PTODesk vs Day Off
Day Off is the most visible PTO tracker in search, and for a small team on a simple allowance it works. The two places people leave it are per-seat pricing that climbs with headcount, and accrual maths that has to be corrected by hand for anyone hired mid-year.
| Day Off | PTODesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $2 per seat per month, with a $20 monthly minimum | Flat per company — $29, $59 or $99 a month |
| Free plan | Up to 10 users | Up to 5 employees, full engine |
| Accruals | Paid tier only | Every plan, including free |
| Mid-year hire proration | Varies | Automatic, with the arithmetic shown |
| US state sick leave | Not encoded | Encoded, dated and statute-linked |
| Integrations | Slack, Teams, Google and Outlook are all paid-only | Slack, plus an ICS feed any calendar reads |
Day Off list pricing checked 18 August 2026. Competitors change prices — confirm on their site before deciding.
What Day Off is good at
If these are the things you need, they are the better buy and we would rather say so.
A polished mobile app on both platforms, with genuinely strong ratings — 4.9 on iOS and 4.6 on Android.
Fast to set up if all you need is a fixed annual allowance and a shared calendar.
Cheaper than PTODesk below roughly ten employees, where their free tier still covers you and ours stops at five.
Where teams outgrow Day Off
Mid-year hires need manual correction
Their own reviewers describe it plainly: “If an employee starts during the year and not at the start of the year their accrual is incorrect and has to be calculated manually.” Proration is the single hardest number in leave tracking and the one that gets disputed when somebody leaves. PTODesk prorates automatically and shows the arithmetic it used, so the figure can be defended rather than recomputed.
One admin, and you cannot change who it is
A recurring complaint is that the account supports a single administrator and that the role cannot be moved. PTODesk has owner, admin and manager roles, and approvals can route to more than one person.
The calendar starts on Monday whatever you do
For US teams this produces real errors, not just annoyance — reviewers report staff booking the wrong day because the week is shifted. PTODesk defaults to Sunday for US companies and the week start is a setting.
Holidays are re-entered per location
“You have to enter holidays for every location, you cannot copy them from one to another.” PTODesk loads federal holidays automatically and lets a calendar be shared across locations.
What it costs as you grow
Day Off at list price, against the cheapest PTODesk plan that covers the same team. Per-seat pricing rises with every hire; a flat price does not move until you cross a plan boundary.
| Employees | Day Off | PTODesk | Difference a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $0.00/mo | $0.00/mo Free | Level |
| 10 | $0.00/mo | $29.00/mo Starter | $348 more |
| 25 | $50.00/mo | $29.00/mo Starter | Save $252 |
| 50 | $100.00/mo | $59.00/mo Team | Save $492 |
| 75 | $150.00/mo | $59.00/mo Team | Save $1,092 |
List prices with no discounts applied, including Day Off's free tier and monthly minimum where they have one. Rows where they come out cheaper are left in.
Common questions
Is Day Off actually free?
Free up to 10 users. Past that it is $2 per seat per month with a $20 monthly minimum, and accruals, carryover, multi-approver rules and every integration sit on the paid side.
Can we import our existing Day Off data?
Export your people and balances to CSV and import them with whatever column names you already have. Opening balances are set as ledger entries so the history stays auditable.
When should we stay on Day Off?
Under about ten people on a flat annual allowance with no mid-year joiners, their free tier is genuinely a better deal than paying us anything.
Try it against your own numbers
Free for teams up to five, with the whole accrual engine. Import your roster from a CSV, set opening balances, and run it alongside what you have now for a month.
No credit card. Flat monthly price, never per seat.