available balance, and submit. If requesting PTO feels harder than texting their manager, they’ll just text their manager. Look for apps built mobile-first, not desktop tools that shrink awkwardly onto a phone screen.

Manager approvals that don’t bottleneck

Managers need to approve or deny requests without having to log into a computer. Push notifications work better than email because emails get buried. The approval screen should show everything relevant—employee balance, who else is off, whether coverage is at risk—without requiring managers to open three different screens.

Clear PTO balances for employees

Employees should see three numbers instantly: hours available, hours used, and hours pending approval. The balance should update in real-time so that approved time off reflects immediately. Transparency here eliminates the majority of “how much PTO do I have?” questions before they happen.

Team-wide visibility

Your time off tracker should also control visibility by role—so employees can see their department, managers see their full team, HR sees the entire company. Nobody needs to see personal balance information for people they don’t manage.

Integrations with scheduling or payroll

If your PTO software doesn’t talk to your scheduling  or payroll system, you’re managing PTO tracking in multiple places—and conflicts will happen. Software that handles paid time off from a single place means approved time flows into payroll automatically, eliminating an entire category of manual errors.

What is the best vacation tracker app?

The best vacation tracker app depends on how your team actually works. Where does your team spend their time—on phones or computers? What’s your biggest pain point—lack of mobile access, poor approvals, or schedule conflicts? What systems do you already use that need to integrate?

• Mobile-friendly apps matter most for hourly teams who don’t sit at desks all day. Retail workers, restaurant staff, healthcare teams—they’re checking schedules and requesting time off from their phones between shifts.
• Web-based tools work better for office teams who already live in browsers all day. Desktop interfaces give you more screen real estate for complex approvals, detailed reporting, and bulk actions.
• Integrated scheduling + PTO tools solve a problem that standalone apps can’t touch: preventing schedule conflicts with approved time off. If you’re already using software to build schedules, track time, and manage shifts, adding time off tracking to that same system means everything talks to each other.

How teams actually use PTO tracking software day to day

Real-world PTO management software usage looks different than feature descriptions. Here’s how different teams put an employee vacation tracker to work.

• Retail or hourly teams can check the calendar before requesting time off to avoid creating coverage problems. For example, a cashier opening the app sees three coworkers already approved for spring break week, so they can pick different dates for their request. The manager never has to say no because the visibility prevented the conflict.
• Managers can open the calendar view every week to plan coverage when building schedules. They’ll see who’s approved for time off before assigning shifts. They catch potential understaffing before publishing the schedule.
• Employees can use the time off tracker to check balances before making vacation plans. They see exactly how much time they have available and whether requesting those dates would conflict with busy periods.
• HR can use PTO software to review trends: quarterly reports showing which departments use the most sick time, which months see the heaviest vacation requests, and whether anyone's sitting on huge balances they never use.

How software helps you avoid common PTO tracking mistakes

Every manual PTO system eventually creates the same mistakes that are preventable with software:

• Slow approvals or missed requests. With automated employee time off workflows, requests land in a queue, managers get notifications they can’t ignore, and responses happen in hours instead of days.
• Outdated balances. Real-time balance updates mean everyone sees the same accurate number before any approvals happen, not after.
• Coverage conflicts. Good PTO time tracking software shows existing approvals before you approve new requests and lets you set minimum coverage requirements the system enforces automatically.
• Inconsistent policy application. When employees compare notes and realize one manager allows unlimited carryover while another enforces use-it-or-lose-it strictly, trust erodes fast. Instead, using one PTO tracker means the same rules are applied to everyone based on your policy settings—no exceptions, no favoritism.

FAQs about PTO tracking software

What’s the difference between PTO tracking software for hourly vs. salaried teams?

Hourly teams need tighter integration with scheduling and time clocks because PTO accrues based on hours worked and affects shift coverage directly. Salaried teams accrue on fixed schedules regardless of hours worked. The core tracking works the same, but hourly teams benefit more from mobile access and schedule integration.

PTO, vacation, and time-off tracking—what’s the difference?

PTO typically refers to combined banks covering vacation, sick time, and personal days. Vacation tracking manages only vacation days, separate from sick time. Time-off tracking is the broadest term, covering any absence whether it’s paid or unpaid.

What is the best way to track PTO?

The best method matches your team size and complexity. Teams under five can use spreadsheets, 5-15 employees benefit from shared calendars, and 15+ employees need dedicated software. Choose whichever saves more time than it takes to maintain.

Is there a free PTO tracker?

Yes. Homebase offers free PTO tracking for small teams, along with options like Google Sheets templates or basic shared calendars. Free tools typically lack automated approvals, detailed reporting, and payroll integration. They work best for teams under 10 with simple accrual policies.

Can PTO be tracked in Google Sheets?

Yes, Google Sheets works for very small teams using columns for accrued hours, used hours, and balances. Most teams outgrow spreadsheets around 10 employees when manual updates and version control create errors. The advantages of time tracking software become clear at that point.

What’s the difference between PTO tracking and time tracking?

PTO tracking manages vacation balances, sick time, and planned absences. Time tracking records hours worked for payroll—when employees clock in and out. PTO answers “how much vacation do you have?” while time tracking answers “how many hours did you work?”

Conclusion

Bad tracking creates PTO problems that have nothing to do with your policies. When requests get lost, balances are wrong, or coverage falls apart because nobody has the full picture, the fix isn’t a policy overhaul—it’s a better system.

The right PTO tracking software removes the manual work, keeps everyone on the same page, and lets your team focus on the job instead of chasing down approvals. 

Whether you’re outgrowing spreadsheets or managing time off across multiple locations, Homebase makes it simple.

{{banner-cta}}