A Vacation Tracker alternative without the monthly minimum
Vacation Tracker is built around chat: employees request leave and managers approve it in Slack, and it runs as a bot in Microsoft Teams. Tickin is also a chat-first leave management tool, but it adds attendance, time tracking and payroll, and it has a free plan instead of a monthly minimum.
In short
Choose Vacation Tracker if you need accrual policies, hourly leave, time off in lieu or multi-level approvals, and your team is big enough that its monthly minimum does not matter. Choose Tickin if you are a small team that wants leave and attendance in Slack, free for up to 10 employees.
| Tickin | Vacation Tracker | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Small teams that want leave and attendance in one tool, in Slack | Teams in Slack or Teams that want detailed leave policies |
| Request and approve in Slack | Yes, every plan | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes, on the Scale plan | Yes, as a bot |
| Half days | Yes, every plan | Yes, both plans |
| Hourly leave and accruals | No; fixed yearly entitlement renewing on the work anniversary | On the Complete plan |
| Multi-level approval | Team lead, then admin, on Growth and Scale | On the Complete plan, with substitute approvers |
| Attendance, time tracking, payroll | Built in (payroll on Growth) | Not included |
| Free plan | Free for up to 10 employees | No; 14-day trial |
| Paid pricing | Starter $2, Growth $3, Scale $6 per employee a month | Core $2 per user a month ($50 monthly minimum), Complete $4 ($100 minimum) |
What Vacation Tracker is great at
Vacation Tracker is deep on leave policy. Requests and approvals happen in Slack or Microsoft Teams, half days and carryover are on both plans, and the Complete plan adds accruals, hourly leave, time off in lieu and multi-level or substitute approvals. For a company with detailed leave rules that lives in chat, it covers a lot.
Where Tickin is different
Tickin covers the whole working day, not only leave. The same Slack app handles clock in and out with /tickin start and /tickin end, breaks, overtime and a live dashboard, and an approved day off counts against required hours automatically. On the Growth plan, payroll uses the same record, so unpaid leave can reduce pay without re-keying.
Pricing for a small team
Vacation Tracker charges per user with a monthly minimum: $50 on Core and $100 on Complete, so a team of 10 pays the same as a team of 25. Tickin is free for up to 10 employees, and Starter is $2 per employee a month after that, with no minimum.
Which should you choose
If your policy needs accruals, hourly leave or time off in lieu, Vacation Tracker is built for it. If you want simple, fixed yearly allowances plus attendance in the same Slack app, and you are under 10 people or want to pay per head without a minimum, Tickin is the better fit.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Tickin a good Vacation Tracker alternative?
- For small teams that want leave and attendance together in Slack, yes. If you need accruals, hourly leave or time off in lieu, Vacation Tracker covers more leave policy.
- Does Tickin have a monthly minimum?
- No. Tickin is free for up to 10 employees, then $2 per employee a month on Starter. Vacation Tracker's plans have a $50 or $100 monthly minimum.
- Do both work in Microsoft Teams?
- Yes. Vacation Tracker runs as a Teams bot, and Tickin works in Microsoft Teams on the Scale plan. Both work in Slack.
- Does Tickin support hourly leave or accruals?
- No. Tickin uses a fixed yearly entitlement per leave type that renews on the work anniversary, with half days. It has no hourly leave or accrual schedule.
Competitor capabilities and pricing change often. Vacation Tracker details on this page come from Vacation Tracker's own pricing, feature and help pages as of October 2026; Tickin details reflect Tickin's shipped features. It is not an exhaustive feature audit, so please check each product's own website for current details.