Independent buying guide
Best leave management software UK: six options compared
There is no universal “best”. The right answer depends on whether you need a cheap holiday calendar, a wider HR record, or advice bundled with software. This comparison makes those trade-offs explicit.
The short answer
Lowest published price
SimpleLeave is the obvious first trial, particularly for five people or fewer.
Specialist leave tools
Leave Dates and Timetastic focus tightly on absence planning and calendars.
Wider core HR
Breathe combines leave with people records, documents and performance.
Advice and safety services
BrightHR is the option here with broader advisory and health-and-safety packages.
Flexible people operations
Leavely joins leave, absence, rotas, time, expenses and reviews on a rolling monthly plan.
Only need a holiday calendar?
Leavely is not the cheapest choice. Start with the specialist products above.
Six products, compared on public facts
Published price is only one part of cost. Check add-ons, minimum seats, VAT, implementation charges, notice and the full commitment over the term.
| Product / best fit | Public pricing | Trial or commitment | Product scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleLeaveThe lowest-cost dedicated leave tracker | Free for up to 5 people; then £0.60 per active employee/month, including VAT | 30-day trial; no card required | Leave requests, allowances, calendar and reports |
| Leave DatesA specialist leave system with a broad feature set | From £0.75 per user/month | 30-day trial; cancel any time | Leave, TOIL, clash warnings, calendars, reports and mobile apps |
| TimetasticA polished specialist absence calendar | Per-user Essentials and Pro plans; check the site for your local currency | 30-day trial; no card required | Time-off booking, allowances, calendar integrations and reporting |
| BreatheSmall teams wanting a wider core HR record | £24/month for 1-10 people; £44/month for 11-20, excluding VAT | Core HR packages plus separately priced add-ons | Leave, sickness, people records, documents and performance |
| BrightHRBusinesses that may also want HR or health and safety advice | Configured by headcount and package on its pricing page | Fixed-term options shown as 24, 36 or 60 months | Core HR tools, with advice, wellbeing and safety services in higher packages |
| LeavelyConnected people operations without a fixed-term contract | £8 per active user/month | 14-day trial; no card; monthly rolling | Leave, sickness, TOIL, rotas, time tracking, expenses, records and reviews |
What each option is really for
SimpleLeave: price-led leave tracking
SimpleLeave's public offer is hard to ignore if your requirement is narrow: it is free for up to five users, then lists a low per-active-employee price. Its site describes leave requests, allowances, reporting and a shared calendar. That makes it a sensible benchmark for any team that does not need a wider people-operations product. Check SimpleLeave's current offer .
Leave Dates and Timetastic: specialist depth
Both products concentrate on leave and absence. Leave Dates publicly lists TOIL, clash warnings, calendars, reporting and mobile apps alongside a low starting price. Timetastic offers Essentials and Pro plans, integrations and a no-card trial; its displayed currency can vary by visitor, so check the final local price rather than relying on a copied figure. See the official Leave Dates and Timetastic pages.
Breathe: core HR for a fixed headcount band
Breathe publishes monthly prices in employee bands rather than a single per-seat figure. Its core scope extends beyond leave into people records, documents and performance; add-ons are separately priced. That can be a better fit than a dedicated leave tracker when central HR records are the main goal. Verify the current bands on Breathe's pricing page .
BrightHR: software plus service packages
BrightHR covers core HR workflows and offers broader packages that can include HR advice, health and safety support, wellbeing and related services. Its public pricing journey asks for headcount and package choices, and shows fixed-term options. That is materially different from buying a standalone holiday tracker. Read our sourced BrightHR comparison or verify the official pricing page .
Leavely: connected operations on a rolling plan
Leavely costs £8 per active user each month and combines leave and sickness with TOIL, rotas, clock-ins, expenses, employee records and performance reviews. It is monthly rolling and has no seat minimum. It does not provide employment-law advice, insurance, payroll or a health-and-safety consultancy. Choose it when connected day-to-day operations matter more than the lowest leave-only price or an advisory bundle. Review the full feature list and published pricing.
Do these six tests before you buy
A feature grid cannot prove that a system works for your policies. A trial with real scenarios can.
- 1Import or create the real working patterns for one full-time and one part-time employee.
- 2Run a request, approval, rejection and cancellation from both phone and desktop.
- 3Test bank holidays for the nations where your employees actually work.
- 4Check what an employee, line manager and administrator can each see and change.
- 5Export leave and sickness records in a format you could use after cancelling.
- 6Read the initial term, renewal, notice and data-return wording before subscribing.
Our verdict
If cost and leave tracking are the whole brief, begin with SimpleLeave, Leave Dates and Timetastic. If you need a broader HR record, compare Breathe. If advice and health-and-safety services are central, investigate BrightHR's packages. Put Leavely on the shortlist when you want leave, absence and workforce operations together without signing a fixed-term agreement.
Shortlist two or three products, run the same six tests in each, and compare the full cost and commitment. That process is more reliable than any “best software” badge—including ours.
Include Leavely in your trial
Use every Standard feature for 14 days. No card, no sales call and no fixed term. Test it with the same working patterns, roles and approval cases you use for every other product.