PTODesk vs LeaveBoard
LeaveBoard is inexpensive and does the basics cleanly, with a free tier that runs to nine employees. It is priced per employee, and like most of the category it does not encode US state sick-leave rules.
| LeaveBoard | PTODesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $1.35 per employee per month | Flat per company — $29, $59 or $99 a month |
| Free plan | Up to 9 employees | Up to 5 employees, full engine |
| Accruals | Available | 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 | Slack, plus an ICS feed any calendar reads |
LeaveBoard list pricing checked 18 August 2026. Competitors change prices — confirm on their site before deciding.
What LeaveBoard is good at
If these are the things you need, they are the better buy and we would rather say so.
One of the lowest per-seat prices in the category, with no monthly minimum to clear.
A free tier that stretches to nine people, which covers a lot of small offices outright.
Straightforward absence reporting without much setup.
Where teams outgrow LeaveBoard
State sick-leave accrual is not modelled
Hours-worked accrual — one hour earned per N hours worked, with remainder carried between periods so nothing is lost to rounding — is the mechanism the state statutes actually require, and it is not something a simple allowance tracker expresses.
Per-employee pricing keeps moving
At $1.35 a head the bill is small but never settled: every hire changes it. Flat pricing means a 24-person company and a 12-person company both pay $29.
Balances are not ledger-derived
PTODesk stores every accrual and deduction as an immutable entry and derives the balance by summing them, so any figure can be explained line by line rather than trusted.
What it costs as you grow
LeaveBoard 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 | LeaveBoard | PTODesk | Difference a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $0.00/mo | $0.00/mo Free | Level |
| 10 | $13.50/mo | $29.00/mo Starter | $186 more |
| 25 | $33.75/mo | $29.00/mo Starter | Save $57 |
| 50 | $67.50/mo | $59.00/mo Team | Save $102 |
| 75 | $101.25/mo | $59.00/mo Team | Save $507 |
List prices with no discounts applied, including LeaveBoard's free tier and monthly minimum where they have one. Rows where they come out cheaper are left in.
Common questions
Is LeaveBoard cheaper than PTODesk?
Below about 21 employees, yes — $1.35 a head beats $29 flat. Above that PTODesk is cheaper, and the crossover moves in our favour with every hire.
Does LeaveBoard handle state sick leave?
Not as encoded rules. You can approximate a policy manually, but the accrual denominators, caps and employer-size thresholds are not built in.
When should we stay on LeaveBoard?
If you are inside their nine-person free tier and have no multi-state exposure, staying is the rational choice.
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.